SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition Makes Triumphant Return to the Mac

[diamonddog_74 32]

Wow! Thanks for the tutorial sargeantcm.

 

I am tech-savvy, so I'm not afraid of some experimentation (I'm an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator). I just didn't want to be forced to run VM's or dual boot in my shiny new computer just to run this ancient game. I just finished playing Diablo III running natively on this machine, and I got great performance.

 

However, like I said in my comment under the announcement thread, I'm willing to give this new Mac version a chance before I condemn it, and be forced to fall back to the Windows version that needs to run in a VM, Boot Camp, or Wine.

 

Sure, this initial release may lack the EP-1 Update and Patch4BAT, but that doesn't mean Aspyr won't update the app. I regularly receive updates for other Mac App Store purchases, so I'd like to think that by re-releasing this game now for modern Macs, Aspyr has committed to support it with regular updates as well. They've done a lot to modernize it already by making it Intel Mac OS X native, multi-core aware, and supporting higher resolutions out of the box (no fiddling with funky startup commands).

 

I run Windows 7 under VMWare Fusion in my work computer. I'll use it to run this Amazon "downloader.exe" to get the ISO. At least I'll have options just in case it doesn't work out with the Mac app.

[Luk0872 25]

Hi

 

I recently bout the new Apsyre version of SC4, it just works fine on my Mac Pro 3.1 

A lot of mod and skins works just fine but I am not able to get Nam 30 or 31 to work. 

I can build everything with nam 31 but when i swicht from paus to slow or fast the game freeze.

I hope that it is a easy fix for the nam team.

[bluegoose 2]

For those experiencing beachballing when using NAM, deleting NetworkAddonMod_Bridges_Plugin_Controller.dat eliminated the problem for me.

Not for me, sadly (MacBook Pro-2012, Mavericks)

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

whoa, it's more than a decade since i touched SC4.. runs pretty well on Maverick!

Can't seem to find NAM download for mac tho

The NAM team announced with Version 31 that MAC support had been discontinued.  If plugins work at all, the best bet would be to extract the NAM on a windows machine or on wine, then port the files to the proper plugin directory.

 

The reason for the discontinuance was never given, but I expect that is was because of the new, fancy Windows only installer.

 

The files are all data, not executables, so if plugins work at all, this should be OK.  In the foregoing discussion, however, certain NAM files have to be removed to prevent lockups.  Suggest a thorough reading of this thread from the top.

  Edited April 14, 2014 by A Nonny Moose  

[bluegoose 2]

Just a suggestion: A new thread for NAM for Mac.

 

I can't offer any technical support to get NAM working on Mac OSX; all I know is It's not working on My Mac (despite removing NetworkAddonMod_Bridges_Plugin_Controller.dat) and I want NAM in my SC4 world!!!!

[Tarkus 6,933]

In light of the recent posts, i thought I'd give a little insight on the NAM end of things.

 

There's a few factors that played into our previous decision to drop NAM for Mac support.  A small part of it did have to do with our repackaging of the NAM as an all-in-one package with NAM 31.  The compression ratio we get on the NSIS Installer is considerably better than even a .rar or .7z file, and even with that, the Windows installer package is still in the neighborhood of 250MB.  As an experiment, I tried putting all those files into a .zip file, like the old Mac version--it came out to somewhere around 900MB.  It's one thing trying to distribute a 250MB package, and the prospect of approaching the 1GB mark, for a package that would have to be manually installed to boot, was unfathomable. 

 

We began to look at a few other aspects of the Mac situation.  Using download statistics from NAM 30, we determined 96% of NAM users downloaded the Windows version, and the other 4% downloaded the Mac version.  As there were historically some more advanced Windows users who preferred doing things manually rather than using the installer, a portion of that 4% was actually Windows users masquerading as Mac users.  The next factor that came into play was the inexplicable post-Rosetta CTD issue.  No one on the team, with the know-how to address the issue, had access to the Mac port, and the Mac userbase was unable to use any of the tools that would be necessary to look into the matter themselves.  We had literally no idea whatsoever as to why the Bridge Controller and a couple other files caused CTDs, and more problematically, no way of realistically finding out, and it seemed like Aspyr had effectively discontinued their support of SC4 after the unfinished Universal Binary patch.  Inexplicably, despite no changes to the High Elevated El-Rail and Monorail Plugins between NAM 30 and 31, we got reports that those files no longer caused issues, and we've since learned that other files yet have since become CTD causes.

