Windows 10 Problem Reporting Thread

[Haljackey 17,257]

 

Might be helpful for some

 

 

 

[SIMplemente 41]

So please somebody get me this clear. After all I've read, the only way to continue playing to simcity 4 rush hour in WINDOWS 10 is buying a digital copy from Origin website.

Ok, it's 9'95€... So, first of all, I need to create an account there, and then buy the game. After paying it via paypal (for instance) they are going to send an email with a code and downloading instructions?

Can anyone be more specific and tell us what's going to happen next and how does this thing works. To be honest, I've never bought anything from Origin, so I don't have a clue about how it works. Call me a prehistoric guy, that's what I am. Sorry guys but I hate to throw my simcity original cd's to the bin.

[InvisiChem 121]

I'll help the moderators out here. Please try to refrain from posting the same question in multiple threads unless asked to do so. Doing so will not get you answers any faster. 

Beyond that, I have helped to answer the parts I know on the other thread here, https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/69617-simcity-4-doesnt-run-on-windows-10/#comment-1615697

Please be patient. Others will continue to answer what they know as well.

[SIMplemente 41]

11 hours ago, InvisiChem said:

I'll help the moderators out here. Please try to refrain from posting the same question in multiple threads unless asked to do so. Doing so will not get you answers any faster. 

Beyond that, I have helped to answer the parts I know on the other thread here, https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/69617-simcity-4-doesnt-run-on-windows-10/#comment-1615697

Please be patient. Others will continue to answer what they know as well.

To InvisiChem: Thank you very much in deed for your quick answer.

I'm going to try followin the steps as you just indicated, and I'll let you know all about it! I'll be patient. Promise.

Best Regards!

[Srawldaddy74 17]

"Windows 10 Home-I previously ran Windows 7- I also recently tried to install Strictoasters Hardware settings but could not install the 4_gb patch.  I tried to delete all of the changes and even uninsalled and installed Sim City 4.

HP p6715f

intel core i3 CPU 550 A 3.20GHz 

64-bit, 64-based processor

Intel HD graphics-display adapter"

I will refrain from posting the same topic in multiple forums but I am frustrated to my core. To answer the questions from my original post. I bought the digital version from steam and it install using a steam installer. I previously used the CD version but decided to upgrade to Windows 10 and buy and installed the digital version from Steam.  However,  the exe file is not the regular maxis launch file-it is a steam bootstrapper that I am not used to; a bit confusing for me .  I don't know how to navigate all the steam files to troubleshoot problems unlike the CD version of the game.  This is where I believe my problems started but hard to tell since I only noticed graphic errors and screen resolution problems after firing up that game only snooping around to see if things were ok.  I will follow the directions and try a fresh install and report back my experience. 

[Srawldaddy74 17]

I removed all files and re-installed but I can't find the plug-in folder in my documents (maxis CD install has plugin folder I my documents) due to steam installing instead of maxis.  I have my back up files but I am now in new territory with no idea what to do.  Steam has confused me.  Question?  Does anyone know where the document folders are with a steam digital version of SC4 so I can install my back up files to the digital version copy of the game?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

No matter where you got the installer, somewhere in your system there is a file SimCity 4.exe.  Find it in Windows Explorer.  Right click on it and make a new shortcut.  Move this shortcut to your desktop.

Now, start the game from this shortcut.  This should cause the game to set itself up with the Maxis layout in C:\<my account>\Documents\SimCity 4 with all the necessary subfolders.  This removes Steam from the picture, and you can now proceed in the usual way.

[Srawldaddy74 17]

Thanks all for your patience and help.  I did the full removal and followed Nonny's advice and now I have my game back.  However, I do have some mods that I have to replace because my back-up plugin folder was a little old.  I lost hundreds of hours or work but at least I have the game back.  One thing, my cities at night look purple.  I think it is due to a mod that is missing or one that isn't compatitble with something.  Any thoughts.  Before, I had simfox's tru-night and dark-nite mods installed.  Any suggestions?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Put the day/night mod back.  The custom content you have probably requires it.

