Better than Cities Skylines 2 in 2026! So much more depth, and even though it's not the 'cutting edge 3d' visuals, it has a whole lot more charm.

Download the "4 GB Patch" (NTCore website) and the NAM Lite Mod (Search for sc4nam) and you're golden, no crashes so far!

how to make SimCity™ 4 Deluxe Edition run stable on modern systems

1. force the game to run on only 1 CPU core. (early 2000's games were developed and optimized around single core CPU systems, not multi core ones)
insert this into the advanced launch options for the game, found in properties -> general, then under launch options -----> -CPUCount:1

2. run a 4GB patch exe, this is also essential for stability, especially for modded installs (i recommend only installing mods made for performance and stability. the more stuff you install for your game, the more likely you will encounter longer loading screens, a higher chance of your cities being corrupted, as well as a higher chance for game crashes and freezing.)

3. install NAM (Network Addon Mod) NAM fixes a plethora of simulation bugs, broken pathfinding, poor traffic routes, as well as performance issues. with this mod, traffic in your cities will take the most optimal and efficient transportation routes possible, making the most out of your cities layout. not only that, you can select what kind of capacity roads/avenues/railways/subways have. setting traffic capacity to the highest setting in the mod's installer makes the game a breeze to play, making traffic constraints a thing of the past.

C:\Users\YourName\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins (this is where mods for simcity 4 are installed)

4. play in windowed mode. running simcity 4 in windowed mode allows for fewer frame pacing stutters, smoother camera scrolling, more stable alt-tabbing, as well as smoother frame rate. often times in late 90s/early 2000's games, playing a game in fullscreen on a modern system is prone to issues concerning high refresh rate monitors, variable refresh rate, multi-monitor setups, etc.
insert this into the advanced launch options for the game, found in properties -> general, then under launch options -----> -w -CPUCount:1

5. do NOT use software rendering. just don't do it. it tanks performance severely and there is no upsides whatsoever to using it at all.

6. (optional, up to your own discretion) play simcity 4 on linux. linux with the wine/proton compatibility layer ironically enough, runs legacy software better than modern windows itself. microslop doesn't really give much attention to how well older legacy software runs on their OS, meanwhile developers for wine and steam's proton compatibility layer (proton is just a customized version of wine optimized for gaming btw, primarily developed by Valve in collaboration with the linux community) are constantly working and putting out updates so that legacy software runs as smoothly as it possibly can. don't expect games with built in anti-cheat software to work though on linux, that's still a work in progress. some games work, while others don't.

linux distros i personally recommend are bazzite and fedora silverblue.

here are several stability/performance mods that will also help with playing simcity 4 that you can look up online -
4GB Patch - allows simcity 4 to have access to 4GB of ram instead of 2GB
SC4Fix - fixes critical bugs that causes crashes/freezing
SC4 CPU Options - fixes more critical bugs related to CPU handling
SC4 Graphics Options - fixes critical bugs related to GPU handling, and introduces quality of life enhancements
Startup Performance Optimization DLL - optimizes and speeds up loading times
SimCity 4 Disable FPS Limits - removes fps limiter and increases performance

I know it says 40 hours playtime but I've been playing SC4 since 2003 when it released. Actual playtime is 1k+ hours. Is the game abandoned by the developer? Yes. Does it still receive support? Yes. In fact, the modding community for SC4 is better than Maxis ever was, they keep this game fresh even after 20+ years. I bet if you buy this on sale, it will be the best $5 you've ever spent on a game.