 

We looked at the size of the userbase that was using 10.6 and earlier with the Mac port, and determined it was rapidly shrinking, and a number of the users who were on newer versions of OS X had successfully gotten the Windows version to run, either using a dual-boot or some flavor of WINE, and were thus capable of running the installer.  We eventually discovered that the Mac OS X extraction tool Keka was capable of opening an NSIS .exe as if it were an .zip archive, and came to the conclusion that uploading a 250MB "Windows" file and a 900MB manual install "Mac" file was pointless, so we killed the separate download.  In its place were barebones at-your-own-risk instructions, intended for the 10.6 and earlier crowd (estimated at about 1-2% of the userbase--not enough to merit creating a whole new separate installer package), on how to accomplish that manual extraction.  Because of the increased prevalence of the post-Rosetta OS X versions and potential for confusion, we dropped all tech support for Mac users, especially as we didn't find the idea of the tedious out-restart-in-restart-out-restart procedure, devised by some more hardcore Mac port users, to be a reasonable expectation for the userbase (see the Diagonal Bridge Enabler fiasco), and such a method rendered the Mac port entirely LHD-incompatible.

 

Since Aspyr has renewed their commitment to the port, and one of the brightest minds on the NAM Team (memo) now owns a copy, we have begun investigating the issues that still plague this new version's interactions with vital NAM components.  There are still some technical matters to work out, and we're not going to have a shiny new NAM for Mac with a working Bridge Controller and an installer tomorrow, but we are on the case now.

 

-Tarkus

 

Edit: Minor grammatical fixes relating to my relentless rewording in the original posting.

[diamonddog_74 32]

Thanks for the news, Tarkus.

 

It makes sense that you guys decided to drop support for the original Mac version because it was pretty much dead. I am one of those Mac users who ended up just running the Windows version under Boot Camp in my Intel iMac that just died a month ago after seven years of service.

 

As memo most likely already found, the EP1 Update is part of this new Mac version. It is very clearly listed in the GameData folder in the application bundle as you can see in my screen shot below.

 

 

I don't know if Aspyr also applied the Patch4BAT update, but from some of the previous posts in this thread, it seems nightlighting on some BATs is not working so maybe they didn't. Aspyr doesn't have a technical blog on their website going into detail about what they did and didn't do. All we got is the information from their product description in which they don't go into too much detail. However, from the minimum reqs, we know that they at least made it multi-core aware, and able to play at higher resolutions.

 

From the Mac's System Information app, we can also see that they didn't convert it to a 64-bit app. However, given the age of the game, I don't think it matters:

 

[MayorTim 16]

Excellent news, Tarkus. I'm officially exited.   I managed to get the NAM running by deleting the previously mentioned files, however I get a crash to desktop when making any neighbor connections now. Anyone else experience this?

 

Also, I second the creation of a new NAM Mac thread, even if only to discuss possibilities and known issues.

[Tarkus 6,933]

You're welcome on the update.  We can actually investigate the reported Mac port-specific issues now, so a thread might not be a bad idea.  It'd probably work best if it was started by someone on the dev team, so we can give an official, updated status on things.

 

 

As memo most likely already found, the EP1 Update is part of this new Mac version. It is very clearly listed in the GameData folder in the application bundle as you can see in my screen shot below.

 

 

 

That file name is definitely hope-inducing, but unfortunately, EP1.dat is actually part of the game's initial install, and not related to the patch, but rather, to Rush Hour/Deluxe.  My retail SC4 Deluxe Disc 2, purchased over 10 years ago, contains that file.  It's interesting that they've labeled it as simply 1.1.0, as the original unpatched version of Deluxe from EA/Maxis was 1.1.610 (though some regions actually used 1.1.613, IIRC).  Don't know if that's an Aspyr's own version number for the port, or if it's simply an error.

 

-Tarkus

[diamonddog_74 32]

Ah, thanks for the correction, Tarkus. Yes, I guess I was fooled by the name of that file.

[2four 21]

Bought SC4 Deluxe from the Apple Store this evening.

 

First impression is that I feel like I'm playing a pc version of the game, it moves... FAST!

The scrolling is sooo sweet!

 

Thank you Aspyr for a job well done!

