Game crashes to desktop when I try to load a certain city, please help

[The Happy Bomber 1]

Hi everyone, I have a problem. There is one city in my game that was once working perfectly, and now, when I try to open it, my game crashes to desktop. I never downloaded any plugins or updates and my processor is Intel ® core2 Duo CPU U7600 @1.20GHz 1.20GHz (I don't kwon what it means, but many people tell me that it's important). When I try to enter the city either the game crashes to desktop or the screen just freezes.

Does anyone know how to solve this problem? Lowering the graphics quality and reinstalling both didn't work. My game is SimCity 4 Deluxe and the space I have left on my computer is 12,3 GB of 55,7 GB

 

[Badwater 2]

Did you try this:

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-SimCity-4-Crashing

[The Happy Bomber 1]

When I try to press "set affinity" in task manager I get an error message. "access denied"

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

To use the affinity setting you have to be an administrative user.  Instead of that simply add the command line option

-cpucount:1 to your command line in the start up shortcut.

 

Please note that all options follow the complete path name and each is preceded by a space character.

 

Once you have set this option, it is permanent unless changed.

[The Happy Bomber 1]

Where can I add this "command line" option? (sorry, I'm not very good with computers)

[Compdude787 916]

Where can I add this "command line" option? (sorry, I'm not very good with computers)

Right-click on your SC4 desktop icon, and click properties. Then go to the "Shortcut" tab and find the Target text field. You'll want to add the -CPUCount:1 parameter after the end of the path like A Nonny Moose said.

[Badwater 2]

 

...Once you have set this option, it is permanent unless changed.

 

 

Don't neglect this - if other things that you run require the other CPUs then you'll need to change it back. The upside of changing Affinity is that it only lasts as long as the game is running.

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

 

 

...Once you have set this option, it is permanent unless changed.

 

 

Don't neglect this - if other things that you run require the other CPUs then you'll need to change it back. The upside of changing Affinity is that it only lasts as long as the game is running.

 

No.  This change only effects the program being called.  It is a call line parameter for SC4 and has no effect on the rest of the system.  The permanent change is to the operation of SC4 from the shortcut.

 

I hesitate to expose people who are not a little on the computer geekish side, but here is the whole list of command line options for SC4.

 

You see, grasshoppers, in the days when this program was first released most computer users were much more familiar with what was going on under the hood.  Now, I am beginning to feel like a Model A Ford mechanic.

[The Happy Bomber 1]

I'm afraid that the affinity thing didn't help me out; the game is still crashing whenever I try to open the city. Any other ideas?

[Compdude787 916]

I'm afraid that the affinity thing didn't help me out; the game is still crashing whenever I try to open the city. Any other ideas?

Did you recently download any new plugins? Try moving them out of your plugins folder, and see if the city will load. If it does, that means you have a plugins conflict. A common cause for plugin conflicts that trigger CTDs are when you two tree controllers installed simultaneously, as well as trees left over from a previously-installed tree controller. If it's something else, read the readme for said plugin (or read the info on the download page or in the comments section). If that's not the case and you have no idea what two plugins aren't playing nice with each other, you will have to use the method.

[The Happy Bomber 1]

I have never downloaded any plugins in my game

[rsc204 21,869]

If you are literally using 0 mods, then I'm afraid to say the only explanation for such problems is usually a corrupted city tile (assuming all other cities load fine and just this one is having problems).

 

Do you have the NAM, at the very least you should install the Traffic Simulator which fixes what is a very broken game otherwise. Likewise a number of fixes for certain Maxis buildings, especially the I-HT fix is a must because without I-HT jobs you will never grow a successful region and this does not work even with the fully patched version of the game.

 

Whilst we're here, I suppose it is also worth checking that you have patched your copy of SC4, is it a disk version or a downloaded version? If it's a disk version or the place you downloaded it from have not applied these patches to your game before distributing then you need to install the EP1 update at least. If you will ever use custom content in the future you should also install the Buildings as Props and the patch for night lighting too.

 

Strictly speaking none of this will necessarily help with your problem directly, usually if a tile crashes on startup it's either due to use of so called HD mods when you are not using the Direct X Hardware Rendering option or conflicts (tree controllers, terrain controllers and missing props are the most likely culprits). However if you have an empty plugins folder, these can not be the problem, so corrupted save file is about all that is left, sorry.

[The Happy Bomber 1]

Where can I download this "EP1" update?

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Before you go loading patches, let's make sure you need them.

 

if you loaded your game from CD then you do, in fact, need two published patches.  The EP1 is on the STEX here.  Be sure you get the right one.

 

The other patch is for Custom Content night lights.  If you don't use any custom content, you don't need it.

 

If you got your game from a download site you should have build version 1,1,641 in which case you don't need any patches.

