Crash to Desktop? Look here first.

[joshriddle 29]

Originally posted by: milanxyz

its a Dell Intel 1 860 notebook

what happened to you?quote>

For me my processor quit working.

Anyway, by puter specs I meant mainly your processor capabilities, RAM, and Operating System.

EDIT: After thinking about it it might be the fact that it is a notebook. Laptops (especially small ones) have a tad hard time keeping up with the game unless you get a big fancy one with High-specs on it. (referrs to Tommy7777 )

[tjh876 31]

I wouldn't "consider" it a big fancy one, but it is up there in the spec range. That being beside the point, I might make a new thread, after talking with some mods, and make this a discussion thread. Then, we can have it a bit more organized.

[evilal10 0]

My problems start with CTD when I try and build an overpass over my railway, plus laying my rail is really slow. Im not computer minded, maybe someone out there can translate this into English for me, So I know what thread is causing this to happen and I can get on woth my game again.

Exception time: 10/11/2010, at 02:30:38.
Exception code: 0xC0000005 (-1073741819) ACCESS_VIOLATION.
Current thread ID: 548 (0x00000224).
Version information:
Application/module path: C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe
Application/module version name: SimCity 4
Application/module version: 1.1.638.0
System version: Windows NT 5.1
System memory: 512 Megabytes total, 64 Megabytes free.

Exception module:  C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe.
Exception address: 0x0065ec40. Sectionffset: 0x01:0x00257c40.

Registers
   EAX: 0012f6f0
   EBX: 0012f6f4
   ECX: 00000000
   EDX: 000000c1
   ESI: 00000000
   EDI: 0c25b19c
   CS:EIP: 001b:0065ec40
   SS:ESP: 0023:0012f6b8  EBP:0012f6ef
   DS:0023  ES:0023  FS:003b  GS:0000
   Flags: 00010246

Loaded Modules
   Address          Size Module             Path
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   0x00400000    8187904 SimCity 4.exe      C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe
   0x7c900000     729088 ntdll.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntdll.dll
   0x7c800000    1007616 kernel32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel32.dll
   0x7e410000     593920 USER32.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
   0x77f10000     299008 GDI32.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\GDI32.dll
   0x77dd0000     634880 ADVAPI32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\ADVAPI32.dll
   0x77e70000     602112 RPCRT4.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\RPCRT4.dll
   0x77fe0000      69632 Secur32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\Secur32.dll
   0x71ad0000      36864 WSOCK32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\WSOCK32.dll
   0x71ab0000      94208 WS2_32.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2_32.dll
   0x77c10000     360448 msvcrt.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\msvcrt.dll
   0x71aa0000      32768 WS2HELP.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2HELP.dll
   0x3d930000     942080 WININET.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\WININET.dll
   0x77f60000     483328 SHLWAPI.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHLWAPI.dll
   0x00330000      36864 Normaliz.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\Normaliz.dll
   0x78130000    1257472 urlmon.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\urlmon.dll
   0x774e0000    1298432 ole32.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\ole32.dll
   0x77120000     569344 OLEAUT32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\OLEAUT32.dll
   0x3dfd0000    1998848 iertutil.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\iertutil.dll
   0x7c9c0000    8482816 SHELL32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHELL32.dll
   0x73f10000     376832 DSOUND.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\DSOUND.dll
   0x77c00000      32768 VERSION.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\VERSION.dll
   0x76b40000     184320 WINMM.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINMM.dll
   0x5ed00000     835584 OPENGL32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\OPENGL32.dll
   0x68b20000     131072 GLU32.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\GLU32.dll
   0x73760000     307200 DDRAW.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\DDRAW.dll
   0x73bc0000      24576 DCIMAN32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\DCIMAN32.dll
   0x75a70000     135168 MSVFW32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVFW32.dll
   0x5d090000     630784 COMCTL32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\COMCTL32.dll
   0x76390000     118784 IMM32.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMM32.dll
   0x773d0000    1060864 comctl32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.2600.5512_x-ww_35d4ce83\comctl32.dll
   0x5cd70000      28672 serwvdrv.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\serwvdrv.dll
   0x5b0a0000      28672 umdmxfrm.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\umdmxfrm.dll
   0x77b40000     139264 Apphelp.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\Apphelp.dll
   0x10000000     638976 ~df394b.tmp        C:\DOCUME~1\user\LOCALS~1\Temp\~efbe57\~df394b.tmp
   0x5ad70000     229376 uxtheme.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\uxtheme.dll
   0x74720000     311296 MSCTF.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSCTF.dll
   0x755c0000     188416 msctfime.ime       C:\WINDOWS\system32\msctfime.ime
   0x76bf0000      45056 psapi.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\psapi.dll
   0x76ee0000     245760 rasapi32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\rasapi32.dll
   0x76e90000      73728 rasman.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\rasman.dll
   0x5b860000     348160 NETAPI32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\NETAPI32.dll
   0x76eb0000     192512 TAPI32.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\TAPI32.dll
   0x76e80000      57344 rtutils.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\rtutils.dll
   0x76c30000     188416 WINTRUST.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINTRUST.dll
   0x77a80000     610304 CRYPT32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\CRYPT32.dll
   0x77b20000      73728 MSASN1.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSASN1.dll
   0x76c90000     163840 IMAGEHLP.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMAGEHLP.dll
   0x02460000    2904064 xpsp2res.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\xpsp2res.dll
   0x68000000     221184 rsaenh.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\rsaenh.dll
   0x73940000     851968 D3DIM700.DLL       C:\WINDOWS\system32\D3DIM700.DLL
   0x72d20000      36864 wdmaud.drv         C:\WINDOWS\system32\wdmaud.drv
   0x72d10000      32768 msacm32.drv        C:\WINDOWS\system32\msacm32.drv
   0x77be0000      86016 MSACM32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSACM32.dll
   0x77bd0000      28672 midimap.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\midimap.dll
   0x73ee0000      16384 KsUser.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\KsUser.dll
   0x6d510000     507904 DbgHelp.dll        C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\DbgHelp.dll

