Intel Mac Users

[dsl4c 0]

I guess this is a new topic devoted to those who run intel macs.. Currently SimCity4 Rush Hour for Mac is PPC only, and has to be translated by Rosetta to play on the new Intel mac.. or.. you can install Boot Camp, Buy/Install Windows, Buy the PC version of the game and then reboot everytime you want to play.. The Windows solution sounds like the best way so far, considering you'd be playing the full pc game on native hardware.. but what are the other options we have? Bochs? CrossOver? WINE? what do you think? is there a better way to play simcity4 on our intel macs, without having to install Windows? what have been your experiments so far, and success stories?

[jrvegeeta 0]

It seems to run fine for me. Rosetta works pretty well for most programs.

[callagrafx 3]

I have SC4 DL on Macbook Pro 2.16Ghz running OS X 10.4.8 and it runs OK..about 30 sec to load in an unterraformed, blank 4x4 city. I also have SC4 DL with the same plugins/terrain mods etc on XP using bootcamp and it takes 4.5 secs to load in the same city. The problem isn't Rosetta but the Aspyr port. The bootcamp/XP route is the better one. I am a stalwart mac user and have been for over 12 years, but truth be told the game just runs better under XP...although the graphics look much better and clearer on OS X

[Qaxpla 0]

At the moment, I just installed SC4 on my macbook since I haven't the room on the HDD to install bootcamp, windows and SC4. It's definitely not as good, whether the UB Patch will make it any different (whenever they release it), im not sure. i hope it'll be faster since it won't be translating through rosetta. but i'm planning on buying a bigger HDD sometime soon so I can then bootcamp etc, this is if the patch isn't released in the next 2 months anyway.

I have a macbook 1.83ghz, 512MB ram, so it isn't the most ideal machine to be running SimCity 4 on, however with more Ram and the UB Patch - i'm sure it'll be nicer. it's okay to run now just a big laggy in some parts.

[kloppenator 0]

im running sc4 deluxe pm my 20inch intel with 1g ram

its not the smoothest, and at times probably stalls for about a minute, but its really jumpy anyway

no other apps are open.

help?

[Qaxpla 0]

it's probably just because it's running through rosetta. obviously rosetta is having to translate the game so it'll run on the Intel Processor under the assumption its PPC, so until the Universal Binary is out by Aspyr, got a bit of a struggle unfortuantely.

[corryzahn 0]

I just moved to mac, so I've had it on PC since SC4 came out. I've installed boot camp and I'm running under windows... mostly because I didn't want to start my cities all over again...

And I have too many mods from the PC side to start all over again.

[jeffypop 0]

Kay, I'm a newbie too.  Just under a month now.  I'm willing to try bootcamp, but if it doesn't work... can I undo the partition or am I gonna be stuck with it until I reformat the entire computer?  I don't want to partition for nothing.

[kbooms1w 1]

Takes a few clicks to wipe out the Windows partition, without touching the Mac side. It's pretty easy, just read everything before you start, it'll be fine.

[jeffypop 0]

Hmm... yeah, everything seemed okay at first. I got it partitioned and everything... but then when it rebooted it gave me a blank screen and didn't start the XP installation. I left it for 30 min (cuz a lot of people on other boards said they encountered the same issue DURING the actual setup process, but it eventually corrected itself)... alas, for me, nothing happened. So I rebooted and now every time I try to boot into XP, it gives me the blank screen. I'll try a fresh install once more, but has anyone else experienced this problem? Like I said, most people get it during the driver installation or somewhere else in the XP setup... but for me it happens right at reboot.

Maybe I should just buy the mac version of the game... but I have a billion plugins already. Can I just copy the already-extracted ones to the mac, or are there compatibility issues? And does it work on intel macs, because supposedly it won't without a plugin that's offered on the aspyr site... and that said, I can't find it anywhere. Clearly, I'm too confused to know which direction to go in. I don't know what decision to make. I've read bad reviews of the mac-version. But I have been playing Sim City since the old skool days and I get antsy when I have to spend so much time without it.

[bluegoose 2]

Please Help! I have installed XP Home and SC4 Deluxe (for Windows) on my MacBook Pro. Two things: first, for some reason, I can't find a way to launch the game! I've been playing SC4 for years on my PC (with XP Home), so it baffles me that this is so. Secondly, the time that I did play SC4, immediately following the install, my fan was running non-stop, even after ejecting the disk.

[dsl4c 0]

I was thinking outside the box, and not about bootcamp+windows, nor the mac version.. I was assuming someone, or anyone had luck compiling the PC version under bochs, cross over, or WINE to be used with X11 on the mac.. nothing against the mac version, its running full speed on my 2.66 Quad-Xeon Mac pro, but looking for more of an intel alternative soultion.. guess this is the wrong forum to discuss compiling the pc version under WINE for the mac, sorry for the confusion.. but glad to hear so many people having good luck with simcity on their intel macs.

[Kakaze 0]

Originally posted by: corryzahn

I just moved to mac, so I've had it on PC since SC4 came out. I've installed boot camp and I'm running under windows... mostly because I didn't want to start my cities all over again...

And I have too many mods from the PC side to start all over again.quote>

The cities and plugins will work on either version of SC4...there's no need to start over by switching to the Mac version. But it's going to run better for you under Windows anyway so it's best to just stick with it for now until Aspyr gets off their asses and releases a Universal version. Being as they seem to be focusing more on PC games now, however, it's unknown when that will happen if ever...even though they say they're "working" on one.

