It is easy to play SimCity 4 Deluxe (Windows version) on a Mac with DLL support [DRAFT]

[MacBex 26]

This is a draft version based on the notes I made when installing, I will need to buy a backup disk to do a clean macOS installer to go through the process again to take screenshots and simplify the steps.  This guide was made using macOS 15 Sequoia.

How to install SimCity 4 Deluxe (Windows version) on a Mac with DLL support

1/ Buy the game!

This is the only part that costs money, and if buying for GOG usually only £3.99 / €4.59 / US$4.99.  You do not need to use GOG, it is very slightly easier but if you have a standalone .exe installer for v1.1.641 (the version the community supports) then that will work too.  If using GOG you do not need to download it, otherwise if you have an installer then putting it your Downloads folder will make the process easier equally as seamless.

 

2/ Downgrade your computer (sort-of) if using an M2 (Apple silicon) processor or later!

With M2-based computers and later Apple removed the default support for older low resolutions display formats.  This is required to run SimCity 4 (though you are not restricted to this resolution for playing) as its default launcher is 800 x 600.  You can add back that support using a free app called RDM though.

On this page https://github.com/usr-sse2/RDM/releases click on the RDM.zip file dated Dec 31, 2020 located under the first post that added Big Sur support.  This still works on macOS 15 Sequoia.

This will download it to your Downloads folder and depending on your settings may be uncompressed automatically, if not double click the zip file to reveal the RDM.app file.  You only need to complete this process once, so you can choose whether to move is to the Applications folder or just run it from Downloads them delete it later.  A benefit of keeping the app is you can later create custom resolutions to use when playing the game.

Because RDM.app has not been signed it needs to be explicitly approved by the Gatekeeper process in macOS.  The original way of doing this is to right click on an app and select Open.  This will bring up a dialog window saying the app cannot be run and on older versions of macOS will give an "Open Anyway" button. Clicking on this you will be asked for your password and the app will load.  However this was removed in macOS 15 Sequoia, instead you need to close the warning dialog and open System Settings and go down to the "Privacy & Security" section.  Scroll to the bottom of this section and within the Security section it will say "RDM.app was blocked to protect your Mac."  This does not mean macOS found anything wrong with the app, only that it was not signed by an Apple Developer key, these cost $100 per year which is why open source developers do not sign their apps.  But this gives an "Open Anyway" button which is the equivalent of the right clicking and selecting Open on older macOS Versions.  So clicking this will bring up the original dialog where you can (again) click "Open Anyway" then enter your password so the app will load.  I think this is a one-time only operation and Gatekeeper will approve it to be run again in future, though this is where I need a clean macOS install to test properly as I have configured my computer to be able to run unsigned applications automatically.

Open RDM and it will add a menu bar icon that looks like an Apple monitor.  Clicking this will show two sub menus under Main Display, select the top one with your screen's resolution then at the bottom of the sub menu is an "Edit…" option.  Select this to open the Scaled resolutions screen.

 

At the very bottom of the page click the "+" button which will add an entry to the list with a width and height of 0.  Double click the first 0 to make it editable and enter 800, then tab to go to the height and enter 600 then click the "Save" button.  You will be asked to enter your password once or twice to change your computer's settings.  You now need to reboot your computer so they will be used.

 

3/ Install the game with PortingKit

I need to take a break down so will continue the write-up later, but once you have completed the RDM step it is basically a case of getting PortingKit from https://www.portingkit.com/ and following the instructions.  PortingKit is just an interface for WINE which is what allows Linux and macOS to run Windows applications.  It is one of several ways of using WINE on a MAC but benefits by being free, means you never have to configure WINE yourself which can be difficult, and has a script so will create a Mac .app file that will run without any extra configuration as it also sets the CPUCount etc.

 

4/ Now we are Windows users we need the 4GB patch too!

The 4GB patch is required for the Windows version of SimCity to allow the full use or larger mods like NAM.  But while you can sill just use install NAM using the its normal java installer the same as for the native Mac version, the 4GB patch will need to be applied manually.  If you download NAM then the patch is included in the Zip file, however it can be downloaded on its own from https://ntcore.com/4gb-patch/ if installing NAM through SC4Pac.

 

 

5/ Now play!

You can install plugins in Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins as normal, or use SC4Pac to manage them.  And this includes DLL mods that do not work with the native macOS versions.  No extra steps are required to use DLL mods, they just require you to be running the Windows version.

Because SimCity 4 is over 20 years old the Windows version should feel just as fast as the native macOS versions on modern computers despite needing to use WINE to interpret the Windows code, and on Apple Silicon also needing to use macOS's Rosetta 2 to emulate the x86 processor instruction set of Intel Macs.

The only downside to playing the Windows version on a Mac is that regions created in the macOS version will not load.  This problem also applies if wanting to copy regions between Mac and Windows computers.  Apple removed support for 32-bit applications from OS X 10.15 Catalina requiring the macOS versions of SimCity 4 to be updated to run as 64-bit applications, but this also changed how the region files are saved.  As the Windows version is a 32-bit application it cannot read this files

[Girafarig 1,414]

Does this method still work with Tahoe? Because I've been trying to get SC4 to run but to no avail —the furthest I get, even with changing screen resolutions, is a black screen that leads nowhere. Any help?

[Lab Rat 16]

Automated Notice Message

All posts after 1 March, 2026 @ 01:37 GMT were lost in the site crash.

We've added this message thread divider in every topic across all forums for what were then active threads. (We decided active is if the most recent extant post (from the backup) was on or after 1 January, 2026.)

This divider serves as notice that the conversation was interrupted. Answers and further discussion which used to be here have been lost. Keep this in mind when replying. Our hope is to rebuild what is missing.

[GiorgioMauro 0]

This sounds complicated! But I’d really like to play SimCity again (did so for ages but not for the last 5 or 6 years). Therefore I have installed a Windows 10 partition on my Mac. What do I need to do to get SimCity (and all the amazing extensions on this site) running on it? I have an old SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition license that ran on a Windows 7 partition earlier. Can I use that?

Thand you in advance for your help!

Giorgio

[nos.17 5,255]

11 hours ago, GiorgioMauro said:

This sounds complicated! But I’d really like to play SimCity again (did so for ages but not for the last 5 or 6 years). Therefore I have installed a Windows 10 partition on my Mac. What do I need to do to get SimCity (and all the amazing extensions on this site) running on it? I have an old SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition license that ran on a Windows 7 partition earlier. Can I use that?

Thand you in advance for your help!

Giorgio

Hello! It is certainly possible, though it is complicated a bit with the fact that compatibility for the SafeDisc DRM that was used on the disks has been removed from Windows 10+. If you wish to keep using your disc copies, there are certainly ways around it like this article from Tom's Hardware discusses. While you can still use a huge majority of the mods with this version of the game, DLL mods are notably incompatible with the disc versions. See: 

If you don't want to mess with that (or want to use DLL mods), the recommendation is to purchase a digital copy of the game from either GOG or Steam. It goes on sale very regularly, so pick it up then. It now costs as little as $/£/€ 4 on sale.