Installing SimCity 4 on Ubuntu

[adamoteentitans 18]

okay so i got a new pc with UBUNTU on it

btw i love it better than windows 

the problem is with steam ? i downloaded steam and all and it even says that the games from steam are linux supported 

so when i try to install sc4 from steam it says " an error occured while updating SimCity 4 deluxe (invalid platform )" 

but it says it's ubuntu linux supported

 

[CorinaMarie 29,556]

@Handyman is one of our resident experts on Linux having written the How to use Wine with SC4D, NAM, Modding Tools guide for Ubuntu Gnome 14.04. However, that wasn't a Steam version of the game. I'm not sure if there would be anything in that thread which might help, but it's the only thing which comes to my mind that is even remotely related.

[adamoteentitans 18]

6 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

@Handyman is one of our resident experts on Linux having written the How to use Wine with SC4D, NAM, Modding Tools guide for Ubuntu Gnome 14.04. However, that wasn't a Steam version of the game. I'm not sure if there would be anything in that thread which might help, but it's the only thing which comes to my mind that is even remotely related.

what is wine and what is gnome? you see i am new to the whole linux thing

 

[CorinaMarie 29,556]

5 minutes ago, adamoteentitans said:

what is wine and what is gnome? you see i am new to the whole linux thing

The wee little bit I know is that Wine is a Windoze emulator which runs on Linux (and there's one for Macs too). For Gnome I presume it's one of the code names for a particular fork of Linux. I'd not heard of it before, but I did test drive Linux Mint one time back in it's version 12 (or thereabouts) iteration.

[Handyman 765]

45 minutes ago, adamoteentitans said:

what is wine and what is gnome? you see i am new to the whole linux thing

I have not used any steam software but did some quick checks and it seems you need to install the Steam platform. No wine for you!

There are some basic hardware and software requirements to consider:

      - 1 GHz Pentium 4 or AMD Opteron with 512 megabytes of RAM and 5 gigabytes of hard drive space, or better
      - Internet connection (Cable/DSL speeds recommended)
      - Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, fully updated, or newer
      - Latest graphics driver

Please post back with this info, if you know it, and we will proceed from there.

[rsc204 21,804]

2 hours ago, adamoteentitans said:

what is wine and what is gnome? you see i am new to the whole linux thing

WINE is an emulator that allows you to run Windows applications under Linux.

GNOME is a Shell for Linux. Unlike Windows, you can install a Kernel and a Shell and pick between options for both when using linux. The Kernel is the code that runs the whole shebang, whereas the shell is the GUI (Graphical User Interface) that you see and interact with.

[Handyman 765]

I didn't want to confuse the member with too much info so I focused on his original quest, install SimCity 4.

For the sake of clarity here is the official description of wine:

Wine (originally an acronym for "Wine Is Not an Emulator") is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, macOS, & BSD. Instead of simulating internal Windows logic like a virtual machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls into POSIX calls on-the-fly, eliminating the performance and memory penalties of other methods and allowing you to cleanly integrate Windows applications into your desktop.

The Shell and Kernel description is spot on, but I might add that you can have more than one Kernel with the ability to choose one at boot up.

[catty-cb 4,381]

I've been using Linux Mint (64-bit version 18.1) for the last couple of years after a Microsoft Windows 7 update stuffed up my computer .. most of my games have Linux versions, the only three that don''t are SimCity 3 and 4 and Banished.

For SimCity 3 and 4 I set up a VirtualBox machine Win XP and it works really well, especially like being able to play SimCity 4 in a virtual window while doing something else in Linux.

As for Banished I used PlayonLinux and the gog version ... a few minor issues when setting up as I wanted to use the 64-bit version of the game, but otherwise it works extremely well apart from not being able to run MegaMod ... and I think that's more because the mod is now 5gb in size and I don't think my computer can handle the size.

-catty

[adamoteentitans 18]

okay so how i download it for linux

[Handyman 765]

I installed Ubuntu 16.04.5 on a spare partition to try this out.

Press the 'Super' key (between 'ctrl' & 'alt' on left side of keyboard).

You are now in the HUD (any open windows will reduce and spread out over the desktop) you can now find programs by just typing the name (usually the icon will come up on the screen before you finish the name)

Begin to type 'terminal' and click on the icon when it comes up.

Now copy and paste the following command into the terminal, hit 'Enter'. (If you need help using the  terminal please read the section near the top of my Installing Wine description - How to use Wine with SC4D, NAM, Modding Tools )

    sudo add-apt-repository multiverse

You will be asked for your password, type it in and hit 'Enter'.

Now copy and paste the following command into the terminal.

    sudo apt update && sudo apt install steam

You may need to type in your password again,likely not.

This will determine the necessary updates and ask permission to install them, enter 'y' and hit 'Enter', the updates and steam package will now be installed.

When the cursor returns to the command prompt you can close the terminal window you opened.

Again press the 'Super' key.

Begin to type  'steam'  and click on the icon when it comes up.

