MacOS

macOS, previously known as OS X and Mac OS, is an operating system that is primarily used on Mac computers. While it has received the vast majority of The Sims games that Windows have received, there are some significant differences that this page covers.
In particular, macOS has gone through several CPU architecture and database changes, so while a Windows 11 PC would be able to run the Windows version of The Sims with only minor changes, the same is generally not true about running the Mac OS version of The Sims on macOS Sonoma.
==The Sims==
The base game and all expansion packs were officially released for Mac. The back of covers do not list system requirements, but they are presumed to rely on Mac OS System 8.x or 9.x. This means the original releases of those games could have problems on any version of OS X 10.0 onwards (which had a major OS codebase overhaul), even with the Classic Environment compatibility layer.
The 2008 The Sims Complete Collection was designed specifically for OS X 10.3.5 onwards, but can only run on PowerPC processors (OS X ≤10.5.8, iMac G5 and earlier), despite Apple having replaced PowerPC with Intel in their Macs from 2006 onwards.
==The Sims 2==
The base game and most expansion packs were officially released for Mac, though often at a significant delay (The base game was delayed by 9 months compared to the Windows version). For unclear reasons, The Sims 2: Apartment Life and The Sims 2: Mansion & Garden Stuff were never released for Mac.
At launch, the base game and The Sims 2: University was designed for OS X 10.3.4 and higher, and only supported PowerPC CPUs. It was also DVD-only by default, in contrast to the Windows version having separate CD and DVD versions. A patch to enable Intel 32-bit support was released for the base game (Rev D) in April 2006,The Sims 2: Fixing Sound, Universal Binary, MacBook Pro - Rubenerd followed by patches for University and Nightlife in June 2006.The Sims 2 expansion packs go Universal - Macworld Later expansion packs, and re-releases of earlier content, support both Intel 32-bit and PowerPC out of the box.
Aspyr published a patch for The Sims 2 Super Collection in January 2020 that makes the game Intel 64-bit. The original disc copies remain incompatible with macOS 10.15 onwards.
==The Sims Stories==
The Mac versions of all three games in the series are known to support both PowerPC and Intel 32-bit. No Intel 64-bit or ARM64 patches are known to exist.
==MySims==
There are no known cases of MySims being released on Mac.
==The Sims 3==
The base game, all expansion packs, and all Store content, were officially released for Mac, without any significant delays. The releases were designed for Intel 32-bit.
Patch 1.70 was released in October 2020, which changes the game from Intel 32-bit to Intel 64-bit, allowing it to run on macOS 10.15 onwards (while retaining compatibility with OS X 10.11 El Capitan onwards).
==The Sims Medieval==
The base game and The Sims Medieval: Pirates & Nobles were officially released for Mac. It was designed for Intel 32-bit, and has never received 64-bit or ARM64 patches, making the game not possible to play on macOS 10.15 Catalina onwards.
==The Sims 4==
The base game and all expansion packs as of August 2023 have been officially released for Mac. The base game was released on a 5-month delay, but expansion packs have not been significantly delayed.
The game was designed for Intel 64-bit from the get-go, with ARM64 support added in Patch 144. A Legacy Edition was nevertheless made available for players on OS X 10.9 Mavericks and 10.10 Yosemite, which Apple had not made the Metal API available to.
==References==
Category:Hardware
ru:macOS