Call stack:
(Debug information (.pdb files) appears to be absent).
0x0001:0x00257c40 C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe.
0x0000:0x00000000 .

Stack data: (ESP is 0x0012f6b8)
0x0012f538   00000000 00ffffff 7e400000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0012f558   04040000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00804c40 00000000 00000000
0x0012f578   2f000000 00000000 33040000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0000803f
0x0012f598   f59d8dc0 2af2c941 0000403f 0000803f 00000000 2af2c941 00000000 00000000
0x0012f5b8   00000000 00000000 0000403f 0000803f 00000000 00c04c40 00000000 00000000
0x0012f5d8   50000000 00000000 00000000 14d1ed00 00000000 b800917c d0ba1400 e0d1ed00
0x0012f5f8   4100917c d80a0900 5d00917c 18d2ed00 74d2ed00 340000c0 70d1ed00 dcea907c
0x0012f618   f8d1ed00 00000000 d8ba1400 f8d1ed00 c32f917c 18d2ed00 1e000000 80d1ed00
0x0012f638   874f917c d8ba1400 70d1ed00 00000000 b800917c 90061300 3cd2ed00 4100917c
0x0012f658   b80c0900 5d00917c 18000000 40000000 340000c0 00000000 facf907c 036cdd77
0x0012f678   1c060000 02000000 e0d2ed00 e043f677 ffff0000 2cd3ed00 04000000 02000000
0x0012f698   20deed00 f8949c7c ed43f677 f8949c7c 04000000 00000000 2cd3ed00 1c060000
0x0012f6b8   9cb1250c 00000000 02000000 14085f0c 00000000 c4b1250c e7086600 f0f61200
0x0012f6d8   f4f61200 ffff7f7f 00000000 14b0250c cd360000 d33c0000 f4f61200 00008743
0x0012f6f8   d444800a 14b0250c 74bc200b 00000000 d33c0000 e54f6400 00000000 14b0250c
0x0012f718   00000000 06000000 00008743 00008743 8401800b 685db400 00008743 00008743
0x0012f738   00008743 00000000 b8b0250c 21d36200 9cb1250c 96000000 14513e0b 39000000
0x0012f758   1c6ea80f 39000000 01000000 00000000 3ce4a607 06000000 96000000 39000000
0x0012f778   347ec10b 00000000 a863a60f a4227b07 ac227b07 ac227b07 96000000 39000000
0x0012f798   1c6ea80f 14513e0b 1c6ea80f 00226201 0c2ea30f 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0012f7b8   e4136600 96000000 39000000 1c6ea80f 01000000 14513e0b 2010990c 00000000
0x0012f7d8   1410990c 18000001 39000000 14b0250c 00000000 18000000 d856b400 00f81200
0x0012f7f8   66910000 00003040 38008106 00801645 00008743 00006644 00010000 96000000
0x0012f818   02039900 0000803f 00000000 00000000 00000000 0000803f 00000000 00000000

