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Things keep changing as Apple updates macOS - this process is the latest as of this post's date for Big Sur 11.4 and NAM 41. I will update this post with any changes affecting the installation if/as issues come up. Other bugs or quirks discovered in gameplay will be posted as a reply to this topic farther down. As of now this has been found: Immortal Lots. Unable to bulldoze lots/buildings that overlap a modded plop. Solution found. Installing Mods (NAM) on Big Sur for SC4 MODS WILL NOT WORK WITH THE NEW 64-BIT SC4 GAME FROM THE APPLE APP STORE. If you have it, forget about adding mods - Apple's configuration does not allow it. Delete it (and all its associated files) and get the Steam version. Steam's downloadable version is 1/4 the price (~ $5 USD) and the NAM installation actually works. Steps (in order) Purchase SC4 and download/install Steam (free, but Steam account creation is required with a couple of back and forth confirmation emails). Steam will not run on Big Sur without this adjustment: Copy this command: rm -r ~/Library/Application\ Support/Steam/Steam.AppBundle , open the Mac's Terminal app and paste it, click Enter and close the Terminal app. Download the latest NAM package and unzip it. Open the folder to see the files to run below. Right-click (not double-click) to run and install the OpenJDK11U-jre_x64_windows_hotspot_11.0.8_10.msi file included in the package. MacOS may give you a hard time but there's a way in. Right-click (not double-click) on the NetworkAddonMod_Setup_Version41.jar file in the package and select Open, continue past MacOS warning dialog. A window opens for the NAM installer. Click to agree to the usage terms at the bottom of the Welcome tab (do not change the defaults in the Files tab - they will not work), click on the Install tab, and click to Start Installation. A list of files will begin to fill the window for a while – keep scrolling to the bottom of the list until you see the notice that all files were loaded, then quit the application. Open two finder windows. On one search for the Network Addon Mod folder, right-click to Duplicate it, then drag the copy to your Desktop. Go to https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/index.htm to download the JDATPacker tool. Register and then click https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3140 to go straight to the item to download. Unzip the downloaded JDATPacker archive, then right-click on the JDatPacker-0.1.3.jar file, continue past the warning to open. On the JDATPacker tool, Source Directory: click Browse and scroll to find and select the Network Addon Mod copy folder that you dragged to the Desktop. Target Directory: Browse to find and select Desktop. Execute and close the tool. From Desktop select all the new .dat files just unpacked (including the NetworkAddonMod_Controller.dat file, which may still be inside the z_NAM Controller_RHD_4GB_Full folder), and drag to drop them inside the SimCity 4 folder's Plugins folder you previously removed them from. At the end of the process the folder contents should match the screen shot attached. You can move all the download archives and unneeded files to Trash. The files in the image below are all you need. Launch the Steam app to finish its setup and connect to your Steam account, then run SC4. Open a city and check the menus for new mods, and put some down and bulldoze them to be sure they work. Looks like the vast majority of people here [players and modders] are WIndows users. We few Mac users are usually just players so there's not a lot of tech wizards who know Macs well, although they are very helpful. Any time you can help with problem solving please pitch in.

Is there a mapper or terraformer mod or app for SC4 on 64 bit macOS? The ones I've found here for Mac are obsolete or disappeared.

Hola! I have been preparing to create a region of Santiago de Cuba, my birthplace, and in looking for tips on region building I keep running into you in threads, and now I saw one place you mentioned the Caribbean and damn! You haven't built Santiago yet I'm a closet geographer and loved maps and mapmaking since I was 6 (my mom taught Geography and had plenty of maps and books at home). Anyway, I've got my topo map ready and picked out a default region and did the km-to-tile measurements, planning where the city tiles would go, etc. But now I'm learning there's a whole new world out there, and mods to make terraforming more accurate, etc. So I'll keep reading your threads and catching tutorials to see if I want to take the task on. I'm a newbie, working on a Macbook. I hope the mods I want to install work. OK, so thanks again!

