SimCity 4

SimCity 4
Studio	Maxis
Publisher	Electronic Arts (Windows) Aspyr Media ( macOS )
Senior Developer	Will Wright Joseph Knight Michael McCormick Ocean Quigley
composer	Jerry Martin
Erstveröffent- lichung	Windows: January 14, 2003 January 16, 2003 Mac OS X: June 20, 2003 Steam: July 20, 2010
platform	Windows , macOS
genre	Economic simulation
Subject	urban planning
Game mode	Single player
control	Keyboard , mouse
medium	CD-ROM , DVD , download
language	German , Danish , English , French , Italian , Dutch , Swedish , Spanish
Current version	Steam: 1.1.641.0 Origin: 1.1.610.0
copy protection	CD / DVD version: SafeDisc Digital Distribution : Online activation
Age rating	USK PEGI

SimCity 4 is a computer game in the SimCity series that was released by Electronic Arts in 2003 . It belongs to the business simulation genre . The game is the successor to SimCity 3000 and was only replaced by SimCity a decade later, in 2013 .

Gameplay

The player's task is to build a city. To do this, he first assigns areas to certain types of use (private, commercial, industrial or agricultural use). In addition, the player only has a limited budget available for his urban planning activities. The tax revenues are offset by expenses for security, education, fire brigade, energy, water, the environment and transport. By investing in these areas, the city can continue to grow and, as a result of growth, generate higher income later. The individual categories are interrelated: For example, an increase in the education rate leads to technological progress. This reduces emissions from industry, which in turn leads to a reduction in health expenditure.

In contrast to earlier versions, the game starts in year 0 and there are no more achievements based on the game year . In contrast to its predecessor, the activation of new buildings no longer depends on the age of the city, but is controlled by a combination of several influencing factors (e.g. number of inhabitants, number of certain jobs, mayor's assessment, use of existing buildings, etc.). For example, a fusion power plant is only activated when the city has an energy requirement of 30,000 and 4,000 jobs in the high-tech industry.

The new GHI request display shows the player which land use (residential areas (W), commercial and commercial areas (H) and industrial areas (I)) is in demand and should be added in order to ensure the further growth of the city.

As usual in this genre , there is no explicit goal of the game. Typically, players work towards reaching the highest possible population or income .

The biggest innovation compared to previous titles in the SimCity series, in addition to the partial switch from 2D to 3D graphics, is the so-called regional concept : the built city - apart from neighboring cities that were previously invisible - no longer stands on its own, but is now part of a region of self-built cities that trade with one another in electricity, water or garbage and between which employees commute . This makes it possible to build cities for specific needs and avoid negative influences, e.g. B. through heavy industry , power plants and waste disposal to other cities.

The import of individual Sims who go about their daily life from the game The Sims in SimCity is possible for the first time in this version. You can create additional Sims. Except for the gender, the zodiac sign and the head, no further character settings are possible.

Another innovation compared to previous SimCity games is the possibility of choosing from three levels of difficulty (easy, medium, hard), the selection of which influences the development process and the starting capital of the city.

Releases and additional content

Basic game

The release of the base game, sometimes also called SC4 Vanilla in player slang , took place on January 14, 2003. This version already had the option of being adapted through modifications made by players and contained fundamental innovations, e.g. a region view and limited three-dimensionality .

Rush hour

On September 22, 2003, the Rush Hour expansion pack was released , which primarily enables the player to directly influence the traffic in the simulated city. A new traffic engine is used for this.

Further innovations include additional means of transport ( monorail , elevated train ) as well as a "You Fährst" mode, in which the player can steer individual vehicles himself and thus complete missions. If a mission is completed successfully, some buildings can be unlocked prematurely without the regular requirements having to be met. For some missions, the player also receives a cash bonus.

In addition, the expansion provides various architectural epochs from which the player can choose. This choice affects the appearance of the buildings in the game. The scenarios Chicago in 1890 , New York 1940 , Houston 1990 and contemporary Frankfurt am Main are available for selection .

On September 4, 2004, the expansion for Mac OS X was released .

The extension received mostly positive reviews; However, EA Games and Maxis were also criticized for the fact that the additional functions were not already integrated in the original version of the game.

Deluxe Edition

A year later, a Deluxe Edition was released , which is a bundle (consisting of the base game and the Rush Hour expansion). In addition, several bug fixes that were released as patches after the original release dates are already included in the Deluxe Edition .

On August 25, 2004, Aspyr Media released SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition for Mac OS X.

