Sim City 4 Review

Review - Maxis city builder gets an update, and it's a good one

Version tested: PC

You've probably scrolled down to the bottom of the page to see what score I've given it already, haven't you? Thought so. And if you haven't, you'll probably buy Sim City 4 regardless of what I've given it anyway. That's why Sim City is an important franchise. I'm sure you all realise this, and Maxis would have been fools to ruin it now. You'll be relieved to hear that they haven't.

3D or not 3D?

What most people wanted from Sim City 4 was a totally 3D, fully rotatable engine for swooping around their lovingly created metropolis. Indeed, I'll be the first to admit my disappointment upon first playing the game to discover that this just wasn't the case. The landscape is depicted in the familiar not-quite-isometric viewpoint that we've been used to for a while now, which is viewable from four fixed angles. The reason for this is apparently that should a proper free engine have been employed, the detailed, lush graphics we're presented with here would not be nearly as lavish.

As it happens, your view of the land really is 3D in a polygonal sense, but the fixed nature of the viewpoints enables the rendered models and textures to be far prettier than would ordinarily be possible on today's technology. Now I've spent a number of days with my head buried in the game, I'm more than pleased Maxis stuck to their guns over the 3D issue, because Sim City 4 really is beautiful. Every single structure and model - right from the huge skyscrapers down to the tiny Sims going about their business - is lovingly crafted with exquisite detail. Once your city begins to swell and sprawl across the landscape, it becomes a pleasure to simply zoom in on the highest magnification and scroll around, watching your bustling creation and its inhabitants living happily or, indeed, unhappily, depending on your mayoral skills.

But before you even get to exercise those skills, you're able to satiate the landscape architect in you. Using the terraforming tools is a superb way to form a challenging or familiar landscape, and forming it is just like moulding clay. There are tools for raising and lowering land, tools for creating mountains, valleys, mesas, eroding and smoothing terrain in any way you see fit, planting forests and even specifying which areas are rich with wildlife, and which type of wildlife you would like there - not for any particular reason, just because you can. The interface is pretty much self explanatory, but there's a helpful tutorial included anyway which holds your hand through the basics of Godliness.

Not confident in your skills as a God-sized gardener? Not to worry, you're provided with a number of template landscapes (or "regions", as they're referred to in the game) to move in on anyway, including the default Maxisland, New York, San Francisco, London and Berlin, some of which have partially created cities for you to move in next to and do business with. Each region is separated into a pattern of small, medium and large squares to populate, depending on your tastes, and each block can house a city that is able to do business with its neighbour. The space you can fill is practically endless, and should you manage to fill an entire region with cities then you can just as easily craft another region and begin filling that up.

Once you're satisfied with the way your greenery and rockery looks, you enter mayor mode and start zoning, powering and watering your land ready for potential residents. This all works the same as you remember it, with three types of zone and three different densities - residential, commercial and industrial zones in light, medium and high density flavours. The higher density areas are naturally more expensive to zone, as they reap the most tax Simolians per square by either packing in high rise apartment blocks, large office complexes or dense/high-tech industry. You're obviously going to require a strategic balance of zones in your fledgling city in order to cater for demand as well as keeping monthly profit ahead of expenditure.

A rich man's world

One problem I experienced with my first few attempts at cities was overspending - it's extremely easy to be eager to splash out with your bulging wallet by flinging down high density everything, over-compensating on power and water and slapping down fresh new roads and a subway system right off the bat. Before you know it, you're badly in the red with no way out and having to start over. It pays to keep a cool head right from the moment the little fireworks pop in the sky to signify there's a new mayor in town.

The mayor tools haven't changed much, and veterans will be finding their way around in no time, locating and placing zones, community buildings and landmarks with ease. Non-veterans won't take much longer to find their feet either, though. However, placing water pipes, railways and subways is as aggravating as ever, and some kind of overhead view might be handy for this kind of underground work. Thankfully, a lot of the road laying work is taking care of when you lay zones now - once your blueprint reaches a certain size, the game handily shows you where it will automatically place some cheap roads. Of course, you're totally free to go replace it with higher quality tarmac and raise the land value should you so wish.