[Mcnamara 1]

Guys I need some help from you pros please:

I recently got a new computer with Windows 10, but the problem is I am unable to edit the Target on my shortcut!! I want to skip the intro and have a good resolution, how can I do it?

I have attached the image of how it looks to me. Its like grayed out, the target box I mean... Please help, thanks in advance.

 

[rsc204 21,805]

That's a bit of an oddity. Not having used Windows 10 myself, I don't know if some setting of the OS is preventing you from editing this, but it's a possibility.

First off, which version of SC4 are you using, by that I mean, did it come from Steam, GoG etc? Note that both the Steam and Origin versions of the game are designed to run via the respective application's launchers. For example, in the case of Steam, you need to right click on the game in the Library and select Properties. Here is a button "Set Launch Options", where you can add such command line switches.

Otherwise, you could try creating a brand new shortcut. Find the main SC4 executable (.exe) and create a new shortcut from that (right click, "Create Shortcut"). That may allow you to modify the target line.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

And what did you get when you pushed the Advanced button?

I really wish MS would keep their hot little hands off such things as shortcut (link) properties that have been around since Christ was a carpenter.  In what way is what you get on Windows 10 better?  Seems they get more obstructive and obtuse every time.

[rivit 3,391]

Well I have Win10 and can verify that it still works the way it always did when it comes to shortcuts and the like. MS did leave this alone - just changed the look of it.

Mine looks like below (notice its slightly different to your pic)  - I can select the target field and type in all of the parameters just as I would in XP etc.

I can only reiterate rsc04's suggestion that  creating a new shortcut onto the desktop (use search for "SimCity 4" to get to the exe and copy and paste a shortcut on the desktop explicitly) and let us know how that went.

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Does this show a difference between versions of Windows 10?  If you have an non-administrative account do you get the former version?  I am sure that Ron must have an administrative account, eh?

[Mcnamara 1]

I bought it from Origin a long time ago, and it always worked properly on XP and Win7, but this is just ridiculous. I can create as many shortcuts I want but it is all the same, I don't understand since I think I'm running as an admin. I should.

Also this OS is new to me, is it possible that I can't run as an admin in the first place? I really appreciate the earlier quick responses from you guys, love this community.

By the way, the advanced option keeps getting BETTER (please note my sarcasm).

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, you don't have to use a shortcut at all, if you are any good with scripts.  Make yourself a script (*.BAT) file with execute permission.  It really only needs the command line which could look like this:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe"  -intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -d:directx  -CPUCount:1 -f

Sorry for the small type, but this does have to go on one line.  If you put this on your desktop as a file, double clicking it should behave much like a shortcut.  And the double quotes are needed around the pathname because there are spaces and other special characters in it.

Just make it with Notepad.  If you have to save it with a txt extension, just rename it to something like SC4.BAT when you finish.

[rivit 3,391]

John, quite right I have an admin user (with full UAE on) but I have tried the shortcut properties with a non admin user with the same result - can change anything the same way. Win10 wont let you put the shortcut in a system folder without admin permission and will direct you (ask you if you meant) to put it on the desktop.

What I find odd in the pic McNamara posted is that the properties show a "Target Type" of "SimCity 4 Deluxe". For shortcuts to executables this should read Application, for Folder - Folder etc. Win10 is smart enough to see that when you've made a shortcut of a shortcut it should just clone it. 

This makes me think the shortcut isn't actually pointing to an .exe and hence all of the fields are empty, however I've no idea how that's been done. This part of the OS hasn't changed in 15 years.

@Mcmamara - you said that you had a new Win10PC - what version of Win10 is it - Home, Pro, 32bit, 64bit?,   Does this mean you have newly installed SimCity on this new PC? and when you have run Simcity so far how have you started the program - does this shortcut work at all? Sorry for all the questions but we are short of potentially relevant facts.

