4 ms·

Very neat, although I very much wanted the lets-play

freeone3000 6y ago
There's actually not a terrible amount of game - there's a screen with all the bits moving, and some reports with filler info, but it doesn't seem to actually play - only one of the editing controls, make new thing, is selectable, and it doesn't seem to work.
- DonHopkins 6y ago
  Yeah, none of the map editing tools work -- they just pop up a "This button is not implemented" error. I love how it uses the original SimCity helicopter, train, and a lot of the same tiles. https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryHelicopterAndTrain.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryHelicopterAndT... There is more stuff actually implemented or at least sketched out wireframes in the menus. Stuff like Refinery => Operating Plan => Blender Recipes => Gasoline => R32 that pops up a "Blender Recipe" dialog with a lot of numbers and petrolium techno-babel in it. https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryBlenderRecipe.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryBlenderRecipe.... https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryFeedstockAvailabilityAndCosts.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryFeedstockAvail... There's some more interesting stuff in the interlinked windows you get from Windows => Unit => [bunch of different stuff], that brings up dialogs like "Crude Unit" or "Asphalt plant" that shows the graphics and inputs and outputs of the unit, along with some inexplicable tables and diagrams and measurements, and squares that you can click on to link to other windows showing all the different inputs and outputs. And the unit windows all even have "Help" buttons that pop up a blurb describing them. https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryCrudeUnit.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryCrudeUnit.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefinerySulferPlantUnit.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefinerySulferPlantUni... It implies there's some kind of a data flow model going on, but I guess it's probably mostly just wireframe examples of what it would look like if there was really a simulation going on.
  - dividuum 6y ago
    > It implies there's some kind of a data flow model going on, but I guess it's probably mostly just wireframe examples of what it would look like if there was really a simulation going on. I think some simulation is implemented. I clicked around a bit between all the interconnected parts and clicked all "Buy" buttons for source tanks (those with no input on the left side) and moved all sliders (Like the "Severity (Octane)" on the Catalytic Reformer) to the right. That way the "Sulfur Storage" value slowly increases. On the "Crude Unit" settings page, there's not only the crude slider on the left side, but also various yellow "Cutpoints" sliders on the right.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- Aardwolf 6y ago
  I was able to place a new Crude Unit on the map on the archive.org version, using the button 3 buttons below the demolition button and finding a empty place on the map, the one shown in this wikipedia screenshot: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Simrefinery_screenshot.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Simrefinery_s... Unfortunately, clicking the new crude unit does not work, unlike existing crude units on the map.
  - amyjess 6y ago
    One thing that came up in Phil's livestream last night is that new buildings aren't connected to the pipe network, and of course the pipe tool isn't implemented. Maybe at some point people will reverse-engineer the save file format enough to edit a pipe in though...
DonHopkins 6y ago
I was going over some old archives and ran into this old Windows installer called "The Sims Steering Committee Installer.exe" from June 4, 1998, that I'd completely forgotten about. So I installed it on a virtual machine, and made a "lets-play" demo of an early pre-release version of The Sims that was made for The Sims Steering Committee at EA. It includes the Edith SimAntics visual programming language editor and debugging tools, and has a very early "sketchy" user interface, colored dots above the character's head instead of the signature plumb bob, crude klunky architectural editing and object movement tools, and only a few essential objects (eat, sleep, shit, shower, watch TV, dance), and some cool debugging menus (create any number of instances of Archie Bunker and his friends). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC52jE60KjY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC52jE60KjY
- IntelMiner 6y ago
  Please upload that to the Internet Archive if you can, would love to see it preserved!
  - DonHopkins 6y ago
    I definitely want to, and I'm working on the "if I can" part with some helpful digital archivists/librarians, figuring out how to properly archive and distribute that and any other stuff I can dig up. The fact that EA recently released the source code for Command and Conquer Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert under GPL3 makes me hopeful that they will be open to releasing more old source code like they did with C&C and SimCity! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23249964 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23249964 https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/21265663/ea-command-conquer-tiberian-dawn-red-alert-open-source-remastered https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/21265663/ea-command-conqu... Rebecca Heineman has an unreleased version of SimCity for the Apple ][gs that she'd love to see the light of day. And I think SimEarth would be really interesting to release in source code form. https://www.uvlist.net/game-239645-SimCity+GS https://www.uvlist.net/game-239645-SimCity+GS https://www.callapple.org/software/the-long-fabled-simcity-for-the-apple-iigs-exists/ https://www.callapple.org/software/the-long-fabled-simcity-f...
- ludamad 6y ago
amyjess 6y ago
Phil livestreamed the game on Twitch last night, and there's an archived video up: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/641740376 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/641740376 Fair warning, I was lucky enough to watch it live, and as the other commenters mentioned there really isn't much of a game. It's an unfinished tech demo with most of the "game" parts unimplemented, and what little was implemented is completely impenetrable unless you're a chemical engineer.