All the small things

Sim City seems to take itself a lot more seriously these days, with more emphasis placed on strategy and money management, and less on cute jokes in the news ticker. This isn't to say SC4 is a total plain-Jane; there were plenty of little graphical touches that brought a smile to my face, and the enormous clanking robot disaster is inspired. Maxis have simply become more understated, and some may say more sophisticated with their humour, with a reliance on keeping things visual which suits me fine.

That Sim City 4 is jam-packed with little touches is something that simply doesn't leave you for days, and will have you raving on at your disinterested friends about how little clouds of toxic vapour cling to the tiny vehicles driving past the nuclear waste dump, and how the Sims run into the streets to riot and form picket lines when your city inevitably sees darker days, and how the soldiers march up and down the street outside the military base, and... well, you get the idea.

It might sound obsessive bringing up things like that, but that's the kind of effect Sim City 4 has on you - it hooks you with sheer fascination, and the creation of your magnificent cityscape is all the time carried along with a sense of awe and delight at the sheer detail of it all. I'm still now zooming in on residential areas, fascinated by the Sims heading off to work, the little ones swinging on swings in the park, the pool boys slaving away in a high-wealth district, the mums driving their kids up to kindergarten... sorry, was I doing it again?

Thing is, while you're getting swept up in all the neat little tricks and fancy new effects (The volcanos! The tornados! Wwwwoooowww!) you tend to miss that there's nothing really new here. Certainly, there's a new and absolutely gorgeous graphics engine, and the terraforming tools lend a whole new level of creativity to the game, and the ability to move individual Sims, including your pet people from the eponymous game, into the city and get their personal feedback is extremely helpful, but the gameplay itself hasn't changed much. And why should it?

This is a good thing - we couldn't have asked for much more than has been delivered, and I doubt Maxis could have done much more with a formula that they've improved upon time and again. Of course the novelty inevitably wears off just as it does with any game of its kind, and it really pigs out on your system resources, but Sim City 4 does a damn fine job of stealing your life for as long as it possibly can, just like the old days, and thank goodness for that.

9 / 10

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Comments (74) Latest comment 9 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • FWB #1 10 years ago

    You beauty! However, when are we going to been given the chance to build true curved roads? Simcity 20000? The US block system gets tiresome.

    What is the official EG advice on spec requirements? Also, is there a building editor, as in SC3000?
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #2 10 years ago

    Well I was playing the game on an Athlon XP 1.47ghz, 512mb SDRAM and a GeForce 4 Ti4200, and it was occasionally struggling with the city you see in these shots. You'll need a monster PC to have it running smooth all the time. It mostly slows down when you switch magnification or rotation, then goes back to being playable again.

    There's no building editor, and as for curved roads, the closest you can get is diagonal :) I don't think the zoning system is condusive to curved roads personally, and am quite happy to keep the block system.
  • pjmaybe #3 10 years ago

    Definitely looking forward to this one...

    Sounds like I will have to get an upgrade for my PC hardware though, pah...

    Peej
  • Errol #4 10 years ago

    I will order it from the EG shop tonight ! :D
  • Errol #5 10 years ago

    mouse - What res. are those shots in ?
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #6 10 years ago

    One's in 800x600 and the others are in 1024x768.
  • Errol #7 10 years ago

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #8 10 years ago

    Yes, all except the first one.
  • Errol #9 10 years ago

  • daveo #10 10 years ago

    Anyone know if it'll run on WinXP Pro?
  • Errol #11 10 years ago

    I've got xp pro. Everything runs on it , surely ?
  • pjmaybe #12 10 years ago

    Nice SIMS style GUI. A vast improvement over Sim City 3000 - the icons were all over the place...!

    Anyone know if they've sorted out the Bridging bug from SC3000 - no matter WHAT I did I could never get the thing to build a bridge over a stretch of water.


    Peej
  • daveo #13 10 years ago

    WinXPPro - Except Black and White
  • WriterUK #14 10 years ago

    Somehow I thought those system specs looked a tad low. I don't think I've run SimCity 3000 on my current PC - I kicked the habit years ago - but I remember it chugging on an 'above minimum spec' PC. I fully expect the same for this.

