diamonddog_74

Yeah, but that's a chore to have to maintain two OSes. I really wish Aspyr would just get those patches in.

Ah, thanks for the correction, Tarkus. Yes, I guess I was fooled by the name of that file.

Thanks for the news, Tarkus. It makes sense that you guys decided to drop support for the original Mac version because it was pretty much dead. I am one of those Mac users who ended up just running the Windows version under Boot Camp in my Intel iMac that just died a month ago after seven years of service. As memo most likely already found, the EP1 Update is part of this new Mac version. It is very clearly listed in the GameData folder in the application bundle as you can see in my screen shot below. I don't know if Aspyr also applied the Patch4BAT update, but from some of the previous posts in this thread, it seems nightlighting on some BATs is not working so maybe they didn't. Aspyr doesn't have a technical blog on their website going into detail about what they did and didn't do. All we got is the information from their product description in which they don't go into too much detail. However, from the minimum reqs, we know that they at least made it multi-core aware, and able to play at higher resolutions. From the Mac's System Information app, we can also see that they didn't convert it to a 64-bit app. However, given the age of the game, I don't think it matters:

Here's the contents of the application bundle (right-clicking the app itself and selecting "Show package contents"). It clearly shows the EP1.dat listed. I don't know what the Patch4BAT file modifies or if it adds any other DAT files, so I don't know how to check for that.

We're discussing these things I haven't really had time to play it yet. I've only downloaded it, launched it, tried the first tutorial as a quickie test, and then quit. Other users have been loading their plugins, and mods, and have said things work with some issues. I've also been following the user reviews in the App Store itself. I'm sure one of the Mac publications will also be doing a review/test soon, since this is pretty big news.

Hmm, then either just run the game paused all the time, or get a set of Legos.

Wow! Thanks for the tutorial sargeantcm. I am tech-savvy, so I'm not afraid of some experimentation (I'm an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator). I just didn't want to be forced to run VM's or dual boot in my shiny new computer just to run this ancient game. I just finished playing Diablo III running natively on this machine, and I got great performance. However, like I said in my comment under the announcement thread, I'm willing to give this new Mac version a chance before I condemn it, and be forced to fall back to the Windows version that needs to run in a VM, Boot Camp, or Wine. Sure, this initial release may lack the EP-1 Update and Patch4BAT, but that doesn't mean Aspyr won't update the app. I regularly receive updates for other Mac App Store purchases, so I'd like to think that by re-releasing this game now for modern Macs, Aspyr has committed to support it with regular updates as well. They've done a lot to modernize it already by making it Intel Mac OS X native, multi-core aware, and supporting higher resolutions out of the box (no fiddling with funky startup commands). I run Windows 7 under VMWare Fusion in my work computer. I'll use it to run this Amazon "downloader.exe" to get the ISO. At least I'll have options just in case it doesn't work out with the Mac app.

That's a pretty strong conclusion, Nonny. Sure, this initial release lacks those two patches, but that doesn't mean they won't update the app. I regularly receive updates for other Mac App Store purchases, so I'd like to think that by re-releasing this game now for modern Macs, Aspyr has committed to support it with regular updates as well. They've done a lot to modernize it already by making it Intel Mac OS X native, multi-core aware, and supporting higher resolutions out of the box (no fiddling with funky startup commands). I'm willing to give it a chance before I condemn it, and be forced to fall back to a Windows version that needs to run in a VM, Boot Camp, or Wine and not have the built-in benefits above. BTW, here's the app details from the System Information app:

I just tried your suggestion to download the Windows version from Amazon as a backup in case the Mac edition doesn't work out for me. However, when I clicked the link after the purchase it downloaded a file called "SimCity_4_Deluxe_Edition_Downloader.exe." So, right now I have no way of running that executable since I don't have Boot Camp, a VM, or Wine installed in this computer. I thought it would download a giant .EXE or a .ISO. I'm spending too much money on this if now I have to buy Crossover. I do own a license of Windows 7 Pro, but I was really trying to avoid dual booting. I also own a license of VMWare Fusion, but I think performance will suffer. I hope Aspyr fixes the bugs, and applies the necessary updates (EP-1, and Patch4BAT). Ho hum.

Simtropolis member, memo, has posted a thorough of the game as compared to the patched and modded Windows version we've grown accustomed to playing.

Thank you for your thorough first analysis. Since I don't have a built-in optical drive anymore, I can't play the game in Boot Camp the way I used to with my old iMac. As I mentioned in another thread, I was thinking of using Crossover's version of Wine, but that still wouldn't solve the optical drive issue since the game looks for the second disc to play. I hope that you submitted your observations to Aspyr. By releasing this game, they have put themselves in the crosshairs of the SC4D-playing community again, and they must respond to bug reports and issues the community finds. If they did not include the EP-1 and Patch4BAT published patches, they must do so in a future update otherwise they'll lose a lot of sales to existing players who have grown accustomed to using the myriad of BATs and mods that depend on these.

Oh, those 15" MBP's are long gone unless you find them through a third party. I wanted to get one of those before Apple killed them off last year, but I waited too long. It's OK. I'm very happy with the 15" RMBP. I bought a latest model high-end unit through their refurb site, and saved myself $500.

I understand. The highest resolution the video settings present me is 1440x900, so I set it at that full screen and it looks good, not stretched out or anything. I tested the first tutorial city, and there were no artifacts or lags. Seems to be working OK. I can't right-click to navigate over the map with the laptop's trackpad, though. It detects the two-finger right-click gesture, but when I try to move it zooms in and out instead. So I'll probably have to use a mouse. So far I want to test it first plain vanilla with the tutorial cities before I try to load any of mods or other plugins. I guess the easiest thing to add right now would be music. I used to have extra music files in my old Windows installation.

Yes, go to the Applications folder, right-click the application's icon in the Finder, and select "Show package contents." This will open the app bundle. Go to Contents > GameData and you should see all the equivalent folders that you'd see in the Windows edition's Program Files SC4D installation. Technically, you should be able to place your DAT files that require the application directory instead of the user directory using this path. I don't know if they'll work since I just downloaded the game myself. Initial launch was very smooth with no skips or hiccups. Interestingly, the startup video says "Rush Hour Expansion Pack" instead of "Deluxe Edition." Right now I'm trying to figure out how to get the resolution to match my Retina display since they said in their official description that the game supports native resolutions.

Wow! This is great news since I just bought a new rMBP, and it doesn't have a built-in optical drive so I can't use my existing copy of SC4D. In my old Mac I actually was using Boot Camp to run SC4D in Windows XP. I was mulling over using Crossover for the new computer instead of Boot Camp again, but this news changes everything! As some have mentioned, though, we need NAM for Mac now that we have a modernized version of SC4D. I hope the NAM team can make this happen soon. SC4D is just not complete without it.