SimCity 3000

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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[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		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.
GOG.com		Unlimited Edition.

SafeDisc retail DRM no longer functions properly on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Demo

Version differences[edit]

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[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Use -intro:off parameter^[3]

Use the -intro:off command line argument.

Linux Python Installer[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Game\SC3.cfg^{[Note 2]} <path-to-game>\Game\sc3.ini
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[edit]

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[edit]

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video settings[edit]

General settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See the WSGF entry.
Multi-monitor		See the WSGF entry.
Ultra-widescreen		See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Enable by default
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Windowed[edit]

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[edit]

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio settings[edit]

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Ambient Sound and Sound Effects.
Surround sound
Subtitles		No speech
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		DirectSound3D, EAX.^[5] Possibly A3D.^[6]

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[edit]

Slow interface movement[edit]

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

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Linux

System requirements[edit]

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

↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10^[1] and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.^[2]
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 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

↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
↑ Computer Gaming: How to turn off the intro movie
↑ Running SimCity 3000 in a window - SC3000.COM
↑ Games help:SimCity 3000 - Vortex of Sound (retrieved)
↑ SimCity 3000 (c) Maxis review - GameOver

[3] SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10^[1] and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.^[2]

[gamedir-5] 2.0 ^2.1 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).

[1] Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16

[2] Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16

[4] Computer Gaming: How to turn off the intro movie

[6] Running SimCity 3000 in a window - SC3000.COM

[7] Games help:SimCity 3000 - Vortex of Sound (retrieved)

[8] SimCity 3000 (c) Maxis review - GameOver

[Note 1]

[3]

[Note 2]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[1]

[2]

Developers

	Maxis
Linux	Loki Software
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows	January 31, 1999
Mac OS (Classic)	July 1999
Linux	October 31, 2000

SimCity 3000

Contents

Availability[edit]

Version differences[edit]

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Linux Python Installer[edit]

Patches[edit]

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

Save game data location[edit]

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

Video settings[edit]

Windowed[edit]

Input settings[edit]

Audio settings[edit]

Localizations

Issues fixed[edit]

Slow interface movement[edit]

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

System requirements[edit]

Notes

References