SimCity 3000 is a singleplayer bird's-eye view and isometric building and simulation game in the SimCity series.
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.
To run on modern systems, the retail version requires available compatibility fixes to resolve rendering issues, while the digital versions come with their own tweaks.
General information
- GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
- GOG.com Support Page
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- A free demo version is available from Archive.org.
Version differences
- The Unlimited / World Edition release includes additional building sets, terrain elements, music, disasters, buildings, scenarios and a snapshot feature.
Essential improvements
Patches
- The latest patch for the base game is v1.1, which adds the Building Architect Tool, available from Patches-Scrolls and GameFront. It is already implemented in Unlimited/World Edition.
- A hotfix for the French version of the World Edition is also available on Patches-Scrolls and GameFront.
- The latest patch for the Linux version of Unlimited/World Edition is available on Patches-Scrolls.
Skip intro videos
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.
Compatibility fixes (retail version only)
- Use the compatibility fixes to fix issues with interface frame rates on modern versions of Windows.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
- It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.
Save game data location
- Cities (
*.sc3) can be saved anywhere; this is the default location.
Video
Input
Audio
| 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] |
| Royalty free audio |
|
|
Localizations
Issues fixed
Scrolling is too fast
|
Run the game at the desktop resolution with a high/widescreen resolution patch[7]
|
- Ensure that the game has been modified to run in high/widescreen resolutions.
- In the game's video options, set the resolution to the desktop resolution.
|
- This may also be caused by modern CPU speeds being much faster than the game expects.
|
Use a utility to slow down either the CPU speed or to cap the game's frame rate.[8]
|
- Alternatively, use dgVoodoo 2 and set FPS limiter to 45 FPS.
|
Music not playing (retail version)
- The retail version of the game may have difficulty reading the game's CD or disc image, where the music files are located.
|
Copy missing tracks from original CD to game installation folder
|
- Insert the installation CD to a disc drive.
- Copy
\Res\Sound\Music from the disc to <path-to-game>\Res\Sound\.
- Launch the game, then head into the Preferences.
- Look for a music track in the list, then play one to see if it works.
|
Other information
API
| Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
| DirectDraw |
|
|
| Executable | PPC | 16-bit |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
| Windows | | |
|
|
|
| Linux | | | |
|
|
| Mac OS (Classic) | | | |
|
|
Restoring missing music tracks in Unlimited edition
- The Unlimited edition is missing the track "SIM Broadway". Tracks "Concrete Jungle", "City of Dreams" and "SimCity 2000 Theme" are all disabled in
AUDIO.ini file.
|
Copy missing tracks from original CD or demo to game installation folder[9]
|
- Obtain the installation CD for the original game, or download the demo.
- Go to
\Res\Sound\Music in the disc's content.
- Copy
3KG2.XA to <path-to-game>\Res\Sound\Music.
- Open
AUDIO.ini in <path-to-game>\Res\Sound with a text editor.
- Search for "SIM Broadway" and remove the
; at the beginning of the line.
- To enable "Concrete Jungle", remove
; at the beginning of the line.
- To enable "City of Dreams", change
0x01 to 0x14.
- To enable "SimCity 2000 Theme", change
0,0,0,1 to 0,1,0,1.
- Launch the game, then head into the Preferences.
- Look for a music track in the list, then play one to see if it works.
|
System requirements
| Windows | Mac OS (Classic) | Linux |
| Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
| Operating system (OS) |
95, 98 | |
| Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 166 MHz
| Intel Pentium 233 MHz |
| System memory (RAM) |
32 MB | |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) |
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] 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]
- ↑ 2.0 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).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
References
