Did someone test playing SimCity 4 on Windows 10?

[Sabretooth78 808]

I'm going to try El Capitan at some point, probably around (our) Thanksgiving weekend when I might feel a little more inclined to wasting the time.  Also by then the x.x.1 update should be out which should squash most of the nuisances which will invariably plague today's release - Apple has been becoming quite Microsoft-ish in their software writing the past 5 years or so IMHO.  I want to see how much it improves upon that disaster called Yosemite.  By most accounts I had read over on MacRumors, it has as it would seem to mostly be a much-needed "under the hood" update.

Honestly, the determinant in me keeping it will be how it runs SC4 in Wine with only 1 processor active (you can do this with XCode; the CPUCount tag is useless in Wine on a Mac as I have discovered).  Under Yosemite, it ran terribly and that was the straw that broke the camel's back (I had nothing but problems with it).  Meanwhile, back down on Mavericks it runs quite well.  Multi-tasking can be sluggish (but not really too bad), but that's to be expected.

[MintberryCrunch 83]

Are people who are playing Sim City on Mac using a non-Retina screen computer? The only Mac I have has a Retina screen--it seems like maybe the game wouldn't run too well on that, or at least it would appear very small. I've never tried to run SC4 on my Mac, but I've considered it...

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Just remember that El Capitan is a rock formation is Yosemite in RL.  And Yosemite is a super-volcano that might let go at any time.

[Sabretooth78 808]

Are people who are playing Sim City on Mac using a non-Retina screen computer? The only Mac I have has a Retina screen--it seems like maybe the game wouldn't run too well on that, or at least it would appear very small. I've never tried to run SC4 on my Mac, but I've considered it...

I bought one of the last non-retina offerings, and on purpose.  I'm not thrilled with the non-upgradeable architecture and I don't really see the benefit of the extra pixels which really just give the GPU more work.  My 3 cents anyway.  I'm also happy I bought my Mac Mini just around the time that line peaked and before they started neutering it with the latest release.  The whole Mac line is really not going anywhere good as far as I can tell.

 

Just remember that El Capitan is a rock formation is Yosemite in RL.  And Yosemite is a super-volcano that might let go at any time.

Yeah, it goes with their trends in naming.  10.6 Snow Leopard (in my opinion the most rock-solid iteration of the series) was just an "under the hood" refinement of 10.5 Leopard (which they famously marketed as having "Zero new features").  Seeing as 10.11 is supposed to be roughly an equivalent, it makes sense.  And it's needed.  I switched from Windows back to Mac almost 7 years ago and the decline in quality in the OS has been quite noticeable - or maybe it's just that the initial bump from departing the Windows has faded.  Don't think so, though, judging by my experience trying to get my father's Vista laptop just to open a web browser.  Some things you just never forget.

If you want my real opinion, 10.10 should have been named OS X Fresh Kills.

[MintberryCrunch 83]

Just remember that El Capitan is a rock formation is Yosemite in RL.  And Yosemite is a super-volcano that might let go at any time.

That's Yellowstone, not Yosemite  The other Y-national park

As a Californian, I love the California-themed names. But come on, when are they going to create OS XI? Or is that just never going to happen? But I guess we'll find out after Version 10.100

  Edited September 30, 2015 by MintberryCrunch  

[John Dief 0]

I have the disc version of SC4 but since I found out there were issues running it on Windows 10, I got the digital version from Origin with the codes from the box. The game still won't play. Looking for suggestions for things to get it to play. I click on the game from the launcher, the mouse icon spins then stops and nothing happens. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm getting really frustrated. 

[Prophet42 1,503]

I have the disc version of SC4 but since I found out there were issues running it on Windows 10, I got the digital version from Origin with the codes from the box. The game still won't play. Looking for suggestions for things to get it to play. I click on the game from the launcher, the mouse icon spins then stops and nothing happens. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm getting really frustrated. 

Did you uninstall the disk copy first before installing the digital copy?  If not, uninstall any version of SC4 from the computer, reboot, then install the digital copy.  Make sure you back up your SC4 folder in My Documents first (or whatever it is called in Windows 10).  See if that does the trick.  If not we will have to do some further trouble shooting.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

One thing that will cause the game to quit during start up is a lack of an accelerated sound system connected either to speakers or a headset.

[shootthetiki6 0]

Ever since I installed Windows 10 on my laptop, I can't play SimCity 4. I've tried the SC4 Launcher to see if that works, but it doesn't.

I'm not sure what to do about this issue. Any ideas?

[_Michael 2,681]

Ever since I installed Windows 10 on my laptop, I can't play SimCity 4. I've tried the SC4 Launcher to see if that works, but it doesn't.

I'm not sure what to do about this issue. Any ideas?

Are you using a CD version of the game? Because W10 and a update to W7 blocks the CD versions from starting by removing a obsolete anti-piracy thing. There are workarounds, but the easiest thing to do is buy the game from an online vendor such as gog.com, Steam, etc.