Instruction data: (EIP is 0x0065ec40)
0x0065ebc0   24 10 51 8d 4f 28 c7 44 24 28 ff ff 7f 7f 33 f6 e8 ab 3f e4 ff 8b 4c 24 10 85 c9 8b 5c 24 20 74
0x0065ebe0   59 d9 41 0c 8d 51 08 d8 22 d8 15 54 10 a8 00 df e0 f6 c4 05 7b 70 d8 54 24 24 df e0 f6 c4 05 7a
0x0065ec00   0b 8b 59 04 d9 5c 24 24 8b f2 eb 02 dd d8 d9 05 54 10 a8 00 d9 44 24 24 da e9 df e0 f6 c4 44 7b
0x0065ec20   19 8b 09 85 c9 75 0b 8d 4c 24 10 e8 20 de f0 ff 8b c8 85 c9 89 4c 24 10 75 a7 8b 44 24 1c 89 18
0x0065ec40   8b 4e 18 f6 c1 02 74 34 d9 46 08 d8 56 04 df e0 f6 c4 41 7a 25 d8 1e df e0 f6 c4 01 75 1e 8b 56
0x0065ec60   08 e9 c4 00 00 00 8b 51 04 dd d8 5e 5b 89 57 10 5f 32 c0 5d 83 c4 08 c2 0c 00 dd d8 f6 c1 04 8b
0x0065ec80   06 8b 56 04 89 44 24 10 89 54 24 14 74 65 d9 44 24 10 d8 5e 0c df e0 f6 c4 05 7a 07 8b 46 0c 89
0x0065eca0   44 24 10 d9 44 24 14 d8 5e 10 df e0 f6 c4 41 75 07 8b 4e 10 89 4c 24 14 d9 44 24 14 d8 5c 24 10
 

[joshriddle 29]

They probably have a dump interpreter over at EA, but that Minidump is worthless to say the least. Also, rail for me is a bit sluggish, one time I placed an NAM Rail Y-Stack, and the game locked up.

Also, you may have to give us more information, such as some of your computer specs.

[Yuu Caa Sim 55]

If transit laying or using NAM components is really slow, that probably means you installed the Right Hand Drive version of NAM over an Left Hand Drive version of the game (or vice versa). There may also be an older version of NAM in your plugins folder.

Try removing anything to do with NAM and reinstall it with the Drive Side corresponding to the side of the road your sims drive on (the most concrete way to check is to run the game plugin-less and look at which side the sims are driving on)

[simmaster07 1,221]

Originally posted by: joshriddle

Make backups often when running stuff such as the iLives reader. DO NOT DELETE SC4 CRITICAL FILES OR MESS WITH THEM OUTSIDE OF EVENT VIEWER! If you open one in something such as Notepad, you will find that there is a bunch of computer coding. One single screwup can damage the system. Also pay attention to this. They are mostly .dats. Don't try messing with them. Wonder why you get this:

• Take note of the last sentence stated in the picture. quote>

That warning is thrown because Windows uses files ending with .dat as well. Deleting DAT files used by SC4 only will NEVER cause your system to crash, BUT deleting or editing those used by SC4 only is likely to cause SC4 crashes, and SC4 crashes only.

[joshriddle 29]

Yes I know, I was just making a point.

Yesterday CTD issues rose when I downloaded a batch of mods for my game. Somehow, this totally caused my game to go absolutely nutzo. It wouldn't load existing cities, and when you try to scroll on a new one, it crashes. So I tried starting with an empty plugins folder. That didn't help. So I ruled out that the game may have a bug in it. So I did a fresh reinstall. That didn't help.

I was doing some stuff in iLives reader but I didn't make backups of my critical SC4 files. But that wasn't the issue, considering I didn't make any modifications except for a custom loading screen (which somehow didn't work). So I trashed that.

