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SimCity 3000

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Revision as of 11:24, 28 July 2020 by Talos (talk | contribs) (Added Japanese to the languages. Gameplay footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys1K1yrz_mQ. The game can be found on Japanese Amazon by searching シムシティ3000.)
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SimCity 3000
SimCity 3000 cover
Developers
Maxis
Linux Loki Software
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows January 31, 1999
Mac OS (Classic) July 1999
Linux October 31, 2000
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SimCity 3000 guide on StrategyWiki
SimCity 3000 on MobyGames
SimCity 3000 on Wikipedia
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Icon overlay.png
SimCity
Subseries of Sim
SimCity (1989) 1989
SimCity 2000 1994
SimCity 2000 Network Edition 1996
SimCopter 1996
Streets of SimCity 1997
SimCity 3000 1999
SimCity 4 2003
SimCity Societies 2007
SimCity (2013) 2013

Key points

Use the compatibility fixes to fix issues with the interface frame rate and windowed mode on modern versions of Windows.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
 SecuROM DRM for the original version.
SafeDisc DRM[Note 1] for Unlimited.

Linux version only has the Unlimited release, while the Machintosh only has the original release.
Windows
Mac OS
Linux
GOG.com
DRM-free
 Unlimited Edition.
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
Demo

Version differences

In May 2000, the game was re-released under different names in different regions, such as SimCity 3000 Unlimited (in North America and Oceania), SimCity 3000 Deutschland (Germany), SimCity 3000 Korea (South Korea), SimCity 3000 UK Edition (UK and Ireland) and SimCity 3000 World Edition (other countries), among others. This added, among other things, East Asian and European building sets, additional terrain colors and vegetation types, a snapshot feature, additional music, an improved version of the Building Architect Tool (a pseudo-3D design tool based on cubes), four additional disasters (such as locusts and space junk), additional landmarks (like the Seoul Tower and Helsinki Cathedral), new reward buildings, thirteen scenarios (along with an editor based on Microsoft Access) and a new FMV intro.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Use -intro:off parameter[3]

Use the -intro:off command line argument.

Linux Python Installer

Requires the CD of Loki Software's Linux port.

The following python script allows you to install the game into the modern Linux system much easier, which can be found here. Works only with Ubuntu and Debian or any distribution based on these two.

Patches

The latest patch (v1.1) updates the game and adds the Building Architect Tool. This patch is also available for the World Edition and Linux.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Game\SC3.cfg[Note 2]
<path-to-game>\Game\sc3.ini[Note 2]
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Cities\[Note 2]
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux
Cities (*.sc3) can be saved anywhere; this is the default location.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video settings

General settings.
General settings.

Template:Video settings

Windowed

The game must be running in 16-bit color mode (you can use the compatibility fixes to apply this).
Use launch parameters[4]

Use the command line argument -w -r800x600 (replace with the resolution you want).

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Retail only.
Japanese
Retail only.
Korean
Retail only.
Portuguese
Retail only.
Russian
Unofficial translation by «7 Wolf»
Spanish
Retail only. Download.
Swedish

Issues fixed

Slow interface movement

Use the compatibility fixes to fix issues with interface frame rates on modern versions of Windows. Computer running Slow

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DirectDraw
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
Linux
Mac OS (Classic)

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95, 98 95, 98
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 166 MHz Intel Pentium 233 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 230 MB 230 MB
Video card (GPU) DirectDraw compatible
2 MB of VRAM 		DirectDraw compatible
4 MB of VRAM

Notes

  1. ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[2]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References