Commander_HK47

Can you be more specific about what model number your laptop is? We can use this to determine the maximum resolution that it will support ie the maximum that you will be able to run SC4.

Been doing some research, and have found out that Sim City 4 Deluxe has a internal override for the graphics Rules.sgr file. Adjusting the "screenBPP" value between 16, and 32 changes the selection in the option in game, however while running in full screen mode while using hardware rending the game selects 16bit color regardless of the value set in the graphics rules.sgr. This can be confirmed via configuration log file in the apps directory. It seems that if you remove the file from the games root directory, the game will start and use a set of built in rules. Additionally i think there could be a issue with the way Windows 7 handles direct3D. It seems that since Windows 7 uses Directx 11. Iam not sure if all the older direct x files that would be need are present. I'm not sure if this is causing the issue with the game choising to revert to the lower color bit depth because of it. I would like to know if there are others out there that are using windows 7 with a recent Ati based graphics card that have been able to run the game in full screen mode, with hardware rendering. To be able to confrim if you are, simply look at your configle log file in the Apps directory in Sim City 4 Deluxe.

Found this info: -d:Software This will run the game in Software Rendering Mode, which is required for unsupported 3d chip sets to run the game properly. Cons: Have to disable crossfire to run without screen flickering, textures and objecst lack hardware smoothing effects. No shadows -d:DirectX/Software/OpenGL This sets the graphics driver for the game to run under. Currently the DirectX and Software drivers are supported, while the OpenGL driver is currently experimental. Well using -d:openGL will override the games default rendering method and it does render in 32 bit mode full screen in hardware, but with mass z buffer and other texture anomalies . I still have not found any thing that allows me to use a spasiffic Direct3D version though. Still though the -r1920x120x32 should force the game to use 32 bit color depth...

There are a few was. First you can tell by the gradient quality in most transparent textures while running the game, like in game clouds and the water texture quality. You can also check in the "Apps" folder in the game's directory, In there you will find a log file called [pc name]-config-log.txt in that file look for: Numbers, and this line screenBPP = xx, xx will be ether 16, or 32. This file tells you among many other things, what Sim City 4 last ran in terms color depth mode.

Originally posted by: Tysons4 i chose nvidia and im thankful for that choice... i play windowed at my native screen size with hardware rendering, 32 bit color depth, and can play multiple copies (which i do because i have many different game directories to choose from... different looks and whatnot) i have a dual montior setup and it is great to play 2 cities at a time... even playing from the same directory and working on 2 different cities in the same region... system specs: quad core amd 2.5ghz 9850 (clocked to 2.8ghz) <<< didint change this to run on one processor for simcity4 4 gigs 1066 ram 4 tb 7200 storage sata 9800gt geforce 1gb gddr3 2 24" 1680x1050 montiors windows vista 64 (i have 7 64 but havnt installed it yet bc i need to find drivers for my nic) my computer plays everything on max settings and i can play many differnt games at the same time... you may need to look into getting a lesser version of direct x as it sounds like you are running a higher version than what the game wants. start with directx 7 and see what that does for your problem, and run the game in compatabliity mode for xp... set in the shortcut tab (right click game icon...select properties, click compatibility tab and run in compatability mode for windows xp good luck quote> I'm sure the first part of your post most would agree isn't relevant to my OP, its more of a "sucks for you, look at me though" kinda of statement. I am not sure on how to force the game to use a lesser version of Direct X. Is there a command i can use in the startup string? I have changed the game to run in windows xp compatibility SP2/3, but there is no effect on color depth. Personally i do not think it has to do with any of that though. I think it is a coding issue with the game itself, in particularly with ATi card. I am looking into the video cards.sgr and the graphic rules.sgr to see if i can find a way to force it to run in 32bit color depth.

So the other day i got back into playing around with Sim City 4 Deluxe edition. I noticed that the game was not running in 32bit color mode even though i had set it so in the game options and as well as in the additional commands in the start up string for the shortcut "-r1920x1200x32". The game however will run in 32bit color mode under two conditions. The first being in full screen mode with software set as the rendering mode, and secondly is with hardware set as the rendering mode but only while running the game in window mode. I have both patches installed 1.1.638 and 1.1640 for custom bat night lighting. I have two ATi 4890 graphics cards in crossfire with the 10.5 driver set installed on windows 7 x64. I know that Sim City 4 had issues with some of the earlier ATi cards, however i thought that issue was cleared up some time ago.

wait one sec, let me go dig up a reg file i made.... Alright I renamed the "Engish" folder and file to "English": and wrote this reg File Main things that changed where "Language" dword: value and "LanguageName" = value. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For Vista X64 BIT Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Maxis\SimCity 4\1.0] "Language"=dword:00000001 "DisplayName"="SimCity 4 Deluxe" "LanguageName"="English" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For Vista X32 BIT Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Maxis\SimCity 4\1.0] "Language"=dword:00000001 "DisplayName"="SimCity 4 Deluxe" "LanguageName"="English" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edit: I see you have your location set to Turkey. This mod works because Sim City gets its left/right hand side driving information from the language file selected in the registry entries. If you want to keep Turkey as your default game language(not sure if Sim City 4 has Turkish default though) you will need to re name that language folder/file to "English" like i covered above. In addition you will need to reference the Sim City 4 "language"=dword hex table.

To cool, I like the the euro feel, nice and stylish!!!