SimCity 4 on Macbook Air M2

[Phoenician 8]

So switching from iMac to Macbook Air M2.  The game controls in the lower left will not work even though I can click on them.  Like rotate, or game speed.  I can use keyboard commands to do that, but seems beyond irritating.  Everything still works fine on iMac (Intel) ... not so much for M2 and the Apple chip.

Tried all different graphic settings and selecting "Get Info" option to run both setting options "Scale below built in camera".  Also have tried full screen and window options. Seems to always play at full screen regardless.

At a loss ...

[Phoenician 8]

I figured it out, and posting in case it helps anyone else ...

1. Set Macbook Air display settings to "More Space" option, which mimics 1710 X 1112

2. When starting game, choose option to run at full screen.

3. WIthin the game, set graphic option to 1280 X 1024.

Not sure why, this makes everything work. 

[rsc204 21,870]

On 11/08/2022 at 9:40 PM, Phoenician said:

1. Set Macbook Air display settings to "More Space" option, which mimics 1710 X 1112

I've come across this problem a few times now, it seems to be related to having a display with a 'notch' in it. I was unaware of this option you mention, but logically it may be very important from a compatibility perspective. Still it seems a bit crap that you have to run the game at 1280x1024, when systems without the notch can display much higher resolutions without trouble.

I suspect that until Asypr update the game (frankly a big IF), to be compatible with the notch, it's throwing off the UI and relative grid-position hence the bottom of the UI becomes a dead zone. Thus far the only solution I've seen is using a lower resolution though.

[Billish 1]

On 9/11/2022 at 10:17 AM, rsc204 said:

Still it seems a bit crap that you have to run the game at 1280x1024, when systems without the notch can display much higher resolutions without trouble.

I suspect that until Asypr update the game (frankly a big IF), to be compatible with the notch, it's throwing off the UI and relative grid-position hence the bottom of the UI becomes a dead zone. Thus far the only solution I've seen is using a lower resolution though.

Yeah, I'm not happy about the "notch" situation on the new M2 Macbook Airs...

Aspyr hasn't updated the game in the App Store for over 2 years.  Are they still maintaining it?

I submitted a support request to Aspyr at https://support.aspyr.com/hc/en-us 

Maybe if enough users ask for a fix, they'll release an update?

[rsc204 21,870]

History tells me that Aspyr will only update the game if they can no longer sell it. In all the years, the only update they ever made was to meet the 64-but requirements of Catalina and newer. Note they broke new things with that release, it’s overall worse than the previous 32-bit version.

Frankly when Apple drop Rosetta II support in MacOS 11, either Aspyr will have to update once more or no longer will SC4 be playable on newer hardware/OSs. But any chance of a patch or fix, that’s as far from how Aspyr operate as to make it hopeless to wait for such.

I’d add too, a notch on a notebook would annoy the hell out of me, I’d rather they didn’t include a webcam frankly. It’s terrible enough on the iPhone, i much prefer a fingerprint reader and the reality is that Apple are only pushing FaceID because they couldn’t get the Reader under the screen. Since that obstacle has been resolved since, it’s only stubbornness that stops Apple switching. A friend has an iPhone 12 and FaceID is so much more finicky than simply pressing a button whilst bringing my phone up. I really hope Apple change track here, because I’ll need to upgrade my 6s in a few years but won’t buy a phone with only FaceID because I hate it that much. 

[Alan_aa 0]

2 years later and I'm experiencing same issue. In addition to the issues discussed here, I cannot access the options panel on the top right. I have submitted a bug report to Aspyr.

[rsc204 21,870]

If you are using Steam, see the following:

The AppStore version should automatically install the Apple Silicon version in compatible devices.