Game automatically closes when trying to save

[Murdough 0]

Well when I try to save and exit to region, or just save manually, sometimes the game just closes right back to the desktop and it ends up not saving, this can be very frustrating when I have spent a lot of time in a city without saving (and then it gets lost), or I have managed to escape a downward spiral in my budget, etc..

I am running Sim City 4 (not rush hour) on windows professional XP sp2

I have an Intel Celeron 2.7ghz with 504MB or RAM

NVIDIA geforce FX 5500 PCI 256MB video card

I have noticed that when it happens, the cd drive starts spinning very fast, so when I hear the cd start spinning when I save, I know that there's a chance my desk may get broken in half

Any help would be appreciated.

I also have a couple unrelated questions if someone couldn't mind answering them,

When upgrading to Rush Hour, can you still play your cities you have on the original sc4? I have some cities that I am quite satisfied with, yet traffic is horrible and I heard so much about traffic being easier to manage on rush hour?

Also, is there any place I could find pictures of all the RCI buildings to know which "stage" my buildings are at? I have some nice buildings, but really have no idea what stage any building belongs to.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: I have forgotten to add that i have not downloaded any add-ons for SC4 other than the latest patch from ea.com

Nor have I altered any files, or for that matter anything. The game is just installed and patched and played.

Also forgot to add that I picked up SC4 at the bottom of my drawer, I hadn't played it in at least two years, I don't recall it ever having that problem back then (yes the CDs were in the case so they aren'tscratched to hell)

I just noticed I was running with Disc 2, I will try with Disc 1, I have some hope that it might work since when this happens I hear the CD drive spinning very fast. If I don't seem to have the problem now I will come back and post to save anyone any trouble and serve as reference in case any one else has this problem.

[Murdough 0]

Well so far the game hasn't closed on me since I changed from Disc 2 to Disc 1, but as I said earlier, it doesn't happen all the time so I may just be getting a lucky streak.

If by the end of today it doesn't happen anymore, I will assume it is fixed and will post again.

[KingTitan 6]

Just a suggestion.....Try this first before all others if you have not done it yet:>>>> Before installing....do a scan clean up. defrag etc.....and before installing.. CLOSE ALL background tasks running.....especialy VIRUS programs....then start the actual installation Might work....

Hope it works for you. It worked for me when I had the SIMulair problem

Good Luck.

[dadyrghluv 8]

ok ill answer what i can here. 

as far seeing all the building and there different stages, u need the LOT EDITOR. here u can see every building in the game. before its plopped or developed. (this is offered at simcity.com)

as far as the save and exit region thing, i think this is due to if u don't save every so often, say every 15 or so minutes, and there has been significant changes to your cities, there is a chance of a corrupting save file, which is not uncommon to say the least. so make sure u back up your city saves.

when running /upgrading to Rush Hour expansion pack, u can still play your old cities and the saved games u have. as long as no plugins/downloads prevents it, due to a corrupt save file. like i said its common. but yes absolutley upgrade your game and get the expansion. it offers a ton of new and useful things.

if/when u do upgrade your game, u can finally have the NAM(network add-on modd) the best thing since sliced bread bud, i promise. it offers a ton of new transport options, helps with commute times by a ton, but is cpu intensive and does have a well known bug that crashes your game to the desktop. very small price to pay for such a great thing. after the upgrade, u can finallly D/L all those wonderful lots/buildings u been wanting from the STEX(SimTopolis EXchange) i promise u, u will not be disapointed.

goodluck bud i hope this was useful for u!

happy building!

[Murdough 0]

Thanks for the responses.

So far I'm not having any problems with my "fix" of switching from disc 2 to 1, other than when I got bored and made a bunch of disasters and caused the game to crash, which I'm not worried about.

About the lot editor, I tried registering on the site to download it, but since I had this game for a few years and only recently started playing it again I must of registered already when the game came out, so it says my number is already used, and I have no idea which email address I used at the time ( I've used thousands of email adresses) Is there any other location where you can download it?

I'm going to upgrade to rush hour asap. I'm sick and tired of having long commute time on 99% of my buildings!

[dadyrghluv 8]

no way of really getting your e-mail addy u used. only thing i can think of is calling EA tech support. after a barrage of questions and a CD key later, they may be able to help u with this.

check the general dicussion thread for details on simcity.com issues. its a stickied thread(red thumb tack) so it should still be there. its at the beggining of the page

[Murdough 0]

UGH!

After almost a whole day of playing, and countless saves I was about to say that I got rid of the problem. I had just finished making a nice little town off of the main highway in what was once an industrial wasteland. Decided to save and exit to region to start the next city, and I hear that horrible CD drive spinning and within seconds I'm staring at my desktop, ready to throw my monitor through the window :'(

I guess I will try what you said of saving more often, I hope it doesn't only lead to more exits to desktop because of more saves

Just makes you want to vomit when all your hard work is lost...

[Cougar2004 127]

I've had this same problem, among a few other ways of crashing to desktop, since i reinstalled recently.

I'm not sure I believe the CD has anything to do with it. I have tried with CD1, and with CD2, and yes even with both CDs in both the CDRoms at the same time. Doesn't make a difference for me. My understanding is that the program is actually fully installed on the Computer, however it simply requires a reference call to the CD as verification that you actually have one and own (paid for) the software, as opposed to a pirated version.

I'm going to solve my situation though. I'm focusing on BIOS settings and driver versions right now. Since i have nothing installed to my SC4 except the simcity.com update, i can rule out any conflicts there.