For those having graphics problems on your Mac

[Zelgadis 638]

Hi all,

Drat, wrong smiley for this post title... Too silly... Anyway...

I've been trolling through the posts here and have found that graphics problems have been the norm with many Mac users after installing Rush Hour. I had this problem as well. SimCity ran fine, Rush Hour was awful. Everything looked fine, but scrolling was really choppy and U drive it missions were next to impossible. After a great deal of whining to Aspyr, they sent me a file entitled graphics rules.sgr. This solved the problem.

It might work for you too. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to upload the file here, but if you ask Aspyr tech support (www.aspyr.com) for it, they will likely e-mail it to you as it's not posted on their support page yet. Or, you can get in touch with me on Simtropolis and I can send it to you.

I don't know precisely how this file works or if it's made for a certain kind of computer. Anyway, I have a PowerMac G4, 1.25 Ghz, 512 MB RAM, 64 MB ATI Radeon 9000 video card. If yours is similar, this might be your solution, as long as you back up your SimCity data. The file is easy to delete if it causes problems too.

Just thought I'd pitch that idea out there for anyone who might need it.

ISF

[trevy66 0]

So what ecatly does this file do? Does it break down the information a little better so the computer can handle it better or...?

[Zelgadis 638]

In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure what the file did on a technical level. I know the general ins and outs of computers pretty well, but I'm not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination. All I do know is that this file streamlined the scrolling and U drive it missions considerably without sacrificing anything else.

According to the Aspyr tech support guy who sent me the file, this is the line of code that is critical to the performance upgrade:

property noPartialBackingStoreCopies true

If anyone else knows more about such kinds of files, I welcome a post here to explain. At the very least, the performance upgrade that this file provides is too great to keep to myself, so I thought it should be shared here.

ISF

[cynshep0500 0]

I'd really appreciate getting this file as well. Trying to deal with Aspyr tech again may cause my head to implode.

Got error when attempting to PM or e-mail my request to you but my prefs are set to accept e-mails from Simtrop.

Thanks,

CynS

[Akoindamatrix 0]

Hey there!,

I've had the same problem since getting rush hour expansion and I'm using a G5, 2Ghz, 512mb RAM 128 MB ATI Radeon 9600 Video Card, you would have thought that was enough!!!!

[tbo128 0]

I have the same performance problem with my Power Book G4, It seems to run fine on my G5 until it crashes. Basically RH is a crappy port of a crappy game and I resent having to hack a game I spent money on to get it to work properly. In my opinion RH is fatally flawed and is unlikely ever to be fixed.

[Akoindamatrix 0]

There is a patch on Aspyr's website.....but I tried it and did'nt make any difference......I have not started my city yet ! I have just played the Big City tutorial, If this is how slow the rest of the game is gonna be..............It takes up to 10 seconds sometimes to zoom and scrolling is delayed.....Is it meant to look really pixelated at full zoom?

[Akoindamatrix 0]

F.A.O Zelgadis

Hello Again!

Is the patch for Rush Hour on Aspyr's website the same thing as the mod given out by them to you?

[Zelgadis 638]

The patch on the Aspyr site is not the same. I downloaded that patch at first and it didn't help at all. It wasn't until I whined a great deal more to Aspyr that they sent me the new file. As far as I know, they haven't posted it on their website for some strange reason...

[Akoindamatrix 0]

GREAT!

Would you be as kind enough to email it to me please?

[Akoindamatrix 0]

PRETTY PLEASE?

[Akoindamatrix 0]

Would you be able to email the mod to me?

I would greatly appreciate this thanks!

akoindamatrix@yahoo.co.uk

[Akoindamatrix 0]

YES GREAT ONE!

That patch really helped thanks Zelgadis(Ian)!

[matthewcs 0]

Don't you people DARE disappear!...One day I will buy Rush Hour and I assume I'll need this for my mac...or better yet, email it to me (PLZ!) at matthewschwarz@hotmail.com
I've heard about the graphics problems for rush hour, and so put of buying...if this fixes it, your heros to all mac owners...