[rsc204 21,866]

Ever since I installed Windows 10 on my laptop, I can't play SimCity 4. I've tried the SC4 Launcher to see if that works, but it doesn't.

I'm not sure what to do about this issue. Any ideas?

Are you using a CD version of the game? Because W10 and a update to W7 blocks the CD versions from starting by removing a obsolete anti-piracy thing. There are workarounds, but the easiest thing to do is buy the game from an online vendor such as gog.com, Steam, etc.

Those workarounds only apply to Vista, 7 and 8 users. If you have Win10, this feature is permanently disabled and affects lots of games, not just SC4.

[Lost-In-Sofia 20]

I have no problem at all. I use Quick Laucher to dive in. AMD card with anisotropic 16x and it looks darn good!

[rsc204 21,866]

But the specific issue discussed here only applies to the CD version. The digital versions don't rely on Safe disc and are not affected by this issue. Outside of that, SC4 does indeed run fine under Windows 10.

[FpsFailure 0]

Not sure if this has been said before, but if you have a copy of win 7 or 8 lying arround you could use virtual box to play SC4, while keeping win 10 on your actual pc, especially if you had the downloadable one, just sayin c:

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

If you have the digital download, it runs just fine on any edition of windows.  See the thread in Bugs and Tech. Issues on the Vista through 8 update that can be removed to run from CD.  There is no answer for 10.

[iallen4 0]

Hi is it possible to get a free digital copy off Origin?

I tried entering the game code on the back of the guide into Origin's 'enter game code' box, but it said the code was invalid. 

I also tried this with Steam: same result.

[rsc204 21,866]

Why not speak to Origin Customer Support? I'm not sure what you think anyone here can do about this?

[P-Daawg 0]

YAAY, i got my CD version to work, i installed origin and left it open. i then installed the game using compatability mode of xp sp3 (on both autorun and setup) the game installed fine. the original exe wouldnt open the game so i changed it 'cough' set that to compatability of xp sp3 and the game ran after that. uninstalled origin and the game still works.

sc4 now runs on my windows 10 pc. hope it works for you too.

 

the only other thing i did was to try and redeem my original code in origin and that came back as invalid (not happy after paying for this disc several years ago, and i was not gonna pay again) i then tried to add a game from my hard drive to origin - even though sc4 was not installed at this point. i dont think these things contributed to getting the game to work, but thats the only other things i did.

[rsc204 21,866]

8 hours ago, P-Daawg said:

 the original exe wouldnt open the game so i changed it 'cough'

Well subtlety aside, what you've likely achieved here is removing some of the patches from the games code, making your game prone to problems fixed in 2003/4 by Maxis. Additionally NAM installation will now fail every time you try to install it. Not to mention, who knows what problems you could potentially be opening yourself up to, in terms of security vulnerabilities.

So yeah, you could do what you *cough* did, or you could just send a polite request to Origin, asking for a digital version. Which if you'd taken the time to read this thread, you'd know will almost certainly get you a free legitimate working copy. Not bad considering it was MS who decided to make games stop working on Win10, not Maxis/EA.

I only hope most people reading this thread can see which of these solutions is actually the smarter choice.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Unless you are a pauper, the smart choice is to repurchase the game from a non-DRM vendor.  If you watch the sites, you may find a sale and get it for very little.  My paranoia is such that the idea of some game vendor having hooks into my system repels me completely.

[P-Daawg 0]

13 hours ago, rsc204 said:

Well subtlety aside, what you've likely achieved here is removing some of the patches from the games code, making your game prone to problems fixed in 2003/4 by Maxis. Additionally NAM installation will now fail every time you try to install it. Not to mention, who knows what problems you could potentially be opening yourself up to, in terms of security vulnerabilities.

So yeah, you could do what you *cough* did, or you could just send a polite request to Origin, asking for a digital version. Which if you'd taken the time to read this thread, you'd know will almost certainly get you a free legitimate working copy. Not bad considering it was MS who decided to make games stop working on Win10, not Maxis/EA.

I only hope most people reading this thread can see which of these solutions is actually the smarter choice.

I totally agree with you on this one, but, why would i want to pay again for a game i already shelled out for some years ago at full price. To be honest, i am glad i did the *cough* way before buying the digital copy! I have not played this game now for 2~3 years and just wanted to play it as i had found it in my box of games, Boy did I forget how boring this game gets.i played it last night for several hours, only to get to a certain point and think, WTF am I wasting time on this for. I have done everything on it. So i turned it off uninstalled it and watched a film......but that made a bad night worse as I decided to watch Movie 43, anyone seen that? omg!! so all in all last night was one seriously messed up evening that i will never get back !!!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

There is no doubt that this "game" is not for everyone.  Some people don't fully get into the continuous problem solving aspects and get frustrated by the same old stuff.  However, there are enough variations on the various exchanges and technical problems to keep many people's interest.  You simply have to be one of those who looks on this as more than a game.  It is a leisure time waster par excellence.  It is all a matter of attitude.