This is getting extremely annoying...

[s_olah 87]

I bought a new computer just for sim city 4, my last one was good as well, but as I gathered more and more stuff from the STEX, LEX, wherever it became kinda slow...

So, I bought this one, and copied all the Plugins from my old computer to the new one, exactly as it was...I knew this works cause I've done it before...The problem is that my game keeps crashing. At first I thought it was nothing...second time around I thought it has to be the new Bat's I just downloaded, so I deleted them...but the game keeps crashing even now...after 5-20 minutes everything just goes dark...

Can anybody help...???

I was thinking to delete my plugins folder, and reinstall everything, but with 2 gigs of downloads, I'm sure you all know that would be a pain in the as*...

[CaptCity 4,669]

s_olah...

Might help to know the system specs of your older and newer computers.

[s_olah 87]

the old one was an AMD Sempron 3000+, 1.8 Mhz, 1 gig RAM, 128 Mb Nvidia videocard, 80 HDD, and the new one is an Intel, 3000 Mhz, 1 gig RAM DDR2, 256 Ati Radeon videocard, and 200 gig HDD

[tungston 19]

What is the OS of the new computer? Did you install the game update patch? Did you do a new install of the game, or copy the game from the old computer?

[s_olah 87]

Windows SP3...and about the installing, I installed everything just as I was supposed to...it works well without the plugins...may it be the new April 2008 NAM that's causing the problem...???although I had that on the old one as well, and no problems. I just reinstalled it again, cause i wanted more effective pathfinding...I heard/read many people have problems with the new NAM...

[hailman 1]

This may be nothing new to you, but in case it is: Are you sure it's not the "transit-enabled lot Crash?" When you hover a NAM puzzle piece over a transit enabled lot, or Puzzle-piece network, you game will almost always crash. Even if you just accidentally drag it across. There's nothing that can be done about it right now--that I know of--except be careful! It really sounds to me as if that's what's happening. It used to happen to me all the time, and I could never figure out what was causing the game to crash. I bought a new computer and it kept happening! Then I read about this problem, and I started paying attention whenever there was a crash, and sure enough. That "transit-bug" was the cause every single time.

[s_olah 87]

I only used the curved Highway puzzle piece...but I never had crashing problems with that one before,only with the GLR...

Thanks for all your help, but I decided to redownload everything...and pay more attention this time...a nice organized Plugin folder...although I kept the old one, so the problem still stands...and if any of you have any idea what is that's causing this...please reply. Thank you!

[jimmy92233 0]

You might want to go to the Simcity 4 site and install the update/patch directly from that site, it'll probably help out with the crashing, especially if you re-installed the game and haven't gone to the site to install the update. Just follow this link to the update page http://simcity.ea.com/update/index_update.php

[s_olah 87]

I installed all updates!!!

[CaptCity 4,669]

s_olah...

I seem to, ...ummm..., remember something about issues with ATI Radeon cards and SC4... maybe... *Heads off to look in forums...*

Edit: With the newest ATI drivers, you may need to run the game on 'software' rather than 'hardware' rendering.

[TheJerseyDevil73 13]

I also bought a new PC. And, that game also crashes randomly.

I have installed all proper updates. And also use no plugins at times. I do not think NAM is it.

I searched for a solution and didn't get much. But I did find one thing. It said to Defrag your PC and the game will run better due to the way the game stores save files.

I did this and for a few weeks I had no random crashes. I know it isn't my plugins. I have a super PC so that isn't the issue. And I also updated it properly.... so... perhaps defraging your pc more often is it? I got a couple crashes again in the last few days. I'll try a defrag again and see if a pattern imerges.

[rusty_777 0]

Try trial and error by deleting your most recent BAT's. I know it may seem ambiguous but it's a lot better than deleting the whole plugin folder. Lemme know how it goes. Cheers.

[Insert User Here 0]

Defragging a PC shouldn't have any effect on the game. You probably already know this, but as you add more and more files, they tend to be broken into "pieces" and placed on different parts of the hard drive. Defragmenting just brings all the files pieces back together. So it should not have any effect other than game loads slower when plugins are fragmented. So unless SC4 has some kind of slow loading = crash bug... or if Windows decides the program has stopped responding and ends it.

I have XP SP3 with an ATI Radeon 9550 256MB card. That was upgraded from an NVidia 5000-something 128MB card without reinstalling SC4. I've set the hardware render with no crashes or issues. I may NOT have the most recent drivers. Versions are confusing, it's 2007. something.

As for other settings: all boxes crossed, 16-bit colour, high # cars/sims, building draw speed & city detail, medium texture quality and visual effects and low shadows.

I've found in many games on both my laptop and computer that turning down shadows was the best way ot imrpove performance...