Why is Simcity 3000 lagging on this laptop?

Lumia925

Estimable
Oct 16, 2014
68
0
4,590
It's core i3-2310M/HD graphics3000/8GB RAM.
This isn't a "gaming" grade computer, but the game in question is a 1999 release, and is only like 200MB in size. I'm playing it 1366x786, and it's still severely lagging and the fan is revving up to audible levels.
Strangely, I can play some bigger games like NFS Carbon, and Age of Empires 3, with absolutely no lags, in ultra details (same resolution).
Doesn't Simcity 3000 work in Windows 8.1 x64? Is this computer too weak to handle it?
My drivers are all up to date.
PS: I'm launching it in Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode, if i launch it straightaway, it gives a "Resource not found" error and quits.
 

dexter2

Estimable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,560
Well, it is an old game, and that is an old Operating System. Although, it is newer than the game itself. Maybe the game need updates? Probably not. The only thing I can think of is uninstalling and reinstalling it. Sorry if I didn't help much.
 

why_wolf

Estimable
Aug 28, 2015
221
10
5,110
I don't see results for Simcity 3000 on Steam, Origin or GoG. So as far as I can tell nobody has updated it or VMd it to allow it to run on a modern OS. Your PC is more than strong enough to run Simcity its probably an incompatibility issue cropping up. Telling it to run in XP mode doesn't really do that much, if you really want to play it you'll have to spin up a VM of XP.

I'd recommend just buying Simcity 4 from GoG. http://www.gog.com/game/simcity_4_deluxe_edition
 

James Mason

Honorable
Jan 2, 2014
106
0
10,710
I'm willing to bet it because the game is old, but not old enough, and is having compatibility issues with the modern OS and drivers and hardware.
There's a deadzone where a lot of technological changes happened and 1999 is around when that happened.
SimCity 4 would probably work better, as other suggested.
 

Eximo

Distinguished
Herald
If you really want to start fiddling with it you can look at Microsoft's Application Compatibility Toolkit. You can create custom compatibility modes and mess with all kinds of detailed settings. A combination of running process monitor when it crashes can give you some clues as to the problem and their forums are, sort of, useful for coming up with fixes. One of these days I will get a comprehensive list of command lines that some of the individual shims are capable of taking. Figured out quite a few my taking apart MS shims, (Fun fact, Office 2010 wasn't Windows 7 compliant)

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7352
 

dexter2

Estimable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,560
Maxis is history, there may not be any available updates.

 

Eximo

Distinguished
Herald
Maxis hasn't officially closed its doors, but the original facility has this year. Looks like they have been shuffled off to make mobile games. They have been a subsidiary of EA since 1997, so every single Sim City title available has been made by Maxis, obviously some personnel changes throughout the years...
 

dexter2

Estimable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,560
Really, wow sounds unlikely, but I'll take you word for it. Thought for a moment you were getting Maxis (part of EA) confused with the Maxis mobile network in Malaysia! LOL. Anyway, cheers for letting me know.

 

Eximo

Distinguished
Herald
Yeah, it is something a lot of people tend to overlook. EA may be responsible for a lot of annoying things, but they are the publisher, doesn't necessarily mean they had a hand in development. They obviously set the general path of a developer, release dates, and handle the marketing. We are talking about a company that owns IP that directly compete with each other.

For me EA really started to make itself known in the early 2000s. Every popular title I can recall playing slowly started getting consumed.

Really it has lead to this feeling of making AAA titles only, and due to their success, rapid and repeat serials with little innovation. You can see a similar effect coming in the movie industry.

So the more traditional game developers are now popping up in mobile/browser. At the first sign of success, they are getting bought out by large publishers. Kickstarter is helping, but so many of those immediately go straight for monetization after they get the seed money. Then they have input to increase profits at the expense of their original vision.

/rant
 

dexter2

Estimable
Jun 7, 2015
19
0
4,560
Yeah, I know what you mean. Anyway, Maxis is continuing, but under a different name.