As you know, as of today SimCity 3000 Unlimited is available on Steam. Although these are positive news, in the sense that one of the most beloved editions of SimCity is finally available on Steam, with a current cost of only $2 Dollars. However, there are some small details we need to disclose for everyone’s awareness.
First, the Steam version is basically the GOG version of SimCity 3000 Unlimited. In fact, among the various files, there are also DLL files related to GOG. This is a dirty thing to do, because this version of the game literally copied all the GOG files, while removing only the GOG application components, leaving their DLL files and inserting the Steam DRM.
In addition, @kingofsimcity confirmed that the EXE version of SC3K Unlimited on Steam is the same as the GOG version, and confirmed that copying the GOG files into the SC3K Unlimited folder on Steam by replacing the files does not cause any problems to the game
This means the Steam version does not contain any improvements compared to its GOG counterpart. You can abandon the hopes of SimCity 3000 Unlimited experiencing the same fate as the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, in which EA had released the source code.
As a result, we need to inform you about the procedures you need to do to support SimCity 3000 on modern systems and how to enable some hidden features
4GB PATCH
Currently SimCity 3000 is a 32Bit application and therefore means that it will have a maximum RAM usage of 2GB. Therefore, we recommend that you run the 4GB Patch allows you to run SimCity 3000 Unlimited at its maximum performance and capabilities
The 4GB Patch can be found here
https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371
SCREEN RESOLUTION
Although SimCity 3000 Unlimited is reported to use DirectX 9 in reality SimCity 3000 will have as its maximum resolution of 1280x1024
Therefore that in order to enable the maximum resolution of your screen you have two ways. One would be a HEX edit by following this guide
A quick alternative method is to use SimCity 3000 Resolution Patcher
https://www.monitortests.com/forum/Thread-SimCity-3000-Resolution-Patcher
Or use this Patched exe
https://community.simtropolis.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=100741
WARNING: The game will crash if the resolution is not divisible by 8. These common resolutions are not usable: 1680x1050, 1600x900, 1440x900, 1366x768
We also recommend that you apply DgVoodoo 2 which allows you to improve the compatibility of the game with modern GPUs
https://github.com/dege-diosg/dgVoodoo2/releases
SECRET MUSIC
As you know SimCity 3000 Unlimited contains some disabled music. In fact SIM Broadway, Concrete Jungle, City of Dreams and SimCity 2000 Theme are disabled but to enable them there are two methods. The first is to follow the following guide
Or you can download this patch
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/2415-SimCity-3000-unlimited-re-composed
We hope this report of useful information has served you well on how to configure SimCity 3000 Unlimited on your computers, and we look forward to seeing your creations here.
As a reminder, any discussion of SimCity 3000 Unlimited can be done here
https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/forum/314-SimCity-3000
While if you want to downloads mods you can do it here
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/category/41-SimCity-3000-files/
To conclude here is link of the Steam version of SimCity 3000 Unlimited
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2741560/Sim_City_3000_Unlimited/
And GOG Version
https://www.gog.com/en/game/simcity_3000