Windowed Mode, No Intro and all the other such choices

[SIMplMn9]

Jut kinda wondering here.. is there anyway to change the path for the StartupManager so that when you start the game through there it would go windowed? 

[Andreas]

I don't think that the startup path for the SUM can be changed, since it uses the one that is defined in the registry. However, if I'm not mistaken, you can set the game to "Windowed Mode" in the SUM options.

[SIMplMn9]

oh wow.. I feel stupid... didn't even see that..

[JoeST]

I am sorry to say this, but this stuff is so good it works on linux XD

I will soon be moving this tutorial to the wiki

[McDuell]

I tried this one, and unfortunately no change, I'm wondering if it is not a windows problem as it is working fine for everyone else...

@wouanagaine: Simply because I installed it in a custom folder (I tried with standard one, and de installed and re installed like 3-4 times, and always the same result)

Sorry to bump this old problem, but I just stumbled upon this thread.

About the custom resolution possibility, I found out that I can only run the game at resolutions which are available in the Windows' screen setting dialog. For example: I wanted to play windowed @1600x1000, but even with CustomResolution:enabled the game always refused to start with this non-standard resolution ( I had no error message though, the game just closed itself).
After I added the 1600x1000 resolution as option to the system display properties, the game would launch without problems.

I thought that this would maybe be a helpful addition for using custom resolutions in the game, at least I didn't see any reference that the desired game resolution has to be available in the system display options as well.

In short words: To make this work (game installed in custom folder btw.)...
"G:\SimCity 4\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -w -r1600x1000x32 -d:Software -audio:off

... you need to have the possibility to choose this resolution in the system (you don't have to actually choose it, just have it as possible resolution):



Hope this made some sense  .

[Andreas]

Yes, I noticed this as well. In some display drivers, you have the possibility to define custom resolutions, so they show up in said Windows dialogue. If you can use them in Windows, you should be able to use them for the game as well.

[Howling]

I didn't even know this topic and these possibilities existed! Now - after years - I can finally play on 16:9! Man I want to go home and play!

JoeST I applaud you 

[JoeST]

Hey Howling, it wasnt just me, Andreas and others found and helped decipher a number of them too

Joe

[Howling]

Yes, I applaud everyone who figured this out      absolutely, I think I applauded Andreas before though.

But you're the author

[JoeST]

lol Well thankyou very much for the recognition and thanks

Joe

[turtle]

Wow, i also just noticed this. This is great! My startupmanager kept forgetting my developementprofiles, config settings, forcing random crashes and such. Now I can play at custom resolution at 1280x800 on my laptop and looks sooo much better than before. And better yet, no random crashes. Thanks man! 

[SimSmokr]

HAH!
COOL!
So, after finding the thread here about how to assign CPU priorities to fix the hyperthreading/multipleCPU problem and fixing a problem I had with CTDs on the HT computer, I find this and it helps with the problem I've had on my other computer that wouldn't allow me to use hardware rendering.
Ingame, no matter what I did, when I picked hardware instead of software and restarted, it would be in software again, or on rare occasions it would keep the hardware setting but set all the other options to standard, and when I changed ANY of the other options, it would revert back to software.
The Radeon 3850HD on that computer would not let hardware run in SC4. Other games are fine, just SC4.
So, I follow this thread and viola, that problem is fixed! Thanks!
I had to get the radeon 3850s, as they are still rated the best AGP card made, and I am not ready to start going PCIE yet.
Thanks mucho grande once again! I was beginning to believe that the Radeon3850 just would not play nice with SC4.

[hconline]

Hate to bump this, but I've seen other people post approximately the same thing. I have a Compaq Presario F572 US running Vista Premium, but I CAN'T GET THE STUPID SC4 TO RUN IN WINDOWED MODE!!!!!!!!!!! AND IT'S REALLY GETTING TO ME!!! 

[JoeST]

whats it not doing hconline? have you added -w to your shortcut?

[Stewey]

I'm having no joy with getting the windowed mode.

About my spec:

I'm using Vista Home Premium (64bit) with SP2;
I have an AMD64 6000+ processor (Dual Core);
Asus Crosshair Mainboard;
4GB Memory
Nvidia Geeforce 8600GT (500MB)

Game is patched to the latest version, and has been patched with the CPU affinity method to solve the dual core issue.
Currently running in Vanilla mode, no mods or plugins of any kind yet (want to get it working first).
All drivers are up to date (clean install of Vista done only 2 days ago)

Okay, I have tried all of the suggestions in this thread, currently my shortcut has -intro:off -w switches and the game runs in fullscreen mode, the game works very well in this mode, hardware enabled, music off and all settings to max. I have tried the other switches suggested and no change happens.

I last played SC4 on XP SP3 about a year ago on the same spec PC and I could run the game in windowed mode so I guess it is a vista thing?

If anyone can help me out, I wouldbe very grateful. 

[rooker1]

Stewey,  please copy and paste the entire line of code in your next post.  Maybe you are just missing something.

Best bet is to copy the code from the above table and paste it right in at the end and don't foget the space.

Robin 

[Stewey]

Thanks for the quick response rooker1. 

I've copied the code from the bottom of joes post, here's target line:

"C:\Games\Sim City 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -w -r800x600x32 -intro:off

I can confirm to you that this does indeed work and it is running at that resolution in windowed mode.

I'm going to try to see if I can bump up the resolution as high as I can and post back my results here.

Edit to add: I have tried all of the following resolutions:

"C:\Games\Sim City 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -w -r800x600x32 -intro:off
"C:\Games\Sim City 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -w -r1024x768x32 -intro:off
"C:\Games\Sim City 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -w -r1280x1024x32 -intro:off

All these worked.

I think what has happened is that I was trying for 1600x1200 but that is beyond my monitors native resolution which is 1900x1080, so the game instead went into fullscreen.

So thanks to you rooker1 for your help.

I hope my experience helps others in the same situation: Dont use a higher resolution in windowed mode than your max native resolution can support!

[rooker1]

Good to see that you have figured it out. 

[Moosetek13]

Choosing 16 over 32 bit also does not affect game play.
The game itself does not use any more memory, as far as I could tell when I just tested it. It scrolls the same, too, so it's not any faster to use 16-bit.
I have dual monitors, so it is easy to watch memory usage through Task Manager on the second screen.

I really didn't notice any difference, in any area, and I only have a 256MB video card. I suppose it might make some difference on a very low-end card, though.
Perhaps someone else could test it with a 32-128MB card.

I see no advantage to forcing 16-bit. Not using as much video memory is a moot point, if you have enough.

[Jonathan]

I'm sure somewhere there was a command line option or something that lets choose a city to load into without clicking on it in region view, so it just starts the city automatically.

Jonathan