Graphics Pixelation during all game views

[Cougar2004 127]

I reinstalled SimCity 4 Deluxe after wiping my system and reinstalling OS.  Computer runs great!  Simcity kept crashing to desktop (sometimes Blue Screen) at various times, including:

*  When saving game (random 1 out of 4 saves = crash)

*  When scrolling too far at once, too quickly

*  When zooming in or out too fast (about half the time = crash)

*  When attempting to zoom in or out on densely built cities with highest graphics settings

*  When Advisor Windows popup (random 1 out of 3 popups = crash)

*  When attempting to do anything in a city that has just loaded up (earlier than 10 seconds)

No hardware has changed and it ran fine before.  (Of course i have reinstalled OS, have different drivers, almost no software loaded, and the BIOS has been flashed and reconfigured.)  So I decided the Nvidia driver was clearly old (using the MSI one that was suggested from 2002 on the GFX card's website v31.00), and i researched on Nvidia.com to see that Geforce 2 GTS PRO could take up to v71.89).  Newer ones wouldn't install, but 71.89 did perfectly first try, showed correct card. I hoped this would stop the crashing.

Upgrading the driver to the latest supported version seems to have stopped the crashing.... but i can't be sure because i can't play the play the game long enough.  Now the screen becomes pixelated with major artifacts, if i move anything in any direction!  (zoom in and out resets the messy screen until i move something again.)    

* UPDATE:  I reverted to earlier driver v30.00, from the manufactuers website (year: 2002) and the pixelation and artifact troubles disappear, but the stability issues at the top of this post come back. 

** UPDATE:  I just found, downloaded, and attempted another driver v41.07, same results as v40.74, v31.00, and v30.00.  However, maybe trying newer drivers until the stability issue resolves, but hopefully before the artifact/pixelation issue begins, could do it.  (Could BIOS settings help?)

Suggestions?  Fixes?  any words of wisdom and experience from solving an issue like this?  Thanks.

   Specific Information:

1.  Running SimCity 4 Deluxe with the Update on Simcity.com (no other downloads from simtropolis or simcity.com (even landmarks or bat) have been downloaded or installed at all.

2.  I'll add some screenshot pictures if someone tells me how ..... 

3.  System Details:            Product: SimCity 4 Deluxe

Operating System: Windows 2000 Professional (5.0, Build 2195) Service Pack 4

System Manufacturer: VIA Technologies, Inc.

System Model: VT8363 (Abit KT7A-RAID)

Processor: AMD Athlon processor, ~1.2GHz

Memory: 768MB RAM  PC133 SDRAM  CAS: 2.5 Crucial

Page File: 263MB used, 1994MB available

HD: 120GB (2 Maxtor ATA100 60GB in Highpoint RAID 0 UDMA 5)

DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro

Chip type: GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro

DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC

Display Memory: 64.0 MB

Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (75Hz)

Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll

Driver Version: 6.14.0010.7189 (English)

DDI Version: 9 (or higher)

Driver Attributes: Final Retail

Driver Date/Size: 4/1/2005 16:16:00, 3980288 bytes

WHQL Logo'd: Yes

Registry: OK

DDraw Status: Enabled

D3D Status: Enabled

AGP Status: Enabled

Description: SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [D400]

Driver Version: 5.12.0001.1196 (English)

Driver Attributes: Final Retail

WHQL Logo'd: Yes

Date and Size: 8/11/2006 13:45:38, 499584 bytes

HW Accel Level: Full

Min/Max Sample Rate: 4000, 192000

EAX 2.0 Listen/Src: Yes, Yes

Registry: OK

4.  No mods/lots/bats, its a pure install (with Update from Simcity.com only).

[dadyrghluv 8]

i see why!. your GFX card is old. very old. a geforce 2 i dont even think is supported. i could very well be wrong though. also, update your driver's for it if u can. not too sure if your GFX card even supports directx 9.0c. this could also be the problem.

turn off AA and AF as well. make these application select, SC4 doesnt like either one of these and doesn't support them.

[Cougar2004 127]

Thank you for responding.

The card has worked for years with SimCity 4 Deluxe on this same computer, without any problem. However, all drivers, bios settings, and installed software was completely reset when I cleaned up the computer last month.

Your comments about settings to turn off may be valuable. I will make those changes right away, except... what is AA and AF? I think one might be antialiasing.

[dadyrghluv 8]

yep AA is antialiasing, and AF is ... i cant remeber how to spell it lol. i'm sure someone will know what AF is..i can't even say the word in person let alone spell it, lol.

sorry about that.

if u know how, change your virtual memory settings as well. min/max should be 4096mb. the maximum window's xp allows. it helps with loading and scrolling.

i definitley think this is a driver bug with your GFX card, for sure. i have never owned that card from nvidia so i'm not sure as to what driver u should use for it. just gonna have to test them as u go along i geuss. or maybe someone on here knows more about the older cards from nvidia.

[19:09:05:13 0]

if u know how, change your virtual memory settings as well.

min/max should be 4096mb. the maximum window's xp allows.

it helps with loading and scrolling.quote>

Yes, if anything else fails, the obligatory VM advice comes up.

Again.

My SC4 runs faster and smoother without VM

(can you explain that?)

It may work better on your machine with VM and this may very

well be the case for most users, that doesn't mean this great

wisdom ought to be dispensed every single time, for every

single problem, over and over again.

-

19:09:05:13.

[vester_DK 477]

I got a new computer with a lot of ram. The old one had 512 mb and it crashed a lot. Now there is very long between the crashs. Well that is just my two cencs

[Cougar2004 127]

I hope someone here can tell me what the AF above stands for, so i can find it and disable it for SimCity.