After reinstalling I found out that edge scrolling wouldn't cause the game to crash, but scrolling with the mouse did. So I enabled edge scrolling, disabled windowed mode, and then that solved that problem. Thing is now I have to edge scroll all the time, and I am also saving so frequently you would never believe it.

Children, remember to test plugin lots and mods and take care of them.

[tks3162001 3]

I just recently upgraded my entire system including my OS from Windows XP to Windows 7.....i never had CTD issues up until now. I don't get an error message or anything. It just CTD and does nothing....I've tried several of the strategies posted but none seem to have resolved or lessen the issue. Could there be something with Windows 7 and SC4 Rushour? Has anyone else done an upgrade and experienced a similar issuer?

System specs:

Intel Pentium CPU G6950 @ 2.80GHz

2 GB RAM

OS Windows 7 (64 bit)

[tks3162001 3]

I just recently upgraded my entire system including my OS from Windows XP to Windows 7.....i never had CTD issues up until now. I don't get an error message or anything. It just CTD and does nothing....I've tried several of the strategies posted but none seem to have resolved or lessen the issue. Could there be something with Windows 7 and SC4 Rushour? Has anyone else done an upgrade and experienced a similar issuer?

System specs:

Intel Pentium CPU G6950 @ 2.80GHz

2 GB RAM

OS Windows 7 (64 bit)

[tks3162001 3]

I just recently upgraded my entire system including my OS from Windows XP to Windows 7.....i never had CTD issues up until now. I don't get an error message or anything. It just CTD and does nothing....I've tried several of the strategies posted but none seem to have resolved or lessen the issue. Could there be something with Windows 7 and SC4 Rushour? Has anyone else done an upgrade and experienced a similar issuer?

System specs:

Intel Pentium CPU G6950 @ 2.80GHz

2 GB RAM

OS Windows 7 (64 bit)

[tks3162001 3]

I just recently upgraded my entire system including my OS from Windows XP to Windows 7.....i never had CTD issues up until now. I don't get an error message or anything. It just CTD and does nothing....I've tried several of the strategies posted but none seem to have resolved or lessen the issue. Could there be something with Windows 7 and SC4 Rushour? Has anyone else done an upgrade and experienced a similar issuer?

System specs:

Intel Pentium CPU G6950 @ 2.80GHz

2 GB RAM

OS Windows 7 (64 bit)

[Slashback 136]

Originally posted by: tks3162001

I just recently upgraded my entire system including my OS from Windows XP to Windows 7.....i never had CTD issues up until now. I don't get an error message or anything. It just CTD and does nothing....I've tried several of the strategies posted but none seem to have resolved or lessen the issue. Could there be something with Windows 7 and SC4 Rushour? Has anyone else done an upgrade and experienced a similar issuer?

System specs:

Intel Pentium CPU G6950 @ 2.80GHz

2 GB RAM

OS Windows 7 (64 bit)

quote>

Maybe you'll find this thread useful.

[tks3162001 3]

Thanks...I will try some of the options you have in the thread.

Now if you can tell me why I can't view pictures on Simtropolis since I upgraded to Windows 7, I can be a happy gamer!!

[Slashback 136]

^ Just reply in the thread if you have some questions regarding the guide.

[AundreaLynn 0]

I was having issues with my game crashing all the time, until I discovered this...

http://www.vistax64.com/gaming/197915-setting-processor-affinity-made-easy.html

I'm certainly not computer savvy at all, but this really helped with breaking it down for me a little. It had something to do with setting the priority of the processors. I have a Quad-Core processor and it was giving me all kinds of trouble, but now I'm CTD free!

[joshriddle 29]

Originally posted by: AundreaLynn

I was having issues with my game crashing all the time, until I discovered this...

http://www.vistax64.com/gaming/197915-setting-processor-affinity-made-easy.html

I'm certainly not computer savvy at all, but this really helped with breaking it down for me a little. It had something to do with setting the priority of the processors. I have a Quad-Core processor and it was giving me all kinds of trouble, but now I'm CTD free!quote>

Make sure it is set to Affinity 1. Really if you have 4 cores though, I don't see the harm in doing at least 2.

[tks3162001 3]

Does that work for Windows 7 also?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Of some interest to readers of this thread, perhaps, is my recent set of tests with setting affinity.

