Need help on getting everything right for Steam please

[jdv57 0]

So, I haven't played in ages, but I did buy it on Steam awhile back, but just now attempting to set everything up right.  I already have tons of files, plugins, etc. from before, but they are all on my D drive. I have Steam set to install games on my D drive. My downloads folder is on my D drive and is just called "Documents".

So I copied all my plugins to the steam plugin folder and I just downloaded the latest NAM. I was installing it and of course I didn't have Java installed, so I did that, but before I run the installer again for the NAM, I need to know where does it go? If I'm putting my plugins in the steam folder, where should the NAM go?

I also have some misc. plugins that have .exe files in them. I need to know if there should only be .dat files in the steam plugins folder?

I have a ton of old plugins & I really need to refresh my memory on stuff, but I want to get everything setup properly since I'm moving to Steam.

(Windows 10)

Would really appreciate some help.

 

[rsc204 21,865]

It's a common misunderstanding that the Steam version of SC4 is somehow different to others, but at it's core it works identically to all other SC4 versions. The biggest differences between digital vendors are which languages are supported and what form, if any, of DRM is used. In these respects, Steam comes out rather badly since they have added DRM and support for other languages is pretty much non-existent. Of course, neither of those things may bother you.

Outside of that, the other big difference relates to the location where Steam installs SC4, within the Steam install folder. But crucially, it still uses the same folders for user content, that folder is Documents\SimCity 4\. Here are two folders, "Plugins" for your mods and custom buildings and "Regions" for your maps/savefiles. It sounds like you are installing at least the former in the SC4 install directory, you really shouldn't, they should be moved to the folders within your user documents area. There is one exception to this rule, .dll files should ideally be kept in the Plugins folder within the install directory. Whilst technically you can install all your mods into the Install directory, that's really not advisable for most users, since it could lead to complications getting mods to load in the right order.

When installing NAM, you should use the default install location, in other words, NAM handles this for you. It will place the installation files into the Plugins folder in Documents.

SC4 can only read files which contain data in a specific format designed for it. Any downloads which are .zip or .exe files, need to be extracted into their component files in order to work. Most people will keep their downloaded content somewhere else other than the Plugins directory, which is again best practise. Certainly you need to run the installers (.exe files) to install the content within them or they won't be usable in-game.

Whilst we're here, there are a few important steps you should take to have a smooth experience running SC4 on any modern system. Within the Steam library, find SC4, right click it and select Properties. From there click on Set Launch Options, then add the following into the box that appears:

-intro:off -CPUCount:1 -f -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32

After each hyphen is a command, so the above will do the following: 

• -intro:off
  Disable the SC4 intro screen.
• -CPUCount:1
  Set the game to run on only 1 core of your CPU. This prevents instability on multi-core CPUs, which SC4 can not support.
• -f
  Run the game in full screen mod, alternately, use of -w sets Windowed mode if you prefer that.
• -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32
  The final two set a custom resolution, the numbers in Orange should be changed to match a supported resolution of your machine. Ideally, you should set the same resolution as used by Windows. The game is rather old and this method is the only way to set resolutions more common to today's hardware.

[jdv57 0]

Thank you for all your help!  I seem to have everything working, but I wish I could find my saved games from before. I did find one and added into the regions, but I can't find the other. Oh well..

I did set my launch option to

-CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -intro:off -CPUCount:1

But it does seem a little blurry when zooming in. Maybe I should bring the resolution down? The 1920x1080 is what my computer resolution is set at, but I know it's tricky to get this old of a game to run well on newer computers. I have set all the options to "high" in the graphics options and I have "software rendering"  set in the options as well.

Thanks for your help!

Edit: Another question, can I just copy and paste all my old regions over the top of the ones that Steam created? That way all my old cities would show up (hopefully), but I don't know if that would screw things up in Steam?

[rsc204 21,865]

SC4 plays just fine at 1920x1080, in fact it will support up to x1200 resolutions just fine, despite it's age.

Why though did you set Software Rendering? It's an oft repeated myth that you need this to play SC4, but most people who state this don't really understand what this means. SC4 technically supports three different rendering modes, DirectX, OpenGL and Software. Ideally you want to use DirectX (Hardware), since this will allow for the most optimal playing experience, utilising the full power of your Graphics Card. OpenGL is an alternative to DirectX, but in the case of SC4, the code for it is not really finished, so it doesn't work well with most hardware. Software rendering is included only as a last resort compatibility mode, when all else fails, using this will force the CPU to handle the rendering of graphics in-game. The only reason to use it, is when your Graphics Card/Drivers will not support the legacy DirectX modes needed by SC4. So if Hardware (DirectX) mode works, you should use that setting as it's going to provide a more optimal experience. Sometimes you might need to tweak some settings to get DirectX working on modern hardware, but most of the time it can be made to work.

[jdv57 0]

Thank you, I will change the settings!  Do you know if I can overwrite the steam regions with my backup regions safely?

[rsc204 21,865]

Never touch anything in the Regions folder in the installation directory, if you do you might need to re-install the game to restore things. Note nothing here is actually used in-game, this is just an archive of the regions that come with the game. They are there so that they can be restored, including the tutorials, should you need to.

The alternative "User" Regions folder, located inside Documents\SimCity 4 is the place to put your custom regions. You shouldn't overwrite anything, because internally the game doesn't use file names, but unique IDs, which can not be seen without looking inside the files. It's perfectly safe to simply delete all the default regions after a new install if you don't want them. Then restore your backed up Regions to the same location. If you've been playing with those default regions that came with SC4 (your backups), this will prevent a lot of problems with conflicting files.

[jdv57 0]

Update:

Firstly, thank you for all your help!

I didn't overwrite the regions, but I did find a couple of saved games and they work just fine. (I copied them into the corresponding regions).

But, I tried changing the settings in the game from software to hardware rendering. The game would not start at all after I did this. So, did a google, added the -d:software to the command line in launch startup, so was able to then go change it back to software, then it started right up. So, I have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card and would love to be able to use it, but I don't know how.

It's frustrating that it's not very clear to look at & it also kinda lags & drags the graphics while zoomed in moving around. I play Banished a lot & City Skylines so I'm used to pretty darn good graphics. I have no idea if I could possible get SimCity to look half as nice as it's so old.

[rsc204 21,865]

2 hours ago, jdv57 said:

It's frustrating that it's not very clear to look at & it also kinda lags & drags the graphics while zoomed in moving around. I play Banished a lot & City Skylines so I'm used to pretty darn good graphics. I have no idea if I could possible get SimCity to look half as nice as it's so old.

Sounds like there is a compatibility issue with the NVidia card and DirectX 9.0c. Indeed Software rendering will severely limit the quality of the graphics in SC4.

Have a look through the instructions here, it may be possible to tweak some settings to get SC4 working:

Otherwise, perhaps use of an older driver from NVidia will allow you to use Hardware rendering with SC4. The trade off is often to get the best performance from modern titles, you may need to remove compatibility modes for older ones or vice-versa. It's a PC problem sadly. Personally I've a GTX 750ti, which works wonders with SC4 & Banished, whilst giving acceptable performance playing C:S. It's a few generations behind your hardware so it's not directly comparable in this sense.