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Part 2, ATI Radeon Woes by Cameron Robertson Disclaimer Notice: SimGlobal is not in any way responsible for any damage that you may incur to you copy of SimCity 4 or your computer through these modifications. But don't worry; even EA notes a similar procedure in their support section without the disclaimer. A few things before starting. This tweak is only meant to help with scrolling speeds, so it probably won't fix other problems with SimCity 4. Also, by tweaking your game you will no longer see small buildings or trees when you scroll, a really minor thing considering the enormous scroll speed boost. And, we have only tried this with the patch 2 version of SimCity 4, although I doubt that the previous versions of SimCity 4 wouldn't work with this. I will try to offer support through my email, crobertson@simglobal.net, although I won't claim to know what I am talking about, and neither SimGlobal nor I will take any responsibility for what results from this support. Don't worry, I know something about this... So you want faster scrolling? Do you own a Radeon 9200 or 9100*? Then lets get on with it! First, you want to go into your main SimCity 4 directory, usually at C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 (unless you store it at a different HD letter like me). Next, locate the "Graphics Rules" and "Video Cards" SGR files. These contain all of the information about what graphics settings are best for each of the listed graphics cards. Copy these and create some sort of backup file you keep them in- this is so that if you accidentally delete anything you are covered. 
For the next step I would recommend opening notepad, as you will have to take note (no pun intended) of a special PCI ID code that identifies you graphics card. Next, open up your display properties by right clicking on your desktop and choosing "Properties". In Display Properties, click on the "Settings" tab, then near the bottom of the control panel click on the "Advanced" button. A new window will pop up. Here, choose the "Adapter" tab. This is where you where you will find this PCI ID in parentheses, listed next to your chip's name and "Chip Type:". This ID might look something like "0x514c" (no quotes). Record this in notepad (I told you it would come in handy!) 
Now you want to go to near the bottom of the ATI cards list ("vendor "ATI" 0x1002") in the "Video Cards" file. Right before the last card you will find the word "end". Here, in between the last card and "end" you will want to add your Radeon. So you will add something like "card 0x514c "Radeon 9200"" (one set of quotes around "Radeon 9200"). Close and save this file. 
Lastly, open up the "Graphics Rules" file. Close to the bottom you will find the part discussing Radeons, as shown below. Here is where you want to once again add your card. Copy "stringMatch cardIdentity "*9000*"", and paste it right below the line. Then change the "*9000*" to your card number, in this example to "*9200*". Make sure that "property noPartialBackingStoreCopies true" is set to true, and not false. Lastly, save this file, and try booting SimCity 4 up! Enjoy! 
*We have only successfully tried this process with the Radeon 9200, although you may try the procedure and see if it helps out your Radeon 8500LE, Radeon 9000PRO, Radeon 9200PRO, Radeon 9200 Mobility. If you have success with these cards, we would like to hear about it- Drop us a line. We are also curious to see if this process would have any bearing on the Radeon 9500, Radeon 9600 or Radeon 9600 Mobility, so if you have any knowledge about these cards backing stores or lack thereof, we would like to hear about it at the above email. |
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