Digital distribution

On July 20, 2010, Electronic Arts released the Deluxe Edition on the digital distribution platform Steam . The game is now also available on other platforms such as GOG.com , Direct2Drive (D2D) and the Origin platform operated by Electronic Arts itself .

On April 10, 2014, Aspyr Media released an updated version of the Deluxe Edition port in the Mac App Store . The update contains bug fixes and performance improvements and supports newer versions of Mac OS X. In addition, the game can now be played with the native resolution of the display device.

While version 1.1.641.0 of the game is available on Steam, only the older version 1.1.610.0 is available on the Origin platform. This is the original retail release of the game; H. subsequently published patches are not included. The DRM system used by Origin also prevents the manual installation of these patches and leads to problems when using modifications .

Further additional content

The developer Will Wright expressed in an interview on May 16, 2003 plans to publish further expansion packages with additional content after rush hour ; in fact, rush hour remained the only add-on.

In a further interview on May 22, 2004, Wright stated a planned realignment of SimCity, since the complexity of the game has increased steadily since the first SimCity game in 1989. This should make it easier for new players to access:

"SimCity kind of worked itself into a corner, [because] we were still appealing to this core SimCity group. It had gotten a little complicated for people who had never played SimCity. We want to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really hard. "

- Will Wright

Two other SimCity titles for PC followed SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition : On the one hand, SimCity Societies , which was developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment and published on November 13, 2007, and on the other hand, SimCity , which was first announced in March 2012 and finally published in March 2013.

Add-ons and modifications

Add-ons from Maxis

After the release of SimCity 4, some add-ons and development tools were made available free of charge on the official product website of the game by the manufacturer Maxis .

New 3D models of landmarks like Rockefeller Center , Brandenburg Gate and Stonehenge that could be integrated into the game were made available online. Later on, such models were mainly used to demonstrate the capabilities of the Gmax 3D modeling tool and the Building Architect Tool (BAT) .

Lot editor (LE)

The Lot Editor (LE) is a tool that allows users to edit or design 3D models for SimCity 4. Both the graphical appearance of a lot and its properties can be influenced. The functionality of the Lot Editor was later integrated into the Building Architect Tool , making the Lot Editor itself practically obsolete.

Building Architect Tool (BAT)

The Building Architect Tool (BAT) of SimCity 4 is similar in functionality to the same tool from SimCity 3000 and the Urban Renewal Kit from SimCity 2000 ; however, is not a further development of the same, but a newly developed application for SimCity 4 that uses different interfaces.

In contrast to SimCity 3000 Unlimited , which was delivered with software also known as BAT , the BAT for SimCity 4 was always an independent product, which also required the use of the third-party software Gmax .

Third Party Content

In addition to the official tools, various third-party providers released applications for editing SimCity 4 content. With the release of Lot Editor, Network Addon Mod (NAM) and Building Architect Tool (BAT) , the majority of add-ons in circulation consist of user-created content; most are buildings and lots, including models of real landmarks, chain stores, additional houses, etc., while others involve cosmetic changes to terrain, flora, custom vehicles, and changes in game behavior. Some mods even fundamentally change the game mechanics. Some third-party content can only be used by users with expansion packs or other mods.

Since SimCity 4 is the only game from the SimCity series to offer the possibility of uncomplicated modding without changing the game files, there is still a mod and plug-in community. The 3D modeling tool Gmax , the Building Architect Tool (BAT) and in some cases other freeware programs are still required for this. These extensions include a .:

• Buildings and cheat buildings (buildings that modify game values ​​in favor of the player)
• Flora and fauna extensions, alternative terrain and water textures
• Increased traffic routes and additional traffic intersections, exits and roundabouts ("NAM")
• Bridges and tunnel entrances ("NAM")
• Pedestrian zones and bridges ("NAM")
• Tram system ("NAM")
• vehicles
• Improvements to overview maps and graphs
• Changes in the simulation calculation (e.g. how the Sims find their way)
• Sewer systems
• High-speed trains ("HSR" and "GHSR")
• Single-track railway lines ("STR")
• two- to ten-lane motorways ("RHW")

Users who have made such mods usually make them available for download on corresponding portals or websites on the Internet.

The constant work of the fan base on modifications and expansions means that even more than a decade after the game was released, new content is still being created, such as models of the World Trade Center and the corresponding reconstructions ( Freedom Tower ) as well as the most recent, in some cases still skyscrapers under construction, but also personal creations.

review

Awards

In January 2003 SimCity 4 received the "Editors' Choice" award from IGN , a news and review portal for computer games.

