Dragonstar

I think its a good idea to spread my experiences with different Direct X Wrappers. My Specs Lenovo e570: Intel i5-7200U, NVidia GTX 950M (Optimus Technology = means that SimCity 4 cannot be started with this GPU, although when binded the SimCity4.exe with the NVidia GPU in the NVidia Settings and with edited Graphics Rules.sgr and video Cards.sgr like this), 16 GB Ram I have found six different DirectX Wrappers dxwrapper elishacloud Voodoo2 from dege-diosg DDrawCompat from narzoul cnc-ddraw from CnCNet dxgl from dxgldotorg ddwrapper from bitpatch Why Direct X Wrappers? In my case and for many other users (especially with Windows 10) it is otherwise not possible to start SimCity 4 with DirectX (= Hardware Mode). The more compatible Software Mode is slower in general and you aren't able to use HD Mods, e.g. Maxis HD Tree Replacement Mod. To start SimCity with DirectX use the SC4 Launcher, which I recommend, because of such useful functions like autosave and choosing what folders and files should be loaded from the Plugin Folder. But you can activate DirectX also with the command -d:[renderer] in this case -d:[directx] More about startup codes here. General Use The general use is to unzip the files and place the "ddraw.dll" into the same folder like your "SimCity 4.exe", e.g. "C:\Games\SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition\Apps". Some Wrappers have additional files like config.files or separate Direct3D.dll's and so on. Just put the needed files into the folder of the SimCity 4.exe. And some Wrappers like the voodoo have graphical configuration UI's. In most cases here you have to specify which file or which folder you want to modify the DirectX Wrapper and apply to your configuration settings. Here you specify the "SimCity 4.exe" or the "C:\Games\SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition\Apps" folder. Sometimes there can be a Windows warning that the files could be dangerous. I think this happens because the files intervene deeply with the hardware of your system, but what I can say is, that all these wrappers looks very serious and I googled all of them for negative comments and found not a single one. Tearing problems With all Wrappers and also in Software Mode I get tearing errors like this. But just when I had the graphics effects on high or medium. With low all tearing errors disappear completely. So I have to play withoud clouds and industrial smoke. Now the tests :-) I recommend to read @Raymond7cn test here before. 1) dxwrapper von elishacloud In this thread there is explained how to use this Wrapper in resolutions above 1920x1080. This works fine, but you need a large monitor, because in resolutions above Full HD the UI is relatively tiny. In general the Wrapper works very stable and without noticeable errors beside of tearing (which I have with every! Wrapper and even in Software Mode). But it is not the fastest one. This Wrapper is in active development (last Update 9th August 2020) 2) Voodoo2 from dege-diosg A good and fast Wrapper, but in my case with sometimes heavy graphical glitches (for example in my case with Fullscreen 1920x1080), where I had almost just a white startscreen, which I had to hard-close with the Taskmanager (CTRL-ALT-DEL). In Windowmode everything was fine and fast and it has a lot of configuration options. If I choose my NVidia GTX 950M in the "Adapter(s) to use / enable" I get an error message when SimCity 4 is starting, that ddraw.dll couldn't be enabled and so it starts in Software Mode. But in the "DESKTOP-xyz-config-log" (you find this file in the folder where "SimCity 4.exe" is) it is stated that it starts with the NVidia GPU. I think this is a wrong message, because when I directly choose the NVidia GPU in the settings SimCity won't start in Hardware Mode. I was able to start SimCity in 2560x1440, but it was quite slow with this resolution. This Wrapper is in active development (last Update 2nd November 2020) 3) DDrawCompat from narzoul The easiest and the fastest one. Just unzip the ddraw.dll into the folder, where the SimCity 4.exe is. No further configuration setting needed. Highly recommend. But the highest resolution I got is Full HD (1920x1080). With higher resolutions SimCity 4 won't start. For me it's a bit unclear if this Wrapper is in active Development. The latest version is an experimental version from 13th July 2020. The last stable version before is from 2016, so I hope there will be further development on the experimental version. 4) cnc-ddraw from CnCNet It was succesful to Start SimCity 4 in Hardwaremode, but it is relatively slow. Otherwise nothing special here. This Wrapper is in active development (last Update 24th October 2020) 5) dxgl from dxgldotorg I had expected a lot from this wrapper. It looks very modern, is in active development and has many configuration possibilities. One downside is, that you have to use an installer for this (not just unzip and place the files into the SimCity 4. exe folder). Unfortunately I could not manage to start SimCity with any configuration :-( This Wrapper is in active development (last Update 10th October 2020) 6) ddwrapper von bitpatch A relatively old wrapper (from 2012) which hasn't seen an update since then. But it managed to start SimCity 4. It was also quite fast, but not as fast as DDrawCompat. Nevertheless this wrapper surprised me positively. I hope this thread can be helpful for those who search in Google for advice with their hardware problems or how to run SimCity 4 smoother. I will test from time to time the updates from the Wrappers mentioned above. If anyone knows from other Wrappers, which ideally got good results in SimCity 4, I would very appreciate it, if you could tell them here :-)