I'm trying to get a handle on this because your symptoms are shall we say unusual - I've never seen them before on any version of windows. A snapshot of the SC4 program folder in Explorer would help us see things too.  

[Mcnamara 1]

3 hours ago, A Nonny Moose said:

Well, you don't have to use a shortcut at all, if you are any good with scripts.  Make yourself a script (*.BAT) file with execute permission.  It really only needs the command line which could look like this:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe"  -intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -d:directx  -CPUCount:1 -f

Sorry for the small type, but this does have to go on one line.  If you put this on your desktop as a file, double clicking it should behave much like a shortcut.  And the double quotes are needed around the pathname because there are spaces and other special characters in it.

Just make it with Notepad.  If you have to save it with a txt extension, just rename it to something like SC4.BAT when you finish.

Holy moses thank you so much, it works perfectly fine when I edited the app address to the one on my PC. I appreciate it, really. This could help someone in the future.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

^ You are more than welcome.  All operating systems use the script stuff to start programs anyway, it is just that it is hidden in various ways.  When in doubt, make a script.

FWIW here is my Linux script that starts SC4D with directx.

#!/bin/bash
date
echo "Starting SimCity 4 Deluxe - DirectX rendering"
env WINEPREFIX="/home/john/.wine" \
wine "C:/Program Files (x86)/Maxis/SimCity 4 Deluxe/Apps/SimCity 4.exe" \
 -intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -d:directx \
 -CPUCount:1 -f &>~/sc4.log
wine --version &>>~/sc4.log
date

There is a little more to this than just starting the game.  It also needs to keep the very verbose console output from wine somewhere for bug reporting, so I send it to a file, then stamp the file with the wine version.

 

[Brooklyn81 60]

Ok, maybe it was mentioned somewhere in these 7 pages of comments, but my internet is slow and I don't feel like reading 7 pages of comments to see if my question was covered, and for that I apologize. Ok, if I uninstall then reinstall SC4 on my computer (trying to get around the Windows 10 horribleness cause it isn't working, some said this tactic worked for them, others said you're just plain screwed if you have the disc version of the game, whatevs, I'll try anything), will I lose all the different buildings from the exchange that I've downloaded? I heard that NAM and the Traffic Simulator doesn't get erased, but some people have had their 'plugins'/downloaded buildings get erased. If uninstalling/reinstalling will erase my stuff, what do I have to do? Keep in mind I'm horrible with computers, and by horrible I mean I'm a $%&^!in' retard with computers, so I'd need step by step instructions to help me save my buildings instead of them getting erased. If anyone is patient enough to deal with a computer dunce, lemme know.

[rsc204 21,805]

3 hours ago, Brooklyn81 said:

Ok, if I uninstall then reinstall SC4 on my computer (trying to get around the Windows 10 horribleness cause it isn't working, some said this tactic worked for them, others said you're just plain screwed if you have the disc version of the game, whatevs, I'll try anything)

If you have Windows 10, I know of no way to make the CD version of SC4 work. You have one option, re-buy a digital version. Reinstalling the game won't fix anything, the problem is that MS removed something called Safedisc entirely from Windows 10. All this does is verify your disc in the drive is a legitimate one. But since the drivers to do this aren't there, every time you run the game it simply fails to do anything. Note this issue is not unique to SC4, it affects all such discs with the Safedisc DRM system implemented. For older versions of Windows, MS also distributed an update that disables SafeDisc, the difference being you can remove the update for these systems.

As for your plugins and save files, those are usually located in the Documents\SimCity 4\ folder. Just copy both the Plugins and Regions folders somewhere safe, then you can use them with a working copy later.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

When you uninstall SC4D using its uninstall program it gives you the option to keep your user area (regions, plugins).  During an install, if these files exist in the standard area, they remain undisturbed.  This seems to apply only to non-DRM vendors (other than Origin and Steam).  If in doubt, take @rsc204's advice, and save your user area (C:\Documents\SimCity 4) to somewhere else like your desktop.

