Suddenly...inconsistent lag when scrolling!

[Moonraker0 193]

So, about one week ago, my game started lagging terribly. It seems to have a mind of its own with these kinds of problems, considering that my graphics settings definitely did not change shortly before it started happening or anything like that; I have no idea why this suddenly started to happen, and it's really annoying me.

I searched about this problem first, naturally...but I guess most other people who have this kind of problem are having a different kind of lag, which I used to experience myself: that which is caused by hardware rendering plus shadows. This is different because I have been running the game with hardware rendering and shadows on high without any lag for a long time.

The lag is pretty unbearable. I thought it would be one of those unexplained "easy come, easy go" problems, but it hasn't gone away. It's not like I used to get with vertical scrolling with shadows and hardware rendering, which I understand is a common problem on new systems. That kind of lag was consistent, but when I scroll (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal), it just skips horribly, not like the frame rate is actually lower, just jumpy. It also happens when I'm not scrolling and I just observe traffic on the roads; the traffic skips around too. It seems like the game is re-drawing all the objects in the city at a slow pace and that's what's causing the stuttering, but I don't know that for sure. I mean, it seems to peak in severity after I zoom in or out or rotate the view.

I wish there was some obvious explanation to this, but I don't know of any graphical setting that changed in the game or on my computer. It basically happened overnight. Also, it seems to come and go during long play sessions...well, not come and go, but get better and worse in severity. Sometimes it's tolerable, and sometimes it's quite horrible.

I thought that maybe if I restricted the game to one CPU core, it would stop. However, that option is already enabled in SC4 Startup Manager. I have also enabled it in the batch file I use to launch the game, just to make sure it's working.

My system specs

SC4 setup: using a program called Reso to lower my desktop resolution to 1930x800 to match the game's maximum res on my setup. "windowed fullscreen" setup; I can't run in fullscreen because it's DX7 and portrait mode monitors, which would mess everything up.

Starting the game with:

"D:\Users\Sam Korson\Downloads\reso.exe" "C:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SC4.bat" 1930 800 32 60

↓

@echo off

"SimCity 4" -intro:off -w -CustomResolution:enabled -r1930x800 -CPUcount:1

pause

[Cottoncandy Cyanide 145]

Ah, didn't experience this problem in quite some time I'm afraid. However, I do remember most of the TIRESOME( in my opinion ) steps in order to fix this. So uh, bear with me for a while while I list some things I did in the configuration please!

A) Try setting your hardware mode into software and all high selected buttons onto medium or low. Ironically, this works for mostly everybody 80% of the time.

B) You already done this( setting the processor to only one right? ) but, set only one processor for SC4( Mine is CPU 0 ), and do what I said above to get a little more moderate results

C) Simcity 4 depends on your computer speed. So uh, try not to have a whole load of useless junk in your PC or games you didn't even play anymore.

Sorry if I didn't help a tad bit at all. I'm quite new at this so pardon me.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Well, a sudden drop in efficiency could be an incipient mortality in your machine or something similar. Machines and programs don't change but operators do. Have you added anything to your custom content? If so, it might be worth a try without it.

The program, like all statistical simulations, will run out of CPU when there gets to be enough objects to that it can't keep up a decent frame rate while visiting all objects in the universe of discourse. When this happens, you may even see the date clock stop advancing as well.

Why are you running DX7? The recommended version of DirectX is 9.0c.

I suppose it is redundant to ask if you have all the published patches since you seem to have it from Steam, so it should be version 1,1,641.

Since you seem very computer aware, I shouldn't have to ask what is the frequency of running disk maintenance on your system. A badly checker-boarded disk will cause problems during redraws on zooms or scrolls. Every time the aspect changes a new render has to be loaded for each visible object.

It might be worthwhile to change to full screen mode with software rendering as a test. Try changing your script to:

@echo off

"SimCity 4" -intro:off -f -CustomResolution:enabled -r1930x800 -CPUcount:1 -d:software

pause

[Moonraker0 193]

Thanks for the replies.

@yuuka221: I don't know if I'm willing to make the game look terrible with lowest settings, or mess up some of my automata mods with software rendering. The thing is, I've been using hardware rendering for years and haven't had a problem like this.

@A Nonny Moose: I must have added some sort of custom content at the time. Right, I added Marrast's embankments and Samerton's Maxis Highway textures. I don't know how a ploppable lot or a texture pack could do this, though.

I don't think it could be my city becoming too complex, as I've ran much more complex/developed cities than this one before; the (large) tile isn't filled with development yet. Actually I haven't played any cities besides this one since the issue began. I'll have to try loading up another.

Ah, no, I don't mean I'm running DX7 on my PC; I meant that's what the game uses (I think). I say it won't work with portrait mode because I've ran another DX7 game (Deus Ex) and had the same problem, and fixed it by installing a D3D10 renderer mod. Funny how I can't seem to find any other information on that particular problem (the screen is divided into half-rotated squares) on the internet, but I would think it has to do with a game using DirectX 7.

Checker-boarded disk, as in fragmented? Drive C, which SC4 is running from (including regions, plugins) is a solid-state drive.

I don't think it would help to use software rendering and full screen; as my screens are in portrait mode, I get problems with fullscreen, and the aforementioned problem happens with both hardware and software rendering. When I use software, the image flickers rapidly between normal and 90-degrees rotated.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I don't understand this "portrait mode" business because your -r parameter is landscape. The width is first. Try swapping the parameters.

Also, if you load DirectX 9.0c it will happily co-exist with 11.0 or later. The game was issued with DirectX 7 in 2001 when that was current. XP and later work best with 9.0c.

If you are running a modern colour monitor on XP or later, try changing your option to -r800x1930x32. I think you may have created a conflict there.

Adding textures can indeed mess up redraw speed. How heavily are these used in your city?

You can check if this is a plugin problem by renaming your Plugins folder to Plugins.hold and starting the game. Open your city ignoring brown boxes and missing plugins notices and see if the problem still occurs. (This sets up an empty Plugins folder). You can change the name back later after deleting the new Plugins folder.

Before you try this last suggestion, make a backup of the entire region.

Now, an SSD is still managed by NTFS I believe, so it has the same fragmentation problem. Multiple reads in place of one will slow things down even if there is no rotational latency.

[Moonraker0 193]

What I mean is that I have three monitors, each in portrait mode, and that seems to mess up fullscreen with this game. 1930x800 is the total resolution that SC4 runs at. Also, I do have DirectX 9.0c installed.

The textures aren't used very heavily in my city. It originally had a large Maxis highway network, but I replaced the majority of it with RHW, and now there's only a small stretch of highway that uses those textures.

I tried what you said to do about removing all my plugins, and I noticed it was still lagging like it did before. I also tried loading another city in a different region, and that had the problem too.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

The game is not designed to run across multiple monitors. If you are having problems with that I suggest it is in the underlying software. I know having a bigger field of view is nice, but is all the problems you are having worth it? There is something rather repulsive about trying to emulate a NORAD work station.