Hey ... maybe the Blues can respond to my question ;)

I know that there is a version of Simcity 3000 Unlimited for Linux in existence. I bought a copy of it in maybe 2000 as far as I remember. It had been ported by the -- now long defunct -- studio Loki Games. They did quite a bit of porting work on several games. I have got the box on my desk while I am typing this ... ah, the old times ...

I got it running again on Ubuntu 12.04 and also on 14.04. Worked okay, no music, intro video botched, but apart from that it ran fine.

My question would be: Is there any chance to get that version by Loki Games (which was an official port; Maxis logo on the box and everything) here on GoG? Maybe with a couple of patches and updates so that it is producing music again on modern systems?

That'd be great. :) Thank you

Okay, thank you very much for your reply. :) It's a bit brusque and terse, but thank you anyway.

Did you try getting the legalities sorted? I am just a bit surprised that you seem to be so certain about that. Afterall this version of the game is potentially very rare and I sort of feared you may not have heard of it. Seems I was wrong and you already were investigating it. That's what I get from your note.

Again, thank you. Makes no difference to me ... since I have a copy of the Linux version.

The GOG version of the Simcity 3000 for Windows works out of the box with PlayOnLinux, using Wine 1.6.2. You just need to install it via the "not listed program" option. Everything works, videos, music, etc.

Thank you, that may be true, but that wasn't my point. I've got a native Linux version on CD. It works with Ubuntu. I don't need GoG to help me get games I have on disc running on my machine.i just thought it'd be nice for everyone else to have access to a curiosity of the Simcity series.

Running Windows versions of games with Wine is never quite the same and is always a hassle. I know how to deal with PlayOnLinux and Wine, it's just: I don't like Wine and PlayOnLinux very much. The reason is: sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you get the whole experience and sometimes it completely crashes your machine. It's not reliable. Whatever the case, it always comes with a noticeable performance penalty. Wine is the best we can get for running Windows programs under Linux, but it still isn't very good. That's not the Wine team's fault. Personal opinion, that's all.

I agree with you, running games with Wine has always been a hassle. And the performance penalty has always been there, but with modern hardware it is far less annoying than it used to be. Although not very many people buy the fastest desktop hardware components when they are using mainly Linux.

Might have to do with the fact that the Linux port was made by Loki Entertainment, but they closed in 2002, and Maxis lost one major studio in Emeryville after the SimCity 2013 fiasco, so it narrows the list of people to negotiate that with, I guess.

Yes, I partly agree. The performance penalty is there and is noticeable regardless of the hardware. Much more annoying is that Wine isn't a stable platform. Wine sometimes crashes the whole machine and that's not acceptable. Wine is a toy. Given enough performance, I'd rather virtualize a complete Windows than fiddle around with Wine.

The only thing I disagree with is the part about the hardware components. What makes you think we Linux users don't want performance and modern hardware? There are people who do this professionally, you know. ;)
Alright ... that's that :) True, I stated that in my original post. Might have gotten the year wrong. Long time ago. Lokigames has been defunct for a long time, but I can't imagine that EA doesn't hold at least part ownership to the copyright of this version out of Lokigames. Even if they don't, they licensed Simcity to Lokigames, so there must be some records about the people involved. But it doesn't matter, really. I've got the disc. I can manage. I just thought, it'd be nice for the other people out there who missed out on the original release. Because that's what I thought was the original idea for gog.

I am not certain what the loss of the studio in Emeryville has to do with Lokigames. I know that Maxis was located in Emeryville, but by the time Simcity 3000 for Linux was made, EA was in charge.

Maxis Emeryville was developing SimCity. EA is merely the owner and publisher, they do not develop games.

Hopefully I can assist in clearing up some confusion. When Loki filed for bankruptcy in 2001, their assets including all the games they had ported went up for auction to the highest bidder. The problem with this was Loki at the time was in disarray and the firm handling Loki's liquidation was so unprofessional about the matter. The firm only allowed bids for Loki's assets to happen through one means of contact, a fax machine, which happens to have been broken and despite multiple inquires into the matter with the firm, it was never fixed.

As a result the window of opportunity came and went with Loki's assets never having been sold. This makes anyone trying to get their hands on any games published by Loki a legal nightmare. Believe me I would love to buy some of these Loki ported classics for Linux, it is sadly just never going to happen. These titles have nothing to do with either EA or the now defunct as-well Maxis, so contacting them would not help. The Linux ports where the property of Loki.

Wow, that's some very interesting information. Thank you for sharing it. That is of course a huge obstacle for anyone who wants to sort out the legal issues for these games.

Thank you for taking the time and patience to type it up. In risk of sounding oblivious: where did you get this information from?

Thank you very much. That's shedding light into this. I wasn't aware that Loki ended in such a mess. In that case we will have to write that off. Very sad this.

What you can do since you do own an original boxed Loki copy of SimCity 3000 is you can download an updated downloader for your disc copy of the game from liflg.org. The site has updated installers for all Loki games so that they will continue to work on newer Linux builds.

Thank you. That's good information. I didn't know that. It is great that there are people who keep maintaining these games. Well, at least in regards of the installers.