[Wiimeiser 436]

This, you can ignore it, though, as my sister says the game is so old I'll need to go all OpenTTD on it. Or program a Win9X emulator.

[Brooklyn81 60]

Dear @rsc204 and @A Nonny Moose , since you two seem very knowledgeable (I've read a lot of both of your comments) with both SimCity 4 and computers in general, I am asking you two, and anyone else who may be able to help me. Ok, I broke down and bought the digital version of SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition from the Origin website, I hate dealing with customer service stuff, and I'm lazy, so I forgoed trying to get a digital version for free using my disc version stuff. I uninstalled everything on my computer associated with my SC4 disc version (or at least I thought I did, I'm bad with computers). Before I did this, I copied all my stuff (buildings) from the 'plugins' folder to a flash drive. When I installed the digital version, I checked to see if my plugins were somehow kept and put in the 'plugins' folder of my new SC4, and sure enough, they were there.

However, when I ran the game, none of my downloaded buildings appeared anywhere when I started a city. I just now quit SC4 and once again checked the 'plugins' folder and all my downloaded building files were there. What do I do? Is there something that happened to affect them when I uninstalled my original disc version? Or were they somehow affected by the new installation of the digital version I bought? I'm very confused. Should I put in my flash drive that I copied the 'plugins' folder to and move the folder to the spot where the current 'plugins' folder is under my files for my digital version? Any advice would be helpful. Thank you everybody. 

[Brooklyn81 60]

Ignore my previous post, I figured out the problem. For some reason even though I uninstalled my disc version, there was still a folder left over titled 'Maxis' that had a plugins folder and all my stuff was in there. I found the new plugins folder (it was located in my origin games folder in the SC4 files) so I just transferred my stuff from the old to the new folder and it worked. However, my digital version of the game already crashed once after only playing it for 10 minutes and I didn't have anything saved, annoying. I guess I'll have to save every few minutes while I'm playing, unless someone knows the reason for the game crashing and what, if anything, can be done to prevent it. Let me know if anybody has insight with that issue.

[rsc204 21,805]

If you are having CTDs, first make sure you have installed the SC4 Patch fix. Then, you need to set the game to run on only one core of your CPU. To do this, find the shortcut for SC4, right click it and select properties. In the shortcut tab, find the line that begins with Target and add the following:

-CPUCount:1

With those fixes installed, you should be able to have a completely stable game.

[Brooklyn81 60]

Thank you rsc204, much appreciated, thanks for the response. 

[Brooklyn81 60]

On 6/1/2016 at 8:10 AM, rsc204 said:

If you are having CTDs, first make sure you have installed the SC4 Patch fix. Then, you need to set the game to run on only one core of your CPU. To do this, find the shortcut for SC4, right click it and select properties. In the shortcut tab, find the line that begins with Target and add the following:

-CPUCount:1

With those fixes installed, you should be able to have a completely stable game.

Hi rsc204, I downloaded the SC4 Patch successfully, thank you for that. Unfortunately, when I tried the 2nd part of your solution, I added the line you said -CPUCount:1 but after I clicked 'apply' at the bottom, it said that this is invalid, so I had to get rid of the part I added. 

[rsc204 21,805]

OK, when you first see the Target line, it should already contain something. These "switches" as they are called, need to be placed after any existing text. Make sure as well that there is one, but only one, space between then end of the existing text and the hyphen at the beginning of the command.

[Brooklyn81 60]

Hey @rsc204, thanks a lot! I initially didn't put that space between the end of the existing text and what you told me to enter. I put in that space and it worked out. My game hasn't crashed then (although I save it all the time because I have an inherent fear/distrust of computers, haha!). I do still have the problem of not being able to rename my region. I don't know why it won't let me rename it, but I've renamed it in the regions folder by right clicking on the folder name and putting in the name I want. I even went into the regions.ini file and typed the name I want in the line I was told by you (or someone else, can't remember who was trying to help me). If you have any advice on that it'd be greatly appreciated, and thanks again for helping with the crashing issue!