    Another reason to go upgrade, I guess... *sigh*

    BTW Mouse: is it true the old three-bar demand system has gone? The residents used to demand commercial / industrial / residential zones, with three little bars reflecting the level of demand.. I'm sure I read somewhere it had disappeared.
  • WriterUK #15 10 years ago

    ps Am I the only one who never uses disasters on his SimCities? I just get too attached to them, can't bear to see them decimated. :)
  • Steven Huckle #16 10 years ago

    WriterUK,

    Me to, the only time i ever used them was either when i was bored or it was all going horribly wrong :o)
  • pjmaybe #17 10 years ago

    "BTW Mouse: is it true the old three-bar demand system has gone? The residents used to demand commercial / industrial / residential zones, with three little bars reflecting the level of demand.. I'm sure I read somewhere it had disappeared."

    I sincerely hope so. That used to bug the PISS out of me on previous incarnations of SC...They'd clamour for residential units, you'd build them and the bloody things would just sit there and stagnate - resulting in huge waste of cash.

    Me, I just built odd little grid patterned cities...always seemed to work OK. This looks a lot more free-form though, thank god...

    Peej
  • FWB #18 10 years ago

    There's no building editor,

    Arhh, Maxis you cunning bastards. Releasing it in stages again, just like SC3000. First there's this, then they'll be SC4 w/ editor, followed by SC4 w/ editor and world buildings, finished off with SC4 w/editor, world buildings and specific UK landmarks. Fat chance of seeing the stuff downloadable.

    and as for curved roads, the closest you can get is diagonal :) I don't think the zoning system is condusive to curved roads personally, and am quite happy to keep the block system.

    I know its not that bad, but until we see proper curved roads there's no chance of creating a real European city (excluding Paris). I assume there's no pedestrianisation feature either? Its not something they've heard of in the US. At least tell me we can install congestion charges. :)

    There are time periods, right? Is there a 1939 Berlin? :)

    ps Am I the only one who never uses disasters on his SimCities? I just get too attached to them, can't bear to see them decimated. :)

    I'm right there with you. I'd have random disasters on though. It can be fun fighting them, but actually creating one myself... oh no, no way. I love my city too much. I'm looking forward to the sim aspect to. I'm like a parent at heart. I want to cradle my little citizens and watch how their lives grow. Being able to follow individually is right up my street.

    I wonder if we'll ever see racial and gender divisions in the game. I know the US likes to pretend that their society is equal, but none is. I'd like to have ago at creating *gasp* multi-racial neighbourhoods.
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #19 10 years ago

    "is it true the old three-bar demand system has gone?"

    Nope, still there. You also have more detailed graphs telling you which denisities are are demand, too. I think the system works quite well personally, just don't build too much of one zone in one go and you should be alright.
  • WriterUK #20 10 years ago

    Blimey, build South Central and watch the tension simmer into a riot? Naaah, far too socially realistic for Maxis - much better to have a giant robot stomp the city. (Bloody good idea tho'.)

    Thanks for the answer Mouse. I was hoping that hadn't completely gone - SC was always complicated enough for me as is.

    I assume the big-nosed advisors have gone too in this new era of austerity. ;)
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #21 10 years ago

    "I assume there's no pedestrianisation feature either?"

    Not unless you count building large parks and plazas as pedestrianisation. Building pedestrian-friendly areas tends to encourage wealthy commercial areas to flourish as well, which are typically the hardest type of zone to get working well, so at least there's a reason for doing something for the peds.
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #22 10 years ago

    "I assume the big-nosed advisors have gone too"

    No, they're still there as well, in glorious Sim-ish 3D as well!
  • FWB #23 10 years ago

    Blimey, build South Central and watch the tension simmer into a riot?

    Ohh it'd be great. Manage the population, encourage the growth of socialism, facism or capitalism, declaring independence from the country, build an army, invade, create your own utopia. Muwahahaha.
  • Rodster #24 10 years ago

    One thing I noticed regarding SC4 is it's a lot harder that SC3000/Unltd. City Revenues can get out of balance real quick like the reviewer mentioned. SC3000 seemed to be easier to get a City up and running. This not a complaint actually I find it a welcome edition. 'Follow the Money.'