In 2003 the game won the Parents' Choice Gold Award ; in the following year there was another award with the same price for the deluxe edition .

criticism

The high demands on the performance of the hardware at the time led to sometimes severe criticism of the game. In particular, the 3D graphics and the richness of detail in the simulation required complex calculations in the game engine.

Even the system configuration recommended by the manufacturer could in part not meet the high requirements of the software. In addition, the use of modifications made it possible to further increase the hardware requirements - a modification to optimize the shuttle traffic improves the simulation, but also requires more resources.

The game also had problems with some graphics cards from ATI-Radeon; The result was game interruptions due to frequent jerking of the display and crashes of the game.

In addition, players complained about recurring display errors (pixelated buildings and vehicles, other image disturbances). This could be remedied by dispensing with individual graphic features (dynamic shadows, day and night changes, animated clouds / fog), reducing the texture quality and the level of detail of the simulation or using other graphics card drivers.

Individual players also said that the basic game alone was "incomplete" and only became really playable with the Rush Hour expansion.

Compatibility with other games

• The Sims : Players can import their Sims created in The Sims, another Maxis game.  
• The Sims 2 : Players can export their city maps and use them as neighborhood terrain in The Sims 2 .

System requirements

	Microsoft Windows	Mac OS X (minimal)	Mac OS X (recommended)
operating system	Windows XP	10.8.5 (Mountain Lion) , 10.9.5 (Mavericks) , 10.10.5 (Yosemite) , 10.11.6 (El Capitan) , 10.12 (Sierra)	10.9.5 (Mavericks)
processor	Intel® Pentium® III 500 or better	Intel® Core ™ 2 Duo (2.4 GHz dual core)	Intel® quad-core processor (2.2 GHz quad-core)
random access memory	at least 256 MB	4 GB	4 GB
graphic card	32 MB Direct3D graphics card with DirectX 7.0 or better compatible driver (at least a resolution of 800 × 600 with 16-bit or 32-bit color depth)	ATI Radeon HD 3870 / Nvidia Geforce 8800 / Intel HD 3000, 256 MB graphics memory	ATI Radeon HD 5750 / Nvidia Geforce 650M, 512 MB graphics memory
hard disk	1.6 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Screen resolution	800 × 600 (4: 3), 1024 × 768 (4: 3), 1280 × 1024 (5: 4), 1600 × 1200 (4: 3) - in addition, user-defined resolutions can be configured using command line options
Others	DirectX 8.1	This game is not supported on hard drives formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) . The following graphics cards are not supported for SimCity4 Deluxe : ATI Radeon HD 2400, ATI Radeon HD 2600, NVIDIA 8600m, Intel Integrated GMA 950, Intel Integrated x3100

Extended configuration options

The game has a number of command line options that can be used to enforce settings that are not accessible in the corresponding configuration menus in the game itself. In this way, for example, user-defined screen resolutions can be set or the use of multi-core CPUs switched on. An overview of the setting options can be found, for example, in the SC4 Encyclopaedia, a community wiki.

Easter eggs

The game contains some hidden special features, so-called Easter Eggs :

• There are several gnomes in the game that occasionally appear on important buildings.
• One controls the "You ferry" mode an ice cream truck, part of is soundtracks of SimCity 2000 one of playable tunes.
• The heads of the advisors in the game can be transformed into llama heads using a cheat code. Llamas also appear in games in the Sims series.
• A high-tech industrial building complex bears the name Kane Tiberium . This is an allusion to the computer game series Command & Conquer , in which the name of the opponent is Kane . Tiberium is the name for a (fictional) mineral that is fought for in the Command & Conquer games.
• On a flying in the game Airship One is cartoon version of the developer Will Wright displayed. This cartoon can also be seen on the news van in rush hour.
• If you play the game around Christmas time and the season date in the game hits winter, snow will accumulate in high altitude areas. This effect can also be achieved with a developer cheat. This Easter Egg comes from Andrew Willmott , a graphics engineer involved in SimCity 4 .
• The robot disaster in the game is an allusion to Servo , the serving robot from The Sims: The Full Life .
• In Willamots Drive-In -building, a drive-in movie , scenes from are SimCity 2000 and SimCity 3000 shown.
• Occasionally, a person sitting on a balloon-filled chair flies over the city. This is an allusion to Lawnchair Larry , an American who actually took off in 1982 with such a self-made aircraft.

