SC4 and Vista

[marlin32 0]

I keep building bigger and bigger regions, so I went out and bought all the parts and put a new computer together. It is a 3 gig dual core Intel and Intel mother board, 4gig ram, a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS video card and 2 320 gig hard drives and VISTA. So far my impressions of VISTA is not good. Anyway SC4 Ran slow but just fine on my old computer but on the new one it keeps crashing.

Sometime to desktop and other times it just freezes. This is usually after I have been playing for a while. It seems like I can go in and out of about 15 cities in the region when either the next city won't load and hangs or it loads and crashes or hangs when trying to save.

I have search for any help and updated video drivers, tried software rendering, a few patches from Microsoft for Nvidia card, adjusted virtual memory, shut off virus protection, tried setting the affinity to one proccesor, cleaned out my plugin folder and pulled out most of my hair.

And thanks to A_Nonny_Moose who gave me a couple of these ideas but to no good.  

Can anybody come up with something that I have not tried, I don't really want to go back XP?

Thanks for any help anybody can give me.

[The Big Z 103]

Dang it, I had a reply all written up and my browser had a brain fart. Anywho, you can run SC4 with XP Compatibility. All you need to do is find the SC4.exe in your Maxis/Apps Folder. Right click on the it, then click 'properties'. There should be a tab that says, "Compatibility". Click on that and it will give you the option of running it as if you were running XP. I hope that works for you. I'm running SC4 on Vista as well, and my crashes every so often. I have thought about doing this, but I actually forgot how to do it until I read through your post. Then I remembered. lol

[tungston 19]

I am assuming you have the game properly updated to version 638?

You shouldn't have to run the game with one core, or in XP compatibility mode.

There is a Vista Fix on the nVidia site, but there are still some bugs in the Vista drivers from ATI, and nVidia.

Another thing to remember, you have a faster computer now, you may need to save more often than before. If you have a questionable plugin, the faster computer might compound the errors it creates. You might check the plugins as a last resort.

[marlin32 0]

Thank you for the information. I am running in XP Compatibility mode and yes I am running version 638. I have also tried the hotfixes on the Nvidia site.

Anymore Ideas? I'll take them no matter how stupid they may seem.

Does anybody know of a way to try to isolate the problem to see if it is video drivers, or software or something else?

[JakeMD 107]

Scififan68 made a tutorial that Im sure is in the omnibus somewhere...

[marlin32 0]

SWAT-MEDIC can you tell me what the tutorial that Scififan68 made is about? Or a link to it? I can't find it.

Thanks

[tungston 19]

Originally posted by: marlin32 SWAT-MEDIC can you tell me what the tutorial that Scififan68 made is about? Or a link to it? I can't find it.

Thanksquote>

 

All that was, was how to set the multi core processor to one core.  That really isn't necessary.  It works in some cases because it slows the computer down.

There is no problem with Vista, or multicore Intel processors.  I have logged dozens of hours on both, and have not experienced a crash on either.  I have intentionally tried to crash the game with Vista, and a quad core.   Althought with ATI graphics, so it could be with the nVidia drivers, but more probable is the custom content.

Try using the method in the stickie, in this forum, "How to: Identify Faulty Plugins".

[marlin32 0]

I want to once again thank all of you for your help!!!!!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

You can isolate your video system by using software rendering (in the game control panel).  You have to restart the game to invoke this after setting it.

The effect is to do all the work for the video in memory using the CPU, the only using the video system as a frame buffer.  None of the processing is done in the video system, so this effectively makes it ultra stupid.  If your problem disappears using software rendering the problem is definitely somewhere in the video system.

[marlin32 0]

Thanks N_O_Body but I have set it to software rendering and I still have the problem. So does that mean I can assume that it is not a video driver problem?

[xlchrisij 0]

I have SC4 and Vista, but the lights don't work! Isn't there anything to let them work?

[marlin32 0]

Today I finally got around to removing all plugins in the game. Going into the 7th city the game just crashed to desktop. Sim City 4 is the only game I have loaded. I may just quit on it and load another game and see if I have problems. Maybe Sim City 5 will be out next week.

[tungston 19]

Originally posted by: xlchrisij I have SC4 and Vista, but the lights don't work! Isn't there anything to let them work?quote>

 

You need the game update, and the SC4updater4BAT.exe, update.

[tungston 19]

Marlin32:

You should do your testing in tha new region, and new city. Faulty plugins already in the city can still cause problems, even if removed from the plugins folder.

[xlchrisij 0]

tungston, I've downloaded the newest update from the site,where can I find SC4updater4BAT.exe??

[aking88 7]

I think i have the same problem, its nothing with the plugins becouse i simply copied my XP-installation to my vista system, that is the plugin folders. It has a habit of crashing sporadicly after playing for a while, very annoying if you have made a lot of work.

I guess the only "solution" is to save often.

xlhrisij:

http://simcity.ea.com/downloads/getfile_pri.php?filename=SC4Update4BAT.exe

[tungston 19]

aking88: How much memory does the Vista machine have?

[xlchrisij 0]

Ok thanks, it still isn't working.....

[marlin32 0]

Well we have two conversations going on here. Today I started a new region to see what happens and after poping in and out of a few cities ( I would say about 15-20 ) I was suddenly looking at my desktop. One thing about this new computer is SC 4 crashes fast.

[aking88 7]

2gb, so that shouldn't be a problem, should it?

[mystic_horizon 1]

If your still dealing with this problem, it could be your graphics card.