    As far as the Editor, that's a good question. Didn't Maxis release an editor a Couple of months after the release of SC3000, I can't seem to remember?

    I do remember being able to download Cities and Landmarks from the Maxis Website.

    One thing that's sorely missed is a Manual. It's a 45 page booklet. If you've played SCity before you have NO problem. If you haven't it may be a bit daunting. And I'm sure Maxis is hoping you plunk down for Dollars, Quids, or Euros for the Primis Strategy guide ;)

    But the game is just awesome and worthy of a purchse. Just a performance note. Running the game in 16bit Mode versus 32 bit mode gives a nice performance boost. The Color Palette is very Subtle and IMO you aren't missing much.
    Edited by Rodster at 13/01/03 @ 18:55
  • Errol #25 10 years ago

    Just ordered from the EG shop !
  • Shocky #26 10 years ago

    Well, The game itself seems fine. Its the Fact it runs so bad on the latest hardware thats putting me off playing it. Im using an R9700 Pro card and 2.8Ghz Pentium 4 and Simcity 4 runs really bad. In both direct 3d(Hardware - Game doesnt even run in 3d so I don't know what hardware it uses if any) Opengl - Same as D3D.. And software mode - To my supprise software mode is the same as hardware and opengl meaning theres no hardware acceleration at all in this game. Might as well just give you cpu recommendations.

    Also, They disabled scrolling with ATI cards which I have to manually enable in the options (I found no bugs while enabling normal scrolling - What where they thinking?)

    Anyway, considering how poorly the game runs I can't enjoy playing it, So its gonna be spending most of its time in the box until they improve or tune it up a little.
    Edited by Shocky at 14/01/03 @ 09:24
  • Errol #27 10 years ago

    You must have 'problems' with your machine or something. Other people are reporting that it runs fine on machines far lesser than yours.

    Do you have anti-virus software running, or something ?
  • Errol #28 10 years ago

    Shocky - You might find this forum useful:

    <a href= "http://www.sc3000.com/forums/groups.cfm?groupcode=109#109">sc3000.com - Sim city 4 Technical problems forum</a>

    Other people have been reporting problems with the Radeon 9700 etc.
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #29 10 years ago

    And yes it is 3D. Otherwise how would you expect them to do the free-forming terrains?
  • Nemesis #30 10 years ago

    I'm not sure about SC, I always prefer the Impressions stuff. Maybe some of you guys can post thoughts this Friday?
  • Errol #31 10 years ago

    I will post a mini-review on friday/weekend.
  • Nemesis #32 10 years ago

    Nice one, cheers Errol.

    I'm off to have a nose over in the forums.
  • FWB #33 10 years ago

    I always prefer the Impressions stuff.

    Its always been the other way around for me. I find Maxis put more personality into their games.

    Its good to hear that SC4 is so hard. I like a challenge.
  • Shocky #34 10 years ago

    No, Simcity 4 is NOT in 3D !! Your missing the point. It uses a different method of producing the 3D effect but its NOT a true 3D game. If thats the case why does it look and run the same in Hardware and software mode. Why? Because its NOT 3D and Its NOT hardware accelerated ! Well it has a hardware accelerated cursor but thats doesnt even work .. Ill be taking it back. Im not into 2D Dx7 games and run like shit.
    Edited by Shocky at 14/01/03 @ 15:47
  • Errol #35 10 years ago

    Does it really matter whether it is 3d or not ffs ? If it is a good game, it is a good game. Period.
  • Shocky #36 10 years ago

    Im not saying its a bad game, It looks fine for its type of game. BUT, Im not going to put up with slow performance, It drops as low as 1 fps to 14 at time !! You can't enjoy games like that. I would prefer to wait for them to fix it than force myself though a badly programmed game.
  • #37 10 years ago

    I still say that there is something wrong with your PC, and more specifically your Radeon.
  • Shocky #38 10 years ago

    Theres nothing wrong with my R9700 Pro m8. Its running fine in real 3D games. Like UT2003 for example? I can run that at 1600*1200 and its perfect. And just to back up this, I have two R9700 Pro based systems, And simcity 4 runs like crap on both of them.
  • Sko #39 10 years ago

    "...you tend to miss that there's nothing really new here." - 9/10

    Wuh? Stick the same game in a new box and it merits 9 out of 10? Or is this just so you can keep the "We don't sell bad games" label on the shop?

