In A Nutshell Guide to... Mac Issue Troubleshooting, or, Glitches, Bugs, and Crashes on the 32 bit Mac vesion

[c4bl3fl4m3 405]

So something’s going wrong with your SimCity 4 install. This is a somewhat common occurrence, as the Mac version hasn't gotten the updates that the Windows version has, and depending on what’s going wrong depends on how to fix it (or even if you can). As someone who’s played the game for more than 15 years (and most of those were on Macs), I’ve seen… well, I’d like to think I’ve seen pretty much every error that can happen with the Mac.

Here’s a guide to all the bugs I’ve ever encountered, most common ones first. (This guide is under construction. I will be adding to it in the future.)

Note: I haven't gone through the Mac forums to dig up every problem everyone's ever had. There may be bugs covered there that I don't know about. I *can* say that advice for certain issues has changed over the years, and sometimes you get contradicting information. My best advice is to go with the most up-to-date information possible.

Also note that this was written for the 32-bit version. The 64-bit version may or may not have the same errors, but has definitely been having its own problems (but since I didn't upgrade, I can't help with that.) 64 Bit users, once you get all the common errors & the kinks worked out on fixing them, I'll add them in here.

Weird Loadup Behavior? Not Seeing Your Regions? You've encountered Too Many Files/Folders Bug.

@TheDUBSpeedArts writes: On startup, I am greeted by an empty region with no cities, no text anywhere (even the menus), and a constantly vibrating screen. The region list is empty, and attempting to create a new one crashes the game. New folders have been created in the regions folder bearing the name timbuktu with increasingly higher numbers. The game also skips all intros except the Maxis and SimCity 4 splash screens.

This is the most common (but not only) behavior for the “too many files/folders” bug. It's a known issue that if there's too many files in the Plugins directory (and each folder counts as 1 file with this bug), weird things happen with loadup. We're talking hundreds or thousands of files+folders. (And with a nesting file & folder structure, it's easy for this to happen, multiple times even.) This, with the transit bug & the night lighting bug, is the most common bug people come across when playing SC4 with custom content. Luckily, there’s 2 easy fixes for it, and 1 that's more involved (but you should do anyway.)

Anytime you have problems with loadup or regions/maps (and you haven't recently installed a new map), or if you have issues with it slowing down so much it's unplayable, this should be the issue you should suspect first.

Fix #0: Cleaning up your folders.

This is the more involved fix (which may not work in the end) but you should do it anyway. (You'll thank yourself later.) You don't need any of the EXE installers, ReadMes or image files that sometimes come with a Plugin to actually USE the plugin. And the plugin files doesn't need to stay in the directory structure it came in. Each subfolder counts as a file, and while it's nice to have it all organized (for plugins with many files), the more shallow the directory structure, the faster SC4 will run and the happier it'll be.

My recommendation is to have a "shadow" folder elsewhere on your drive with the ReadMe's, etc. and/or with the more complex directory structure. More about that in Fix 2. (Which can be used in coordination with this if this wasn't enough to get it running again.)

Fix #1: Using XML to change your system’s file limit.

I've never done this one, esp. as the instructions seems to be directed at older systems, but if you'd like to give it a shot, check out these detailed instructions:

 

Fix #2: Using the jDatPacker to turn a bunch of plugins into 1 big file.

This is what I do. It turns many small files into one big file. Tell it the folder you want it to read from, the folder you want to put the file(s) in, and it will make a DAT file for every subfolder within the folder you specify.

Here's a link to the jDatPacker: https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=16500.0

If you do this, it is HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended to have a "shadow" folder elsewhere on your drive with your original directory structure & original files in it. (You can keep the ReadMe's, etc. in there too). This is for a number of reasons: 1) if a dependency gets updated, you can pull the old dependency, put in the new one, and remake the DAT file. 2) if there's a problem with a plugin, you can use the more files version of the subfolder to figure out which plugin, and then remove the offending one and remake the DAT. 3) you can go back and see exactly which files are in the DAT (helpful if you suspect not all the files from a dependency made it into the plugin folder/the DAT).

What I do is I keep year folders in my plugins, then inside of that folders like R, C, I, Utilities, Parks & Rec, etc. All years but the most current year (and the last year, if it's towards the beginning of the current year) get DAT packed with separate packs for R, C, I, etc. (And, of course, I keep a "shadow" folder.)

Note: The one exception to this is the NAM. Yes, I know, it's got a bazillion files and literally over a million of lines of code. Do a more customized install if you need to. Do just the most basic install. But apparently it sometimes does NOT like to be DAT packed and it expects all its files to be where it wants them to be. If you are deeply insistent on running the full NAM, and no other DAT packing does the job, then and only then try DAT packing the NAM (but don't be surprised if it doesn't work right, crashes, or whatever.)

