SimCity 4 Tips

These instructions are for installing and running SimCity 4 Deluxe on CrossOver Games for Macintosh.  Instructions for the Rush Hour update will need to be altered accordingly, but I don't know if it works.  Note that SimCity 4 does not appear to work with the regular version of CrossOver, it only works with CrossOver Games.  This is due to bugs in Apple's X11 implementation that causes OpenGL to fail in standalone versions of WINE and Darwine (and on the Mac nearly everything, including "software" rendering utilizes OpenGL at some level) .  The installer may work with the actual first CD, but the installer has trouble recognizing the second one when it needs it.  The test system is an 8-core 2.8GHz Mac Pro (2008) with 4GB of RAM and the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT running OS X 10.5.4 Leopard.  ATI or even other NVIDIA cards could produce significantly different results, so beware.  

1.  Install CrossOver Games if you haven't already
2.  Mount both CD disc images in the Finder.  CrossOver should start by itself
3.  Click the "Express Install" button for CD 1"
4.  Enter your serial number and proceed with the Windows installer
5.  After a few minutes, the installer will hang, click the "Force Installer Completion" button
6.  Manually install any .dat or .sgr files from CD 2 if they didn't copy over, the install location is:
        /Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Application Support/CrossOver Games/Bottles/winxp/drive_c/Program Files/Maxis/SimCity 4 Deluxe
7. 

 The Digital Rights Management (DRM) software in this program
 prevents it from running in CrossOver.  If you are in a legal jurisdiction
 which allows removal of such software, you may have luck running this  
 program.  Unfortunately, CodeWeavers, because they are subject to the
 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, will be unable to support you.


You can now launch SimCity from the "Programs" menu in Crossover.  If it uses an incorrect resolution, you can change it on your next relaunch.  To do that go to "Programs" "Run Command..." and paste in the following:
/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library/Application Support/CrossOver Games/Bottles/winxp/drive_c/Program Files/Maxis/SimCity 4 Deluxe/Apps/simcity 4.exe -CustomResolution:enabled -r1680x1050x32

In this case it will enable a resolution of 1680x1050 at millions of colors (32 bit).  Other flags such as "-intro:off" or "-w" don't always work.  

The installer will create a SimCity 4 folder in your documents folder.  If you already have one from the Mac version, it will use it, and on your first launch you should see your current region.  If you have another existing SimCity 4 documents folder that you want to use, copy the Plugins and Regions folders into the one the Windows installer created.  

It's important to note that SimCity 4 on Crossover is very particular about placement of plugin files.  I've spent weeks tracking down very frequent crashes, but it's allowed me to keep all my custom buildings, lots, and mods.  Keep all 3rd party bats, lots, props, textures, and mods (including the Network Addon Mod) in your documents plugins folder:
/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins

Landmarks downloaded from Maxis and the bldgprop .dat files need to be in the application plugins folder:
/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library/Application Support/CrossOver Games/Bottles/winxp/drive_c/Program Files/Maxis/SimCity 4 Deluxe/Plugins

This setup is the most stable for me, but if you have crashing problems, try moving/removing plugins between those folders.  I've broken down my documents plugins folder into Bats and Lots, Mods, Network Addon Mod, and Props and Textures.  The landmark and other .dat files in the application plugins folder are just placed straight in the folder.

Rendering modes are somewhat of a double-edged sword.  SimCity 4 for Windows supports DirectX and Software rendering officially, and OpenGL unofficially.  On the Mac, Software and OpenGL operate the same.  DirectX is faster and smoother, but vehicles and pedestrians disappear and reappear randomly.  Also, buildings under construction tend to flicker and break apart while the scaffolding is "growing".  Software/OpenGL isn't quite as fluid as DirectX, but it's still much better than the Mac version.  Vehicles and pedestrians render properly, but anytime you hover your cursor over a tool or building, the tooltip/bubble or highlight can cause flickering when you move the mouse away.  Waiting a few seconds or scrolling the screen will erase the flickering areas.  Also, shadows only render in their lowest quality with OpenGL.  The game's custom cursor does not show up in either rendering mode. To try to fix the aforementioned video glitches, I've tried installing in Windows 98 and Windows 2000 bottles, tweaking the video cards and graphics rules .sgr files, and adjusting overrides in Wine Config, but nothing produced any change, let alone a fix.

If you can get around the visual glitches, the game is much much more fluid and responsive than either the PPC or beta Universal Binary Mac versions.  Distressed/dilapidated buildings also show dirt and grime, as opposed to just being colored darker, and time also proceeds much faster as well.  The heavy-hitting NAM traffic controller plugins can still slam the game pretty hard, but not to the extent that it does on the Mac version.  For instance, playing a large city with about 300,000 people, the "A" or "Perfect Pathfinding" plugins would cause frequent long pauses in game time (lasting several minutes) and when time did run, it would barely crawl by at low speed.  With the Windows version on CrossOver, those pauses are virtually eliminated, and time generally runs at least on medium.  Of course, the complexity of your city and computing power will have an effect on speed and fluidity.