I know that there is a Maxis HD Tree Replacement Mod, but this Mod replaces just the Trees from Building Lots and besides Roads/Streets, but not the starting Trees when you enter the Godmode. I found a Mod that replaces the standard Maxis Trees from the beginning, the PEG MTP God Mode Tree Mod 102. But this trees are also Standard Definition Trees and in my eyes not better than the standard Maxis ones. I installed various Tree Controllers, like Cascadia Tree Controller, Central European Tree Controller (my favorite) and ARDEN Seasonal Tree Controllers, but they don't replace the starting trees, when you enter a tile to begin to build your district. So I ask you if you know a Mod or another way to replace the starting standard Maxis SD Trees with HD ones (ideally from girafe). Thx :-)

@Raymond7cn I will do it in December. I write my exam at November 25th, so I have not much time at the moment. I know, that I have chosen many settingsoptions, but either the ddraw couldn't load and SC4 started in Softwaremode or it started in hardwaremode, but with the Intel GPU and the Frames per Second were rather slow. But when I have more time I will investigate this further!

@markussaage Thx for your reply! Yes, you are right, it depends on the region if there are trees before entering the tile, but I have a workaround for me, if this is the case. With the extra cheat plugin I can delete all existing flora with the command "flora off". After that I can brush my HD Forests in Godmode and the detail work in Major Mode. So I don't need a HD Tree Replacement anymore :-)

