LGR - SimCopter - PC Game Review
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Edward
Hey. I was the lead programmer on SimCopter! Reading thru all these comments -- I Never knew! LOL. We were going to do a SimCopter2 with a more realistic helicopter flight model but EA bought Maxis and it never happened. All resources went into doing the original Sims game. Remember -- this game was developed before 3D graphics cards hit the scene so it was pretty limited vis a vis the graphics were concerned as everything 3D had to be done in software. A lot of the game, especially the graphics was written in Assembler language for best performance. Will Wright and I took a real helicopter flight lesson to research stuff for a possible SimCopter2. Thanks for all the comments from players who loved the game. It was really rushed and unfinished because Maxis absolutely NEEDED to have a game come out for Xmas. There was so much more we wanted to do! And Yes! This game I felt was definitely a precursor for the likes of Grand Theft Auto I thought. I was mainly responsible for the overall gameplay, helicopter controls and the 3D engine written in Assembler, and for importing Sim City 2000 cities into SimCopter.
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Hey. I was the lead programmer on SimCopter! Reading thru all these comments -- I Never knew! LOL. We were going to do a SimCopter2 with a more realistic helicopter flight model but EA bought Maxis and it never happened. All resources went into doing the original Sims game. Remember -- this game was developed before 3D graphics cards hit the scene so it was pretty limited vis a vis the graphics were concerned as everything 3D had to be done in software. A lot of the game, especially the graphics was written in Assembler language for best performance. Will Wright and I took a real helicopter flight lesson to research stuff for a possible SimCopter2. Thanks for all the comments from players who loved the game. It was really rushed and unfinished because Maxis absolutely NEEDED to have a game come out for Xmas. There was so much more we wanted to do! And Yes! This game I felt was definitely a precursor for the likes of Grand Theft Auto I thought. I was mainly responsible for the overall gameplay, helicopter controls and the 3D engine written in Assembler, and for importing Sim City 2000 cities into SimCopter.
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Shane
I loved this game as a kid, and I spent SO MUCH TIME trying to get it to run on virtual machines. The problem, if I understand it correctly, is that many old games from this time reference the CPU clock directly for timing. This was ok when most CPUs were -100MHz, but becomes a problem with multi-core 3+GHz CPUs. The closest I ever got was running it on a VM restricted to 1 CPU core whilst also running a CPU stress-testing program on the same core. I was able to play a couple levels, but never for long. It would be cool if EA made a modern version of this (and Streets of Sim City) and integrated it with a modern Sim City game so you could customize levels and fighting arenas.
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I loved this game as a kid, and I spent SO MUCH TIME trying to get it to run on virtual machines. The problem, if I understand it correctly, is that many old games from this time reference the CPU clock directly for timing. This was ok when most CPUs were -100MHz, but becomes a problem with multi-core 3+GHz CPUs. The closest I ever got was running it on a VM restricted to 1 CPU core whilst also running a CPU stress-testing program on the same core. I was able to play a couple levels, but never for long. It would be cool if EA made a modern version of this (and Streets of Sim City) and integrated it with a modern Sim City game so you could customize levels and fighting arenas.
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sitharc
Also the radioactivity cheat and superpowermultiply one. Or what happens if you let a nuclear power plant burn. (same as radioactivity cheat.
There's a glitch too where if you get out of the copter just as/before it starts to take off, it'll take off on its own, and if you hit the key to re-enter after that, you can now no longer land, no matter what you do or where you try, you just take damage upon trying to land. The only way out within the same session is to kill the helicopter thru nuke cheat if you also have cheats used for infinite fuel and no damage.
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Also the radioactivity cheat and superpowermultiply one. Or what happens if you let a nuclear power plant burn. (same as radioactivity cheat.
There's a glitch too where if you get out of the copter just as/before it starts to take off, it'll take off on its own, and if you hit the key to re-enter after that, you can now no longer land, no matter what you do or where you try, you just take damage upon trying to land. The only way out within the same session is to kill the helicopter thru nuke cheat if you also have cheats used for infinite fuel and no damage.
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TheAeroAvatar
Wow. Even back then those graphics looked like shit.
I wish I had fonder memories of the game but truth is it was glitchy, ugly looking, and I never really was able to buy the other copters as I kept crashing mine. And then we crashed the disc altogether. DX
It's really too bad, because this was a game I really wanted to love when I first played it.
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Wow. Even back then those graphics looked like shit.
I wish I had fonder memories of the game but truth is it was glitchy, ugly looking, and I never really was able to buy the other copters as I kept crashing mine. And then we crashed the disc altogether. DX
It's really too bad, because this was a game I really wanted to love when I first played it.
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The
I remember this game. I was a huge fan of SimCity2000 and when this came out I got it as a gift from my dad. I remember having a PC just able to play it and was so excited. And then I immediately crashed the first helicopter because I was bad and I couldn-t afford a new copter so I just gave up on it and returned to SimCity2000.
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I remember this game. I was a huge fan of SimCity2000 and when this came out I got it as a gift from my dad. I remember having a PC just able to play it and was so excited. And then I immediately crashed the first helicopter because I was bad and I couldn-t afford a new copter so I just gave up on it and returned to SimCity2000.
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connelly6375
this was actually a pretty fun game, some strange design choices, but overall lots of fun. I am still pissed that GTA has never included some mini games along the lines of this game, like the previous vigilante and medic modes but instead heli/plane missions.
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this was actually a pretty fun game, some strange design choices, but overall lots of fun. I am still pissed that GTA has never included some mini games along the lines of this game, like the previous vigilante and medic modes but instead heli/plane missions.
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Keith
Just in case it has not been said yet, here it is again; SimCopterX patch. Just found it, seems to let the game work on 64bit Windows 7-10. If it turns out to be a wash, this post will not exsist and somehow you crossed into Universe B. Cannot help with that one.
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Just in case it has not been said yet, here it is again; SimCopterX patch. Just found it, seems to let the game work on 64bit Windows 7-10. If it turns out to be a wash, this post will not exsist and somehow you crossed into Universe B. Cannot help with that one.
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Uncle
I really miss OG Maxis, they were basically the Squaresoft of sim games. I think the only thing we see with the Maxis logo on it these days is The Sims. I'd love to see updatyed versions of Sim Ant, Sim Tower and Sim Earth. I'd love to see new titles.
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I really miss OG Maxis, they were basically the Squaresoft of sim games. I think the only thing we see with the Maxis logo on it these days is The Sims. I'd love to see updatyed versions of Sim Ant, Sim Tower and Sim Earth. I'd love to see new titles.
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Steven
Funny I found this video today. I just retro-fitted a older 1. 4ghz single core with 1gb ram &WinXP. This was one of the first 5 games I ISO'd onto it. :-)
And I thought I was the only 40+ year old who had fond memories of this AND Streets of SC!
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Funny I found this video today. I just retro-fitted a older 1. 4ghz single core with 1gb ram &WinXP. This was one of the first 5 games I ISO'd onto it. :-)
And I thought I was the only 40+ year old who had fond memories of this AND Streets of SC!
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Britt
I remember this randomly showing up on my computer when I was younger. I was heavily addicted to it for a week or two and then school started and I hit puberty and things all got very different from that point on. I have fond memories of this game.
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I remember this randomly showing up on my computer when I was younger. I was heavily addicted to it for a week or two and then school started and I hit puberty and things all got very different from that point on. I have fond memories of this game.
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