Help running SC4 on Windows 11

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

1 minute ago, Jwoodck said:

Just purchased my first new computer in over 10 years and really looking forward to getting back into the Sim game. However, I will admit that the amount of information on the forums is quite overwhelming. I had downloaded the program from Steam, EA and GOG. I installed and uninstalled form all three many times which probably caused a lot of my display issues. Either way I was never able to get going. So I uninstalled all three programs, searched my hard drive for anything SimCity and deleted all I could find. Below is my computer setup and looking for the most up to date instructions, best launcher format, I.e. Steam or GOG, etc and any other direction to help out. 
 

Processor

13th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-13950HX vPro® Processor (E-cores up to 4.00 GHz P-cores up to 5.50 GHz)

Operating System

Windows 11 Pro 64

Graphic Card

NVIDIA RTX™ 5000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU 16GB GDDR6

Memory

128 GB DDR5-4000MHz (SODIMM) - (4 x 32 GB)

Storage

4 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Performance TLC Opal

Display

16" WQUXGA (3840 x 2400), OLED, Anti-Reflection/Anti-Smudge, Dolby Vision™, Touch, HDR 500 True Black, 100%DCI-P3, 400 nits, 60 Hz, Low Blue Light

Follow this tutorial

 

[Jwoodck 1]

Ulisse. you mention in the video to only use version 1.9.641, but i see that you have 1.1.641 in your example when you apply the 4gb patch. Which version should i download?

[matias93 7,535]

26 minutes ago, Jwoodck said:

Ulisse. you mention in the video to only use version 1.9.641, but i see that you have 1.1.641 in your example when you apply the 4gb patch. Which version should i download?

The highest version is 1.1.641, that's the right one to use.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

24 minutes ago, Jwoodck said:

Ulisse. you mention in the video to only use version 1.9.641, but i see that you have 1.1.641 in your example when you apply the 4gb patch. Which version should i download?

You have to use only version 1.1.641 which would be the Digital Windows version.

There is no version 1.9.641 which seems strange to me appeared in the video unless you are using the subtiles automatically generated by google which you can explain this error

[Jwoodck 1]

Ulisse,

 

Thank you for the help! I was able to follow along (despite the accent, paisano (my grandfather came from Sicily)) However, my new laptop recommends a display of 3840x2400 which made the Region mode too small. So I changed my display settings to match the settings in the SC4GraphicsOptions file and it is perfect! I have started building my first city again. It seems I would need to change that setting each time I would want to play. Is there a setting to revert to the desired setting without having to change this each time?

[thecitiescenter 3,052]

So recently, I updated two of my laptops to 24H2. 

LAPTOP A: Intel Core i9-14900HX 2.20 GHZ, 32 GB RAM, NVIDA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
LAPTOP B: Intel Core i7-10750H CPU 2.60 GHZ, 16 GB RAM, NVIDA GeForce RTX 2060

Under 23H2, both Laptops A and B worked fine, however, after updating both laptops to 24H2, I noticed significant slowing in performance w/Laptop A,  but not so much Laptop B.

For example, load times for Lot Editor (using the same plugins folder for both laptops):
Laptop A: ~3x slower after the 24H2 update compared to before the update.
Laptop B: No noticeable change in load time.

Another test I did was to check Gmax/BAT render times, rendering the same exact model on both laptops:
Laptop A: Rendered the model in ~175 secs in 23H2 prior to the update.  Rendering slowed to ~400 secs after the update to 24H2
Laptop B: Rendered the model in ~175 secs in 23H2 and the same ~175 secs after the update to 24H2.

I then tried rolling back the update on Laptop A back to 23H2 and everything went back to the way it was prior... obviously, rolling back isn't a sustainable solution, so putting this out here in case some of the more tech savvy users around here have any ideas or tips, or have any ideas what may be causing the differences.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

13 hours ago, thecitiescenter said:

So recently, I updated two of my laptops to 24H2. 

LAPTOP A: Intel Core i9-14900HX 2.20 GHZ, 32 GB RAM, NVIDA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
LAPTOP B: Intel Core i7-10750H CPU 2.60 GHZ, 16 GB RAM, NVIDA GeForce RTX 2060

Under 23H2, both Laptops A and B worked fine, however, after updating both laptops to 24H2, I noticed significant slowing in performance w/Laptop A,  but not so much Laptop B.

