Configuring SimCity 5 on a Mac virtual machine
March 7th, 2013 at 6:58 pm ETAfter a few days of tinkering I’ve finally gotten SimCity 5 (the new one) to play on a Mac. My configuration:
- Windows XP with SP3
- VMware Fusion 5.02
- MacBook Air, 1.8 Intel Core i7, 4MB, OS 10.8.2
It’s not lightning-fast, but it’s responsive enough to be playable (seems no worse than SimCity 4 under the same conditions, and I’ve played that for hours).
Increasing my virtual memory setting in VMware eliminated the display-related crashes I was seeing earlier in the week. (I increased from 512MB to 1GB, and I may try 2GB and see what it does.) Once you’re in the game, you can adjust the display settings in ways that may tax the rendering engine a bit less, which I’ll fool around with. To be fair, I’ve had to do the latter for other games (notably Civilization V, which wasn’t playable on this machine’s predecessor until I simplified the rendering requirements).
The setup is still a little balky. Both Origin and SimCity give me odd errors intermittently, but these seem to be situational (e.g., while the virtual machine is still starting up, or when another instance is running), and patience is generally rewarded.
No need to talk about the catastrophically embarrassing (to EA) server issues that are plaguing players, as everyone else has got those covered. But as of tonight, I’m willing to wait for 19 minutes I do get in, pretty reliably. I look forward to playing around with the game later.
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Rich Mintz blogs on online fundraising and social media, American history and culture, bicycling and urbanism, food, technology, and other topics. Professionally, he's an expert in fundraising, constituency development, and social media for nonprofits, cultural organizations, cause-related marketers, and corporations. He is based in New York, where he serves as Vice President, Strategy, for 
March 7th, 2013 at 7:07 pm
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March 8th, 2013 at 3:14 pm
Awesome! This is just what I was looking for. Now I have to decide if I want to invest in this game that everybody is complaining about + fusion + the time it’ll take to hunt down XP :P
March 8th, 2013 at 8:13 pm
Hey Rich, Just wondering how your setup is coming along. I found you through google, when searching for ways to play simcity on my mac. Have you been able to better the game performance?
March 9th, 2013 at 1:22 pm
I haven’t played enough to be able to answer yet. I tried to get in today but the servers (although they were up) weren’t responding well. I’ll try again tonight.