Just venting...

[Calibancat77 3]

I was finally getting more confident in how to play this game, was working on a new region on a map I downloaded, and it was going great.  Things were coming together and I was starting to create a really cool region.  Then... my computer up and died.  Totally dead, computer techs said they couldn't fix it or even access anything on it.  Everything is just gone.

 

So I'm starting all over from scratch... frustrating. 

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

It's really frustratiing. 

You should do some backups sometimes and save them to an external HD.

Well, good luck to start again

[Calibancat77 3]

Yep, backing up is what I should have done... oh well...

[jmsepe 2,039]

That is really frustrating. I used to remember that when I first installed SC4 Deluxe in my old computer. The system wasn't able to handle the game and in effect, the computer became too slow even opening windows explorer was taking too much time. So the ends by having the PC reformat and waiting for around two more years before buying a more efficient computer.

 

But don't give up. Building can be fun especially if its from the scratch. You can then make better cities than before!

[mrbisonm 1,622]

Well, I just know about how you feel.......That happened to me 7 years ago, I had 12 Gb's of custom stuff, some 20 or so regions, some fully played.......etc. I was able to retrieve the regions though, but that was it. At this moment I felt like lining up some criminals on the wall and .......well........................anyways...ya know......venting......

 

So, ever since, I bought myself a few RW DVD's (re-writable) and save/burn all my region tiles after each play, all my plugins once every two weeks and everything else I add/delete in my SC4 folders, once a month. Lookee here,  and so it happened again 1 year ago hard drive fell appart and guess what................ I have lost maybe 45 minutes of gameplay and two downloads. Wooooohooooo!!!. That's it, no wanting to line up some criminals again, nor cry. Long live the back-ups.

 

 

Good luck and .....my symphathy.

 

Fred

[jaredh 195]

I was finally getting more confident in how to play this game, was working on a new region on a map I downloaded, and it was going great.  Things were coming together and I was starting to create a really cool region.  Then... my computer up and died.  Totally dead, computer techs said they couldn't fix it or even access anything on it.  Everything is just gone.

 

So I'm starting all over from scratch... frustrating. 

As somebody who has worked on computers for 25+ years, "everything" on a computer rarely dies.  In fact, it really only happens due to a power surge.  99.9% of the time, you either lose the hard drive and the rest of the computer is good, or you lose some critical component on the system but the drive is still good.

 

What type of computer techs did you see?  If your answer is "Best Buy", they don't count as competent....

 

Pull the drive and attach it to another computer and see if the other computer can read the drive.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

I was finally getting more confident in how to play this game, was working on a new region on a map I downloaded, and it was going great.  Things were coming together and I was starting to create a really cool region.  Then... my computer up and died.  Totally dead, computer techs said they couldn't fix it or even access anything on it.  Everything is just gone.

 

So I'm starting all over from scratch... frustrating. 

As somebody who has worked on computers for 25+ years, "everything" on a computer rarely dies.  In fact, it really only happens due to a power surge.  99.9% of the time, you either lose the hard drive and the rest of the computer is good, or you lose some critical component on the system but the drive is still good.

 

What type of computer techs did you see?  If your answer is "Best Buy", they don't count as competent....

 

Pull the drive and attach it to another computer and see if the other computer can read the drive.

 

 

Yes, unless it was struck by lighnting they are chances you could still get some of your files back.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

People have beat me to it.  I'd be highly surprised if you can't get the contents of your HDD.  The only way a computer dies completely is due to a power surge, and even then it is worth a try on recovering the hard disk.  It may get to the point where it becomes prohibitively expensive, but it is worth looking at some data recovery outfits.

 

You can buy yourself some cheap insurance by purchasing an external HDD with relatively high storage.  A 1 TB drive with USB interface can be had for something less than $200.  I have two external HDDs to the tune of 1.3 TB.  I lost a 1TB external drive about a year or so ago when I dropped it about three inches and cracked the board.  Since it was a backup drive, nothing was lost, and I just replaced it.  My automatic archiver operated on it that week and my current recovery has continued ever since.  The only requirement is to format the drive as needed.

 

Most operating systems have some sort of automated backup system that can be set to fire at intervals.  Mine fired last night, right after midnight.  The backups are cumulative, so they are usually quite quick.

[Calibancat77 3]

Thanks for the replies... yes I did go to Best Buy.  I'll have to see if there's another computer tech place that might be able to help me get my files back.  Unfortunately I don't know anyone personally who can help me.  Although, I'm sort of resigned to starting again, but still running into problems: I got a laptop to replace my old computer and I'm having problems with SC4 on it.  The graphics don't work right.  I tried to build a simple road bridge and it looks all messed up when it shows up at all.  It's Windows 8, could that have anything to do with it?  This laptop should be powerful enough to run the game.  I do have an external hard drive, I wonder if I put all my Sim City files on that and ran it from there would that help?

[Indiana Joe 1,752]

You have to remember that those people want to get your money much more than they actually want to help you.  Many will make you buy a whole new computer in any situation if they think they can convince you; there's no easy way to tell the good from the bad.

 

As everyone else has said, it's extremely unlikely that your files are unrecoverable.  Unless the hard drive is physically broken in half or something.  Your best bet, rather than just throwing more money at potentially greedy "tech guys", is to do some research.

[The Pennsylvania Turnpike 252]

i would look on forums like Tom's hardware for help. But with the game running weird on windows 8, i would try running the game in compatibility mode for windows XP service pack 2. I run windows 8.1 and i have no problems with it glitching or the graphics being messed up.

[mattias333 3]

Unlucky chap. Blooming frustrating. Nearly as frustrating as my issue where I finally took the plunge and purchased sc4 after years of being tempted, spent a while getting my head round the game, got the hang of it.....then it slows up and keeps stuttering now im over 100,000 in my main city. Blooming annoying. Tried all the obvious quick fixes or suggestions. Only marginally helped. Some may be able to put up with it but for me its unplayable now as cheetah speed is basically impossible as its just as slow and stuttery as when on normal speed.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Unlucky chap. Blooming frustrating. Nearly as frustrating as my issue where I finally took the plunge and purchased sc4 after years of being tempted, spent a while getting my head round the game, got the hang of it.....then it slows up and keeps stuttering now im over 100,000 in my main city. Blooming annoying. Tried all the obvious quick fixes or suggestions. Only marginally helped. Some may be able to put up with it but for me its unplayable now as cheetah speed is basically impossible as its just as slow and stuttery as when on normal speed.

You might take a look at your Plugins suite.  If you are not using the compression program whose name escapes me at the moment, you might give it a try.  Requires some careful use and is not a jam-everything-in-holus-bolus product.  Every time you move your POV you access your Plugins, and this can cause all kinds of hold ups.  The best solution is probably to put your Plugins on an SSD.

 

Cheetah mode is really only for quick bursts of development.  Continually running in this state misses the good animation you paid to see.

 

I keep my plugins cleaned up and free from documentation and other garbage that often comes with custom content.  And I keep it small.  I currently have just under 1GB of plugins, and I want to keep it there.  I can still play my biggest city over 700K Sims.