It runs in 4:3 mode with black bars. At least so far that I've played. Would love to figure out a way to run in widescreen or at a higher resolution.

Also, I think the screenshot is just tinted a bit.

If GOG's version is working in DOSBox you can tweak the .conf file to force the game to go widescreen without bars. Sorry, but you'll have to do some legwork:

1. Locate the .conf file that the DOSBox install specific to your game is using. For GOG games, usually it's in the game install directory, renamed to something like dosbox_simcity.conf.
2. Back up the file.
3. Examine the file, it's fairly well documented by the DOSBox devs. Puzzle it out on your own if you can, this is essential knowledge for playing old games anyway. It'll put hair on your chest.
4. The settings you're most interested in are probably fullscreen, fullresolution, windowresolution, output, aspect, and scaler.
5. An example of what you might want to change these to:
fullscreen=true
fullresolution=(your custom resolution)
output=(experiment with this for best performance. a cheap netbook will probably do best with surface, but this limits scaling.)
aspect=true (or false, whatever works in combination with your resolution)
scaler=(experiment with this on higher resolutions. "none" to start with. IMO, on a larger monitor, you're better off using a scaler and playing the game in a window, it looks far better.)

You will probably have to do some trial and error to get rid of those bars, play the game in a window, or get over the bar-hatred. That's life.

That promo screenshot that GOG provides is, IMO, doctored for general appeal. I guess you could fire up SCURK and make something similar to it, though.

-- I'm not responsible for your computer exploding, if and when this happens.

I could be wrong, but the discoloration your seeing is a glowy effect intended to give the game a golden classicy type feel. It's an altered screenshot.

Don't quote me on this, but I have a very strong feeling that what you're seeing in that screenshot is some custom content provided by SC:URK (Urban Renewal Kit) that comes with the Special Edition of SC2k, That's in fact probably why GOG chose to go with that screenshot - it really highlights what the Special Edition can do that the regular vanilla release can not.

Thank you guys for all your answers.

I'll check out doctorfrog's method when I buy the game. Maybe someone else has a 1024x600 netbook and SimCity 2000 and gave it a try?

Edit: I guess this SC:URK could be fun!

fulldouble=true
scaler = none | normal2x | normal3x | tv2x | tv3x | rgb2x | rgb3x | scan2x | scan3x | advmame2x | advmame3x | advinterp2x | advinterp3x | 2xsai | super2xsai | supereagle | hq2x | hq3x

from: http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Dosbox.conf

Yep, those are the scaler settings. For those interested, I had my old SC2K CD, so I installed the DOS version with the latest DOSBox, and it works fine on this little netbook.

Screenshot is attached.

So, caveats: 1024x600 is too small a resolution to use any kind of scaling, as the screenshot demonstrates. Scaling is only useful if you have at least twice the resolution that the DOSBox window is going to be, because the scaler needs the extra room to smooth things out. And anyway, scaling is much more CPU intensive, since constant recalculations have to be made to smooth out the image, sort of like full screen antialiasing.

Now that the game is on sale: I've the same question: Is it working with the method posted above?

I've also a netbook with 1024x600 and want the game "border free". :)