sc4-full-screen-32-bit

A DLL Plugin for SimCity 4 that makes the DirectX full screen mode use 32-bit color.

This is an alternative version of my DirectX full screen mode 32-bit color fix for people who are already using an external launcher or a shortcut with command line arguments to configure the game's graphics settings.

If you are using my GraphicsOptions DLL Plugin you do not need to install this mod.
The two mods will conflict, but the worst thing that could happen is that the fix is applied more than once.

The plugin can be downloaded from the Releases tab: https://github.com/0xC0000054/sc4-full-screen-32-bit/releases

Technical Details

For some reason Maxis hard-coded the DirectX full screen mode to use 16-bit color. There were existing fixes for this issue, but those required replacing or modifying SimCity 4.exe. This mod patches the affected code in the game's memory and does not modify the original executable.

System Requirements

SimCity 4 version 641
Windows 10 or later

The plugin may work on Windows 7 or later with the Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 x86 Redistribute installed, but I do not have the ability to test that.

Installation

Close SimCity 4.
Copy SC4FullScreen32Bit.dll into the Plugins folder in the SimCity 4 installation directory.
Start SimCity 4.

Troubleshooting

The plugin should write a SC4FullScreen32Bit.log file in the same folder as the plugin.
The log contains status information for the most recent run of the plugin.

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT License.
See LICENSE.txt for more information.

3rd party code

gzcom-dll Located in the vendor folder, MIT License.
EABase Located in the vendor folder, BSD 3-Clause License.
EASTL Located in the vendor folder, BSD 3-Clause License.
SC4Fix - MIT License.
Windows Implementation Library - MIT License

Source Code

Prerequisites

Visual Studio 2022

Building the plugin

Open the solution in the src folder
Update the post build events to copy the build output to you SimCity 4 application plugins folder.
Build the solution

Debugging the plugin

Visual Studio can be configured to launch SimCity 4 on the Debugging page of the project properties. I configured the debugger to launch the game in full screen with the following command line:
-intro:off -CPUcount:1 -f -CustomResolution:enabled -r2560x1440x32

You will need to have the debugger open on a second screen, and you may need to adjust the resolution for your primary screen.

0xC0000054 / sc4-full-screen-32-bit