sc4-graphics-options

A DLL Plugin for SimCity 4 that sets the game's rendering mode and resolution options.

Features

Custom resolutions can be configured without command line arguments.
Supports borderless full screen mode without requiring a launcher.
Supports changing the game's rendering driver without a command line argument.
Allows full screen mode to use 32-bit color.
Allows the game's intro to be disabled without a command line argument.
Allows pausing on focus loss to be enabled without a command line argument.

The plugin can be downloaded from the Releases tab: https://github.com/0xC0000054/sc4-graphics-options/releases

System Requirements

Game version 641
- Only required for the DirectX full screen 32-bit color fix, all other features should work on older game versions.
Windows 10 or later

The plugin may work on Windows 7 or later with the Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 x86 Redistribute installed, but I do not have the ability to test that.

Installation

Close SimCity 4.
Copy SC4GraphicsOptions.dll and SC4GraphicsOptions.ini into the Plugins folder in the SimCity 4 installation directory.
Configure the graphics options, see the Configuring the plugin section.

Configuring the plugin

Open SC4GraphicsOptions.ini in a text editor (e.g. Notepad).
Note that depending on the permissions of your SimCity 4 installation directory you may need to start the text editor with administrator permissions to be able to save the file.
Adjust the settings in the [GraphicsOptions] section to your preferences.
Save the file and start the game.

Settings overview:

EnableIntroVideo controls whether the game's intro video will be played on startup, defaults to true. Setting this to false is equivalent to the -Intro:off command line argument.

PauseGameOnFocusLoss controls whether the game will be paused when it looses focus, defaults to false. Setting this to true is equivalent to the -gp command line argument.

Driver the driver that SC4 uses for rendering, the supported values are listed in the following table:

Driver	Notes
DirectX	SC4's default hardware renderer. Because this renderer targets DirectX 7, a DirectX wrapper (e.g. dgVoodo 2 or DxWrapper) is required for resolutions above 2048x2048.
OpenGL	An unfinished hardware renderer. simmaster07's SCGL project aims to replace this renderer with a new one targeting OpenGL 3.0.
SCGL	simmaster07's replacement for SC4's OpenGL renderer. This is an alias for the OpenGL entry above.
Software	The renderer SC4 uses when no supported hardware renderer is available.

WindowWidth the width of SC4's window when running in windowed mode. This is ignored for the full screen and borderless full screen modes. The minimum value is 800, values above 2048 with the DirectX driver require the use of a DirectX wrapper.

WindowHeight the height of SC4's window when running in windowed mode. This is ignored for the full screen and borderless full screen modes. The minimum value is 600, values above 2048 with the DirectX driver require the use of a DirectX wrapper.

ColorDepth the color depth that SC4 uses, in bits per pixel. The supported values are 16 and 32.

WindowMode the window mode that SC4 uses, the possible values listed in the following table:

Window Mode	Notes
Windowed	Runs the game in windowed mode, the window size is set by the `WindowWidth` and `WindowHeight` values above. Equivalent to the -w command line parameter.
FullScreen	Runs the game in full screen mode. Equivalent to the -f command line parameter. Screen resolutions larger that 2048x2048 in DirectX mode require the use of a DirectX wrapper.
BorderlessFullScreen	Runs the game a window that covers the entire screen. Screen resolutions larger that 2048x2048 in DirectX mode require the use of a DirectX wrapper.
Borderless	An alias for the `BorderlessFullScreen` option above.

Troubleshooting

The plugin should write a SC4GraphicsOptions.log file in the same folder as the plugin.
The log contains status information for the most recent run of the plugin.

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1.
See LICENSE.txt for more information.

3rd party code

gzcom-dll Located in the vendor folder, MIT License.
scgl Located in the vendor folder, GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1.
EABase Located in the vendor folder, BSD 3-Clause License.
EASTL Located in the vendor folder, BSD 3-Clause License.
SC4Fix - MIT License.
Windows Implementation Library - MIT License
Detours - MIT License
Boost.PropertyTree - Boost Software License, Version 1.0.

Source Code

Prerequisites

Visual Studio 2022

Building the plugin

Open the solution in the src folder
Update the post build events to copy the build output to you SimCity 4 application plugins folder.
Build the solution

Debugging the plugin

Visual Studio can be configured to launch SimCity 4 on the Debugging page of the project properties. I configured the debugger to launch the game in a window with the following command line:
-intro:off -CPUcount:1

You may need to adjust the resolution for your screen.

0xC0000054 / sc4-graphics-options

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