For example, load times for Lot Editor (using the same plugins folder for both laptops):
Laptop A: ~3x slower after the 24H2 update compared to before the update.
Laptop B: No noticeable change in load time.

Another test I did was to check Gmax/BAT render times, rendering the same exact model on both laptops:
Laptop A: Rendered the model in ~175 secs in 23H2 prior to the update.  Rendering slowed to ~400 secs after the update to 24H2
Laptop B: Rendered the model in ~175 secs in 23H2 and the same ~175 secs after the update to 24H2.

I then tried rolling back the update on Laptop A back to 23H2 and everything went back to the way it was prior... obviously, rolling back isn't a sustainable solution, so putting this out here in case some of the more tech savvy users around here have any ideas or tips, or have any ideas what may be causing the differences.

Thanks in advance.

 

Windows 11 24H2 changed a few power management settings in addition to the usual AI crap.

So I think you should make this change to the GPU

In the Nvidia Control Panel, You need to change the power management setting for SimCity 4 to “Prefer Maximum Performance.”

It may also be faulty drivers that were out of date and needed to be updated but there are too many guesses to try to figure out what the problem is

[thecitiescenter 3,052]

6 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

In the Nvidia Control Panel, You need to change the power management setting for SimCity 4 to “Prefer Maximum Performance.”

It may also be faulty drivers that were out of date and needed to be updated but there are too many guesses to try to figure out what the problem is

Not it, unfortunately. Already had “Prefer Maximum Performance” checked, also tried updating drivers.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

1 hour ago, thecitiescenter said:

Not it, unfortunately. Already had “Prefer Maximum Performance” checked, also tried updating drivers.

I raise my hands. I know for a fact that Intel, Nvidia, AMD and Microsoft are doing shit because of AI, so I don't wonder about these problems.

The only advice I could give you is to do a clean install of the computer with latest windows 11 with loss of data and consequently transfer data to save

[rsc204 21,836]

On 24/06/2025 at 8:06 PM, Ulisse Wolf said:

In the Nvidia Control Panel, You need to change the power management setting for SimCity 4 to “Prefer Maximum Performance.”

Yes and no… sure you may need to set this for SC4 if it is necessary for backwards compatibility. But, if you want to improve render times in gMax (SC4 BAT) or loading times of LotEditor, adding this setting to the game (SC4) is not gonna help.

gMax is horrifically old and even with 2013 hardware only really works with the HEIDI software renderer. So if your render times are affected, likely it’s CPU or RAM/Storage access timing that the update has affected. Honestly knowing Windows I’m gonna go with a hunch and say it’s most likely your CPU is being throttled by power management settings in the OS. Given you are a beta tester, maybe a future update will restore performance? But AFAIK, no similar option like the NVidia control panel exists to easily turn off such things on a per-app basis.

Since it affects your 10th gen system but not your 14th gen one, that could be a bug. It could be drivers need updating to work better with the update? It could be you need to configure something differently.

It would be helpful if you could clarify if performance of SC4 itself was similarly affected in the 10th gen system?

[thecitiescenter 3,052]

On 7/6/2025 at 12:33 AM, rsc204 said:

 

Since it affects your 10th gen system but not your 14th gen one, that could be a bug. It could be drivers need updating to work better with the update? It could be you need to configure something differently.

It would be helpful if you could clarify if performance of SC4 itself was similarly affected in the 10th gen system?

Actually its the other way around, the newer gen laptop (Intel Core i9-14900HX 2.20 GHZ, 32 GB RAM, NVIDA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU) was the one that experienced significant slow down after the update, while the older gen didn't experience any noticeable changes in performance.  Both GMAX render times and SC4 in game performance (especially the load times) slowed significantly on the newer laptop after the update, but not the older laptop.  Even booting up the game took like 12-15 minutes, while it used to take like a minute or less.  I think you're probably right about being throttled, or there was some issue w/the update.  For reasons including but also beyond these SC4 issues, I ended up reverting that laptop back to 23H2 for a second time (which resolved everything)... for now.  Hoping that a future update will address it.