[mediaman50 0]

I am running a dual 2GB machine with 2GB of memory with a Radeon 9800 Pro Mac video card and I too, get the same results as the others that have posted here. Could you please upload that file ...... My woes with Aspyr started the day I opened the Rush Hour CD case, and there was only the first disk in the case (I have no idea where the 2nd cd ended up but it wasn't in with my jewel case). And I heartly agree with the guy whose head was about to implode due to dealing with Aspyr's tech support.

Thanks in advance for your help .... and I'll let you know the results once it is installed!

send to: avpedro@comcast.net

[apple_iBoy 0]

I'd love to get a copy of this file as well!

mdc@drexel.edu

[jpj_starfleet 3]

Same problem here and i'm runnin a G4 powerbook with a seperate LaCie harddrive to minimize memory space. Could you send me the file also?? jpj_starfleet@mac.com

[safemining1 0]

I also have been having that proberm. Aspyr says to reimstall the game.

[Zelgadis 638]

Aspyr told me the same thing. And I did, twice. Didn't work. Don't even bother. I can send the file if you want.

ISF

[Physbo 1]

Hey i would like the patch too, ive updated and what not. My RH is quick until the cities get to about 25,000. Then its just slow. And to help other people ill throw the patch on my one of my servers.

my e-mail
Physbo@yahoo.com

[mrtcereal 0]

Hi, could you please send the file to me as well?
Thanks.
ted@slaphappyrecords.com

[slinky 0]

could i have the file too please
sngwx@singnet.com.sg

thanks

[Physbo 1]

For those who havnt recieved it and want to download it

Click Here

[Zelgadis 638]

Must be a time warp. He/she got it before I even sent it.

ISF

[Akoindamatrix 0]

Funny that eh?

[Zelgadis 638]

Now that Physbo has made this file available for download, there is something important to know about it. This file should be dropped into the SimCity 4 Data folder, not a plugins folder, according to the information I received from Aspyr.

I suppose this is the end of this thread. However, I would like for the people to whom I have sent this file to share their experiences with it. Let us all know if it is working for you!

ISF

[xelaxam 0]

There was also this trick ...
Me all the other didn't work but this one really speed up on my ibook...
oakenshield gave that trick on another post and it was the onlyone that work:
But it is a bit tricky and i'm not sure it is working for other card and cpu so backup these 2 files first...

Hi,

I've managed to get Rush Hour scrolling significantly faster on my iBook 1Ghz/Radeon 9200 with the following:

1) Open the Video Cards.sgr file in the SimCity 4 Data directory. Check the device ID for your video card is present (can be found using System Profiler). Add the appropriate line - e.g. card 0x5C63 Radeon 9200 was needed for my iBook, otherwise the card wasn't detected as a Radeon.

2) Open the Graphics Rules.sgr file. Find the section:

# MAC_PORT - Don't enable the noPartialBackingStoreCopies flag. It slows down scrolling.
# original-> property noPartialBackingStoreCopies true

And enable the property (e.g. remove the '# original->' text).

Hope it will help...

[Zelgadis 638]

Interesting idea. Could you explain in more detail? I've never modified a file in such a manner before, so instructions for the programming-illiterate would be very appreciated!

ISF

[xelaxam 0]

In fact, it is quite easy to do so... you don't have to be a programer if you have simple text you're able to do so... As I said before I don't know that it works for all video card type and machine...

The first file that you modify is videocard.sgr ( double click and open it with simple text) it tells the game that the id ( check my first message) = to radeon 9200 card. So if your id isn't there, the game doesn't know your card and use a generic render which is not optimized to your video card... So that's what I understand my card wasn't there. So you must know which is your video card. If it's not radeon 9200 and your id isn't there you can try to add a line and you change radeon 9200 by your card but I DON'T KNOW IF IT WOLRKS.

But for the graphic.sgr is the same thing you program it with simple text. But what it change exactly I don't know...

Hope it's help...

[xelaxam 0]

For the second part, I talke whit some of my friend and they told me that # original-> is a commentary... So if I put #original-> out it set property noPartialBackingStoreCopies [at] true. So to figure out what it does in the game, I put it at false. So all the building stay when I scrool the game. But it's choppy... When it at true all bulding disapear when you scroll. And the highway too...But it is faster, a lot faster

So I think that what it does... so delete #original->