SC4 won't get past splash screen

[sturmgewehr 0]

Hi everybody,

I'm completely stuck and don't know where else to turn. After installing SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition, when I try to open the game for the first time it sits at the “bridge” splash screen and freezes.

I can see the executable sitting in task manager just hanging (plus that tmp file which I've tried killing as well to see if it makes it proceed). I've tried other threads on technical no-start problems in the forums for a fix but to no avail.

This happens to be a new PC I've built I'm attempting to install it on. On my old PC (a Dell Dimension 4500) it worked (and still works) perfectly fine so I doubt it is a media problem. As a side note, all other games and applications I had installed on my old PC are working fine with the new one. SimCity 4 is the holdout!

My PC Specs:

Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400

XFX 9600 GT Graphics Card in a PCI-Express 2.0 slot

2 GB DDR2 Dual Channel 800Mhz in two sticks

Realtek High Def Audio (integrated audio with motherboard)

XFX nForce 780i Motherboard

Things I've tried: (feel free to suggest that I try these things in a certain combination)

Uninstalled & Reinstalled (twice).

Patched up to the most recent version.

No plug ins added (as I can't get it running fresh from install yet)

Turning off combinations of background applications.

Updated my graphics card drivers to most current version.

Updated my audio drivers to the most current version.

Run in Windows 2000 compatibility mode.

Used all combinations of the following extensions: (each one separated by a single space after initially being added after a single space after the last quotation mark of the shortcut...)

-d:software -CustomResolution:enabled -r1680x1050x32 -f -intro:off

If anyone can suggest anything else please let me know. I would hope any potential solution provided here could also help others, but of course for me personally it's frustrating to have this great upgrade in hardware and not be able to play one of my favorite games...

[High5flyier 7]

Try installing the game in safe mode.

[sturmgewehr 0]

Originally posted by: High5flyier Try installing the game in safe mode.quote>

Thank you for the suggestion, but unfortunately it didn't seem to work.

I uninstalled the program, and then went into safe mode.  I re-installed the program from safe mode and applied the official patch.  I attempted running the program from safemode for the heck of it, and it didn't load anything at all.  I then came out of safemode and got the same result as I was previously of seeing the splash screen, and then freezing.

[sturmgewehr 0]

Well folks, I guess the problem fixed itself.

Let me describe what happened since my last post in the hope that it may benefit someone else who comes across this thread...

Going about my normal routines at the PC, NVIDIA notified me of some updates I should download and install in my system tray (My machine is basically built around all NVIDIA products).  They weren't drivers for my video card (I definitely went that route earlier), but they seemed to be for my motherboard, network access (my motherboard has two built in LAN ports) and an update for some sort of  "media".  I wish I could be more specific, but now that the update is complete I can't remember them verbatim...

The window it took me to however I do remember and have attached a screenshot of for further assistance.  It was in my NVIDIA Control Panel, under "System Update" and then "Update your System Drivers" (The NVIDIA Control Panel is located inside the Windows Control Panel).

In the area labeled "Available driver updates" there was a link showing updates for me to install.  After following the installation and successfully implementing the changes SC4 Deluxe worked!  (there is also a button labeled "Check Now" which will search for updates, which I just did a few minutes ago giving me a message you can see in my screenshot saying there are no updates at this time)

The local shortcut I use does still have some end parameters on it.  I have found it to work either reading:

"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -f -intro:off

or

"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -CustomResolution:enabled -r1680x1050x32 -f -intro:off *

* - My resolution happens to be 1680x1050, please substitute your own machines resolution here

[High5flyier 7]

Glad to here your up and running and yes this is good info for everybody because this is a very finicky game to get loaded at times. A year and a half ago I had to replace my sc4 disk and the new one just would not take. I tried safe mode and got lucky. Since then I have done 2 fresh system reinstalls and both times sc4 has installed with no problems so one just never knows. Happy playing.