Thanks! It worked, except that I have to plop the Killer on TOP of the item to be bulldozed, then use the ingame bulldozer. Plopping it on the side, as the popup instructions say, did not work, with or without the crane hanging over the lot to be blasted. @rsc204 thanks for the advice on using Windows tools. I remember I had to use Wine when I was modding in Skylines. But I'm not ready to tackle another tech puzzle yet. This one took me so many hours, and they tend to do that due to my lack of skills in that complicated area.

Unfortunately, it's an .exe file which MacOS can't open. Is there a tool to convert it?

BUG REPORT: Immortal lots So far, everything is working fine except for one buggy annoyance with the Avenue Intersections tool. It's one of the only mods I've used so far and I hope similar bugs aren't common. I had placed a Bus Stop on a road which I later widened to an Avenue, and I placed an Avenue Circle adjacent to it. The bus stop did not get automatically deleted by the circle placement (I assumed the Avenue Circle placement it would destroy buildings in its footprint), and was overlapping one of the traffic circle's footprint squares. It kept traffic from circulating in the circle at the point of blockage, and therefore along one side of the avenue buildings had no road access. I bulldozed the circle, and that didn't destroy it, although it allowed traffic to access. I bulldozed the bus stop and it acts as if it is being blown up (incurs a cost too), but stays there. I ended up making a regular T intersection there to solve the traffic issue.

I just installed NAM 41 on my Macbook running Big Sur and as I started working on a city I discovered that the bulldozer will not destroy roads. It does work on power lines, and I have not put anything else down in the city yet so I don't know if it's also broken for other items. TIA

I played the game for a while and all seems to work fine. I also updated the How-To Install post adding the JDATAPacker process and clarity. Thanks everyone for your patience and knowledgeable help!

Yay! Mods installed and working, and the bulldozer works. It seems that the JDATPacker.jar leaves the NetworkAddonMod_Controller.dat file inside the z_NAM Controller_RHD_4GB_Full folder, unlike the other files where it extracts them out of the folders. That's why it was missing from the install the last time, and maybe the cause of some of my earlier issues. But silly me, I had confused the meaning of LHD, thinking it referred to where the steering wheel was in the vehicle, rather than on which side of the road to drive. I'm going to play the game for a while to be sure it works as expected, and later update the installation instructions I created, adding the DATPacker process. Thanks again so much.

So frustrating for me, and surely for you too. I've gone through the entire process several times, unpacking the zip file, unpacking the .jar file (selecting the LHD controller this time, my bad), converting the folders to .dat files and moving them to the correct location. See below for the setup. At this point I am about to give up. With the files as shown below, the game gives me mod menu items, but they do nothing. Is the problem is Big Sur?

Well, I finally made time to test further and was disappointed - gosh if I didn't love this game so much I'd long ago moved on. And your continued help so appreciated. Even though the mod menu items are showing, nothing happens when they are applied. Apparently the file I removed Z was necessary for the others to run. I've searched the LEX site and can't find a LHD version to download. I checked the file contents of my previous download and don't see any files with LHD, nor do I remember being given the option to select a version through the process. Thanks again amig@s.

I was able to run the tool and it created a set of .dat files. I dropped them into the Plugins folder rather than replacing it. One of the files was z_NAM Controller_RHD_4GB_Full_000 and it's a right hand drive indicator. I removed it from the Plugins folder and it now everything seems to work as expected. I know I was using the Skylines version before the 64-bit fiasco. I remember a set of really cool mods called UDON. Is that for Skylines or SC4? Thanks for your patience and dedication.

Sorry, forgot to check messages first and also that you had already started to help me solve this. I was able to log in and d/l the file. About to start the process.

I started to register on LEX and it said I already had an account. So I reset the password, but still could not log in.

I was unable to log in to the LEX. When I tried to register it said my email or username was already in. So instead I reset the password and it still says the same thing. Thanks for your patience. Same username as on here. I did receive and respond to the activation email.

