Another "death zone" problem

[MintberryCrunch 83]

A while back I had an issue in one city where there was a certain plot on the tile where, no matter what I tried to do with it, just touching it caused the game to crash. I later discovered that this was due to the fact that I had installed some trees, placed them there, then uninstalled the trees, so their "trace" was still there and it caused an immediate crash upon doing anything with that area. I fixed that problem because I later re-installed the trees and was able to remove them. 

Now I'm having a similar problem in another city. There's a certain city block where I'm able to dezone what's there, but if I try to then plop something there or re-zone it, the game instantly crashes. What could be causing the problem? It doesn't seem to be "tree related" (and I wouldn't have placed trees in the middle of a city block anyway). 

I know a picture isn't really going to do anything, but I want to emphasize how normal this area is (this shows it de-zoned. Before the de-zoning there was a library  and just some regular old Maxis houses). Every part of the block was occupied, but there was nothing unusual there:

And yet I can't touch it without an insta-crash. Sucks because I want to put a courthouse there -_- I guess I'll just have to say it's an Indian burial ground or something.

[SimCoug 5,972]

6 minutes ago, MintberryCrunch said:

And yet I can't touch it without an insta-crash. Sucks because I want to put a courthouse there -_- 

I remember something similar happening to me.  After some trouble shooting, it seems like the problem had to do with the odd street angles, which made me think it might have something to do with my slope mod.  Do a quick test... bulldoze all the surrounding streets and then try to level that area (either with street tool or the Mayor Mode leveling tools).  If you don't get a crash, then odds are it has something to do with the streets and slopes... I think the game tries to adjust the slope when you zone or plop and with the surrounding roads already set, something has to give, and the game says 'I give up'.  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Agreed.  I had a similar problem and when I removed the slope mod, the problem disappeared, but I lost that region.

[MintberryCrunch 83]

I think I mentioned this the last time this happened, but I don't have any slope mod installed. I'll see about bulldozing the area though. 

[SimCoug 5,972]

It may happen even without a slope mod if the grades are steep enough (even maxis has a 'slope mod'... it's just not very restrictive).  I hope you are able to resolve the issue. 

[rsc204 21,805]

I think the problem is triggered by the slope/foundation settings of the building/lot you are trying to place. When the placement of said lot requires the surrounding streets/roads to have their slopes adjusted to accommodate it, the simulator will start doing it's sums.

Note the sheer number of potential changes such calcualtions would have to account for. Not only are there 4 4-way crossings (each corner), along with all the roads connecting to them. But to confound the problem is the monorail line which runs parallel to one of the roads and crosses two of them.

Likely as @SimCoug pointed out, during these calculations the simulator either overloads or just comes back with the answer no. Rather than throw and error, you get a CTD.

To avoid the problem, remove the transit networks (everything discussed above) and place the building first. Then rebuild the transit, ideally in this order:

• Monorail
• Roads with Monorail crossing over them
• Road Parallel to the monorail (connect between the junctions first)
• and lastly, connect up the remaining roads.

The fact that the simulator couldn't do it, means you may have some additional work terraforming to do in order to get everything back in place.

[MintberryCrunch 83]

Thanks for the help! You guys were right--it was because of the slope/terraforming. All I did was use the flatten tool on the block (which reformed the land and eliminated the streets and monorail), I put the building down first, then re-did the monorail and the streets (but left one of them out because I liked the look better) and it worked!

I'm glad I was able to fix it because this city's CBD is located on a really small peninsula and I need all the space I can get -_-

 

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Don't forget that the MMP levelling tool can be used to create more shore line.  Allows one to sneak in a building that otherwise would not quite fit.