[Kel9509 1,475]

Well, after about 5 months or so, I am finally back in business with a new computer build on Windows 11!  For those interested in my new PC, I detailed things on PCPartPicker here: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/z278TW

Before doing anything, I'll mention that I de-bloated Windows 11 with WinUtil and O&O ShutUp10++, and installed it offline without using a Microsoft account.  I don't need Satya Nadella reading all my bank passwords, or sending me advertisements (he should stick to reverting the Start Menu & File Explorer back to Windows 10 design).  Win11 runs really fast de-bloated and without all their telemetry running in the background (of course I still think they should've stuck with Win10 forever as they originally planned).

To be fair, Ulisse Wolf, I couldn't sit through your tutorial.  It's over an hour long and I was too eager to get going. But your write up was great!  

Re-installing Simcity4 on Win11 was a piece of cake, easier than I anticipated.  I already had all of modern DLLs installed in my plugins backup already, so what I really needed to do was just patch the EXE to 4GB and install the DgVoodoo 2 DirectX wrapper. 

I was so used to NAM patching the Simcity4.EXE that I had to search for how to do it manually.  The Ultimate Guide doesn't mention how to do it, it just provides a link to the patcher.  But I got it patched.  And then I noticed your DgVoodoo2 instructions explicitly include patching the EXE as a first step!  Oh well.

The only issue I'd mention is that the DgVoodoo2 instructions for nVidia GPUs say:

Quote

The extra step is only for people using SC4 on Laptops or dual GPU Configuration that have both an Integrated GPU and Dedicated GPU which in this case is NVIDIA GPU.

After doing this procedure you need to go to nvidia control panel -> Manage 3D settings -> Program settings -> Select Simcity4.exe and dgvoodoocpl.exe and set the NVIDIA HIGH PERFORMANCE PROCESSOR option.

In the Nvidia Control Panel, You need to change the power management setting for SimCity 4 to “Prefer Maximum Performance.” 

In case Nvidia Pannel Control does not find Simcity4.exe and dgvoodoocpl.exe you need to go to add -> Browse and select the indicated programs (Simcity4.exe and dgvoodoocpl.exe)

 

I'm not running a laptop but my CPU, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, has an integrated GPU that I don't use.  But because it's there, I went to the Nvidia Control Panel and changed the Power Management Setting to "Prefer Maximum Performance".  I couldn't find the option to set the Nvidia to the HIGH PERFORAMANCE PROCESSOR option you mention.  I looked up why it was missing and it was because that is sometimes managed by Windows itself.  So I didn't do anything there.

Anyway, with that in mind, I tried running the game and it worked just fine!

I'm glad to be back in business!

 

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

22 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

To be fair, Ulisse Wolf, I couldn't sit through your tutorial.  It's over an hour long and I was too eager to get going. But your write up was great! 

That tutorial was made together with me and @Lucario Boricua and we were too precise in explaining things but for such a tutorial it's better to make it last longer than to make a short tutorial and leave a lot of explanations unexplored

[GoldSinkGames 1]

Why do I need a degree in computer science to play this game? Unreal.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

22 minutes ago, GoldSinkGames said:

Why do I need a degree in computer science to play this game? Unreal.

It is a game from 2003 where the computer technology is different from today's, so you have to configure the game to make it work best.

Follow this tutorial

 

[GoldSinkGames 1]

I've got it working now. Thank you for all your work on this!

 

Question - At the top of the game screen, I see the ReShade correctly installed, press OEM to start tutorial. I saw on the ReShade website it says press home, but my home key also doesn't seem to do anything. The top banner saying press OEM seems to remain there even in gameplay, which isn't game breaking, but not ideal. 

Any ideas on a fix/solution?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

9 hours ago, GoldSinkGames said:

I've got it working now. Thank you for all your work on this!

 

Question - At the top of the game screen, I see the ReShade correctly installed, press OEM to start tutorial. I saw on the ReShade website it says press home, but my home key also doesn't seem to do anything. The top banner saying press OEM seems to remain there even in gameplay, which isn't game breaking, but not ideal. 

Any ideas on a fix/solution?

You need to edit ReShade.ini, especially the KeyOverlay options, by entering a number that corresponds to a key on the keyboard.

I recommend using (KeyOverlay=190,0,0,0), which allows you to use the period button as a key to open ReShade.

I also recommend modifying KeyScreenshot if you don't want Reshade to interfere with Windows' screenshot functionality.

I also recommend using SC4Pac to install the mods.