Inspired from this Video on Youtube, where "Rob's Red Hot Spot" is recommending and explaining his 8 most important Mods, Tools and Bugfixes for SimCity 4, I installed all his recommendations and also nr. 8, the horrible dependencies hell "Functional Seaport". Yesterday I invest much time to download all the required Props from SC4Devotion and also a few ones here from Simtropolis. Then I used the Cleanitool to check if I had all required multimillion dependencies installed First I checked the normal dependencies (Cleanitol_SDP_3.1---1. GetDependencies.txt) Here it is stated, that the BSCBATProps RT MineCorp Vol01.at would be missing, but this is ok, because this file has been superseeded by BSC MEGA Props RT Vol04 and this Prop is installed. Probably the Cleanitol doesn't know the existence of the new MEGA Prop, so it shows this error. Now the PEG Dependencies (Cleanitol_SDP_3.1---2. GetPegasusDependencies.txt) This was the most difficult part for me, because this Props I had to download from Simtropolis and I had to search in Google, which xyz.dat is in which Prop/Mod/Lot/etc.. here at Simtropolis. But I managed to find nearly all. The third missing one "PEG-CDK3_PropPack_Vehicles_01.dat" is in the PEG CDK3 SUPER PAK, so it's the same like above. The Cleanitool doesn't know the existence of the Super PAK and so it shows the error. The two missing Props "PEG_CSK2_WaterTaxis_RESOURCE.dat and PEG_CSK2_Scows_205.dat" I were not able to find. Are they Legacy Content? I am unsure here with the PEG-Dependencies if I have downloaded and installed too much unnecessary stuff, because it was labeled as missing in the Cleanitool. For example, I had downloaded and installed the "PEG CDK3 SP Pier One", because Cleanitool showed the "PEG_CDK3-SP_Pier-One_RESOURCE.dat" as missing. But I suspect, that the two Super Packs "PEG CDK3 SP SEAPORT SUPER PAK" and "PEG CDK3 SUPER PAK" include all PEG-related Seaport dependencies. Am I right here and I have installed redundant Props just to make Cleanitool happy? Now the PEG Dependencies (Cleanitol_SDP_3.1---3. RemoveConflicts.txt) I think the "not present" message is a good one, right? It means no conflict? Because of the PEG Dependencies I installed "PEG CSK2 Functional Small Port". Cleanitool wanted the "PEG_CSK_SmallPort_RESOURCE.dat", but I installed also the "PEG_3x5_CSK2_Port-Small_SW77_205f.dat" from the package. Does the Cleanitool message that this file is found mean, that there is a conflict and so I should delete the "PEG_3x5_CSK2_Port-Small_SW77_205f.dat"? And now the last one (Cleanitol_SDP_3.1---4. GetTruesageDependencies.txt) Everything here should be fine. But what means "Maxis: not present"? It is stated also in the other three tests. Does it mean that some original Maxis Files are missing? I tried the Seaport for a short time and so far it seems to work, I couldn't see brown boxes anywhere. I know much stuff, but if anyone has experience with the Functional Seaport stuff and can confirm that the left errors in Cleanitool aren't real errors, it would be very nice and helpful :-)

@jeffryfisher Thank you for your help :-) I had started this tool once, but hadn't understand its functionality. Maybe I should give it another try. Yes, after my post here I had a closer look to the PLEX Files, especially to his "PEG CDK3 SP Container Seaport" and now I regret to install the BSC one, because I just wanted a functional Seaport and with the one from PEG I would have it with just 3 Dependencies! PEG CDK3 SP SEAPORT SUPER PAK PEG-CDK3-SP Container Ship Fleet Pack PEG Security Fencing Kit instead of the myriads of the BSC one. Also I read about incompatibility between different Seaports, but that "enablers" would take care that parts from BSC Seaport and PEG Seaport work in harmony. I will make a backup of my current Plugin folder, because I think my setup work and I have installed everything right, but nevertheless I feel insecure with this setup and don't want my game to crash in later city stages, because a detail is not installed right. As a newbee I stepped into the trap of plugin addiction. With my new plugin folder I will install just the absolute necessary and maybe later additions to it, when I am more experienced.

@rsc204 Yes, @Kloudkicker mentioned this above and I read it, but like you said, it applies just to Desktop Systems, not to Laptop ones, or just for Laptop Ones, when there is a dedicated and integrated graphics with no technology like Optimus, etc.. My Drivers are from May 2020 (from Windows Device Manager) Intel HD 620: v27.20.100.8281 (19th May 2020) The newest version from the Intel Website is v27.20.100.8853 from 19th October, but I can't install them, because the system says that these drivers are not validated from my Laptop manufacturer. But I don't think it makes such a difference, because my installed drivers are fairly recent. Geforce GTX 950M v26.21.14.4318 (13th May 2020) Here NVidia doesn't show on their website which version is recent, but when I search "v26.21.14.4318 Geforce" there comes a couple of results from August 2020, so I think it is also fairly recent. I use my Laptop always like a desktop, this means in power supply mode and this mode isn't restricted in any form. With all other games there is no problem with using the NVidia GPU. I am satisfied with my current setup. The DDrawCompact DirectX Wrappers are really fast, easy to install and configure (there is in my case no configuration at all) and has no hassles, except the tearing problems with graphics effects medium/high (unfortunately the missing Clouds and smoke is decreasing the atmosphere/immersion a little bit). But the tearing problems are there in any setup, also with elishacloud and voodoo Wrappers and also in Software Mode, so I think I will have to live with them till I get a new system. But I will check and try from time to time updated versions of the above mentioned Wrappers and will see, if there are improvements with my tearing problems. Thank you for your help :-)