Speaking of Virtual RAM, I did a lot of research before this (first) re-installation of my computer since I built it back in 2001. And for Windows 2000 SP4, most tech references online say that 1.5GB was plenty. 2 would be waste, and 1 would be fine 99% of the time, but I went for something in the middle. When i check the Virtual memory use, it is never more than about 5%.

So my thoughts on RAM, having MORE of FAST (and stable) RAM is probably good. However, with a 64MB Gfx card, I'm considering that perhaps Aperture Size could help (BIOS Setting). Ive done some recent research that suggests i should move it from BIOS default 64MB to 128MB. This would mean that it allocates, and eventually uses (when needed) that amount of mem from the system RAM (hence, never put aperture size more than half the system ram, so other programs and background processes can run). Also It seems that 256MB and up really dont provide any benefit, since no 3D games ever required that much in addition to users card ram at the times the tests took place.

However, back to the original problem. Crashing did not take place ever, 2001-2005 when i played SimCity 4 Deluxe on this exact system (no hardware difference). So im leaning towards dadyrghluv's thought that drivers could annoying be the issue. The funny thing is that i always upgraded to the latest drivers... however I suppose since i quit playing SC4 in 2005, that confuses things on which driver version to go for.

The plan..... ive downloaded ALL (compatable) drivers from both MSI (my vid card manufacturer) and Nvidia (obviously), and am trying them one by one, hoping to find one that is higher than the crashing issue, but lower than the pixelation and artifact corruption issue.

Other thoughts?

[Litschel 0]

My new system crashed quite a bit when I upgraded my ATI Video Card. Found a post that explained that the problem may resolve itself if you set the VM to its the max (4096). Did this and haven't had any crashes since. (PS Running windows 2000 with tonnes of background programs)

[dadyrghluv 8]

it almost looks like a direct3d problem, which is your GFX card. it could very well be burnt out. try cleaning it with a can of air spray. make sure your fan's dont move though, i heard if u make them go in the direction they are supposed to or oo fast it will bust the bearings in it. if u have it, or if u can, remove the GFX card and play it with onboard GFX. see what happens. also try running in software mode with the GFX card installed, to see if that fixes it.

[Cougar2004 127]

Originally posted by: dadyrghluv it almost looks like a direct3d problem, which is your GFX card. quote>

Thank you for your idea.  I think you could be write about the direct3d.  One reason i say that is because as i have been testing various driver versions for my Nvidia Card: MSI Starforce NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro 64MB I have seen that the higher driver versions hide or at least don't show any direct3d options or sliders, while there are checkboxes and settings in the lower versions.  I'll look more into this now. 

[DOXXP29 5]

Cougar, I feel your pain! I've been using nVidea cards for years, including the GForce2 and I've found one thing that has been true for every nVidea card I've owned. That is each card has ONE nVidea driver that it likes. Upgrade that driver and some things may get better, but I can guarantee you that some things will get worse or possibly become nonexistant altogether. I suggest that if you were getting along well with the original driver, find it, install it and use it. You may want to check out some of the sites that offer their own versions of drivers for that card and see if that improves things. I think that would be a better way to go than using the nVidea updates. Unfortunately, the hot driver sites escape me right now. I upgraded to one on an older nVidea card and it ran better than the one I have now, which is newer and better. I went to an outside site because I was having the same driver issues that you are having and I got sick of playing pick and choose from nVidea drivers and their tech support had no idea what they were talking about in multiple conversations.

[dadyrghluv 8]

i hope i have steered u in a direction that leads u to answer's. i know it's frustrating to not be able to play due to drivers.

if need be u could try and call NVIDIA and see what they say. i doubt they will be much help as they probably don't support the card anymore. but ya never know

[Cougar2004 127]

UPDATE: Its all fixed now!

But not for the reasons we were discussing.

I tried many more drivers, and I bet i could have found one in the middle that didn't crash, but yet still wasn't doing pixelation on the other end of the spectrum. However, a computer died at work, motherboard fried. So they threw out the computer.  I found an old AGP x8 128MB Geforce FX 5200 in it (not even dusty). And I just put it in my system and it works!

Now SimCity 4 Deluxe works just like it did in the old days. No difference. Yes im on all the highest settings.

After taking a look at the old Geforce2 GTS PRO 64MB, i just found out that the fan had stopped working. That may have had something to do with the failures. However, it is interesting to note that the new Geforce FX 5200 (by Asus) has no fan at all. It doesn't seem to overheat so far. But I'm considering getting and mounting a little fan on it. Any opinions whether that is necessary or not? Thanks to everyone who assisted on this thread.

[dadyrghluv 8]

if the GFX card u have now doesnt have a fan installed by the manufacter, than more than likley it doesnt need one, for reasons it's not a power hog, and doesnt overheat.

the fan on the other GFX card stopped working so therefore it probably overheated, and its just a matter of time before it dies.

if u feel like getting a fan for the current card, there are a few u can buy. check newegg.com for more details

[DOXXP29 5]

I had a GForce 5200 128mb, and I actually liked it BETTER than the GForce 6200oc 256mb that I replaced it with! Performance, especially with SC4 was better. Dunno why, but there was a marked difference. In fact, I sent the 5200 back for replacement since it was under warranty and am thinking of putting the new 5200 back in my comp. It's slightly dated, but a good card. For your system, it should work great. Keep it clean and make sure you have good air flow. I'm glad good fortune smiled upon you. Good luck!