SimCity 4

SimCity 4

Developer(s)	Maxis
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts (Microsoft Windows) Aspyr Media (Mac OS X)
First release date	WindowsJanuary 14, 2003 MacJune 20, 2003

SimCity

SimCity	1989
SimCity 2000	1994
SimCopter
Streets of SimCity
SimCity 3000	1999
SimCity 4	2003
SimCity 4: Rush Hour
SimCity Societies	2007
SimCity Societies: Destinations
SimCity (2013)	2013

Key points

Poorly optimised, but fixable on modern Windows PCs.

SC4Launcher and NAM: Network Addon Mod are both highly recommended.

Enable most fixes by using the SC4Launcher/Combined launch options, and then enabling Borderless fullscreen windowed.

The Mac port suffers many problems.

General information

sc4modds - full list of mods from /r/SimCity community.

/r/SimCity

Simtropolis Forum

Steam Power Users' Forum

Availability

Source(s)	Store unlock	Notes
Steam
Amazon		Download or retail.
Origin
GreenMan Gaming
GamersGate
GameStop

It is recommended to only use Deluxe version which includes the Rush Hour expansion pack, as this has the highest compatibility with mods and other fixes.

Retail keys can be redeemed on Origin.

Essential improvements

Launching game on modern systems

SC4Launcher

Launcher utility that can be installed.

Combines autosaving (customisable intervals), renderer choice (DirectX, Software, OpenGL), CPU priority, single CPU affinity, Custom resolution, windowed, skip intro videos and an ATI/AMD graphics card fix into a single launcher program.

Combined launch options

Single line of code to be added to 'Target' field of the shortcut or to Steam launch options.

Combines Custom resolution, windowed, single CPU affinity, skip intro videos.

Combined launch options reference • Link If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options: -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -w -CPUCount:1 -intro:off Also use ShiftWindow in order to enable Borderless fullscreen windowed mode for seamless alt+tabbing and fullscreen view.

NAM: Network Addon Mod

Extensively reworks of the road system, improves traffic simulator, path-finding and performance.

Game data

Save game location

	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\SimCity 4\Regions
Mac OS X	USER/Documents/SimCity 4/Regions

Beware of issues when using multiple duplicate cities.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GameSave Manager		In the database.

Video settings

Graphics option	Native	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Windowed		See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Working using ShiftWindow.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)

Skip intro videos

Target line to skip intro videos • Link If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options: -intro:off

Widescreen resolution

Target line to enable widescreen resolution • Link If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut, add (for 1920x1080) or add to Steam launch optionss: -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32

Windowed

Target line to set windowed mode • Link If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options: -w To reverse back to fullscreen mode, it may be necessary to replace the launch options with: -f

Issues unresolved

Macs and Intel CPU major flaws

Major flaws when operating on computers by Apple using Intel processors.

Aspyr released a beta of a patch to fix the problems in 2007, but the patch was never finalized and many bugs remain. Some have a serious impact on playability, including frequent crashes if a city exceeds 95,000 population, flawed display of the water surface, frequent blurring or replacement of objects with random other objects, and an inability to significantly accelerate the vehicle in driving mode that prevents many gameplay features from being unlocked.

Integer overflow

An integer overflow bug is also present in the game. Under certain conditions, the Junior Sports Program and Parks and Recreation expense items will be a negative value - thus adding to the end of month balance instead of reducing it.

Issues fixed

Crashes on multi-core systems

Single CPU affinity • Link May reduce performance. If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options:-CPUCount:1

Menu option to enable software renderer • Link May reduce performance and visual fidelity. Run SimCity 4. Go to the video settings menu. Under "Renderer", check "Software". Restart SimCity 4.

Target line to enable software renderer • Link May reduce performance and visual fidelity. If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options: -d:Software

Poor performance on modern systems

Running SimCity 4 on modern systems may result in large performance problems.

Add GPU device ID to list of recognised cards • Link Be sure your installation of SimCity 4 is updated to the latest version. Updating it afterwards will remove the fix. This fix enables hardware acceleration. Download, install and run GPU-Z. Copy down what is listed as the "Device ID" as well as the card's name. The "Device ID" is a number that identifies your card, as well as who makes it. For example, if 10DE-1086 is the Device ID, 0x10DE identifies the card's vendor, and 0x1086 identifies your card. Locate your SimCity 4 installation. Within the root folder, open "Graphics Rules.sgr" with the text editor of your choice. Locate the line partialRule "Fast card" -any within the file Add your own card's name in the list, separating the vendor and the card with asterisks. For example, stringMatch cardIdentity "ATI*HD 4800 Series*" Save and close the file. In the same folder, open "Video Cards.sgr" with the text editor of your choice. Locate the header featuring your card's vendor (and vendor ID). Add your card in under the header, preferably in numerical order. For example, card 0x1086 "Nvidia GeForce GTX 560" Don't forget to preface your card ID with the "0x" Save and close the file. Open SimCity 4. Enter the video options menu. Check "Hardware" under the "Rendering" header. This may fix your problems in-game. If not, try messing with some of the graphics options in-game. If none of these options work, you may have to resort to using Software rendering, in order to achieve a playable experience.

