SimCopter

SimCopter

Developers
	Maxis
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows	October 31, 1996
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Cross-game bonus
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Genres	Simulation
Vehicles	Helicopter
Themes	Contemporary
Series	SimCity

SimCity
Subseries of Sim
SimCity (1989)	1989
SimCity 2000	1994
SimCity 2000 Network Edition	1996
SimCopter	1996
Streets of SimCity	1997
SimCity 3000	1999
SimCity 4	2003
SimCity Societies	2007
SimCity (2013)	2013

SimCopter is a singleplayer first-person and third-person simulation game in the SimCity series.

The game requires a workaround for installing on 64-bit systems. It lacks a framerate limiter or Vsync, which causes a lot of bugs and physical glitches with framerates above 60 FPS.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail

Demo

A free demo version is available on Archive.org.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Cross-game bonus	Cities from SimCity 2000 can be used as levels, with any damage done to them during gameplay being saved to the cities.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Essential improvements

Official patches

Patch 1.02 adds a better flight model and experimental 3Dfx acceleration.

The patch comes in a 16-bit installer executable and so cannot be installed natively on 64-bit Windows. Additionally it removes the "easter egg event".

Unofficial patches

SimCopterX patches the game to prevent crashing on modern CPUs, along with bypassing the CD DRM checks. It also provides optional settings such as higher-resolutions modes.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\

Config files require a hex editor to read and are not easy to interpret.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\My Saved Cities\*.sc2

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		SimCopter is locked at a display mode of 640x480 256 colours. This can be unlocked with SimCopterX which supports additional resolution modes.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Create a shortcut with the command line option -w and enable reduced color mode (8-bit 256 color) in the compatibility settings. Using Alt+↵ Enter to change from fullscreen to windowed causes major graphical issues, but it works fine the other way round.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Frame-rate is uncapped, however running the game above 120 FPS may cause it to speed up and/or crash. See Game crashes
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Joystick deadzone can be set using Tweaker program on disc.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sliders for Game and Radio volume. Ability to turn off radio commercials and DJ.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		A3D 1.0
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Fan translation; download.
Japanese

Issues fixed

Installing on 64-bit versions of Windows

The original disc release uses a 16-bit installer.

Install with the SimCopterX patcher

Insert the CD or open/mount the disc image file. Copy all contents of the disc to the preferred path. Avoid spaces in the path (e.g. D:\Games\SimCopter). Download the SimCopterX patcher and the version 1.02 patch from krimsky.net. Replace the original SimCopter.exe in the SIMCOPTER folder with the patched version. Run SimCopterX, click on "Patch Game", select SimCopter.exe and then click on "Install Game". Select the preferred resolution and window mode and click on "Dispatch!" to apply the settings and start the game.

Install with a modified 32-bit installer[citation needed]
Insert the CD. Copy the contents of disc somewhere temporarily. Download the InstallShield 3 32-bit Generic Installer. Extract the new installer into the setup folder. Run setup32.exe and follow the steps.

Game crashes

The game often runs too fast on modern CPUs and must be slowed down.

Slow down the game internally
Use SimCopterX which slows the game down internally through a patch. The patcher also comes with optional settings such as higher-resolution modes.

Limit the framerate to 60 FPS.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Glide	2.1.1	Only available after installing the 1.02 patch and activated via the command line option -v. This mode is experimental and so the HUD and some other features are missing, with a number of graphical glitches also present. Supported by nGlide.
Software renderer

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	95
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 75 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	15 MB
Video card (GPU)	SVGA video card 512 KB of VRAM