I can now play this at my cottage on those lonely, long, rainy nights without an internet connection and really, lets be honest here...

SC4 is way better then SC2013.

 

I'm running a clean install without any plug-ins. Gotta say I really miss my roundabouts :-)

Hope one day to be brave enough to install NAM.

 

[2four 21]

I was late for work this morning!

My life is ruined now, thanks Aspyr! lol!

[ZeusAV 20]

Very excited to see a proper version of this game finally coming to the Mac.  Question for those who downloaded already.  Can you just simply copy all of your regions from the Windows version over into this Mac version?  I've been playing SC4 for well over 7 years now and would hate to not be able to bring in all of the regions that I've worked on.  So far I've been running the game through Bootcamp which is frustrating because I have to restart the computer just to play it.  Also how are the plugins working out as far as copying them over from the Windows version?  I'm mostly concerned about the NAM and other traffic/highway related add-ons.  I can do without the custom buildings if necessary.

 

Lastly, any noticeable performance boost over the Windows version running on Macs via Bootcamp?  Right now I have to save very often because the game is liable to just shut down on its own out of nowhere at times.  

 

Specs on my MBP:

- Late 2011 13" 2.8Ghz i7

- 16GB RAM

- 256GB SSD (the current Bootcamp partition runs off this drive)

- 1TB HDD

[Sabretooth78 808]

Very excited to see a proper version of this game finally coming to the Mac. Question for those who downloaded already. Can you just simply copy all of your regions from the Windows version over into this Mac version?

I had no issues copying the regions over; that much should work well. Of course, if your region(s) utilize various 3rd party content which may or may not work...your results may vary.

Plugins, well that's another issue, so you may need to do some testing. The NAM supposedly works if you remove some files (described in store detail in this thread).

[Captain_Heath 18]

Posting to show my interest in a NAM fix for mac. It runs great on my iMac without any plugins, but I remember back to my pc days ~10yrs ago with all those dope mods that really added flavor to the experience. 

[Luk0872 25]

Hi

 

Is anyone of you able to run the game with more than 1.89 GB of plugins. My CS4 runs fine with up to 1.89GB of plugins but crashes mit 1.9 GB or more plugins.

Has the re-release some kind of plugin limit or why is this happening ?!!!

[ZeusAV 20]

 

Very excited to see a proper version of this game finally coming to the Mac. Question for those who downloaded already. Can you just simply copy all of your regions from the Windows version over into this Mac version?

I had no issues copying the regions over; that much should work well. Of course, if your region(s) utilize various 3rd party content which may or may not work...your results may vary.

Plugins, well that's another issue, so you may need to do some testing. The NAM supposedly works if you remove some files (described in store detail in this thread).

 

Sounds good then.  I'm going to go ahead and purchase it.  Guess I'll have to test out the mods to see which ones work and which ones don't.

[Blerg-bot 5000 0]

Hi, I'm new to Sim City 4 - saw that it came out on Mac (again) and bought it on a whim.

 

I've been playing for a few days, and I'm not really interested in keeping the budget going - Is there a way to either give me unlimited money, or else, use ctrl-X to grab more that $1000 at a time?

 

Thanks!

[Sabretooth78 808]

You can try the "ExtraCheats.dll", installed into the "gamedata" plugins folder.  Assuming it works (I didn't get so far as to test it).  Then you could just use the "moolah" cheat - type "moolah x", (less quotes) where x is the total funds balance you want (so theoretically you could probably also challenge yourself by diving deep into debt).  I think it's good up to 9,999,999,999 or something like that.

[NCGAIO 562]

You can try the "ExtraCheats.dll", installed into the "gamedata" plugins folder.  Assuming it works (I didn't get so far as to test it).  Then you could just use the "moolah" cheat - type "moolah x", (less quotes) where x is the total funds balance you want (so theoretically you could probably also challenge yourself by diving deep into debt).  I think it's good up to 9,999,999,999 or something like that.

Unfortunately it will not work for the simplest of reasons because extracheats plugin and actually a  librarie (DLL) for  windows loaded by the game on startup.

[gweed123 33]

So none of the regions that I copied over from the old Simcity folder seem to load into the new SC4. The only ones that show up are the default ones that come with the game. I can't even get to the point where I can test NAM and plugins, because I can't load any of my regions in order to test them! Any ideas?

