SimCity and Vista 64

[CEJ121 0]

Hello and thanks for having me on the forums.  I recently upgraded my computer and O/S to Vista 64 and since doing so, I have not been able to play SimCity 4 for an extended amount of time.  Sometimes the game will run for an hour or 2 and other times it's <10 mins before a crash.  I've tried the no CD patch, running the game as Admin and XP mode and nothing seems to work.    I've updated all sound and video drivers and nothing seems to do the trick.  There are 3 types of crashes that I get, and two end in the same result of incapacitating my system and me having to hit the restart button. 

The first crash is the monitor just turns off, but the game is still running in the background.  Well the music is still playing and I can hear ambient city noise.

The 2nd crash just shuts down my machine completely

The third crash is one that is annoying but not as detrimental when I just go to desktop. 

Anyone have any ideas as to what may be causing the crashes?

My system specs are:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300

4GB Ram

2x Nvidia 8800GTS card (not in SLI, but running separate monitors)

creative SB X-Fi extreme audio

[Lonestar 0]

There is something I did that disabled that added security, you don't have to do the run as administrator crap. I can't remember how to do it, hopefully someone here does, maybe you could find it on google? But i did it asnd all my programs that weren't working before suddenly did, Also, did you try running it in windows xp mode?

[TylerD 16]

I've experienced the same thing. It just happened 4 times in a row within 5 minutes. It's even hard to save the changes that you make in the city.

I'm already running it in XP-mode, but that doesn't help.

Anybody a suggestion?

[bestgreenknight 0]

I've been running it with absolutely no problems. And I played for about 3hrs.

[TylerD 16]

I've also played it for 3 hours or even more. It just happens occasionaly. But today it's frustrating, because i can't make any changes to the city.

[Mayor Tiger 0]

I'm using Vista, and I think I may have the same problem. I'll be playing SimCity4, and after about 20-40mins. the game crashes. The only difference is that for me when it crashes I go to the desktop every time. Sometimes it tells me Sim City 4 is encountering a problem and is looking for a solution, and other times it just quits. But the funny part is that if I save it every 15 mins. it doesn't ever quit on me! lol!

[Porter 68]

I started having this problem a while back. Have you tried setting your game to 1 CPU?

You can set this by going to the properties of your SimCity.exe and adding the -"" to the Target area.

Example:

"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -CPUCount:1

Also, keep in mind, using the NAM add-on puzzle pieces can sometimes cause random crashes to desktop.

Hopefully that helps. If not, let us know!

[buckbeach 8]

I think I read somewhere that SimCity4 and Duel Core machines were incompatible.

[tungston 19]

I don't have any trouble with either of my dual, or quad core machines. I think the problem comes from something else.

[Motina 77]

I have the exact same specs. I only get the third crash. You have more than one monitor? I think that may have been the problem with mine. I am still trying it out, because this is just happened only yesterday.

[Motina 77]

Could just simply be a plugin. Do you have any installed?