Crash problem solved

[ethereal155 0]

Hi I'm new to this forum and someone else may have figured this out by now.  Anyway, I was having chronic crashes to desktop after downloading many mods/lots etc.  I found a quick way to find the culprit files in my plugins folder:  

Backup a copy of your current plugins folder. View the active plugins folder in Windows as a list.  Delete a chunk of files from the plugins folder.  Start Sim City 4.  If it crashes, delete another chunk of files from the plugins folder.  Start Sim City 4 again. If it crashes, repeat.  If it doesn't crash, then the last chunk you deleted contained a file(s) that makes the game crash.  You can now narrow it down to the specific file in the chunk by doing the same thing, just deleting single files(or smaller chunks) instead of chunks.  After you find them, remember to put all the good files you backed up back in the plugins folder (minus the bad ones) 

Anyway,  did this and found some files that DEFINITELY make the game crash:

Any file containing the language: Vanderaap - Utrecht, Oude Daalstraat

in the filename will crash Sim City 4

I think they are zoned lots that are supposed to grow.  I guess when the game tries to "grow" one of these, it crashes.

There's about 10-15 (not in front of me now) that contain that name in some form.  Delete them and see if it works. 

My SC4 was crashing after 2 min on fastest speed gameplay, now, after deleting the Vanderaap - Utrecht, Oude Daalstraat
files, it never crashes (tried running a city overnight on the fastest gameplay speed, NO CRASH, Hooray)

Well if more bad files get on your system, the above method will help you find them quicker than you think.

[CaptCity 4,916]

ethereal155...

If growable lots seem to be making your game crash, it could be due to conflicts or problems that are not present untill the lot grows. I'm not saying the lots you mentioned are good or bad, but you might try leaving them in the plugins alone (along with all dependencies), and then adding others to see if something else might be conflicting with them (causing a crash).

I've had this happen a few times. A lot appears to be making the game crash when growing, but it turned out to be something else installed incorrectly.

Just a thought...

[david1314 44]

Originally posted by: CaptCityI'm not saying the lots you mentioned are good or badquote>

I will... vanderaap's lots are good. That goes for every single one he uploaded before May of 2008. I've both used them as they came from vanderaap and created an entire tile set with my own lots, the Vda series of buildings is good.

And it's without a doubt a simple conflict.

[CaptCity 4,916]

Originally posted by: david1314

Originally posted by: CaptCityI'm not saying the lots you mentioned are good or badquote>

  I will... vanderaap's lots are good. That goes for every single one he uploaded before May of 2008. I've both used them as they came from vanderaap and created an entire tile set with my own lots, the Vda series of buildings is good.

And it's without a doubt a simple conflict.quote>

 

Glad you said it...    I haven't used that many, but I've never had a problem either.

[ethereal155 0]

Yeah it must be a conflict then. I didn't mean to knock the Vanderaap lots. I have a lot of them and it was just the Utrecht, Oude Daalstraat ones that I took out (not many compared all the ones he made). There's a ton of other Vanderaaps I have that do work. I'll try Captcity's idea to see if there's a conflict and write back.