Completely random crashes in vista.(unrelated to anything, as I can tell.)

[Darth Apple 54]

ever since I got a new computer with vista home premium(32 bit.), random crashes occur every few minutes, my specs are:

athlon dual core, running at 2.5GHZ. 3 GB of ram. and I dont know what my graphics card is, my computer wont tell me, and I'm new to vista. it wont matter how much disk space I have, but its 320GB.

     is there any way to prevent these crashes? why do the occur. they didnt happen before vista, and I copied all my plugins over, so it cant be that. it happens more often when I'm over water in my city, but a picture wont make sense because it happens in every city. I was able to install just fine.

Please help me out here. -blakesterville.

[asd195 1]

i have vista but im ok exept if i zoom out alot very fast

[shermankim777 0]

same problem happens to me too

[pickled_pig 7]

It's not vista. It's your dual-core processor. The classic fix for this is to run the game in single-core compatibility mode. I run SC4 using a shortcut with the following path:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C START "SimCity 4" /high /affinity 1 "(path to SC4 application in quotes)"

Since I learned the fix not too long ago and am not concerned with why it works, I can't explain it via a 'techie' perspective. But I can vouch that single-core mode has made SC4 playable again, after a year of crashing to desktop.

[Jaime_ua 34]

"whereyourgameisinstalled\SimCity 4.exe" -CustomResolution:enabled -r1680x1050x32 -CPUCount:1

Someone gave this solution. It's to change the path in the shortcut. It did not worked for me but who knows.... pickled_pig I don't understand how to write the path:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C START C:Games/Simcity 4.exe /high /affinity 1 like this?

[Darth Apple 54]

I tried that, and it didn't seem to work for me. I am not familiar with the windows shell.

[SC4BOY 21]

Since you have an AMD processor as I understand it, you don't need that particular fix.. just go to the AMD web site and download and install the "Dual Core Optimizer" (or something very close to that).. it will correct your problems related to the dualprocessor and the singlethreaded, non-branching SC4. You may have other problems but at least that part will be fixed

[Philadelphia 25]

If I rapidly zoom out my sc4 will CTD, no fixes yet but keep ur eye out for one that could come out in the future.

[Darth Apple 54]

I am not rapidly zooming out, rather, just moving the screen,(not too fast, though.) usually when I cross water of some kind. I tried running in win-xp compatibility mode, but it still crashed.(by the way, I noticed that it usually crashes after ten minutes of play.) running as admin didn't work at all.

-blakesterville.

[gottago 24]

Originally posted by: Jaime_ua

"whereyourgameisinstalled\SimCity 4.exe" -CustomResolution:enabled -r1680x1050x32 -CPUCount:1

quote>

This fix works--I have Vista and indeed as stated by others it is setting the affinity properly that will do the trick.

You have to right click on the menu shortcut used to enter SC4, then click on "properties" and enter the string in the "target" window.

NB: the variable "CustomResolution" specifies your monitor's resolution and 1680x1050 may not be right for you. Check your monitor's screen size and change this as necessary.

You can do alot to change how SC4 loads by tweaking variables with this target box. Here's my set-up:

"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -Intro:off -w -CustomResolution:enabled -r1440x900x32 -CPUPriority:high -CPUCount:1 -d:DirectX -ExceptionHandling:off -CustomCursors:Disabled -Music:on -Sound:on

-Intro:off    gets rid of the Maxis startup commercial

-CRe      sets your monitor's resolution and allows windowed play, if you set the "-r:" variable correctly

-CPUP    does what it says--gives you more processor priority/stability

-d:      specifies your rendering engine

-EH:off  again for stability

-Music:  you can turn the Maxis music off here by changing "on" to "off"

-Sound: you can turn the sound off here if you want

To get all this to work, you have to follow the capitalization, punctuation and spacing exactly.

Hope this works for you. Sure made SC4 stable on Vista for me.

[Darth Apple 54]

where is the tartget box? sounds weird, but I couldn't find it in wither the actual .exe file or the shortcut.

thanks, though. -blakesterville.

[gottago 24]

^blakesterville,

Sorry I see my post wasn't very clear about which link to edit. This won't work if you're trying to edit the icon/link, that's just a shortcut to the .exe, and you can't edit the .exe either.

Click on the microsoft start flag on your taskbar and your programs menu pops up.

Then right click on your SC4 link, which will open up a smaller window.

Click on "properties" on the bottom to get that window to open.

Click on the "shortcut" tab--the "target" window-bar is here.

Hope it works for you.

[Darth Apple 54]

Thanks! my eyes must've been messed up! well, thanks

so much, I changed it.

-blakesterville.

[Jaime_ua 34]

Did it work? It's not working for me..... I'm loosing all hope.... =(

[Darth Apple 54]

I cant believe it! the only thing that happened was the game ran a lot slower, it crashed on the 4th minute. I dont know, but it must be something other than my core issue. I dont know, but it must be something more serious.

btw: I have an nvidia graphics card. also: I only copied my "Documents" plugin folder, but my other folder only had things that were in the documents folder.

-blakesterville.

[gottago 24]

Originally posted by: blakesterville

I cant believe it! the only thing that happened was the game ran a lot slower, it crashed on the 4th minute...

btw: I have an nvidia graphics card. also: I only copied my "Documents" plugin folder, but my other folder only had things that were in the documents folder.

-blakesterville.quote>

Hi blakesterville,

I've got to say that I don't understand your post at all--what are you doing copying your plugins folder? And where are you putting the copy?? Don't put a copy named "plugins" in either of your root game or plugins folders or you're inviting disaster! Your problem has nothing to do with that folder (though there may be some conflicting files in there, but that is not causing the problems you're experiencing.) It has to do with how vista handles the loading of the sc4 executable file--the program that makes sc4 run.

The fix I posted above has nothing to do with any of your sc4 folders or files--or any other system files for that matter. All you are doing is editing Vista's start menu link to sc4.exe by changing the variables that appear in the "target" box of the Properties window. These variables tell Vista how to run the sc4.exe file, nothing more, nothing less. To say it another way, this is all about getting Vista to handle how it runs sc4, and only about this.

Read my earlier posts again and follow the steps I outlined carefully--all this should be happening on your desktop, working with your start menu (that's the b&w window with all your programs listed that pops up when you click the little Microsoft flag on your taskbar). 

I should also add that, if you've done all the above correctly, you must start up sc4 only using the start menu link, not using a desktop icon, otherwise Vista won't know to run the program as you have just instructed it to.

good luck!

[Darth Apple 54]

I followed your instructions exactly, with the desktop icon, it did change the settings, shutting one of the cores off(for sc4.) stopping the intro, reducing window size, etc... and I did start it from the start menu. my plugins, I fixed that. what I did was copy all of my "Documents/simcity 4" folder to my new computer, and reinstall there. but I left anything in my program files folder to be replaced.(I had only a couple gas station B.A.T.s there, which I did actually just copy yesterday , just in-case., but they were also in my documents folder.) but thanks for spending some time helping me. I appreciate your time!

-blaeksterville.