NAM tram causes the game to crash

[BaukeS 0]

Since I have downloaded NAM (2 months ago) I always use the tram in road in all of my cities.

Because it's the only pubic transport network, that doesn't take any place except for the places, you always wanted to have a road.

But after nearly every ten pieces of tram in road I place, the game makes a crash to desktop.

Like that I can't play this game normally anymore, so please give me a solution!

I use the CD version on windows 7 (without kb3086255). and Nam version 32.

[Calvss 27]

Sadly, this is a problem whenever you hover a puzzle piece (tram in road piece, etc) over a traffic-enabled piece (stations, others that let you drag road through). It's a problem in any lot, not just NAM.

Usually I avoid this by placing all the tracks first and the stations after, to prevent these crashes.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

True.  When working with puzzle pieces save (CTRL+s) often.

[BaukeS 0]

I do save it very often, but the problem is the game crashes so much, that I spend more time waiting until the has started up again, then I am playing the game.

BTW, I've updated NAM today (first I deleted all the NAM files and next I installed it again and now NAM doesn't work at all.

when I click on any button that is part of the NAM, the game makes a CTD.

I just don't know what to do...

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Did you use the NAM uninstaller?  It cleans up the registry and other stuff, I think.

Sounds like the best thing for you to do would be to save your user area, the uninstall the whole works and do a reinstall of SC4 Deluxe from the get go, then restore your user area after you have verified the game is working.  If you have a normal installation (not Steam nor Origin) this is what I would do:

1. Copy the entire C:\<my account>\Documents\SimCity 4 folder someplace else, for example your desktop.
2. Uninstall SimCity 4 Deluxe using the uninstaller provided in C:\Program Files ...\SimCity 4 Deluxe\eauninstall.exe
3. Using Windows Explorer delete the folder C:\<my account>\Documents\SimCity 4
4. At this point, the game should be totally gone, but if you still have a desktop icon, delete that too.  You should now have only the stuff you saved in step 1 safely away from your game area.
5. Install the game.  When installation completes the game should start up with the defaults.
6. Reset your shortcut's command line options (if any).  At the very least you should have -CPUcount:1 -intro:off
7. Install the NAM using the custom install, using only those things you need.
8. Try your tram set up using a sandbox region.  If the game survives, then the problem is somewhere in your saved area where you may have a conflict.  If this is the case, then very carefully restore your plugins except the NAM from the save area (you already have a working NAM).  If this is not the case, then I suggest you try running at a lower speed.  Hundreds of people are using this system and are not having this problem, so maybe you are the problem.
9. Restore your regions from the save area, and you should be able to get on with your game.  You may have to reset any game options you set, since the reinstall will have set the SimCity4.cfg file to default.  (This file remembers your previous settings).

 

If you continue to have problems after all this, it does point to a plugins conflict.  Get a copy of Rivit's SC4Datanode program from SC4Devotion and use it to check your plugin suite.  It is probably the quickest way to find conflicts and duplicates.

[rsc204 21,836]

Without getting into the problem with your NAM install, a tip for working with GLR (Trams) in future.

If you plop (tile by tile, not dragging), El-Rail onto a straight segment of road, it will convert the road to Tram on Road for you. This doesn't work for all the pieces, but can cut down the use of puzzle pieces significantly, and thus help with the CTD problem.

As for the CTD problem itself, recent NAM versions have hugely improved upon this, but at it's heart lies a bug in the code that is beyond our control. In essence any puzzle pieces that are hovered over a TE lot (like stations) of the same network type can result in CTDs. Simply being aware of the issue and taking more care when using puzzle pieces in terms of where you move the cursor helps a lot. You should also consider using the ESC key to stop placing pieces, rather than moving the mouse back to the menu. In any case no amount of changing your NAM install will alter this behaviour.

 

[BaukeS 0]

OK, that's usefull, but then I still have the problem, that other NAM stuff also cause CTD's.

for example, when I just click on ped mall with centre pole, the whole game crashes and it's a CTD again.

that is not solved by this solution...

[rsc204 21,836]

If simply selecting a NAM piece causes a CTD, something very wrong is occurring. Yes all such puzzle pieces can cause a CTD, but only in the specific circumstances I mentioned. For example, what happens if you try to select a Maxis Highway Interchange piece - does that crash the game?

If you are experiencing such a high level of instability, the best thing to do would be to move your existing plugins folder (Should be in My Documents\Sim City 4\) to a safe place. This will temporarily remove all your game mods (addons). Once you've done this, re-install the NAM package. During the install pay careful attention to the following two points:

 - Does the installer prompt you to update (patch) SC4?
 - Does the installer successfully compile a custom NAM Controller?

Once it's installed anew in a clean plugins folder (i.e. you are testing only the NAM without other mods), open a new, blank region and see if the problems are gone. If they are not, report back with the answers to the above questions. It would also be helpful to know what type of computer you have, more specifically the type/speed of your processor and amount of system memory (RAM) installed in your machine.

On the other hand, if the test system runs fine, you can slowly begin to move those files from before back into your new clean plugins folder. Do not do this for the two folders Network Addon Mod or z___NAM as these are the old NAM install and will conflict with the new one. If during adding these files back to your game you notice the problem returns, then you have mods/files that conflict with the NAM.

[BaukeS 0]

yes everything works as it should work except the NAM stuff.

I'm now trying what a nonny moose said, and I hope that will help to find the problem.

[BaukeS 0]

OK, I've done what a nonny moose said and it worked, but in a terrible way:

NAM works now.

I have deleted no file, because when I had restored all files at the end it still worked.

But now NAM is actually the only thing, that's working...

all the NAM stuff works and I have no CTD's any more, but I dont see any textures and I see a lot of buildings not at all.

they are just invisible...

are there any solutions for this???

  Edited October 11, 2015 by BaukeS  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The reinstall would have set all your graphics settings to low.  Fix them up to whatever you had before, or whatever works.

[rsc204 21,836]

If the graphics settings don't sort it, perhaps the new install has also reverted to Direct X Rendering. If you need to use Software Rendering for your game to work, then simply restoring this setting will sort your problems. That said, SC4 really is at it's best when running under Direct X, you may want to have a look here to see if you can get your GPU to play nicely with SC4 before you change anything.

[ilego 4]

On 10/10/2015 at 8:29 AM, Calvss said:

Sadly, this is a problem whenever you hover a puzzle piece (tram in road piece, etc) over a traffic-enabled piece (stations, others that let you drag road through). It's a problem in any lot, not just NAM.

Usually I avoid this by placing all the tracks first and the stations after, to prevent these crashes.

This is what happened to me I guess u build that big station and try to connect tracks when you should have built tracks first @Calvss

[rsc204 21,836]

Since this thread was discussed, SC4 Fix DLL has been created. By loading this mod, the Puzzle Piece over TE lot problem is fixed. Everyone should install this great mod, it prevents one of the most frustrating CTDs. 

[ilego 4]

I just found that out