@Kloudkicker I am using a second screen (Dell 23,8" WQHD) as my Mainscreen, but it makes no difference that SimCity is always choosing the integrated Intel HD6200. I even tried to deactivate the HD 620 in the Windows 10 Device Manager, but when I do this my Laptop Screen doesn't work anymore (but my extended second Mainscreen does) and SimCity doesn't start. So I think with deactivated Intel Card SimCity can't find anyGraphics GPU and so won't start. But thanks for the hint!

Hello, i am interested in downloading the STEX Collections, but i am a bit confused about the content. On the presentation page of the STEX Collections the following is stated: Do I see it right that there is material on the DVDs 3, 4 and 5 until 2013, but not beyond? I.e. lots, mods, etc... that were created after 2013, I will not find on the DVDs, right? I am also interested in whether the material will be updated. For example, if someone has released a mod in 2013 and it's on one of the DVDs and the mod has been updated in 2016, is the original or updated version on the DVD? The last question refers to the individual DVD's. DVD 3 is the cheapest at $10, DVD 4 at $20 in the middle and DVD 5 at $30 is the most expensive. You write that all DVD's have unique content, i.e. for example no identical lots, mods, etc... are on DVD 3 and 4 or on DVD 3 and 5 or on DVD 4 and 5. Does this mean that on DVD 5 is the most recent material (e.g. everything from 2011-2013) and on DVD 3 and 4 is older material? Are the most important additions, such as the NAM mod on all DVDs or only on DVD 5? Thanks in advance for answering these questions and thanks in general for the incredible work you are doing here :-)