Bummer hey? I downloaded and unzipped the JDATPacker but there was no .jar file to run.

I wonder... is there a bulldozer mod that I can add to replace the native one?

NOT RESOLVED Thanks for the advice. I moved the NAM folder out of the Plugins folder, started the game and the bulldozer worked. I quit the game. I put the NAM folder back and restarted the game and this time it worked... until I took it off pause - a road I put down while on pause did not blow up, and the charge for bulldozing was $0. With NAM I'm able to put down roads while running time, but not delete them. I removed it again and started the game to be sure to run the same test without NAM, and it worked without any problem. FYI, with the NAM plugins, the Timbuktu region takes a minute or more to start up - without it's just a few seconds. I assume that's not abnormal.

I've downloaded and unpackaged the NAM 41 files. They ended up in the folder shown in the attached image. I have no idea where to move them to so that when I launch the game they work. I've spent an hour looking online and could not find a straightforward answer - way too much info!

Thank you rsc204 for the thorough explanation . I decided to give up on the App Store version (which cost me about $20 and I'm not going to fight them for a refund when they don't even have a Contact Us or Support link on the App Store app), and looked at Steam and it's only $5 there. I wish I had done that before. I deleted all the SimCity related files downloaded the last few weeks, and purchased it on Steam. I installed Steam, but it would not run. Deleted it and reinstalled it, no better. Restarted the Mac, same thing. Searched the net and found a very important item you should be aware of: MacOS Big Sur will not run Steam without "code surgery". On Reddit I found a thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOSBeta/comments/kgkwvz/steam_doesnt_work_after_updating_to_macos_big_sur/ and it has a line of code to run on the Terminal app that allows Steam to start up. rm -r ~/Library/Application\ Support/Steam/Steam.AppBundle After entering that command I started Steam from the Applications folder and it went through the setup process. I was able to start SimCity. I then installed NAM 41 (I'm a pro at it now), restarted the game and YES! the mods are there. PLEASE put a notice out for Mac users here. I have spent countless hours trying to get SimCity mods installed and I see in the community that I am not the only one struggling. Mods will not run in SimCity 4 Deluxe from the App Store (Steam version is 75% cheaper and will allow the mods to install) Must run the Terminal command rm -r ~/Library/Application\ Support/Steam/Steam.AppBundle to allow Big Sur to run Steam Another thing to warn Mac users is that the .jar file will not open by double-clicking on the Finder window - a malware warning comes up that can't be overridden. Must use right-click on the filename then select Open, then a dialog that allows you to continue comes up. I took a whole series of screen shots of the process over the last couple of days. Maybe a step by step post in the Mac users forum would be good. Yes?

Tarkus has been trying to help me with the Apple Store install and we are not having any luck. If you would look at my post in this forum "Where to put the NAM plugins" there's everything we've tried. This is for NAM 41, but it should be the same no?

Nope, that didn't work. Notice in the screen shot that the folder name com.aspyr.simcity4.appstore is automatically changed to SimCity™4 Deluxe Edition when I add the NAM folder from the .jar file. I manually changed it to com.aspyr.simcity4.appstore and it kept the name, then tried running the game again and the new mods are still not in the menus. Surely there are Mac users who have successfully installed the mods – I'm not a "gamer" so modding apps is foreign language to me. I am running the latest macOS so that's not the issue. Yesterday, while waiting for replies, I ran the .jar file again and tried everything from scratch. I took screen shots of all the steps and saved them. If you think that would be helpful I'll upload them so you can see if and where I messed up. Meanwhile I will continue to explore the Forums for solutions. I really love this game and want to continue to play it, but without the mods the game is just not as fun. Thanks again for taking time to help me.

I copied the unpackaged Network Addon Mod folder and all its contents to both locations, and when I launched the game my Timbuktu Region was reset (I lost 4 cities), but the mods are not showing on the menus. The menus still only have the original options, so there is something else going on. Ugh. I wonder if I should ask Apple to reimburse me for the App Store game and then instead download from Steam...