SimCity for Windows

SimCity for Windows was originally released in 1992, not 1991, in spite of the box and disk labels showing this date in their copyright notices. It did not use the dreaded red sheet, the only form of copy protection was that the installation program had to be started from a disk labelled INSTALL. Besides, you were required to personalize your copy by entering a name during installation. This version throws a divide by zero error on fast computers.

1996 it was re-released as SimCity Classic for Windows, with the music and sound effects from SimCity 2000 that had already been part of SimCity Classic for DOS. The terrain editor (originally sold seperately) was included, as well as some sample cities. This version runs without problems on modern computers.

Graphic Comparison
Mac	DOS	Windows

The graphics of SimCity for Windows are an interesting chapter. They were based on the DOS graphics, but had to be altered slightly because of palette issues. To tone down the garish Windows palette they used a lot more dithering and ended up looking better, at least IMHO. In spite of the changes, Maxis wanted players to be able to import the alternate graphic sets from the architecture packs. They achieved this by adding a difference file (extension MRL) for each set. Obviously, the setup program combined the original tiles with these MRL files during the import process (which could be done only from disk) to create the new Windows graphics.

While I generally consider SimCity for Windows one of the best, or maybe the best, version of the original SimCity game, it does have one misfeature: When you save a city, the name of the city and the name of the file are identical. This worked well on the Mac, but the DOS version wisely kept the two strings seperate. So in the Windows version, you are constricted to 8-letter all-cap city names with no spaces, independent of the version of Windows you are running, since the check is done by the game itself. Consequentially, the default name was changed from Heresville (DOS) or SomeWhere (Mac) to Simwhere.

Unlike the 16-bit version SimCity 2000, the original truly runs in a window and can therefore adjust to any desktop resolution. Here you can see two screenshots of Simcity for Windows running under XP at 1600×1200. At this resolution, the main window shows about ¼ of the total map. Of course it can run on a widescreen or portrait screen as well.

The SimCity Games
SimCity									SNES	89
SimCity 2000									SNES	93
SimCity Classic
SimCity Enhanced										94
SimCity 2000 Network Edition										96
SimCopter
Streets of SimCity										97
SimCity 3000										99
SimCity 4										03