SimCity 4 freezes whole system

[DucksofGrass 0]

 

Hello All,  When I start up SimCity 4 Deluxe, it all runs fine, untill I get building on my city. Once it gets to a smallish size, randomly, the game completely freezes up, and then the only way to exit is to shut off my computer. I have tried updating to 1.272, but it just complains about Old files not found, but I got the one for my region. And so I have come here to ask for some help because this is one of my favorite games, and having to restart my computer every time I play it gets pretty annoying. Has anyone else had this problem? And if so how may I over come it?  My Sys. Specs:  Intel Core Duo E4500 @ 2.4 GHz  ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 1 GB VRAM  3 GB RAM  2046 MB- 4092MB Virtual Memory 500GB HDD  Windows XP Professional SP 3  Thanks,  DucksofGrass P.S. The core fix only delayed the problem, it now occuring at around 3000 people, so I have no clue what's causing it to freeze...

[CaptCity 4,752]

I don't know if it will solve your problem, but  if you've got Deluxe you don't need the 272 patch. You just need to get the EP1 patch to upgrade to 638.

[DucksofGrass 0]

Ok then, I have that. And it didn't help. At all. But thanks for trying...

Does anyone know whats going on... 

[DPMorse 2]

What resolution do you have your desktop set to, and what resolution are you running the game at? 

[DucksofGrass 0]

My desktop runs at 1600x1050 and so does the game

[DucksofGrass 0]

Really, again? i get shoved down to the botttom, and no one has a speck of insight on this? this is ridiculous! Al I wanted to do is play this game.

[tungston 19]

Originally posted by: DucksofGrass

Really, again? i get shoved down to the botttom, and no one has a speck of insight on this? this is ridiculous! Al I wanted to do is play this game.quote>

If the computer is freezing so that you must do a cold start, then there is a 99% chance that it's not the game, but a hardware issue.  Usually, drivers, or a faulty memory module.

There has been a common problem when all the memory slots on the motherboard are filled.  Also, some issues with first run DDR2 1033MHz memory modules.

[DucksofGrass 0]

Do elaborate, what IS a cold start?

[Nuclear550 3]

Did you try re-installing sim city because it looks like a file wasn't installed correctly.

[DPMorse 2]

Originally posted by: DucksofGrass

Do elaborate, what IS a cold start?quote>

It is when you turn on the computer from a powered down state.

A 'warm reboot' is when you do a shutdown and restart without turning off the computer.

A 'cold boot/reboot' is when the computer gets completely shut down, then restarted.

[tungston 19]

Originally posted by: DucksofGrass

Do elaborate, what IS a cold start?quote>

When the computer freezes, and you have to use the reset button, or shut the computer down then restart.  Those are cold boots.

[DucksofGrass 0]

Nope, nothing, still crashing into the wall of frozen-ness

[tungston 19]

Originally posted by: DucksofGrass

Nope, nothing, still crashing into the wall of frozen-nessquote>

If you list the things that you have tried, it might give us a hint as to how to help you.

[Yuu Caa Sim 55]

Things to try (in approximate order from least time consuming to most):

But first, try looking in this Omnibus article

% Remove all plugins from your plugin folders (in My Documents/Simcity 4/Plugins & Program Files/Maxis/Simcity 4/Plugins).

% Close all background tasks. Look in this Omnibus article to see how.

% Do a virus and a spyware scan with an up to date scanner to see if there are any such infections on your computer.

% Run disk scanner and disk defragmenter (from right_click->properties->tools_tab on the C: drive in My Computer)

% Update your hardware drivers, like for the sound card and video card. Going to your computer manufacturer website and then entering your model number in the support section of the website is a good place to start.

% The video card drivers are particularly important, but the most updated drivers may not allow the game to be played properly! See if other people have a card similar to yours, and ask for their driver version and how well the game runs on their computer.