    Bizarre.
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #40 10 years ago

    I never said it was the same game. When I said 'there's nothing really new here', I was talking more about the mechanics of the game. It's Sim City as you remember it at its core, but the overhaul Maxis have given it makes it worth playing, ESPECIALLY if you're a fan of the others in the series. It's just as addictive as the other Sim City's, but the new features really make it a worthwhile title despite not creating an entirely new experience.
  • sam_spade #41 10 years ago

    Mouse, can you import MP3s into it?
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #42 10 years ago

    I definitely saw options for custom audio tracks in the music settings window, but I never dabbled with it myself. Personally, I just played WinAmp in the background and turned their music off :)
  • sam_spade #43 10 years ago

    Cheers, I've heard some of the music, and it is bloody awful.
  • Azule #44 10 years ago

    Let me get this straight, The Sims works with SimCity 4. That's interesting.
  • Rodster #45 10 years ago

    Let me get this straight, The Sims works with SimCity 4. That's interesting.
    =======================================
    As I've been playing around with this feature it appears it's not much more than what's currently in the game. You have several Sims in the game and you can change their names if you like.

    If you have a Sims game sure you can import your Sim but it gets you the same results as a stock Sim from SC4.

    I've been reading on some Simcity websites that their have been problems importing Sims into SC4. I was thinking of purchasing The Sims but I think I will pass.
  • Khab #46 10 years ago

  • striker #47 9 years ago

    Just found it only comes out the 29th here in Portugal...
    Must be a hint for me to study for my finals...
  • FWB #48 9 years ago

    Shame on you, Martin. :) Just checked out another review and you forget to talk about the multiplayer features. Might sound dull, but it certainly adds a boost to my expectations (if the thing works on my system, that is).
  • Errol #49 9 years ago

    Got my copy this am. Will put a mini-review this evening.
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #50 9 years ago

    "you forget to talk about the multiplayer features"

    When I was reviewing it, the web-based portion of multiplayer wasn't up and running yet, so I thought instead of reviewing something I couldn't play, I decided to leave it out of the review. But for the benefit of others: there is a co-operative multiplayer feature, and that's all I know about it.
  • Errol #51 9 years ago

    Will you post a news item when you discover what it is about ?
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #52 9 years ago

    Not sure it would warrant a news piece to be honest. Maybe I'll update the review once Maxis get the region play feature running, but as it stands the game is out in the US and they still haven't finished it.
    Edited by mouse at 16/01/03 @ 11:20
  • Errol #53 9 years ago

    Just played it for 15mins at lunch.

    Fist impressions are that it is an awesome game. The level of detail is staggering. And on my p4 2.4 with 512 mb ram and 128mb geforce 4 it runs amazingly well (as you would expect !).

    The game is full of loving detail, and character. Maxis have clearly put a lot of love into the creation of this game.

    I would give it 90% on the basis of what I have seen in just 15mins.
  • Errol #54 9 years ago

    Great post from the sc3000 forums -

    Judging by the comments about SimCities past I'm getting the feeling that I'd be considered an old fart around here.
    But I just got my copy last night and I have to say this is an incredible game. I understand some of the frustrations people seem to be having, however.

    It seems to me like the old SCs followed a simplistic stimulus/response model. You zoned a bunch of land medium residential and, if conditions were right, people moved in quickly and you had apartments in no time. There was no point in playing on a slow speed since you'd just spend through your money and the whole point of the game was, "see an imbalance, correct the imbalance, watch the city grow."

    SC4 is much more organic. You can't just plop down residential lots near a body of water, a police station, and a library and immediately have a country club community. It takes time to develop.

    In real life, cities don't just happen because the schools are good and crime is low. They develop in a location with some sort of commercial, cultural, or religious significance. SC4 models this process more realistically by requiring the player to develop, over time, a compelling reason not just for people to move in, but for the city to even exist. This is challenging, but fun.

