A problem with SC4 regions

[reble1 50]

1st off this is a Dell Inspiron 3541 laptop that I just got, used, in good working order. OS Win 7 Home 32 bit. I just installed SimCity 4 then SimCity 4 Rush Hour expansion pack. I have been playing the SimCity games for years, starting with SimCity classic MS DOS and up. I have never had this problem with SimCity 4 before right after a clean. new install. When the default region comes up after the game starts. All there is, is clouds and blue sky. No ground, no starter citys, no water. Just a big nothing. See the screen capture  bellow.  I tried to load the Maxisland region and the game crashes out to the Windows desktop. Is there a fix for this? Or just uninstall the game and reinstall the game? the laptop and the rest of windows is working just fine. I typed this post on the same laptop.
 

Steve

[Propfam 2,305]

Your updating process may not perfect. If so, try to reinstall the game and update it correctly. If still occurs, try to send the update log here.

[rsc204 21,866]

I doubt this is related to the patches, since upon first installing the game, the default regions should appear. If they are not there, it suggests they were not correctly installed, perhaps because the same settings (install folders) were not used for both the main game and expansion?

Either way, the best solution is probably to uninstall everything and then try again. If that doesn't help, check the following folders and ensure the default regions are correctly shown in both:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Regions

C:\Users\YOURWINDOWSUSERNAME\Documents\SimCity 4\Regions

Why both? Well the first is where they are installed, the second location is the user ones, which you can modify. The installed ones remain unaltered as a backup in case you ever want to reset them. So we need to see which, if either has the necessary files/folders to track the cause.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

Have you been through the settings, looking at the usual suspects (e.g. graphics)? At least you could remove the clouds so you can see what's under them.

Does your shortcut specify 1 CPU? (SC4 doesn't do well with multi-CPU machines)

What did you see when you tried to open a city in the region?

If there's detail there, could you save it and then "exit without saving"? What shows in the region display after that?

[reble1 50]

I got the regions problem solved.  I wiped out the SimCity 4  directory that's under "user > steve > my documents > SimCity 4" then started SimCity 4 and the game rebuilt the "SimCity 4 directory" with the defaults.  I am having to rebuild my city's from scratch. The cd were I stored my city's got messed up. OOOO well so I have fun rebuilding them over again.  I just have to find the instructions as to how to make a land bridge over a canyon. All my saved instructions, plugins and add-ons were  on that cd also.

Steve

[rsc204 21,866]

If you recorded data onto a CD-R, but your computer fails to read it, how old is your Drive? I ask because CD-Rs (The non re-writeable ones) are fairly reliable if you store them correctly and have not damaged them. I don't find their DVD counterparts anything like as good, although use of high-quality media helps a lot. Anyhow the point here is that reading from a user-written disk is harder for a drive than reading from a commercially made disk. Often a disk looks like it's not working, but in fact, it's a sign of the laser in the drive having become worn and writeable disks are the first thing they tend to struggle with. So if you've another drive around, might be worth trying that before giving up on the disc altogether. Although if you can get to the data, I recommend making a copy (to a hard drive) as soon as possible, since it may not work in future.

When I've had a brand new drive, it can often read disks I had previously thought unusable. If this does work, it doesn't mean you need a new drive, they'll go on a long time often, it just means it may be harder to read from user-written ones. That said a new disc drive is only about $20-$30 for a DVD/CD writer these days. That'll get you a pretty silent and quick unit too, so if you've an old one, it's something to think about.