Fixing sluggish performance in SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Contributor/author(s): Maxis (Daniel Grove)

Do you run SimCity from a LAN?

A small number of SimCity 3000 Unlimited players have been reporting troubles involving running SimCity while connected to a LAN. If you think this file can help you visit the "SC3K Unlimited Help" section for more information.

Problem

Some users are getting very sluggish performance out of SimCity 3000 Unlimited - where the game will slow to a crawl every 30 seconds or so. If you are having such a problem, this might be a fix for you!

This file addresses sluggish performance some users have been experiencing. The problem occurs when the user's machine is not connected to the Internet, but the game thinks that it is. You will know you are having the problem if your game briefly gets sluggish every 30 seconds while playing but the sluggishness goes away when you are connected to the Internet. Most users do not experience this problem.

Does this file apply to you?

If you are not sure if this file is something you need or not, please answer for yourself these two questions:

1. Do you typically play SimCity 3000 Unlimited while connected to the Internet? If your answer is "no," then please continue to question 2. If your answer is "yes," then this fix will not help you.
2. Is your computer connected to a local network (a LAN)? If your answer is "yes," this fix may help. If not, then this fix will probably not help you.

If you answered "no" and "yes" respectively to these two questions, then try downloading the file below and place it in your "\SimCity 3000 Unlimited\Apps\Plugin" directory. Your game should run much faster after applying this fix.

PingFixPlugin1.dll

Install

To install this file simply place it in your "SimCity 3000 Unlimited\Apps\Plugin" directory and start the game. If the Plugin directory is not already present, you can create it by using Windows Explorer. The file menu sequence, "File" -> "New" -> "Folder", will enable you to create the "Plugin" directory you need.