You are right that SimCity of course doesn't stress GPU's very much, even Intel integrated ones. The problem is, that the GPU isn't working regularly with the SimCity 4 Workload within modern structures (DirectX 9 and above). It is more the case that it emulates the Graphics Workload and this can slow down even a modern systems a lot. It is the same with emulators. For example I have Gran Turismo 3 and 4 till today. I wish I could play them well on my Intel i5-7200U and GTX 950M with the Emulator PCSX2, but no way. Only with the lowest possible resolution I get more than 30 Frames per second and this looks like a mess. And the Playstation 2 was published 2001, so of course even my Intel intergrated graphics has way more power than the Playstation 2 GPU, but the Emulation is it, what demands so much computing power. It's similar with SimCity 4. You are right! At the time of my posting I believed that SimCity was using the GTX 950M, because of the binding in the NVidia Settings. But later I found out, that SimCity is always using the integrated Intel GPU, regardless of my modifications of the Graphics Rules.sgr and the Video Cards.sgr. This is a common problem with NVidia GPU's with Optimus Technology like my GTX 950M. Like I mentioned above, I did many modifications in the graphics rules.sgr and the Video Cards.sgr, but nothing worked. But I read many times from similiar attempts from Laptop Users with Optimus GPU, so it's normal that I can't force SimCity 4 to use my NVidia GPU instead of the integrated Intel one. partialRule "Fast card" -any # We run well on these cards, so up the defaults. stringMatch cardIdentity "NVidia*Geforce*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVidia*Quadro*" stringMatch cardIdentity "ATI*9700*" stringMatch cardIdentity "ATI*8500*" stringMatch cardIdentity "Matrox*Parhelia*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce GTX950M*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce GTX 950M*" stringMatch cardIdentity "GeForce*GTX*950M*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce*GTX*950M*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce GTX950 M*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce GTX 950 M*" stringMatch cardIdentity "GeForce*GTX*950 M*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce*GTX*950 M*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce GTX950*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce GTX 950*" stringMatch cardIdentity "GeForce*GTX*950*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce*GTX*950*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce GTX950*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce GTX 950*" stringMatch cardIdentity "GeForce*GTX*950*" stringMatch cardIdentity "NVIDIA*GeForce*GTX*950*" vendor "NVidia" 0x10b4 0x12d2 0x10de card 0x1b1d "Riva 128" card 0x0008 "NV 1" card 0x0009 "NV 1" card 0x0010 "NV 2" card 0x0018 "Riva 128" card 0x0019 "Riva 128 ZX" card 0x0020 "TNT" card 0x0028 "TNT2" card 0x0029 "TNT2 Ultra" card 0x002a "TNT2" card 0x002b "TNT2" card 0x002c "TNT Vanta" card 0x002d "TNT2 M64" card 0x002e "TNT Vanta" card 0x002f "TNT Vanta" card 0x00a0 "TNT2 Aladdin" card 0x0100 "GeForce 256" card 0x0101 "GeForce 256 DDR" card 0x0102 "GeForce 256 Ultra" card 0x0103 "GeForce 256 Quadro" card 0x0110 "GeForce2 MX" card 0x0111 "GeForce2 MX DDR" card 0x0112 "GeForce2 Go" card 0x0113 "GeForce2 Quadro" card 0x0150 "GeForce2" card 0x0151 "GeForce2 Ti" card 0x0152 "GeForce2 Ultra" card 0x0153 "GeForce2 Quadro" card 0x0170 "GeForce4 MX 460" card 0x0171 "GeForce4 MX 440" card 0x0172 "GeForce4 MX 420" card 0x0173 "GeForce4 MX" card 0x0174 "GeForce4 Go 440" card 0x0175 "GeForce4 Go 420" card 0x0176 "GeForce4 Go 420" card 0x0178 "GeForce4 Quadro4" card 0x0179 "GeForce4 Go 440" card 0x017a "GeForce4 Quadro" card 0x017b "GeForce4 Quadro" card 0x017b "GeForce4 Quadro" card 0x01a0 "GeForce2 Crush11" card 0x0200 "GeForce3" card 0x0201 "GeForce3 Ti200" card 0x0202 "GeForce3 Ti500" card 0x0203 "GeForce3 Quadro" card 0x0250 "GeForce4 Ti4600" card 0x0251 "GeForce4 Ti4400" card 0x0253 "GeForce4 Ti4200" card 0x0258 "GeForce4 Quadro" card 0x0259 "GeForce4 Quadro" card 0x025b "GeForce4 Quadro" card 0x02a0 "GeForce3 XBOX" card 0x139a "GeForce GTX 950M" card 0x139a "GeForce GTX950M" card 0x139a "GeForce GTX 950 M" card 0x139a "GeForce GTX950 M" card 0x139A "GeForce GTX 950M" card 0x139A "GeForce GTX950M" card 0x139A "GeForce GTX 950 M" card 0x139A "GeForce GTX950 M" card 0x139a "GeForce GTX 950" card 0x139a "GeForce GTX950" card 0x139A "GeForce GTX 950" card 0x139A "GeForce GTX950" end That I am able to start SimCity 4 in hardware mode (DirectX) is only possible for me because of the Direct X wrappers. Fortunately I read @Raymond7cn Thread "Newbie Thought's" where he made experiments with different DirectX Wrappers. The following post should be made sticky here, because it is a Gamechanger for laptopusers like me. I tried all three Wrappers and the DDrawCompat is clearly the fastest on my system. The voodoo's one was the worst (although this wrapper forced my SimCity 4 to use my NVidia GPU) and the elishacloud Wrapper from this topic can display WQHD (2560x1440), but is slower than the DDrawCompat. Without DirectX Wrapper SimCity won't start, therefore I played just in software mode in the past, before I read this topic and after that of Raymonds. And 1920x1080 in software mode was a little bit faster than 2560x1440 with elishacloud DirectX Wrapper, but not much. DDraw Compat is by far the fastest for me, but it can't start with 2560x1440. But even if elishacloud would be as fast as DDrawCompat I would still play in 1920x1080 because of the tiny UI in 2560x1440. SimCity 4 is too old for UI Scaling and although you have an advantage of the more field of vision with the higher resolution, it is a little bit to stressful for me to read the interface. Normally, like you said above, should an integrated Intel graphic GPU perfectly sufficient for SimCity 4. The only reason I can imagine why the game runs faster on dedicated GPU's is that dedicated GPU's have better legacy support, e.g. for DirectX 7. My Intel GPU has for example Tearing problems in all Zoom stages, except the highest one, when I set the graphic effects to high or medium (but no differences in speed!). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wOnLGCk6tdLMW1wkUWFPD9R992mh8tah/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Heu7icDh6Lb-8SHunvsmu8b_sedFROli/view?usp=sharing They disappear completely when I set them to low. So I have to play without clouds and industrial smoke. These were the only differences i recognised between low and medium/high. Between medium/high I recognised zero differences, but both leads to tearing. My dream would be a Direct X Wrapper with the speed of DDrawCompat, the possibility for 2560x1440 resolution like with elishacloud and the Forcement of the NVidia GPU like the voodoo and with the cherry of the top without Tearing with Graphics Effects high. So thanx again to Simtropolis! Without this great site and community I would play to this day in a slow softwaremode without possibility of using HD-Mods :-)