There's actually not a terrible amount of game - there's a screen with all the bits moving, and some reports with filler info, but it doesn't seem to actually play - only one of the editing controls, make new thing, is selectable, and it doesn't seem to work.

DonHopkins 6y ago
Yeah, none of the map editing tools work -- they just pop up a "This button is not implemented" error. I love how it uses the original SimCity helicopter, train, and a lot of the same tiles. https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryHelicopterAndTrain.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryHelicopterAndT... There is more stuff actually implemented or at least sketched out wireframes in the menus. Stuff like Refinery => Operating Plan => Blender Recipes => Gasoline => R32 that pops up a "Blender Recipe" dialog with a lot of numbers and petrolium techno-babel in it. https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryBlenderRecipe.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryBlenderRecipe.... https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryFeedstockAvailabilityAndCosts.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryFeedstockAvail... There's some more interesting stuff in the interlinked windows you get from Windows => Unit => [bunch of different stuff], that brings up dialogs like "Crude Unit" or "Asphalt plant" that shows the graphics and inputs and outputs of the unit, along with some inexplicable tables and diagrams and measurements, and squares that you can click on to link to other windows showing all the different inputs and outputs. And the unit windows all even have "Help" buttons that pop up a blurb describing them. https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryCrudeUnit.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefineryCrudeUnit.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefinerySulferPlantUnit.png https://donhopkins.com/home/images/SimRefinerySulferPlantUni... It implies there's some kind of a data flow model going on, but I guess it's probably mostly just wireframe examples of what it would look like if there was really a simulation going on.
- dividuum 6y ago
  > It implies there's some kind of a data flow model going on, but I guess it's probably mostly just wireframe examples of what it would look like if there was really a simulation going on. I think some simulation is implemented. I clicked around a bit between all the interconnected parts and clicked all "Buy" buttons for source tanks (those with no input on the left side) and moved all sliders (Like the "Severity (Octane)" on the Catalytic Reformer) to the right. That way the "Sulfur Storage" value slowly increases. On the "Crude Unit" settings page, there's not only the crude slider on the left side, but also various yellow "Cutpoints" sliders on the right.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
Aardwolf 6y ago
I was able to place a new Crude Unit on the map on the archive.org version, using the button 3 buttons below the demolition button and finding a empty place on the map, the one shown in this wikipedia screenshot: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Simrefinery_screenshot.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Simrefinery_s... Unfortunately, clicking the new crude unit does not work, unlike existing crude units on the map.
- amyjess 6y ago
  One thing that came up in Phil's livestream last night is that new buildings aren't connected to the pipe network, and of course the pipe tool isn't implemented. Maybe at some point people will reverse-engineer the save file format enough to edit a pipe in though...

DonHopkins 6y ago

I was going over some old archives and ran into this old Windows installer called "The Sims Steering Committee Installer.exe" from June 4, 1998, that I'd completely forgotten about. So I installed it on a virtual machine, and made a "lets-play" demo of an early pre-release version of The Sims that was made for The Sims Steering Committee at EA. It includes the Edith SimAntics visual programming language editor and debugging tools, and has a very early "sketchy" user interface, colored dots above the character's head instead of the signature plumb bob, crude klunky architectural editing and object movement tools, and only a few essential objects (eat, sleep, shit, shower, watch TV, dance), and some cool debugging menus (create any number of instances of Archie Bunker and his friends). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC52jE60KjY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC52jE60KjY

IntelMiner 6y ago
Please upload that to the Internet Archive if you can, would love to see it preserved!
- DonHopkins 6y ago
  I definitely want to, and I'm working on the "if I can" part with some helpful digital archivists/librarians, figuring out how to properly archive and distribute that and any other stuff I can dig up. The fact that EA recently released the source code for Command and Conquer Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert under GPL3 makes me hopeful that they will be open to releasing more old source code like they did with C&C and SimCity! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23249964 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23249964 https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/21265663/ea-command-conquer-tiberian-dawn-red-alert-open-source-remastered https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/21265663/ea-command-conqu... Rebecca Heineman has an unreleased version of SimCity for the Apple ][gs that she'd love to see the light of day. And I think SimEarth would be really interesting to release in source code form. https://www.uvlist.net/game-239645-SimCity+GS https://www.uvlist.net/game-239645-SimCity+GS https://www.callapple.org/software/the-long-fabled-simcity-for-the-apple-iigs-exists/ https://www.callapple.org/software/the-long-fabled-simcity-f...
ludamad 6y ago

amyjess 6y ago

Phil livestreamed the game on Twitch last night, and there's an archived video up: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/641740376 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/641740376 Fair warning, I was lucky enough to watch it live, and as the other commenters mentioned there really isn't much of a game. It's an unfinished tech demo with most of the "game" parts unimplemented, and what little was implemented is completely impenetrable unless you're a chemical engineer.