Anyone remember this one? It was a great entry in the Maxis "Sim" series of games back in the 90s. I found an old CD copy of it and installed it on my Kanga PB, but it runs too slowly. I find this extremely odd because I remember playing it back in the day on 68040 Macs at reasonable speeds. Any reason why something like this would slow down dramatically on a 250MHz G3? Interestingly the sequel to SimTower, the little known Yoot Tower, runs properly on the machine.
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Sim Tower
- Thread starter MattB
- Start date
agg23
Well-known member
According to Wikipedia, SimTower was supposed to run on System 7, which could be why it is slow.
beachycove
Well-known member
More information would be helpful (system software, RAM, etc.). However:
The game is likely running in emulation on your PowerBook rather than natively. Running native 68k software on a 68040 would very probably be faster than running it on a (cacheless?) and early G3. A faster G3, or a G4 or G5 might do better, for instance, as might a 604e, which was said to be good at emulating 68k code.
Maybe try it with Speed Doubler installed, which dramatically improves emulation, and which was seemingly less dependent on processor caches than the code Apple provided, and make sure you allocate the game enough memory by changing the settings in the "Get info" panes?
The game is likely running in emulation on your PowerBook rather than natively. Running native 68k software on a 68040 would very probably be faster than running it on a (cacheless?) and early G3. A faster G3, or a G4 or G5 might do better, for instance, as might a 604e, which was said to be good at emulating 68k code.
Maybe try it with Speed Doubler installed, which dramatically improves emulation, and which was seemingly less dependent on processor caches than the code Apple provided, and make sure you allocate the game enough memory by changing the settings in the "Get info" panes?
Scott Baret
Well-known member
I am familiar with SimTower (which not only is fun but is an interesting take on a management and economics simulation) and have played it on my iBook G3 300MHz (with OS 9.1) without problems.
A few things to try:
1. Check your monitor's depth. If I recall, SimTower runs best with 256 colors.
2. Make sure there is enough RAM allocated to the program. Try doubling the amount if possible.
3. Start up with your shift key down. SimTower doesn't require any INITs, not even QuickTIme, so it's possible something could be conflicting.
4. Try a clean install.
One final thing to mention--I have the floppy version. I'm not sure if the CD version is different.
A few things to try:
1. Check your monitor's depth. If I recall, SimTower runs best with 256 colors.
2. Make sure there is enough RAM allocated to the program. Try doubling the amount if possible.
3. Start up with your shift key down. SimTower doesn't require any INITs, not even QuickTIme, so it's possible something could be conflicting.
4. Try a clean install.
One final thing to mention--I have the floppy version. I'm not sure if the CD version is different.
Bunsen
Admin-Witchfinder-General
A G3 should have no problem running emulated 68k code at full speed or better. Even a fast 601 matched the best '040.
There are no cacheless G3s AFAIK.
There are no cacheless G3s AFAIK.
It's got 160MB of RAM and is running 9.1. I have allocated 50MB of RAM to the program (it recommends 5), so I don't see any reason why it would run slower than an 040 of any kind on a 250MHz G3. I'll try a clean install, but there's not really anything to install since it's just the application off the CD (which IIRC is a slightly newer version than the floppy version, so it should be the PPC native version). I know the sequel, Yoot Tower, is PPC only which I assume is why it runs at the proper speed.
Cammy
New member
I love Sim Tower! It used to be my favourite game back when my old Power Mac was my main computer, and I loved playing it later on my G3 iBook until it started dying. These days I play it on my 16Mb 28Mhz 030 Hackintosh running MacOS 7.6.1, and it's not really that much slower than it was on my old Power Mac. When I tried it with my new 56Mhz 030 with 32Mb it was really nice, but that accelerator needs to be sent back to have a manufacturing fault repaired before I can use it permanently.
Back in the day my brother and I were kind of competitive about who could built the best tower. While I focused on variety and logical structure, he was pretty much in a race for the sky and beat me by building a tacky yet tall skyscraper with no class at all. I still plan on building the perfect tower and finishing the game and usually have it running in the background while I'm surfing the web or chatting online.
Back in the day my brother and I were kind of competitive about who could built the best tower. While I focused on variety and logical structure, he was pretty much in a race for the sky and beat me by building a tacky yet tall skyscraper with no class at all. I still plan on building the perfect tower and finishing the game and usually have it running in the background while I'm surfing the web or chatting online.