I am running Linux (UBUNTU 10.10 64-bit) and have successfully brought SC4RH into a running state.  On my old machine CTD's were rare, but I upgraded to a much faster machine, and get regular CTDs, so i guess I have joined the crowd.

Having read the issues about affinity, I decided to try it out.  I found the command that does this in Linux, and used it with the result that I get just as many CTD's as I did without it.

My machine is an AMD Athlon II X2 200 MHz (dual core) with an AMD/ATI fusion chip set (Radion 3000), and 2Gb of real DDR2 and 20GB of virtual.  My system monitor says the game is totally resident in RAM, so there is no paging.  Later today, I am installing another 2GB stick to allow my memory controller to gang fetch, which will up my speed somewhat.

Unless and until we get our hands on the source code, these bugs cannot be fixed, so I suggest everyone save a lot.  When you have done something in the game that you don't want to lose, hit CTRL+s.  My machine is quick about saves, for which thank heavens.

The other thing that must be said, is that this experience applies only to Athlon processors.

[CreeSpirit 1]

I tried your "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c START "high priority sc4" /high "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -w -introff"...now i get a minimized screen of the game. How do i take it off

[diamonddog_74 32]

Originally posted by: CreeSpirit

I tried your "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c START "high priority sc4" /high "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -w -introff"...now i get a minimized screen of the game. How do i take it off

quote>

Replace it with this: "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -CustomResolution:enabled -rWxH

Where W is your display's native width in pixels, and H is the height in pixels.

For example, for me it would be 1680x1050.

[CreeSpirit 1]

thanx a whole bunch diamonddog_74...it helped

[DocRorlach 25]

Originally posted by: nerdthisname

THERE IS AN AUTOSAVE!!

The link to it was in the SC4 general discussion in a thread that one had a problem having CTDs (it shouldn't be more than page 5) and someone posted a link to a page that was called "SC4 Tools" (Don't exactly remember) which has a slogan "for the serious player" (remember exactly). That page had an autosave.

quote>

What you are refering to is SC4 Watcher, available from our SC4 Tools site (go to downloads). However, it is NOT an auto-save because that is actually impossible. SC4 does not let you save an open city. What SC4 Watcher does is to make a backup when the game starts, then makes another backup the moment you exit a city and return to the region - it does not backup if the game crashes.

And for those of you who are still on Vista (not applicable to Win 7!), there is a tutorial on the same site (and here in the Omnibus) on how to permanently set both priority & affinity and reduce CTDs to nearly 0%.

evilal10: Also worth noting is that there is a cause for CTDs no amount of maintenance can prevent: placing of NAM puzzle pieces - if you accidentally hover such a piece over a transit-enabled lot you get a CTD. Nothing can be done about it. Always make sure that you have only the latest NAM installed and uninstall older versions first (just deleting them is not enough).

There is one more, often disregarded reason for CDTs: a faulty exemplar in a lot. As simple a setting as "wealth" or "item name" can cause a lot to crash SC4. When editing lots in the Reader be mindful of what you are doing: setting an item name when the exemplar already points to an external name file via user visibilty key will crash SC4 when that lot is plopped.

[diamonddog_74 32]

Originally posted by: CreeSpirit

thanx a whole bunch diamonddog_74...it helped

quote>

You're welcome.

Now, can anyone please explain why some people in other threads claim that the argument -CPUCount:1 also helps reduce CTDs if you have a multi-processor or multi-core system?

I'm sure SC4D is too old to be multi-processor aware, so is this the reason for the above argument in the shortcut?

If so, what is the syntax if you want to put more than one argument in the Target field of the shortcut. I'd like to have both my custom resolution and CPUCount. I have a Core Duo computer.

BTW, I already have very few CTDs because I did a careful spring cleaning of my plugins folder where I found some duplicated or outdated plugins. I still have over 3GB of plugins.

[DocRorlach 25]

Actually there is no statistical evidence that assigning that short-cut. The only way to assure that SC4 only uses one processor is via the operating system's "Affinity", which tells a process which CPU to prefer and then it ought to be CPU0 - the first processor.