    The second point I want to make is that I don't think this game is supposed to be played quickly. I found it kind of strange that there's no random terrain generator as well. But it's clear that the designers want players to craft every detail of their cities. (And as an aside, the idea that the terrain editor lacks features is ludicrous. Shaping the land in this game is almost more fun than actually building a city.)

    As an analogy, SC is now more like gardening than assembling model trains. You can push, prod, and encourage, but the whole process takes time, and the results can be unexpected.

    This is an amazing game. I think once people realize just how different it is from the SCs of the past, these complaints are just going to melt away.

    And by the way, I ran my first city into the ground by failing to properly set education spending levels to match my school populations andmy hospital spending to match my patients -- so it's not liked I've got this all just figured out yet.
  • pjmaybe #55 9 years ago

    So they've turned it from a game of possible mass-appeal to a game for micro-managing bar twiddlers then?

    Oh good!
  • eviltobz #56 9 years ago

    thought i'd post my thoughts on this game, since nicking my housemate's copy last night.

    my rig is a 1GHz athlon, .5GB memory & geforce 2 gts. i was running the game in 1024x768 with all effects on and high detail, and there were definitely times when the machine chuntered. this occurs mainly when you rotate or zoom, but to a lesser extent it was happening when overlaying the water systems and stuff too. when i set the detail levels down to medium the game told me i'd have to restart it to take effect, but i couldn't be bothered, and played it for quite some time as it was, so for me at least it's not really a problem, which is unsurprising as the game doesn't require constant fast reflexes so the occassional chunter is fine. i'll give an update when i've seen how the lower detail levels effect play. oh yeah, this was with nearly every single block on the map zoned or filled with something or other, so it was stressing the machine pretty hard, and it was playable.

    as for the gameplay, i played the mayor tutorial for about 50 mins between buffy and scrubs on sky 1, then after scrubs (10.30pm) went on to royally screw up that city, and start the terraforming tutorial, and subsequently filled it with a city that is quickly becoming quite prosperous. then i noticed that it was 3am. and about 5-10 minutes later it was 4am, so i really had to go to bed to ensure i could get in for work. so that to me is the sign of a pretty gripping game, especially as most games i can only play for about 30 mins or so before doing something else.

    all in all, its looking pretty good then.
  • sam_spade #57 9 years ago

    "Then I noticed that it was 3am. And about 5-10 minutes later it was 4am."

    LOL, I was like that last night. Unfortunately a cat pounces on me every 6am to be fed. So it wasn't quite as late/early as that.

    I've noticed it's very easy to lose the balance of your finances. You constantly have to make sure you are in profit and building something for your sims isn't really viable until you have pockets as full as the sea.
  • eviltobz #58 9 years ago

    I've noticed it's very easy to lose the balance of your finances. You constantly have to make sure you are in profit and building something for your sims isn't really viable until you have pockets as full as the sea.
    i was like that for a bit, but i found with taxes round 8.5% and leaving the time gauge at full speed that my coffers started to fill up faster than i was spending. i still got the odd strike or fire to contend with but it definitely came under control.
  • FWB #59 9 years ago

    I find the trick to money is to work the demand for zones off through taxing. Instead of always building new areas when demand outstrips supply, just up the costs. You'll save on money in building, get an increased income and have a higher level of people moving into the area (damn I'm sounding like a capitalist :) ). Sure it does mean oure city won't grow, population wise, as fast, but then a steady increase with money in the bank is better than a rush and bankruptcy.
  • pjmaybe #60 9 years ago

    gah! Well I put the first part of my upgrade in place with a new video card, just need the new processor, motherboard and ram to complete the task now...

    Peej
  • #61 9 years ago

    looks like I should grab a copy during my lunch break.
    Any patches to worry about yet?
  • FWB #62 9 years ago

    gah! Well I put the first part of my upgrade in place with a new video card, just need the new processor, motherboard and ram to complete the task now...

    I'm thinking the same. At the moment I'd just be interested in upgrading my CPU and mobo, but I want to be able to still use my 512mb SDRAM. You working on a budget or just splashing out on top-of-the-line? If the former, you recommend any cheap places to check out?



