Newer Computer

[JoeExplorer 1]

I got my current computer a little over a year ago.  It's more powerful, better ram, better video card.  I CTD more now then I ever did on my old one.  At least my old one would just be sluggish and I could keep playing.

Is there something about newer computers that SimCity can't handle?  This is very frustrating.  I can stop the CTD if I don't use the NAM.  But heck, I want those extra features.  I was able to use the NAM with my old computer.  But back then the NAM didn't have the rural highway mod.

Celeron 3.07 ghz

2 gig mem

GeForce 7600 GS, 512 mem, driver date 10/22/2006, ver 6.14.10.9371

VM is set to 4000

Antialiasing is set to none.

60 gig hard drive half full.

My plugin folder is only 572 megs

Playing with RushHour

My next and final step will be to reload my computer.  If that doesn't work, I'm giving up on SimCity and going back to Civ IV.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

No one deserves to have to play CIV IV.  You have lots of processor, so try running in Software Rendering to isolate your graphics system.  If your crashes go away, no matter what happens to your game rates, the problem is somewhere in your graphics system.

[JoeExplorer 1]

Tried software renering. same thing happens. Reloaded whole computer last night. Same problem. I'm agassed. What is a person suppose to do?

My game will run without the NAM, but then you don't get the bridges, puzzle pieces and ramps, etc.

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

[tungston 19]

When does the game crash? Is it when you are using puzzle pieces?

[JoeExplorer 1]

tungston: My game would crash as soon as I ran it. Maybe last 5 seconds.

Check this out: I remebered we use to put the NetworkAddons in the Main Menu (Programs/Maxis/SimCity/Plugins/). By default the NAM goes into the MyDocuments folder. Well I moved the whole NAM into the Main Directory. I ran the game for 5 minutes and no crash. I hope I'm onto something here. With the # of cars set to high, I'm still getting a choppy stop and go with traffic.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Interesting.  Bear in mind that the stuff in the Program Files folder loads first.  You are either having a loading problem or you have a bad plugin probably in the My Documents folder.  See the pinned thread above on identifying bad plugins.

[JoeExplorer 1]

N_O_Body: I did a clean install of SC4. Wasn't even able to double click the icon to start the game. I rolled back my adapter driver. Everything seemed to work OK. I installed Rush Hour. I get it to start and I go into the "Making Money Tut". Runs OK until I click on Rhino speed. Then it forces a reboot of my system. I installed the update from SimCity. Same thing happens, click on Rhino speed, forces a reboot of my system.

I'm sure it's a graphics card issue, but what can I do. I have the antialiasing (sp) set to none.

Any suggestions?

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[JoeExplorer 1]

I don't have those options. I right clicked on SimCity in the applications and processes tab. Just have choices of ending processes or setting priority.

[dadyrghluv 8]

the graphics driver u have is currently out of date. the newest driver other than beta is the 6.14.11.6375 date 10/4/07

pick that up as well if u gt the chance, and try the above as well.

[JoeExplorer 1]

Updated my driver to 10/4/07. That didn't work.

BTW. I don't have the hyper-threading. I only have a uniprocessor.

[JoeExplorer 1]

I'm afraid I'm going backwards here. After installing the latest driver, now as soon as I click on a region I get CTD.

I can't believe that I can't play this game on this machince. Very exsasperated.

[dadyrghluv 8]

hmmm. sorry to add to your frustration with the driver idea.

your machine is more than capable of running the game, and well too if we can find out whats wrong with it. only thing i can think of is the plugins folder. its gotta be something in there thats causing your CTD. i would remove it, and burn in to a CD and then use a new plugins folder, and start with the basics, like the NAM, maybe the opera house fix, etc.

[Imprezza05 1]

one thing you didn't mention is what windows are you running on... XP or Vista the latest version. I have heard that the latest version of windows makes the game a bit more unstable.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

OK, let's isolate your graphics processor.  Open the shortcut to the game for editing and set it to run in software rendering mode.  Add the options -d:Software -intro:off after the closing quote in your pathname.

Note, each of these options is treated like a "word" and must have a space separating them from the pathname and each other.  My document (the readme file on the disk) suggests that these are case sensitive.  The -intro option controls the EA movie.  off gets rid of it.