John Hokanson Jr.
Well-known member
Note to Bunsen: The original Wallstreets did not have any L2 cache. Not surprisingly, they performed much worse than any other G3.
John Hokanson Jr.
Well-known member
Regarding the original question, I'm gonna go with Maxis not future-proofing it against OS 9. That is not entirely uncommon among old System 7 apps.
Kanga did though if I'm not mistaken. I'm running 9.1 with 160MB RAM on mine. Turns out that the issue I was experiencing with SimTower is strangely correlated to the size of the game window. If I extend it to fill the screen it runs slowly, but at slightly less than full screen it runs at normal speed (and too fast in "fast mode"). No idea why, and the sequel "Yoot Tower" doesn't experience this issue.
Dimitris1980
Well-known member
I had problems with some games with my mac performa 6116 (speed at 60 mhz). Monkey island 1,2, indiana jones fate of atlantis were a little slow. Gabriel Knight, Police Quest 4 and King's Quest 7 were very slow. I realized that because these games made for 68k code there was a speed problem with the powerpc machines (at least the early ones). For instance Indiana jones fate of atlantis cd version has two files/versions. One regular and one for ppc. The regular version runs slow on my performa 6116 and the ppc runs great. That's why i bought and installed a sonnet nubus g3 at 500 mhz. The difference is huge. All the above games that i mentioned before run great. Yesterday i played police quest 4 using roland mt-32 music. Great experience 
John Hokanson Jr.
Well-known member
Yes, the Kanga had the 512k backside cache that was standard for the 750. I'm just pointing out to Bunsen that there were a few cacheless G3s (and that they generally suck).
The 601, and early 603 (not e), had some known performance issues with 68k emulation. There is some dispute over the severity, but running SpeedDoubler in System 7 was considered SOP back the day (substituting it for Apple's own 68k emulator).
In Mac OS 9, this is not possible, but I think Apple's emulation code had improved by then anyhow. Plus, most people had upgraded to PPC native apps.
Obviously, none of this seems to describe the OP's problem (a G3 can run 68k code faster than the fastest 68040), unless he's experiencing glacial speed with other 68k apps. In which case, that's interesting.
The 601, and early 603 (not e), had some known performance issues with 68k emulation. There is some dispute over the severity, but running SpeedDoubler in System 7 was considered SOP back the day (substituting it for Apple's own 68k emulator).
In Mac OS 9, this is not possible, but I think Apple's emulation code had improved by then anyhow. Plus, most people had upgraded to PPC native apps.
Obviously, none of this seems to describe the OP's problem (a G3 can run 68k code faster than the fastest 68040), unless he's experiencing glacial speed with other 68k apps. In which case, that's interesting.
Mk.558
Well-known member
SimTower is more fun if you have SimTower Cheat, so you can adjust your stars to 5 (or TOWER) and build your own design.
I like to build my own with orderly structure*, no wider than enough to fit two Express elevators and room for four Standard elevators per 15 stories**.
*: Below ground: Metro Station, Parking, Recycling. 1st 15 stories: first four stories occupied by Shops, Restaraunts, fast food joints, Security, and a hospital. Maybe a movie theater. The rest above that is offices. Every Skylobby has a couple of fast food joints, hospital and Security right above it. Next 15 stories is offices again, then 3rd 15 stories and above is taken up with 1, 2, and Suite rooms, capped with condos all seperated by a skylobby.
**: The Standard elevators will overlap over each Skylobby.
They should have made SimCopter for Mac, and should make SimCopter 2. These days, crank up the graphics, events, copters, and all that and you could have a sellout of a game.
I like to build my own with orderly structure*, no wider than enough to fit two Express elevators and room for four Standard elevators per 15 stories**.
*: Below ground: Metro Station, Parking, Recycling. 1st 15 stories: first four stories occupied by Shops, Restaraunts, fast food joints, Security, and a hospital. Maybe a movie theater. The rest above that is offices. Every Skylobby has a couple of fast food joints, hospital and Security right above it. Next 15 stories is offices again, then 3rd 15 stories and above is taken up with 1, 2, and Suite rooms, capped with condos all seperated by a skylobby.
**: The Standard elevators will overlap over each Skylobby.
They should have made SimCopter for Mac, and should make SimCopter 2. These days, crank up the graphics, events, copters, and all that and you could have a sellout of a game.
