There's an easy fix for the slowness using hardware render mode

[steelersfan95 6]

Open "Graphics Rules.sgr" in Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4

and add this : " property usevertexbuffers false " at the end of the Standard Rule section.

It should look like this:

property useSecondStage false # Default, overridden below in most cases.

property texBindMaxFree 4 # To stop thrashing, plus a little pad.

property dirtyRectMergeFrames 6 # Default, for low-end card.

property TextureBits 32 # mostly just for preview -- everything else

# should be DXT

property usevertexbuffers false

Enter the game and set it again to hardware rendering.

With this it should run faster while scrolling.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Will try this, thanks.

[Magneto 316]

Met oo

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers

[MayorFumble 3]

Thanks for this. I tried it out and it was a very noticeable increase in scrolling performance. Was managing a city that was borderline unbearable to scroll in. This fix made it playable again.

FYI, I found those parameters under "Standard Hardware" not "Standard Rule".

[mrbisonm 1,620]

I seem not to be able to save the file with notebook..........anyone an idea?

[MayorFumble 3]

I seem not to be able to save the file with notebook..........anyone an idea?

Are you running Windows Vista/7? You need admin rights to modify files in the Program Files directory. Right click notepad and run it as administrator. You should be able to open the file, edit and save it.

[mrbisonm 1,620]

I seem not to be able to save the file with notebook..........anyone an idea?

Are you running Windows Vista/7? You need admin rights to modify files in the Program Files directory. Right click notepad and run it as administrator. You should be able to open the file, edit and save it.

No, I have windows XP and I am the administrator.

This comes up when I try to save the file.......I translated it to english (did my best) since my computer is french/Canada

Thanks

mrb

[jdenm8 362]

Save it as a different file then rename it.

This particular line was for ATI cards from the time that did a lot of the operations that SC4 uses very slowly, something that these really old ATI cards have in common with every card on the market at the moment actually. They do a downright abhorrent job of the memory operations that SC4 uses.

I'll have a go at appending this to my file and see how it goes.

[MayorFumble 3]

Hmm, not sure. Have you checked if the file is flagged as Read-Only? That gets me sometimes. Also, try making a copy of the file into your desktop or My Documents, editing it there, and then do a copy-paste-overwrite. See if that works.

[AprilDawn 2]

Okay definitely going to have to save this one for when I build my new gaming computer... Which looks like it will take some time. I have had ATI cards for quite a while, and ever since upgrading from the 9250 card way back when, I have not been able to play SC4 with an ATI card. Thanks so much!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

This fix caused other problems for me, so after I tested it, I reverted my file.

[mrbisonm 1,620]

Save it as a different file then rename it.

This particular line was for ATI cards from the time that did a lot of the operations that SC4 uses very slowly, something that these really old ATI cards have in common with every card on the market at the moment actually. They do a downright abhorrent job of the memory operations that SC4 uses.

I'll have a go at appending this to my file and see how it goes.

Thanks, that worked out just fine. Now I will have to try that file out tonight if it really makes a difference. (I of course made a copy of my original....just in case)

Thanks again everyone for helping.

mrb