cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/51898658

I switched over to Linux Mint a few days ago. While the game doesn’t work ‘out of the box’, it doesn’t take too much to get working. And boy does it work - it’s loading up quicker than on Windows and seems to be more responsive while on a map too.

I only had one CTD, which was while testing one of the newer mods but I wasn’t able to recreate it afterwards. I’ll call that a significant win.

    • EastChapelSyndicate@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      9 days ago

      It’s a nice entry point into the Linux world so far. There were a few hiccups in the transition, but they actually help with the learning process.

  • Wilmo@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    9 days ago

    I had only really ever played Sim City 2000 and 3000 but man the art on that screenshot looks like absolute peak of pixel art on old PC games. Like I don’t know how you could get more detailed while retaining that aesthetic.

  • thingsiplay@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    8 days ago

    I completely ignored SimCity 4, because its from EA and I thought they would require an EA account or launcher, and also depend on internet connection to play. Does it need anything like that or can this game be played by just downloading from Steam and play even offline?

    • EastChapelSyndicate@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      No EA launcher required, you can play it through Steam or GOG if you prefer to not have to rely on the steam launcher. No internet connection required (other than to download the game of course).

      • thingsiplay@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        7 days ago

        Thanks, that’s all I needed to know. :-) I’ll put the game to my wishlist and buy it on a sale (currently playing Civilzation).

  • Squizzy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    8 days ago

    Holy shit I forgot about these types of games!

    Its almost too ralistic though, could do with some flare. I am about to go get it

      • EastChapelSyndicate@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        It was stable on Windows - crashes were very rare once you had the 4GB patch installed, but I’ll have to get back to you after a few hours with Linux. Theres been a few new mods that really challenge what the game can do, and one of those caused a crash with my testing, but it seems that was a once off so far.

        • homes@piefed.worldEnglish
          1·
          8 days ago

          99% of my gameplay was in the early-mid 90s, lol I have the GOG version, so I have it running on my Mac, but I didn’t really get into it again.

          Although I have played Ultima underworld I and Ultima underworld II several times through. I’m just very glad that these games have been preserved, and that we can still play them. ❤️

  • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    I’d argue that SC4 is still the best city builder, even better than Cities Skylines 1 (definitely better than the bullshit sundae that is Cities Skylines 2).

    Congrats on getting it working on linux, I’ve never gotten that far with it personally…

    How did you manage?

    God what I wouldnt give for a remaster of SC4, just enough work to get it working on modern OS without issue, maybe change the engine to 64bit if at all feasible for more ram awareness.

    • EastChapelSyndicate@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      It wasn’t too tricky to get running actually. I followed this guide, and after running it through the steam launcher it almost seemed like steam knew what to do to finish the job automatically? Considering I’m a novice at Linux it’s fair to say someone with more experience wouldn’t have much of an issue getting things working. I considered it a good learning process to get used to how Mint and Linux works.

      Its interesting to think how best to modernise the game. Making it easier to run on modern systems would be a start. Remastering is interesting though - as the graphics are pre-rendered, you could potentially find a way to just upscale the textures? If you turned the models fully 3D, there is a 3D camera mod which is pretty cool but you’d need to upgrade the engine to render things faster and more accurately to fully take advantage of it. So a lot of potential, but there are things being looked at by the modding community that are really pushing the engine to its limits as is. As much as I’m deeply suspicious of it, it seems like the increase in AI capabilities has allowed people to push the frontier further than before, and faster. There’s been some talk about reverse engineering, but who knows what will come of that.

      • Tattorack@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        8 days ago

        Age of Empires II Definitive Edition is the best example I can think of for modernising and upgrading the graphics while keeping everything exactly the same.

    • TeaWithDani@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 days ago

      Cities Skylines is at best a remake of Sim City 4. Its all copied, they only added some 3d tech stuff and made an annoying graveyard mechanic that gets old right away.

      The trams are pretty cool though.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        8 days ago

        I wouldnt call it a remake, more of a spiritual successor.

        I’d absolutely fucking love a remake of SC4 for modern systems, with a modern engine though. Keep the 4 sized isometric pixel art though, don’t go full 3d model