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I was using the Package Contents path, when it's actually in the Library path. I am running into the same >1.9GB problem though with the plug-ins. Weird.

[His Divine Hand 244]

Hi

 

Is anyone of you able to run the game with more than 1.89 GB of plugins. My CS4 runs fine with up to 1.89GB of plugins but crashes mit 1.9 GB or more plugins.

Has the re-release some kind of plugin limit or why is this happening ?!!!

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I was using the Package Contents path, when it's actually in the Library path. I am running into the same >1.9GB problem though with the plug-ins. Weird.

 

I being a long time Mac player of SC4 had noticed a similar problem with Aspyr's previous version of the game, though it was not a set limit.  I noticed that the problem occurred on my older, main machine at 2.1 gigs of plugins but on a newer laptop it happened at 2.9 gigs.  The limit also could be increased by dat-packing files, though .dat files still add up to this "limit."

[regionlong 3]

I'm not sure if any of you had this problem, but when opening 4 of my major cities (population over 55,000) the game will crash directly. This being said, other smaller cities still run perfectly. I suspect this might have something to do with individual plugins, so I removed all the plugins from the plugin folders and re-run the game. The same problem still happens. Anyone have this problem / know what is happening to my game?

[NCGAIO 562]

I've read the thread, and, unless I missed it, I haven't seen anyone mention whether or not the nightlights for custom content works. Does it?

Nope ... despite being only a change in the relationship between identification of files seems like it was not this time.

[MayorTim 16]

 

Hi

 

Is anyone of you able to run the game with more than 1.89 GB of plugins. My CS4 runs fine with up to 1.89GB of plugins but crashes mit 1.9 GB or more plugins.

Has the re-release some kind of plugin limit or why is this happening ?!!!

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I was using the Package Contents path, when it's actually in the Library path. I am running into the same >1.9GB problem though with the plug-ins. Weird.

 

I being a long time Mac player of SC4 had noticed a similar problem with Aspyr's previous version of the game, though it was not a set limit.  I noticed that the problem occurred on my older, main machine at 2.1 gigs of plugins but on a newer laptop it happened at 2.9 gigs.  The limit also could be increased by dat-packing files, though .dat files still add up to this "limit."

 

 

My plugins folder is currently at 2.3gb, no problems thus far. I'll let everyone know if I do hit a limit, though.

[gweed123 33]

My plugins folder is currently at 2.3gb, no problems thus far. I'll let everyone know if I do hit a limit, though.

 

Very strange. I noticed mine was actually at 1.4GB. I had to take files out until it actually worked. If it was over the 1.4GB limit, it would load with a regular mouse instead of the stylized SC4 mouse, and then as soon as the region view loaded, it would crash. But if it was under the limit, everything worked just fine.

[MayorTim 16]

I suppose I spoke too soon, just hit the limit at 2.4gb. However, now I have to remove files until I'm down to 1.9gb in order for it to work again. Ridiculously frustrating, because now in order to get the game to work I have to remove essential files, which make the game not work.

 

I seriously hope there's a way to fix this error, or my days of playing Simcity are probably over yet again.

[His Divine Hand 244]

I suppose I spoke too soon, just hit the limit at 2.4gb. However, now I have to remove files until I'm down to 1.9gb in order for it to work again. Ridiculously frustrating, because now in order to get the game to work I have to remove essential files, which make the game not work.

 

I seriously hope there's a way to fix this error, or my days of playing Simcity are probably over yet again.

Do you have boot camp, parallels, or any other window emulating capabilities on your Mac?  If you do, and have Dat Packer, you could try dat packing your files.  I found in my case with the earlier version of Aspyr's port that dat packed files counted "less" towards this limit, essentially allowing you to get more gigs of files in your plugins folder.  

[MayorTim 16]

I attempted it, and with everything datpacked was able to get the game to start normally and open my region, but it will now crash when opening cities.

 

Edit: I guess I should note that I did not datpack the NAM, or any of my mods, so that shouldn't be the issue.

[TEG24601 32]

I attempted it, and with everything datpacked was able to get the game to start normally and open my region, but it will now crash when opening cities.

 

Edit: I guess I should note that I did not datpack the NAM, or any of my mods, so that shouldn't be the issue.

Remove the "NetworkAddonMod_Bridges_Plugin_Controller.dat" and try again.  There are also issues with custom EL and Monorail items, and HSR.