I was driving myself nuts yesterday trying to get Sims 1 to work on Mac too--
I have a Steam copy and I also tried on:
UTM with Windows 11 ARM (M2 Studio)
UTM with Windows 10 Intel (2017 MacBook Pro)
Crossover on ARM (M2 Studio)
Crossover on Intel (2017 MacBook Pro)
Always the same error, hit "play", it greys out for a second, my dock flashes and then the play button returns to green as the game has crashed. If I add launch parameter -w, it does something different, but gets mad about the colour space (asks for 16-bit) and still won't start.
I also tried applying the fan-made patches that have been floating around on the internet for the last 15 years but the new exe (from Steam at least) breaks the combined widescreen/no-CD patches and on launch you get prompted to insert the Makin' Magic CD endlessly.
I've heard the patches MAY work for the EA store copy?
Just to see, I checked if I could get my physical copy of TS1 to work using the various patches from the internet, and that did work, but applying the same steps to the Steam copy doesn't work.
I also noticed SimCity3000 was on sale on Steam so I bought that too yesterday and same thing-- can't get it to run.
You have an Intel Mac, why not Boot Camp it, install Windows and install Steam and TS1 in the partition?
That was just testing, I don't really use that one much anymore. But I think I have solved it. I got it running in Crossover on M2 and I THINK what did it was installing some older VC++ dependencies alongside some .NET framework stuff.
I'm trying to get it to work in Whisky to confirm. This will likely fix the problems people are having on PC too.
So for those who are still trying to get it to work: try installing Visual C++ from 2010-2013
https://gist.github.com/ChuckMichael/7366c38f27e524add3c54f710678c98b
and also .NET Framework 3.5. See if that does it.
Fixed mine in Boot Camp by trashing 2015-22 VC++ redistributables and installing x86 and x64 2022 redistributables.
Whisky isn’t an option for EA App users as it no longer works and the developer has stated they’re not interested in fixing it. Is Steam still supported?
Great that Crossover is an option. Is there a free version available?