Chip design will greatly influence that. AMD have a utility (or used to) that helps deal with legacy software and dual/quad CPUs. Under XP CPU assignation won't make any difference (to SC4), under Vista it is almost a must, but with Windows 7 it should not matter because the OS is much better at handling legacy applications. I have been using SC4 on Win7-64bit nigh, on an Intel I5 processor, almost daily, for hours at a time (the joys of retirement) and the only CTDs I had were either NAM-related or self-inflicted through bad modding.

If you are indeed stuck on Vista, repack the SC4 EXE (see Omnibus link) and be done with most of the common causes for CDTs (does not work on XP and has not been verified to work on Win7).

[diamonddog_74 32]

Originally posted by: DocRorlach

Actually there is no statistical evidence that assigning that short-cut. The only way to assure that SC4 only uses one processor is via the operating system's "Affinity", which tells a process which CPU to prefer and then it ought to be CPU0 - the first processor.

Chip design will greatly influence that. AMD have a utility (or used to) that helps deal with legacy software and dual/quad CPUs. Under XP CPU assignation won't make any difference (to SC4), under Vista it is almost a must, but with Windows 7 it should not matter because the OS is much better at handling legacy applications. I have been using SC4 on Win7-64bit nigh, on an Intel I5 processor, almost daily, for hours at a time (the joys of retirement) and the only CTDs I had were either NAM-related or self-inflicted through bad modding.

If you are indeed stuck on Vista, repack the SC4 EXE (see Omnibus link) and be done with most of the common causes for CDTs (does not work on XP and has not been verified to work on Win7).quote>

OK, so basically, it doesn't apply to me then because I'm running SC4D on Win XP Pro SP3.

[DocRorlach 25]

Basically correct. But you can still minimize CTDs by using the C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c START "high priority sc4" /high "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" short-cut. You also need to look into two other areas: sound (simply play without it) and - if applicable - custom resolution. If your display does not adhere to the standard 4:3 ratio (as in 1024x768, for example) you might want to add another switch to that short-cut. There is an excellent tutorial somewhere on SC4 Devotion, made by JoeST, that documents all short-cut switches. Another source of info is here on the Omnibus: https://www.simtropolis.com/omnibus/index.cfm/Main.SimCity_4.Getting_SC4_Rush_Hour_to_run_on_a_custom_resolution.

Edit: path correction;

[diamonddog_74 32]

Originally posted by: DocRorlach

Basically correct. But you can still minimize CTDs by using the C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c START "high priority sc4" /high "D:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" short-cut. You also need to look into two other areas: sound (simply play without it) and - if applicable - custom resolution. If your display does not adhere to the standard 4:3 ratio (as in 1024x768, for example) you might want to add another switch to that short-cut. There is an excellent tutorial somewhere on SC4 Devotion, made by JoeST, that documents all short-cut switches. Another source of info is here on the Omnibus: https://www.simtropolis.com/omnibus/index.cfm/Main.SimCity_4.Getting_SC4_Rush_Hour_to_run_on_a_custom_resolution.quote>

I already run my game at a custom resolution (please see my previous posts). As far as sound, I actually like the noises, and I've added some extra MP3s to the Mayor Radio folder because the in-game music was getting boring. I was just wondering if that CPUCount thing really worked, and if it it's applicable to my system, which you answered.

I have greatly reduced my CTDs by doing a thorough clean-up of my plugins folder eliminating duplicated, outdated and unused plugins. I also have noticed less issues after I just updated my Boot Camp drivers (v. 3.2)—I play the game in a small (60GB) Windows XP partition in my Mac. SC4D and its attendant tools are really the only things I use this partition for.

BTW, in your string above, you're launching SC4 from a different disk than the default C:\ Windows boot.

This may confuse some less technically-savvy people.

I'll look for JoeST's thread in SC4Devotion.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

While playing today, I had a CTD, did a restart and came down within 2 minutes.  I was fiddling around cleaning up sloppy ends of an avenue and a street that were just a little long.  I have noticed that fooling with your network is often rewarded by a CTD.  This is just more grist for the mill.

[0072010 3]

I rarely get ctd ever... and today after download the SAM the game loads fine but when I try to start a new city the game ctd

soooo I cut all the sam files from the plugins folder and tried again...........

same thing ctd so I uninstalled sc4 and reinstalled it left the SAM files out just in case and still ctd when I start a new city?!?!?!

Any help much appreciated guys.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

This is a duplicate request.  Discussed in the newer thread above.