unityx

Ok, so at this point this is just to help others. In the directory for the application, which is program files/maxis/Sim City 4/apps, there is an ".ini" file. Mine was only showing info to direct the app to the location of two directories. Below I added: [Graphics Drivers] OpenGL =SimGLRef.dll, C4554841 Software=SimGLSoft.dll,7ACA35C6 D3D7 =SimGLDx7.dll, BADB6906 [Current Graphics Driver] ;Driver = C4554841 ;OpenGL Hardware ;Driver = 7ACA35C6 ;GRPoly Software Driver = BADB6906 ;DX7 Hardware What one can do is basically play with the above. The "Current Driver" is the one to adjust. ONE can be selected. Putting a ";" before the line disables it. When I tried GL things were better and it ran in 32 bit like before, but I had a LOT of display issues. Totally non playable, which is odd considering its OpenGL. Then I went DX7, like I have it above, and it dropped to 16 bit so there is some graininess. Which frankly players have been finding out they are running 16 bit and had no clue. So it probably wont bother most. But my shadows came back and I have clouds in city view (region always had working clouds) It is also running in hardware mode. Now I am going back to the graphic rules to see if I can force more visual options including 32 bit. But its late, so another night. What a fuss to get the game looking and running right!

Well its looks like its just a case of the PC version of the game not wanting to tax the graphics card. Its a 945 mobile after all. Anyway, the Mac version seems to be much more forgiving. I edited the graphics rules.sgr and had no luck getting the game to even render shadows or clouds in city view. For those who know the config file, this is what I need to figure out how to combat in the rules file - which I dont think is possible. Rules ----- applying standard software Options ------- Visual Effects current: 3 recommended: 0 Cars/Sims current: 3 recommended: 0 Shadows current: 3 recommended: 0 Atmospheric effects current: 1 recommended: 0 Water effects current: 1 recommended: 0 Software/Hardware current: 0 recommended: 0 Cursor current: 1 recommended: 0 VariableSpeedAutomata current: 0 recommended: 0 Translucent UI current: 1 recommended: 0 Graphic Detail current: 3 recommended: 0 Building Load Speed current: 3 recommended: 0 Texture Quality current: 3 recommended: 0 Properties ------- forcesoftwaredriver = false renderdynamicview = true renderstaticview = true renderwatereffects = true rendercloudsandfog = false forcepointsampling = false forcebilinear = false forcenoalphablend = false forcenoalphatest = false rendershadows = false renderdecals = false usesecondstage = false forcedebugtexture = false renderparticleeffects = true renderflorashadows = true renderterrain = true showupdateregions = false usecursoreffects = true drawlottextures = true drawlotfoundations = true drawlotwalls = true forcetexturerepeat = false usescreenshake = true renderui = true useupdaterectclipping = true usevertexbuffers = true showboundingboxes = false useoverlayculling = true rendersnapshot = false noaddsigned = false nopartialbackingstorecopies = false usescreenflash = true renderautomata = true preferopaque = false displayalertborders = true drawlotopaquetextures = true useviewcleanup = false doautozoomandrotationchanges = true viewoffsety = 0 viewoffsetx = 0 texturebits = 32 lodoffset = 0 shadowdebug = 0 maxparticlestarget = 10000 particlelodoffset = 0 effectprioritylevel = 5 backingstoremaxzoomall = 5 backingstoremaxzoombuildingsprops = 5 backingstoremaxzoomterrain = 5 backingstoremaxzoomflora = 5 shadowquality = 2 minvehiclezoom = 3 minpedzoom = 4 cursortype = 1 depthoffset = 2 debugtexture = 0 dirtyrectmergeframes = 4 sounddetail = 2 buildingvariety = 2 buildingloaderspeed = 1 modellodoffset = 0 stringtexturecachesize = 1024 particleeffectslod = 5 splattexturescale = 50 texbindmaxfree = 2 particledensity = 1 particledamping = 0 particlescale = 1 lightingupdatedelta = 0.0001 shadowmodelthreshold = 12 demolishmodelthreshold = 12 rendermodelthreshold = 6 rendermodelthresholdscroll = 40 particlesizethreshold = 300 maxvehiclepct = 1 maxpedpct = 1 opaqueuialphavalue = 0.55

Display settings? As in the in-game? All set to high. Everything is on. Only issue is that it only wants to run in software mode. Frustrating. On the Mac it "just works". And really its the same machine, I am just booting into Windows!

You are correct. But I am talking about street lights, not stop lights or whatever one calls them (here they are called "stop and go lights").

Searched, google too. I am sure this has come up before. Street lights just dont come on for ANY type of roadway. I went so far as to clear the Plugins folder, create new roads and cities. Deluxe edition. Pretty sure I have all my updates. Most building light up with exception being some medium residential. But I do have one build type on, Euro. So its not a plugin issue and I dont think its an install issue. Overall not a huge deal I guess.

If you are on an Intel Mac you can NOT render a region with large cities, only medium and small. Sucks big time. I have a massive region, I think the biggest you can go, and ALL my cities are medium in size

TEG, vast improvements with the 10.5.7 update or is the iMac new. I have not updated to 10.5.7 as of yet.

Same issue here. Seems thought that the customer count does not influence much is anything. I have NAM, most of mine have low counts but everything is developing nicely.