haap303

This topic is for those who simply can't wait for the Mac version of SimCity. Here are my experiences running the Windows version on some Mac computers: SimCity on Windows 7, in a VMware 5 virtual machine (iMac 27", 2.8ghz i5, 4gb RAM): The game is playable and the speed is okay even on higher settings, but there are rendering glitches that make it rather ugly at times and the game might even crash occasionally, probably due to the virtual display drivers. With 4gb of RAM (2gb allocated to the virtual machine) it's easy to run out of memory, so 8gb RAM is highly recommended to enjoy the game. Simcity on Windows7, Boot camp (Macbook Pro, 2.8ghz Core2Duo, 4gb RAM): The game runs without glitches, however the display driver is quite weak and you won't get smooth framerates on higher settings. It seems that the power / fan management is not ideal under Windows and the computer tends to overheat resulting in random shutdowns, as if listening to that constant loud fan noise wasn't annoying enough. Conclusion Although I didn't experience any major problems installing and even playing the game, I think it's better to wait for the native Mac version as it does require quite a lot of effort to get the Windows version going. It will also be a LOT better performance wise. I'm not sure if we can expect better much from Core2Duo Macbooks, I believe the game will still be slow, however newer computers will handle it just fine. Hope this was helpful.

Hey guys, does anyone know if there's a fix for those weird looking park textures like on the right side of this pic? I sure hope that's not intentional... Thanks in advance!

Updated the original post with some clarification.

It's very picky about the settings so you might want to double check everything. I remember having to play around with it a LOT till I got it right... You can also run into problems if you simply run Simcity 4.exe, so it's better to use a shortcut like this: Target: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C START "Simcity 4" /high /affinity 1 "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -intro:off -d:software Start in: "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps"

Whoops, I'm a bit late with this reply... Anyway, there's no lag at all and I haven't noticed too many crashes. You get the same experience that you'd get on Windows. Parallels is great too, actually I got to run some games in Parallels that always crashed for me in VMWare Fusion.

This is my first post here. Let me just say that I love Simtropolis. It's an an amazing community for an amazing game and I admire the hard work of all the batters and modders. I'd like to help out all the hardcore fans who have switched to the Mac to have best Simcity 4 experience. After the huge disappointment with the Aspyr release I've been experimenting with VMware Fusion. With VMware you can run any version of Windows in a virtual machine right on your Mac Desktop. Simcity 4 works great and the speed is unbelievable. On my i5 quad core iMac I can watch movies while the game is running in an another window, not a sweat from the machine, even with larger (300.000+) cities. Runs great on Core 2 Duo Intel Macbook Pros too. I seriously recommend everyone to ditch the sluggish Mac version and use the Win version instead. Important! In order to make the game work properly you must Make sure VMware is configured to use 1 processor in the virtual machine (Settings / Processors & RAM) Run the game as an administrator in compatibility mode (XP or Vista if you have Win7), right click on Simcity 4.exe and click Properties / Compatibiltity Make sure you force software rendering by running the game like this: Simcity 4.exe -d:software (you can create a desktop shortcut for your convenience) Disable Color Cursor in the Graphic options menu (screen icon) of Simcity 4 (this is optional based on your Windows version, I had some flickering issues) Extra tip You can disable the intro if you also add the -intro:off parameter when running the game Desktop shortcut Target: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C START "Simcity 4" /high /affinity 1 "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -intro:off -d:software Start in: "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps" So if you have the Win version of Simcity 4 and a Windows license lying around, get VMware and try it out! I think they have free trials so there's nothing to lose. Have fun!