Apple Will Release Arm MacBooks Tomorrow and The Effects on SimCity 4

[Propfam 2,305]

Hello,

Apple is going to release several Arm MacBooks in a event with "One more thing" slogan, a homage to Steve Jobs' legacy of say the phrase for a surprise thing. This is a radical change to MacBooks as we know since Intel transition in 2006 (or 2005 for the announcement). Because the radical nature, SimCity 4 on Mac's future could be in danger. SimCity 4 on Mac is currently compiled for x86-64 architecture since Apple mandated Aspyr to recompile circa macOS Catalina and Maxis compiled SimCity 4 for x86. We should think the future of SimCity 4 on Mac. Maybe, we'll be using virtual machine on Mac. As far as I know, Wine only runs with the same architecture as the application excluding the 64-bit variant of the architecture (aka x86-64). Maybe, the Wine team will add at least support for Rosetta 2 or include some translation layer bake into Wine.

What do you think? Are there any solutions? Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.

[TEG24601 32]

With Rosetta 2, it is highly unlikely that anything will need to be done.  However, given the popularity, it is likely that Aspry may re-compile for a native solution.

[Propfam 2,305]

It's now official. The chip will be called Apple M series, starting with M1. It's now available in the new 13 MacBook Pro with 2 ports, MacBook Air, and Mac mini. And those are ready to be ordered.

[rsc204 21,866]

Aspyr will either decide there is sufficient financial incentive to update their products for ARM or that there isn't, it's a business decision and nothing more. Practically speaking, converting x86 or x64 code to ARM is going to be hugely difficult in reality, my personal feeling is, unless they are making serious money selling SC4, they probably won't bother. Because unlike the conversion between x86 and x64, this isn't a case of recompiling and making some adjustments for the code to handle it. It will literally require re-writing the code or using a compatibility layer to emulate x64 hardware.

Rosetta 2 is a temporary solution, in 2 or 3 releases of MacOS, you can be sure this will be ditched, at least if the original Rosetta is anything to go by. Apple don't really do backwards compatibility, if you want that, don't upgrade the OS.

Honestly, having just got SC4 on Mac, I'm already thinking it was a waste of 4€. In theory, being a 64-bit app, means performance issues that bog down the Windows version are not a problem. But the reality of all the stupid problems the Mac version has, make the idea of switching to Mac for playing SC4 very unappealing. I rather get the impression if you want to play the modded experience, the Mac version is best left alone, instead use BootCamp and run the Windows version natively. Given my 2009 Mac Mini does a particularly good job of this, it's not like you need some special or great hardware to go down that route. Although the standard use of Intel internal GPUs in Macs, may certainly present problems here, depending on your configuration.

On 10/11/2020 at 12:49 PM, chfzdn said:

SimCity 4 on Mac is currently compiled for x86-64 architecture since Apple mandated Aspyr to recompile circa macOS Catalina and Maxis compiled SimCity 4 for x86.

None of this is really accurate. The current SC4 for Mac is NOT x86 compatible, it's a true 64-bit application. Apple mandated the change, by way of removing x86 code from MacOS Catalina, but had no influence over Aspyr otherwise. The first version for Macs is not x86 either, it was made for the Power PC era. However, it was designed separately to the Windows edition, when Aspyr created the version for Intel Macs, they ported the existing game from Windows. This time round, there is no code that can be easily ported. In other words, the amount of work to make a ARM version of SC4 would be substantial, I think it's very unlikely anyone's going to invest that sort of money personally, but I guess we'll find out.

Personally, I see Apple turning MacOS into iOS here, they figure an iPad with a screen/keyboard attached can be a computer. In other words, iOS is mature enough that they can switch the Desktop machines over to run on it. This is key to switching to ARM processors, because I seriously doubt they are porting MacOS's code onto ARM in full, when iOS can be modified/expanded to run more like OSX instead. It's just the path of least resistance, which will tie together Mobile and Desktop devices into a sort of hybrid. Why do you think they've made these new machines capable of running iOS apps, for me this gives a huge clue as to their intentions.

But given Mac users/buyers are expected to do whatever Apple says is best for us, I'll be very surprised if the new ARM machines are anything really special. This change is more about Apple's internal ideology than some fantastic new hardware, despite whatever the marketing people are saying. If the performance improvements they've mentioned are even vaguely possible in the real world, I'd be very surprised. Not that I'm suggesting they can't beat Intel chips for performance, but that's not really behind the switch, it's all about Desktop/Mobile convergence. Something that Apple are in a unique position to offer, since they control the whole Hardware/Software ecosystem of their devices.

[Propfam 2,305]

10 hours ago, rsc204 said:

None of this is really accurate. The current SC4 for Mac is NOT x86 compatible, it's a true 64-bit application. Apple mandated the change, by way of removing x86 code from MacOS Catalina, but had no influence over Aspyr otherwise. The first version for Macs is not x86 either, it was made for the Power PC era. However, it was designed separately to the Windows edition, when Aspyr created the version for Intel Macs, they ported the existing game from Windows. This time round, there is no code that can be easily ported. In other words, the amount of work to make a ARM version of SC4 would be substantial, I think it's very unlikely anyone's going to invest that sort of money personally, but I guess we'll find out.

I'm sorry. I have done a typo. It should be "Maxis compiled SimCity 4 on Windows for x86." For the Mac, it's indeed a x86-64 only app.