[kbooms1w 1]

Originally posted by: jeffypop Hmm... yeah, everything seemed okay at first. I got it partitioned and everything... but then when it rebooted it gave me a blank screen and didn't start the XP installation. I left it for 30 min (cuz a lot of people on other boards said they encountered the same issue DURING the actual setup process, but it eventually corrected itself)... alas, for me, nothing happened. So I rebooted and now every time I try to boot into XP, it gives me the blank screen. I'll try a fresh install once more, but has anyone else experienced this problem? Like I said, most people get it during the driver installation or somewhere else in the XP setup... but for me it happens right at reboot.

Maybe I should just buy the mac version of the game... but I have a billion plugins already. Can I just copy the already-extracted ones to the mac, or are there compatibility issues? And does it work on intel macs, because supposedly it won't without a plugin that's offered on the aspyr site... and that said, I can't find it anywhere. Clearly, I'm too confused to know which direction to go in. I don't know what decision to make. I've read bad reviews of the mac-version. But I have been playing Sim City since the old skool days and I get antsy when I have to spend so much time without it. quote>

I'm not sure about your specific problem. I had 2 problems with Windows, first the Windows disc was too fat and wouldn't finish the installation, corrected that by copying the Windows disc to a blank and it installed fine. Second, I use to have problems with peripherals, in that Windows wouldn't recognize my external HD (used for back up only, not start up or anything else). Maybe try disconnecting any external devices on the Mac side before booting on XP? I know it seems minor, but it was enough to stop the booting process on mine, could be something similar? If not, the Apple forums are your best bet, though it sounds like you've been in there. Good luck.

[jeffypop 0]

Yeah... maybe it's fat. I dunno... I can hear it trying to read, but it never takes. And yeah, the mac boards weren't much help. Thanks though! I'll try copying the disc.

[dsl4c 0]

did you burn the windows drivers from the mac side before installing windows?

[kbooms1w 1]

No, I went to a friends and burned it on her PC, but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do it on your Mac.

jeffypop, if you can hear it, that may the problem, it shouldn't be that loud.

Those were my only two glitches, other than the overall problem of Windows sucking ;-)

[dsl4c 0]

apple's bootcamp software requires you to burn mac hardware drivers to a cd before install windows... its a well documented requirement on the bootcamp page.. when it doubt read the directions (link to pdf).. http://images.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/pdf/Boot_Camp_Beta_Setup_Guide_en.pdf

hope it helps someone having problems getting bootcamp to work.

[bombcar 12]

I run it native under Mac OS X using the beta Universal Patch.

http://support.aspyr.com/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&root=87&id=441

[schradinator 0]

Originally posted by: bombcar I run it native under Mac OS X using the beta Universal Patch.

http://support.aspyr.com/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&root=87&id=441quote>

Have you noticed any improvement in performance since the patch?  Will be getting a MB Pro for work soon and will probably just consolidate my whole life onto one machine. 

[bombcar 12]

I didn't even try running it in Rosetta - and performance with the patch on my MacBook Pro is much better than it ever was on my Powerbook G4.

[renerecato 0]

I just installed Windows Vista (32-bit) onto my MacBook Pro 2.33 ghz through Parallels and I tried to install SimCity 4. It looked like it installed just fine, but I can't get the game to start. I get this error message: CANNOT LOCATE THE SIMCITY 4 DELUXE PLAY DISK. PLEASE INSERT THE SIMCITY 4 DELUXE PLAY DISK, SELECT OK AND RESTART THE GAME.

Can anybody help??!!!

[bwatterud 7]

From what I've heard, Paralells is kind of screwy when it comes to games. In addition to that issue, Paralells doesn't access the video card, so the game would run like crap if you did get it going (please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just going with what I've heard). The best option for games is Boot Camp.

[renerecato 0]

thanks bwatt.  it was parallels.  i followed the link to bootcamp beta and now i can run simcity 4 just fine.

thank God they're including boot camp standard with Leopard.

[dmscopio 225]

Maybe this has been asked before. It there a way to adjust the resolution when running SC4 on a macbook pro(in windows XP with bootcamp)? I runs it on my macbook pro, everything seems fine except for the resolution, the image been stracthed out to both side to fits the wide screen and it looks really bad. How do I change it to the normal resolution?

[Kakaze 0]

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=147&threadid=79378&enterthread=y

[captjoe 0]

Hi all,

I have a NAM related question. I'm running SC4 Deluxe on a 20" iMac with dual Intel chips. I installed the NAM radical special traffic plugin because I wanted to increase the capacity on my mass transit stations (rail, subway, monorail). When I query usage in my stations, they still show the usual 'over capacity' data - but transit dude Jamil isn't popping up to tell me that this is a problem.

Is this how the plugin is supposed to work? IOW, showing me the default capacity data? Or should I remove the radical special plugin and use the 5x capacity plugin instead?

Thanks,

CJ

[keefpirate 0]

I have this game and I'm on an intel iMac. I installed it as normal and it plays fine, so not sure about peopel saying that it's PPC only.

[Jacob Rock 0]

I originally had Boot Camp, but found that it was annoying switching between Mac and Windows and constantly rebooting the computer. I always had to go back to Mac to use any other programs because they were not installed on Windows. I couldn't put those Mac programs on Windows because they would only work on a Mac! So to stop wasting time switching back and forth, I decided to suck it up and play the Mac version. Also, if you don't have a copy of Windows laying around, it could be very costly to do if you were only going to use Windows to play SimCity. I, fortunately, had a friend across the hall that had a spare Windows XP install disk. Who brings something like that to college! Honestly!

[Artman94 2]

Not sure if this is the right thread or not, but...how come when I play SC4 on my iMac (intel) sometimes there are stripes of nothing in the game (let's say, for example, when i zone a farm, or anything, there are stripes of the original terrain textures underneath...is there some graphics problem in here?