[NCGAIO 562]

If you are literally using 0 mods, then I'm afraid to say the only explanation for such problems is usually a corrupted city tile (assuming all other cities load fine and just this one is having problems)...

 

Finally a sensible opnion.

 

... However if you have an empty plugins folder, these can not be the problem, so corrupted save file is about all that is left, sorry.

Only that there shall be only the default folder to the plugins ... SC4 Folder and File Loading Order

The Happy Bomber

If you are a New User to SC4 recommend to see here ...  

Although outdated links he will give a view of what is necessary to modify.

Would be good to post a image of their region with the city that does not charge.

If possible also post more information on the version of your game ie CD, Origin, Steam ...This can help to understand the problem

[The Happy Bomber 1]

my game is a cd-rom I didn't download the game

[The Happy Bomber 1]

Downloading the EP1 didn't help me out either, I'm afraid. The game is still crashing whenever I try to load my city.

[The Happy Bomber 1]

is there anything I can do when the city is corrupted?

[rsc204 21,869]

Not usually, unless you have a backup somewhere of your SC4 Region you can recover?

 

Just to be sure, if you like I could double-check (since you've no mods) your region files to see if they work here, just in case something is screwed up with your SC4 install, but that's very unlikely as you'd expect such a problem to affect every city you use.

 

As for the patches/fixes, as mentioned they aren't going to fix your problem, but who knows what updates/fixes were in the EP1 patch, so to be on the safe side I'd make sure it was installed in future.

[The Happy Bomber 1]

Not usually, unless you have a backup somewhere of your SC4 Region you can recover?

 

Just to be sure, if you like I could double-check (since you've no mods) your region files to see if they work here, just in case something is screwed up with your SC4 install, but that's very unlikely as you'd expect such a problem to affect every city you use.

 

As for the patches/fixes, as mentioned they aren't going to fix your problem, but who knows what updates/fixes were in the EP1 patch, so to be on the safe side in the future I'd make sure I had it installed in future.

If you would check that for me it would be a great help, thanks! But what shall I do, shall I send you the region files, or something?

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

You can check the status of your game yourself using windows explorer.  Find the file 'SimCity 4.exe'.

 

Right click on it, and open the properties panel.

 

Under the version information you should find the build number.  It will be:

 

1,1,610,0 or 1,1,613,0 for the CD game with no fixes.  The second item is the international game, the first is for North America

 

1,1,638 after EP1 has been applied.  You do realize this is an executable fix and not a plugin, I hope.

 

1,1,640 after the update for BAT nightlights has been applied.

 

Build version 1,1,641 is the download version you will get from legitimate downloaders including Steam and Origin.

 

If you can't manage this yourself, find a geeky friend who can.

 

About corrupted game tiles:

They are generally not recoverable without a lot of geekish monkeying about, and maybe not even then.  They are caused by taking the focus away from the game during a save, even a save and quit.  You must not use the ALT+TAB switch to leave the game window until you get the save confirmation or the game closes.  If you run in windowed mode, clicking on another window has the same effect.

[NCGAIO 562]

Let's try again. 

Upload it the image of the region in which your city is disappearing!

 

What is the version of your CD? European or American?

[rsc204 21,869]

If you would check that for me it would be a great help, thanks! But what shall I do, shall I send you the region files, or something?

 

 

Please, PM sent with details.

[Indiana Joe 1,752]

Might be better for you to start over anyway.

 

Get the game all patched and set up properly this time, and follow a few tips; you'll be less likely to end up with another corrupted city file in the future.

[The Happy Bomber 1]

It's the region of Berlin in which the city lies that keeps crashing, on the biggest tile of the region

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

If you mean the default Berlin that comes with the game, you have to do quite a lot of cleanup on it before you can use it.  It was made for the original SC4 before the Rush Hour add and is out of whack with the Rush Hour basic set up.  The taxes come in at 7% and need to be adjusted to 9% for openers, and I am not sure that the terrain will withstand some of the newer terrain mods.

 

Since I have had the updated version 1,1,641 I've found that the supplied Maxis regions tend to crash more often and become unplayable.  However there are lots of regions on the STEX.  If we had the original files to re-render the default regions, I think they would be OK, but some later words seem to have been spoken with Rush Hour that somehow screw up the default regions that were not regenerated (the lazy sods).

[NCGAIO 562]

Let's try again.... again

Image region please !

 

What is the version of your CD? European or American?

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Let's try again.... again

Image please !

 

What is the version of your CD? European or American?

An image of what?  If it doesn't load, what do you expect to see?

[The Happy Bomber 1]

how do i upload pictures from my computer on this site? The site says I have to upload a URL, The picture is on my computer

this is the region picture

"Rosery" is the city that does not work

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

The normal procedure is to open an account with a photo site such as imgur.  You upload your image there then pick up the correct URL and paste it in the image box (11th icon from the left on the second line of the editor).