This will open the Steam updater which will install all updates and the Steam platform.

When it ask for acceptance of license, etc, this is diplayed in a terminal window so you need to use the 'Tab' key to highlight your response and hit 'Enter' to accept.

You may need approx. 250 MB of disk space.

When the install progress is over the terminal window that steam opened will close.

Wait a couple minutes for the process to continue in the background and if the steam log in box does not come up, next step.

Again press the 'Super' key.

Begin to type steam and click on the icon when it comes up.

You will be presented with a log in box.

Now your on your own because I do not have a steam account.

[Milliethegreat 1]

I don’t have steam but I have the dvd SimCity 4 deluxe. How do I run that on Linux?

[Handyman 765]

@Milliethegreat Hi, it has been a long while since I installed the game from my CD's and to be honest I didn't know there was a DVD version. Unless there has been some major changes recently you will still need Wine. It has also been a while since I installed Wine but in my notes I have this instruction;  Go to WineHQ and follow the latest instructions for your distro.

The following link will take you to starting page for Debian/Ubuntu.

https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/wikis/Debian-Ubuntu

Read this page carefully a couple times before starting and if you still have questions post back and I / someone will try to help guide you.

I believe my old post, below, could still contain some useful info for setting up a prefix and installing the game. Scan the 'Install Current Stable Wine' section and the 'Install SC4Deluxe (CD Version) in Wine' section for helpful info. I hope this helps get you started.

 

[Milliethegreat 1]

lol i mean CDs. I misspoke. But yeah. I’m trying to use the SimCity 4 multiplayer mod on a series of VMs running on a pair of dell r710 servers using a LAN connection. I mean I COULD use windows 10 but that’s about to be EOL and I don’t want to open up my network and devices to hackers especially since the scare I had a few years back and while there are workarounds to install windows 11 on an older PC (I’ve done it with my gaming pc from the 2000s I dug up recently. It uses the same CPU socket as the dell servers I have) my servers’ RAID controller is prohibiting that as 11 doesn’t have drivers for it (the controller is a perc 6i or h710 I forget which mine has) and I don’t feel like shelling out $800-$2000 or whatever on new servers as I’m on a fixed income. Upgrading the raid controller IS an option but I’ve noticed that is hit or miss in my situation so I’m stuck using Ubuntu which I’d rather NOT as I’m a Windows user but this is a project for me and my friends to mess around with for experience and practice related reasons and I’m the only one who can afford and has server hardware and servers at all in the group of us and I know more about them then they do (I’m no expert but I know some things enough for this and a few other projects) so here I am. Do you think I’m essentially fighting a losing battle and should upgrade my raid controller or something like that or am i doing right(-ish)?

[Handyman 765]

@Milliethegreat I have zero experience with the Multiplayer mod so I cannot help in that regard. I do believe your best choice is to use an Linux OS, although I have recently switched from Ubuntu to Debian because Ubuntu just started to feel like it was getting in my way. too windozey. There has to be a good reason why a large portion of the worlds servers run on Linux.

Keep at it, you'll get there.

[Milliethegreat 1]

Yeah that makes sense. I actually use Ubuntu BECAUSE it’s windowzy. I’m normally a Windows user but like I said because of my craptastic RAID controller I can’t force windows onto my servers as the thing won’t detect my hard drives and the drivers are waaaaaay to old for windows 11. So here I am. I use Ubuntu on my my old core 2 quad gaming rig because nForce chipsets don’t like anything past windows 7 I’m still learning it but I’m improving my knowledge. Is Debian more difficult to learn? 

[Handyman 765]

@Milliethegreat I used microsoft from dos 1 to  winxp and then switched to Ubuntu and never looked back. Ubuntu is derived from Debian so under the hood they are almost identical. I would say that the learning curve is very similar. Once you get the file structure down and are comfortable with the installation procedure your on your way. After that it's all about the interface. I use the Gnome desktop. I have tried others but keep coming back, because It feels very tidy to me and I have invested a lot of time learning how to tweak it. We all put a lot of time into learning the windoze paradigm so you can't expect to switch overnight. However it is still just an interface that allows you to access and run programs, they all have menus and choices that we are all familiar with, so you know more than you think.

[Jamesthe1st 24]

I myself have switched to Linux recently, right now I am using Arch based CachyOS. So far or running SimCity 4 I have tried to start it through Steam with their latest Proton version and it is just giving a blank screen. I will look through Handyman's guide and see if that helps to get it running.

Edit: Now this is strange, on Bazzite I got it to run just fine with no changes, Steam there automatically chooses the experimental version of Proton.

[Jamesthe1st 24]

An update, I ran the game through the terminal on Steam and it works now. However I still don't have use of the DLL mods, any ideas?

[Handyman 765]

@Jamesthe1st I am not familiar with the steam platform but on wine it was always about having the right system resources installed. I will caution that my guide is getting quite old and should be considered a start point only. I have hope that real life will allow me to get active with the game again, but meanwhile I will be watching and learning from you and others, helping if I can. 

