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Performance Tips

SimCity 3000 has many options to scale performance for low end systems and to take full advantage of higher end systems.

The game runs best with full graphics hardware acceleration. Open Settings, Control Panel, System. This brings up the System Properties window. Click on the Performance tab at the far right. This brings up the Advanced Graphics Settings. Full should be used.

On lower end systems the game will default to 640x480 screen resolution, traffic visible only in the closest 2 zoom levels, and sims visible only in the closest zoom level. Ways to further optimize performance are: turn off some or all animations, select smaller city sizes, and run with the simulation at lower speeds. Music and sound also tax the system.

On higher end systems, the game will default to 800x600 screen resolution, traffic visible at the closest 3 zoom levels, sims visible at the closest 2 zoom levels. The screen resolution can be changed. You can run the game in screen resolutions 1024x768, 1152x864 on up. This allows you to see more of your city at any time.

In general, the system is stressed when running with the simulation at full speed, with all animations enabled, and with sounds and music playing. To improve performance, turn animations down, or off, and turn sounds and/or music off and use lower screen resolution settings. Increasing RAM will improve performance as well.