[JoeExplorer 1]

I've just been trying to get the game to run period. right now. I don't have any plugins. It's a clean install with RushHour and the RH Patch from SimCity.

I'm running XP Home.

[JoeExplorer 1]

The shortcut stuff didn't work N_O_Body. I can get to the region screen. As soon as I click on the "Making Money Tutorial" I get CTD. At least it's not rebooting now. LOL

I do appreciate all of your help. Thanks so much.

[JoeExplorer 1]

What about WDM drivers? I noticed when I installed my video card there was an option to install WDM drivers. I installed it but it said that it wasn't digitally sign by Microsoft. It installed all of the WDM drivers except: NVIDIA Video capture (universal). That comes up with a code (10).

Does this shed light on anything?

I also looked in my Device Manager under Monitors: I have 4 installed. 2 default monitors and 2 plug n play monitors.

My new monitor is a HANS-G LCD. When I install that driver it also says that it's not digitally signed by Microsoft.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you have a clean install with no plugins and update1, that kind of indicates that maybe that tutorial file has been corrupted.  Why not try copying the entire Timbuktu region from the Program Files\Maxis\Simcity 4\regions folder to your working area at My Documents\Simcity 4 \Regions.

You should move the old region out of the way first, if you want to preserve any of it.  Otherwise, delete it before you do the copy.

[dadyrghluv 8]

hmmm... my only other option i could say is do a reformat, to rid your machine of all the stuff u are not using hardware wise or other files not needed anymore. this will permanentley delete all of your content, so back up what u wanna save to a CD or a flash drive card.

to me u have 3 too many monitors installed, and most drivers u get especially the newest ones aren't WDM. this basically means that the driver hasn't gone through microsofts tests for compatibility, and stableization. as long as u got it from the official site of your card maker, i wouldnt worry too much about it.

[JoeExplorer 1]

OK, I Reformatted the harddrive. Loaded XP home. Only have one monitor now. I disconnected the DVI connection. I loaded all the way upto the RushHour Patches. Checking after each step to see I can run SimCity. It ran after every update I did. I loaded my old Region with all of my plugins except the NAM. It ran, on fast, medium and slow. I could zoom in and out.

As soon as I loaded the NAM when I click on the City to start I get into the city and after 2 seconds I get CTD. Tried different options with the NAM, same results. I unistalled the NAM and it runs.

[dadyrghluv 8]

w00t. atleast u got it to work. now, as for the NAM, u need to have rush hour expansion pack, which i hope u have. as for the NAM, we shall see if anyone pops in from the NAM team to shed more light on it, since i dont know much of its inner workings.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

When you installed the 2006 NAM, did you follow the clean up instructions that came with it.  There is a large list of things that are incompatible with it.

[JoeExplorer 1]

I did the cleanitol. I didn't have any files loaded that it found.

With the NAM loaded (without the ANT), I set the number of cars to the lowest. I am able to run the game. When I put the number of cars to medium OR when I zoom to a level where you can see cars, I CTD immediately.

[JoeExplorer 1]

I just but the NAM in the Programs folder. It's working. On all levels. I have all settings set to high. I zoom in and out. Go from slow to fast on each zoom level.

I know the system loads these files first. But what does this suggest to ya? I'm asking, I don't know?

But what I care about is that I'm able to play the game. Should I put the NAM essentials in the same place?

[tungston 19]

I can't tell you why it's working, but I can tell you it won't make any difference where NAM loads from. It all comes from the same hard drive, that is unless you have the document folder on a different hard drive, if you do, that that hard drive might have bad sectors.

[dadyrghluv 8]

yea thats true, and a good possibilty at this point. do a scandisk to check for bad sectors on your HDD.

u can find this under start > program files > system tools.

[mystic_horizon 1]

How much power is you computer running.

[JoeExplorer 1]

Assume you mean Defrag because scandisk isn't an option any more. Yes, I defrag frequently, no bad sectors.

I have a 400 watt power supply.

[dadyrghluv 8]

double click my computer on your desktop

right click the HDD

go to properties

hit the tools tab near the top

click error checking. i suggest u do the format beforehand before u do this.