[Jamesthe1st 24]

Well good news is I got it to work just fine now. Turns out not following the Pacmanager directions to move the ini files to the root plugins folder means they won't work! I still have the oddity on CachyOS that it doesn't run properly if I open Steam through the GUI, but it works fine if I run Steam through the terminal. I tried the GOG version on Lutris and that worked perfectly fine as well.

[Milliethegreat 1]

I’m thinking of the GOG version as I need a copy of it on multiple different virtual machines and steam would require an account for each one and I’m afraid if I did that I’d get flagged and banned for “suspicious activity” even though I’m just doing it on my home servers on LAN multiplayer just within my network for funsies. I’d imagine doing the GOG one installed from one GOG account on multiple computers wouldn’t be an issue if I used lutris on Ubuntu. Please correct me if I’m wrong 

[Milliethegreat 1]

Just now, Milliethegreat said:

I’m thinking of the GOG version as I need a copy of it on multiple different virtual machines and steam would require an account for each one and I’m afraid if I did that I’d get flagged and banned for “suspicious activity” even though I’m just doing it on my home servers on LAN multiplayer just within my network for funsies. I’d imagine doing the GOG one installed from one GOG account on multiple computers wouldn’t be an issue if I used lutris on Ubuntu. Please correct me if I’m wrong 

I’d imagine if I went through GOG it would work as if I had the physical disk. One game on one account on multiple machines?

[Handyman 765]

@Milliethegreat If I follow your post correctly, you plan to use the Gog platform on multiple machines. I have installed Gog SC4 on multiple system partitions, but I just downloaded the SC4 exe file and install it locally, into a Wine prefix, without using the Gog platform.

[Milliethegreat 1]

How do I install SimCity 4 mods and SimCity multiplayer mod on Ubuntu? My server doesn’t like windows 11 because of the raid controller also I’m running virtual machines so windows 11 + my RAID controller + VMs = epic nightmares and lots of late nights bashing my head into my desk.

[Milliethegreat 1]

On 12/28/2025 at 7:32 AM, Handyman said:

@Milliethegreat If I follow your post correctly, you plan to use the Gog platform on multiple machines. I have installed Gog SC4 on multiple system partitions, but I just downloaded the SC4 exe file and install it locally, into a Wine prefix, without using the Gog platform.

i use a copy from GOG as i use the download on multiple VMs at once and steam doesnt allow that unless i sign up for multiple (in my case 12) computers virtual or otherwise. and my setup doesnt play nicely with the cd version.

[Handyman 765]

18 hours ago, Milliethegreat said:

How do I install SimCity 4 mods and SimCity multiplayer mod on Ubuntu?

Some mods are just placed in the appropriate folder, same as windoze. For others, that need to be installed, I would suggest looking at the tools provided by Wine (Add/Remove). Remember that Wine will link it's 'My Documents' folder to your 'home/user/Documents' folder. The Wine folders can easily be isolated if you use Winetricks to break the links.

Hope this helps.

[Milliethegreat 1]

im not using lutris not wine. is that any different? if so how do i proceed. mind you ime using the GOG account install method not the wine method in lutris

[Jamesthe1st 24]

On 2/23/2026 at 6:48 PM, Milliethegreat said:

im not using lutris not wine. is that any different? if so how do i proceed. mind you ime using the GOG account install method not the wine method in lutris

What you wrote is confusing, can you re do it so we can better help you? Are you asking for how to run the game with just WINE?

As far as I know WINE is the only way to run a Windows program on a Linux OS. Lutris is just a Launcher wrapper that conveniently also helps handle setting up WINE at the same time and is not strictly necessary, just convenient. 

GOG doesn't have a launcher supported for Linux like Steam does so we have to install Wine and or Lutris separately to get a GOG game to work.

[TogaMasterJohn 700]

If you're not using Lutris, I personally recommend installing the game through Lutris. It makes it easier to install and manage the game under Linux, especially when it comes to changing Wine settings, versions, and so forth. It made it easier for me to test out other versions and variants of Wine when some did not play well with the game on my machine (specifically, regular Wine). To quote myself from another thread:

Quote

I was able to get the GOG release of the game to work with Lutris and Wine-GE (version 8-26-x86_64) under Linux Mint 22. Regular Wine did not work for me (if I remember correctly, I tested versions 5 through 9).

 

4 hours ago, Jamesthe1st said:

im not using lutris not wine. is that any different? if so how do i proceed. mind you ime using the GOG account install method not the wine method in lutris

I checked Lutris's website, and someone wrote a script that will install SimCity 4 for you, but only if you're connected to your GOG account in Lutris. I haven't tested it out (as I manually install all of my games), but it might work for you in your case.

Otherwise, you can manually install the game with the downloadable offline installer through the "Add Game" wizard. Be sure to select the "Install a Windows game from an executable" option.
 

[Lab Rat 12]

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