@Cyclone Boom Thank you very much for the clear answers to my questions :-) Of course big, important mods, which are still regularly updated, like the NAM mod, are always downloaded separately anyway. I had mentioned the NAM Mod only because it symbolically stands for important SimCity 4 content, which should be found in the DVD's, even if in outdated form. For example, I assume that important props from BSC, which are only available on SC4Devotion, are probably not on the DVD's? In the meanwhile I have downloaded and curated the most important stuff for my Plugin Folder, but I will consider to buy the STEX Collections to support Simtropolis. Again thx for your answer, it is much appreciated!

At first I want to thank @Durfsurn for this High-Res solution :-) In my first try I installed the files like in the prescription, but I forgot to change the graphic mode in the launcher from Software to DirectX and ended up that I couldn't start the game anymore. So I deinstalled and reinstalled it and now I switched in the launcher to DirectX and everything went fine. But the Framerate with DirectX in 2560x1440 is lower than with Softwaremode 1920x1080 (My System Intel i5-7200U and Nvidia GTX 950M, and I did bind the sc4.exe with the Nvidia GPU in the Nvidia Settings), so I will stick with the former graphics setting in the future. But a great way to play the game in highest sharpness for Systems who can handle the load :-)

Hello there, my name is Matthias and I am a 40 years old male in Berlin. I am currently doing a program learning code and will be in my Internship period at May in the SAP area. In my youth I played Games a lot and besides other Genres like Jump'n Run (new term platformer), racing games and adventures, a lot of building games. My first SimCity was SimCity on the Super Nintendo (SNES in US). Since my twenties I am playing much less but from time to time I enjoy to play a good game. I bought City Skylines and like this game a lot, but for me the Framerate my Notebook (Intel i5 7200 U, NVidia GTX 950M, 16 GB RAM) is able to deliver is to low for cities beyond 100,000 Citizen, so I decided to play this game again, when I buy a new PC (probably 2021). In the meanwhile I bought today SimCity 4 at GOG for 4,39 € (the spring sale ends tomorrow) and will give this game a try, although I don't know how good I will be able to play this old game on my WQHD Screen (I use my Notebook like a PC at an external screen). I have already downloaded the NAM and the CAM Mod and read a lot of topics here to have a good start. I hope I will be able to make contributions to the community here :-) Cheers, Matthias