Mac Night lighting

nico15821 · December 21, 2010, 04:09:49 PM

I'm wondering if there is any night lighting for mac. If there is than can you please reply. I'm getting a new mac so I can get File Juicer to juice the sim city 4 update to see if that works. I haven't asked Aspyr but the guys at Simtropolis said that their isn't any update.

Thanks,
Nico15821

dahemac · January 19, 2011, 07:53:30 PM

I could be entirely wrong here, but I think the Mac version came out after the PC patches. I think it is up-to-date and requires no update. The night lighting has always worked on my Mac. Also if you have Bootcamp or another way of running Windows on your new Mac you can use the PC installers under windows and just move the files into your mac plugins.

callagrafx · January 20, 2011, 03:41:22 AM

Quote from: dahemac on January 19, 2011, 07:53:30 PM
I could be entirely wrong here, but I think the Mac version came out after the PC patches. I think it is up-to-date and requires no update. The night lighting has always worked on my Mac. Also if you have Bootcamp or another way of running Windows on your new Mac you can use the PC installers under windows and just move the files into your mac plugins.

If you have Bootcamp and Windows, you're much better running the PC version of the game, as everything works. Nightlighting on Mac is fine for generic Maxis stuff, but custom content nightlighting doesn't work.

dahemac · January 20, 2011, 03:41:12 PM

Unfortunately you are then stuck in Windows whenever you are playing SC4.

Nego · January 20, 2011, 05:07:10 PM

Quote from: callagrafx on January 20, 2011, 03:41:22 AM
If you have Bootcamp and Windows, you're much better running the PC version of the game, as everything works. Nightlighting on Mac is fine for generic Maxis stuff, but custom content nightlighting doesn't work.

That's actually not true. I have the Mac version of the game and custom content night lighting works fine! Plus, there are a few more options when playing the game, like you can play music directly from iTunes instead of copying music to a certain folder. It's also really easy to run at a custom resolution, choose to play in a window (or not), and many other things. Sure you can do that on the PC too, but on the Mac, they put it in a nice convenient little window so you don't have to go around looking for shortcut icon path argument codes. Here's what it looks like:

Really, the only thing that doesn't work is Extra Cheats.DDL. Oh, and if you wan't to use windows on your Mac to run SC4, don't use Bootcamp, use VirtualBox. You can run it without ever having to restart.

dahemac · January 20, 2011, 05:29:26 PM

My night lighting looks normal and good as far as I can tell.

In that preferences pane, what do "Use 32-bit Z-buffer" and "Compatibility Mode" do?

callagrafx · January 21, 2011, 06:13:09 AM

There was never a fix for the Mac version that allowed custom made BAT nightlighting to show up... some people have been going through files manually and correcting the problem but it's long been known the Aspyr port didn't have this fix, and never will.

Nego · January 21, 2011, 08:31:20 AM

In the included ReadMe file that comes with SimCity 4, it says:

Quoteo Additional game options are available by holding down the Option key while the game first starts up. These options let you turn off the introductory movies and choose monitor resolutions not natively supported by the game. If the game fails to properly run with one of these resolutions, you may need to delete your SimCity 4 preferences file inside your Preferences folder before running the game again. Also available is an option to have the game use a 32-bit Z-buffer. Selecting this option may reduce any visual anomalies, but at the sacrifice of performance and video memory.

o The 1.0 version of SimCity 4 for Mac OS already contains the patch 1 and patch 2 changes of the Windows version.

So the game includes patches 1 & 2. There shouldn't be anything to worry about.

Though I'm not sure what exactly "Compatibility Mode" does so I left it unchecked. I'd have to look into that some more.

nico15821 · February 01, 2011, 06:34:01 PM

So If I get Bootcamp then I can download the patches from simcity.ea.com and transfer the files from the EXE. to my mac part of the computer and install it in my plugins? Or go again to amazon and get SimCity 4 again install it on the windows part and then have to download all my other plugins, the patches, and start from scratch?

On the simtropolis forums they said that Aspyr released a patch. I couldn't open the file since it told me to try again later or eject the disc and restart the computer. And once I got it to work but it asked for my serial number and I did'nt have the box and the CD case doesn't have it. And once I had the serial number but on simcity.ea.com for the registration part it didn't accept the number! And now my hands are tired of typing on three different forums back and forth with homework and school!

EDIT : Wow I need some cake oor something to calm me down.

TEG24601 · February 01, 2011, 08:42:58 PM

You can only download from EA if you have the Windows Version of SC4. You'd be better off looking over as Simtropolis, where one of their members has posted all the EA patches and extras for Mac users (with the permission of EA).

Nego · February 01, 2011, 08:57:09 PM

Question!, do you have SimCity 4 for Mac or PC or both?

Note: You can use your plugins on Mac and PC, no need to re-download or anything, just file transfer them. They're completely compatible!
Note II: Bootcamp comes with your mac preinstalled. It's in your /Applications/Utilities folder. Look for Bootcamp Assistant. I'd personally recommend against using Bootcamp because you have to restart to switch back and forth from Mac to Windows, which is a pain.

I'd personally recommend using an app called VirtualBox and download VirtualBox 4.0.2 for OS X hosts on that page if you want it. And if you have any questions about installing Windows, or the app itself, just ask!

Not III: After doing further research into the matter, I have found that not all night lighting works on the Mac version of SimCity 4, contrary to earlier comments, as only some BATs work.

So I'd recommend using the Windows version of SimCity 4.

RippleJet · February 06, 2011, 04:13:07 PM

Quote from: Nego on February 01, 2011, 08:57:09 PM
Not III: After doing further research into the matter, I have found that not all night lighting works on the Mac version of SimCity 4, contrary to earlier comments, as only some BATs work. So I'd recommend using the Windows version of SimCity 4.

If I remember correctly, nightlighting on Mac (or any machine without the nightlighting patch) only works for bats having the same Group ID as the ingame models.
Since B.A.T. sets up a new, unique Group ID with each installation, no custom bats would have nightlighting without the patch.

GoaSkin (and later bwatterud), has manually changed the Group IDs on some custom bats (search the STEX),
but that's a very tedious work, and there are simply too many bats available for that to be a good solution.
Besides, there's only a limited number of bats that can exist, having the same Group ID.

dahemac · February 06, 2011, 05:56:02 PM

Is it technically impossible for someone to write the patch for mac?

RippleJet · February 06, 2011, 06:08:53 PM

GoaSkin would be the person to answer that question...
I actually think he once had that in his mind, but don't think he ever got very far.

Nego · February 06, 2011, 08:11:20 PM

I know there is a patch, but it didn't fix any night lighting issues.

In fact, it seemes to have caused more problems than it solved.

Now I have to re-instal SimCity for like the 50^th time, not that it really matters because it takes seconds, but it's still never fun

TEG24601 · February 06, 2011, 09:58:05 PM

There is the UB patch, but it does nothing in terms of the night lighting, and, to me, adds to many glitches with route utilization and some graphics. I don't have many issues with the night lighting on my Mac, and I would actually prefer many of the larger buildings had few if any lights, to show proper energy conservation.

TEG