The Urbz: Sims in the City

The Urbz: Sims in the City
Developer(s)	Maxis, Griptonite Games
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Series	The Sims, Sims
Platform(s)	GameCube
Release date(s)	NA November 9, 2004 EU November 12, 2004 JP January 13, 2005
Genre(s)	Life simulation
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer (2)
Input methods	GameCube Controller
Compatibility	4 Playable
GameIDs	GUBJ13, GUBE69, GUBP69
See also...	Dolphin Forum thread Open Issues Search Google Search Wikipedia

The Sims have moved to the City where there's always action and where reputation means everything. In The Urbz: Sims in the City, you can go to work at such locations as the Sushi Bar, Chop Shop, or Bootleg Fireworks, Inc. Success at work brings promotions, access to new power socials, and gear to influence your new lifestyle. Flaunt your attitude by styling your Urbz, and then cross the velvet ropes of an uptown night club, or explore the subway to earn new skills and items.

Problems

Broken Portraits

Portraits of urbs will appear as simply a black box. Disabling Store EFB Copies to Texture Only will fix this, as the portrait is stored in the save data. Disabling this will also cause flickering if Defer EFB Copies to RAM is enabled. The flickering stops if you turn Defer EFB Copies to RAM off.

Missing portrait

Correct portrait

Censor Effect

Under Direct3D, when active, the censor effect can cause graphical corruption. It will return back to normal when the censor effect is no longer on-screen. It can even crash Dolphin after a message box about "CreateTexture failed". Use OpenGL to avoid this problem. Fixed some time before 5.0-2462.

Direct3D Corruption

Direct3D Normal

OpenGL rendering correctly

The censor effect may cause VPS slow-down no matter what backend. Enable "Skip EFB Access from CPU" to fix this, although it will allow you to see your Sims like a nude Barbie doll. This also prevents graphical corruption under Direct3D. Refer issue 7225. The Vulkan backend will experience much less slowdown on this effect, however due to a bug with EFB pokes in this backend, the effect will be offset quite a bit.

Fixed by 5.0-9735.

Enhancements

16:9 Widescreen

Select Aspect Ratio: Stretch to Window.

NA

$16:9 Widescreen
043F0C94 3FE38E39

EU

$16:9 Widescreen
043F08AC 3FE38E39

Configuration

No configuration changes are known to affect compatibility for this title.

Version Compatibility

The graph below charts the compatibility with The Urbz: Sims in the City since Dolphin's 2.0 release, listing revisions only where a compatibility change occurred.

2.0

r6676

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5.0-20623 (current)

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Δ

Δ

Δ

Δ

2.0 (r5384)

Compatibility can be assumed to align with the indicated revisions. However, compatibility may extend to prior revisions or compatibility gaps may exist within ranges indicated as compatible due to limited testing. Please update as appropriate.

Testing

This title has been tested on the environments listed below:

Test Entries
Revision	OS	CPU	GPU	Result	Tester
r6676	Windows XP	Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 @ 2 GHz	ATI Radeon HD 4650	The emulation are very good, but is very slow, due the my old CPU: On the first apartment, I got 30FPS and 95% (Speed). On areas with a lot of objects and things occurring, 8-15FPS/40% to 60%. I also tested on the 3.5 version of Dolphin, but keeps slow, again, due the processor. (Notes: On the r6676 version, both "MMU Speed Hack" and "Enable BAT" must be checked)	DmitryN
4.0-6080	Windows 8.1	Intel Core i5-3210M @ 2.5 GHz	NVIDIA GeForce 610M	Glitchy censor effect under Direct3D (documented in problems section). Used OpenGL instead. After that switch, game responded normally at 60FPS/60VPS. Minor slow-downs with censor effect active.	Wildgoosespeeder
5.0-18171	Windows 11	Intel Core i7-9750H @ 2.60GHz	RTX 2070	Here are the highlights of my findings: 1. Backend: Vulkan 100% best. Others lag mostly in comparison. 2. Specialized - Loads much better than Hybrid. 3. 4x SSAA - Makes things look better, with minimal noticeable jaggies. 8x looks better, however, the lag is real. Also, most items in the Urbz are quite straight instead of round. 4. (x) Skip EFB Access From CPU - For no pixelated lag. 5. (optional) - (_) Store EFB Copies to Texture Only - The reason this is optional is because it's the setting that causes black portraits, but disabling reduces lag by about 5-10 FPS in wardrobe. If left on, this counteracts the problem with PPL dropping more FPS in wardrobe.	Mattski123

Gameplay Videos

(60FPS) Dolphin Emulator 4.0-4589 - The Urbz: Sims in the City (1080p HD) - Nintendo GameCube