    Any patches to worry about yet?

    Not that I'm aware of, but it has an auto-update feature.

  • Mr_Sleep #63 9 years ago

    ebuyer.co.uk were selling some mobo's that allowed use of both SD and DDR Ram. Try here
  • Doogle #64 9 years ago

    It won't even install it gets stuck on 100%.

    Good old Maxis.
  • FWB #65 9 years ago

    Cheers Sleep, but what are these boards like? Any good? Also, I don't suppose you know how I can check if my memory will work fine and dandy with it? I've heard that although technically everything might be fine you can still have problems.
  • IgWannA #66 9 years ago

    i have a mobo that can take SD and DDR ram [edit: just noticed it's exactly the one that link goes to]. it's a bit pointless though, because you can only use one type of ram at a time.

    as for the game, i bought it today and i thought i was doing well - my city was thriving and i had lots of middle class houses and stuff, then i noticed my spendings was way higher than my income. my city started to die. i couldn't save it. trustration set in.

    they could have made it a tad easier. i mean - isn't the difficulty level for a game supposed to curve upwards? in this one it seems the first stages are the hardest.... i think the tutorial is pretty useless and should have been expanded. i skipped past sim city 3000 (played the first one and SC2000) so there's all these new features that are so annoying and niggly. i mean, setting budgets for individual schools, fire stations, police stations, etc? it's overly complex, IMO.

    however, i've not played it that long (about 2 hours in total) and i hear it takes about 4 attempts before you can get a city that actually MAKES money...
    Edited by IgWannA at 19/01/03 @ 01:42
  • Pirotic #67 9 years ago

    Hiya peeps, considering getting Sim City 4 - sounds great, but what specs are playable? i know what the box says but only idiots listen to that so if anybody owns it can you tell us your specs and how it performed

    Ta
  • pjmaybe #68 9 years ago

    Er, this is one case where it pays to listen to the box.

    Mind you just to annoy a few regulars, it runs tickety boo on my crappy old PIII with GeForce II 64MB card and half a gig of ram. But then I do use Win 98 instead of XP (has anyone noticed how frickin' slow XP makes a lot of games!? BF1942 par example!)

    Peej
  • sam_spade #69 9 years ago

    1.4Ghz, 512MB RAM, GeForce 3.

    Plays very well. No real problems with it apart when the map is crammed with buildings on the larger maps. Because it's a slow game you don't need to have an uber-computer.
  • eviltobz #70 9 years ago

    as i said a bit further up, it gets hit by slowdown here and there when i zoom or rotate, but is okay most of the rest of the time on my 1ghz athlon, 512mb, geforce2gts, win2k. due to the nature of the game the slowdown when it does occur doesn't cause any real problems.
  • otto #71 9 years ago

    Mind you just to annoy a few regulars, it runs tickety boo on my crappy old PIII with GeForce II 64MB card and half a gig of ram. But then I do use Win 98 instead of XP (has anyone noticed how frickin' slow XP makes a lot of games!? BF1942 par example!)

    That is extremely good news as I'm expecting a copy any day now and my PC is roughly the same spec as that.
  • FWB #72 9 years ago

    otto, one of the plus sides to SC4 over previous versions in the performance areas is the region feature. What this means is that you can build those huge cities even on a poor machine because you simply build areas of the city one at a time as opposed to everything at once.
  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #73 9 years ago

    I just recieved this e-mail, which I thought may be of interest to those of you wondering about the "online" play aspect of Sim City 4.

    http://simcity.ea.com/bbs/messages.php?&openItemID=item.261&threadID=3f6418e9db7e185cf44fdacc2873f409&directoryID=261&startRow=1

    I refer you to the following thread at the simcity4 website, I hope this
    information will help explain to users why there is no "Internet Play"
    option at the time of the game's release, and moreover, maxis' evasive
    manner in which they are handling the situation. You will need an
    active account at this website to access the thread.

    Thanks! I'm a big fan of your website.

    zenbeer
    [scott]
    Edited by mouse at 29/01/03 @ 17:33
  • stephen #74 9 years ago