Industrial high-tech (I-H) missing jobs

Every I-H lot in the game does not offer high wealth jobs even though it creates a demand for high wealth residents.

IH Missing Jobs Fix • Link Download and install IH Missing Jobs Fix.

Error message: "Could not initialize graphics card"

SimCity 4 may crash on startup while reporting an error that claims that SimCity 4 was unable to initialize the graphics card, this may occur when using a hardware-accelerated rendering mode and a non-standard resolution. Changing the rendering mode to "software" or changing the resolution to one of the supported resolutions (800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200) should resolve this issue.

Details disappear when scrolling

On some AMD/ATI graphics cards users may find that scrolling the view will cause entities and details to temporarily disappear, including lots appearing completely empty until scrolling stops. This can be resolved by installing the SC4Launcher Utility. Once installed, run the launcher and navigate to the 'Hardware & Audio' tab. Enable the option 'Force Draw on Scroll' by checking the tick box. This should resolve the issue completely and will remain fixed regardless of whether the game is started with this custom launcher or through running the normal SimCity 4 executable.

Other information

Retail patches

EA hosts one all-encompassing update that includes all patch fixes for all versions of the game.

Retail versions can be registered on Origin.

Duplicate cities moved

If two or more copies of the same city exist in the Region folder upon starting SimCity 4, the game uses only one version and the other city copies are either deleted or automatically moved to the Downloads folder.

SimCity 4 determines which file to use by sorting the city file names alphabetically and taking the first entry.

If you have copies of cities in your region folder, e.g. "City - TEST 1.sc4" "City - TEST 2.sc4", then only "City - TEST 1.sc4" will be kept, and "City - TEST 2.sc4"either get deleted or will be moved to the Downloads folder

Launch options

More parameters can be found via this link. Please be aware that if you use the -UserDir parameter, changes made in any ingame options may not be saved properly.

Change language

Language choice determines display language and which side of the road cars drive on.

Supported languages include: English, UK English, French, German, Traditional Chinese and Japanese, depending on where the game has been purchased.

Change language through launch options • Link If running retail or Origin version, set the 'Target' field of the shortcut or add to Steam launch options: -l:english or -l:french, etc.

Change language through regedit • Link A detailed guide can be found on the SimCity Devotion thread by RippleJet.

Mods

Mods may require dependencies.

Mod resources

Simtropolis - a very active modding community, hosts the ST/Exchange (SimTropolisEXchange).

SC4 Devotion - a very active modding community, hosts the LEX (Lot Exchange).

Thread listing all possible settings and customisations

Mod recommendations

sc4modds - full list of mods from /r/SimCity community.

Reddit thread - September 17, 2012

Reddit thread - January 22, 2012

Colossus Addon Mod (CAM)

A significant and popular mod developed by the community at SC4 Devotion.

Rewrites and improves how cities and regions grow by including more 'lots' or building transition stages, and increases population density.

Compatible with NAM: Network Addon Mod - when installing CAM, select 'no traffic simulator'.

Tools

• SimCity 4 Auto Saver - autosave program for SimCity 4 that will automatically save your game while you play, superseded by the SC4Launcher.
• SC4Terraformer - this is a widely used tool that can render custom maps designed and built within the program.
• SC4DataNode - this is a tool that checks your plugins folder, analyzes it, and tells you if any mods are missing dependencies.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Windows XP/Windows Me/Windows 2000/Windows 98 (Windows NT and Windows 95 NOT supported)	Windows XP/Windows Me/Windows 2000/Windows 98 (Windows NT and Windows 95 NOT supported)
Processor (CPU)	Pentium III 500 MHz or equivalent	1 GHz or faster
System memory (RAM)	128 MB RAM for Windows Me/Windows 2000/Windows 98, 256 MB RAM for Windows XP	256 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 7.0 compatible 32 of VRAM	DirectX 7.0 compatible 32 of VRAM
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1 GB hard drive space	1 GB hard drive space