Trivia

• SimCity 4 is, compared to its successor SimCity , more detailed in the simulation and generally more stable.
• SimCity 4 is the first SimCity game that does not include a plane crash as a disaster due to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 .
• The shadows cast by the wind turbines rotate in the opposite direction.
• The creative director Ocean Quigley announced during a presentation of the successor game SimCity at the Game Developers Conference that he would support modding in the game:

"We know modding is hugely important to our community. We know the reason why people are still playing SimCity 4 ten years later is because the modding community has kept it alive. "

- Ocean Quigley

• The CD / DVD version of the game will no longer run on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 after installing the security update KB3086255 published by Microsoft in bulletin MS15-097 on September 8, 2015 . The CD / DVD version of the game is completely no longer executable on Windows 10 .

Republican tax proposal

During the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, candidate Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax proposal from the Huffington Post was attributed to a similar tax structure in SimCity 4. Herman Cain denied any connection to the game.

See also

• SimCity series

Web links

Official product websites of the manufacturer

• SimCity ™ Video Games - EA Official Website , Manufacturer's Product Website
• SimCity 4 , official EA website for SimCity 4 , English
• SC4 Encyclopaedia

Community websites

• SimCity 4 at MobyGames (English), English
• SimCityPlaza , website with tips and extensions for SimCity 4 .
• SimCityKurier at SimCityPlaza, website with free downloads (add-ons & mods) and extensions for SimCity 4 .
• community.simtropolis.com , website with news, tips, extensions and a forum for SimCity 4 , English
• SC4 Encyclopaedia , Community Wiki with SimCity 4 focus, English

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006F7S8 Retrieved January 25, 2018 (English)
2. ↑ https://www.amazon.de/Electronic-Arts-SimCity-4/dp/B00006BSQI Retrieved January 25, 2018 (German)
3. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008YGMU Retrieved June 18, 2008 (English)
4. ↑ http://store.steampowered.com/news/4099/ Retrieved on October 23, 2010 (English)
5. ^ Tal Blevins: SimCity 4 Review. In: IGN Entertainment . Ziff Davis , January 14, 2003, accessed March 31, 2015 . 
6. ↑ EA Ships SimCity 4 Rush Hour Expansion Pack; The First Expansion Pack in the SimCity Franchise. Retrieved January 27, 2018 . 
7. ↑ SimCity 4: Rush Hour. Retrieved January 25, 2018 . 
8. ↑ News - New Release - SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition. Retrieved January 25, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Aspyr - SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition Makes Triumphant Return to the Mac. April 13, 2014, accessed January 25, 2018 . 
10. ↑ SimCity 4 - Mod developer warns of Origin purchase - GameStar . ( gamestar.de [accessed on January 20, 2018]).
11. ↑ GameSpy LiveWire - Will Wright Interview. Retrieved January 25, 2018 . 
12. ↑ 'Sims' creator is Livin' Large. Retrieved January 27, 2018 . 
13. ^ Sims News ... the next generation - SimCity Relased. February 26, 2008, accessed January 25, 2018 . 
14. ^ Luke Plunkett: It's Official, SimCity is Back . In: Kotaku . ( kotaku.com [accessed January 25, 2018]).
15. ↑ FindArticles.com | CBSi. Retrieved January 26, 2018 . 
16. ↑ SimCity 4. Retrieved January 26, 2018 . 
17. ↑ SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition. Retrieved January 26, 2018 . 
18. ↑ SimCity 4. Accessed January 27, 2018 (English). 
19. ↑ Cool graphics, easier controls - Sim City 4. Accessed January 26, 2018 . 
20. ↑ Sim Forum - Show single post - SimCity 4 FAQ - the most common questions answered. Retrieved January 27, 2018 . 
21. ↑ Andrew Willmott. Retrieved January 27, 2018 . 
22. ↑ SimCity4 - Trivia - IMDb. Retrieved January 20, 2018 . 
23. ^ SimCity 4 (Video Game 2003). Retrieved January 24, 2018 . 
24. ↑ Sim City - Developers promise mod support - GameStar. Retrieved January 27, 2018 . 
25. ↑ SimCity designed to support mods. Retrieved January 20, 2018 . 
26. ↑ Hans-Christian Dirscherl: Security update blocks many games on Windows 7 and 8.1. Retrieved January 20, 2018 . 
27. ↑ Amanda Terkel: Herman Cain 999 Plan: Did It Come From SimCity? Retrieved January 6, 2019 .