 

No nightlighting for BATs? This is a known issue.

Special settings are required from the BAT creator for night lighting on BATs. Unfortunately, it runs up against an issue where there's a lack of ability to create more than a certain number of night lighted BATs. This has been fixed with a patch in the PC version of the game, but never in the Mac version. (You run into this a lot.) (And, no, we don't have the DarkNight capabilities. If there's a file you want that has both DN & MN (Maxis Night) versions, use the MN version.)

So what if I really want all my BATs to show the nightlighting?

Well, you can download BATs that already have it. A very small handful of BATs are nightlighting Mac compatible. They're usually tagged Mac compatible. https://community.simtropolis.com/tags/mac compatible/ (note: some transit files in there are tagged mac compatible because they don't have the Mac transit bug. More about that next.)

What if I want a specific BAT to have nightlighting?

Well, it can be edited to make it work. Unfortunately, the programs required to edit it (Reader 0.9.3 and Model Tweaker) are only available for Windows. So if you have a Windows computer, if you dual boot, or if you have Parallels (or another emulator), you can do it yourself. Or, if not, there are people who are willing to do this so if there's a file you REALLY want to have work, you can request that they do it.

If you want to know how to do it, or you want to request a file, check this out:

 

Transit BAT showing 1/100th the capacity it should have? This is another known issue.

Fix: DL Mac transit compatible BATs by check out the Mac Compatible tag (or the thread where people fix them) or have someone fix them/fix them yourself with the iLive Reader program (Windows only).

 

Brown Boxes?

This is a general problem (NOT Mac only) and is the most common problem people have. You're probably missing a dependency, or, less likely, they forgot to put the right files in the Plugin download. There's TONS of threads on this issue.

 

I installed a BAT but it didn't show up at all!

Did you put it in the right directory? Remember, the directory is different depending on if you're using the Aspyr/App Store version or the Steam version. (And it's different from where Windows puts it.)

Was it in an EXE file & you need to get the plugin out of the EXE by using FileJuicer or by running the EXE in Wineskin? You can't just put the EXE in your Plugins folder.

If you used Wineskin, did it put the files in the wrong place? Sometimes it doesn't matter if you tell it to extract in a different place, it puts it in the default. And sometimes it'll put some files in the right place but not all. (This is why I just let it default, and then go find and move the files afterwards.)

 

Crash to Desktop?

If you installed a bunch of files, it might be the Too Many Files Mac bug. Otherwise it's probably a general problem. If it's when you load a specific city, or especially right after you installed a new plugin, this is probably a general problem with a bad plugin. Remove the plugin and see if that's it. If it's right after you removed a plugin, or put a plugin back in, and then delete all lots that have that plugin before removing it again. Otherwise check out general help.

 

Runs so slow it's not usable?

Esp. after loading a city, esp. with a lot of plugins: Possibly the Too Many Files Mac bug (OR you're about to hit that bug). Possibly you're trying to run the full NAM and your system just doesn't have the resources. (My MacBook Pro from 2013 doesn't, despite it being top of the line at the time.)

 

Can't AutoScroll?

Sometimes when I load it up or Command+Tab between SC4 & other programs, the Auto Scroll (with arrow on edge of screen) turns itself off. You can easily turn it back on again in the Options menu at whatever level you're in (City or Region).

 

Props disappearing from your cities? You may have Prop Pox.

While this is a general problem, there's a special fix for the Mac. 

Note, I've never had prop pox that I know of, so I can't speak on this one.

 

I don't have the PgUp or PgDn buttons to orient ploppables because I'm using a MacBook!

Not a bug, but use Fn+Up or Down arrows.

 

I can't use this Plugin because it's in an EXE file!

Not a bug, but definitely a Mac issue. Use FileJuicer and take out the necessary files or use Wineskin to run the EXE. See #5 here:

 

Here's some other weird bugs I've encountered.

We've never fixed them, and I'm assuming there's some sort of file corruption somewhere. I have no idea if these are Mac only or not.

Too Much Money bug: 

Moneysuck Medical Clinic Bug: Sometimes the advisor pops up and tells me that a Medical Clinic doesn't have enough funding, when it clearly does. I can up the money a bit and she still does it. I up it a little more and she still does it. If I up the money all the way, she shuts up, but that's not feasible in some of my cities. Once a clinic has this bug, it never goes away. It doesn't seem to spread to other clinics in the same city. I'm not sure if it's only the Maxis clinics or if other clinics do it too. I THINK it's just clinics and not also the hospitals.

Not Enough Power Freakout Bug: This one has only started happening recently. Sometimes, my advisor will pop up and tell me that I'm about to not have enough power, but when I check the graph I have enough power, usually by a thousand or so. This isn't that unusual, but what's worse is he then goes and tells me a short time later that I don't have enough power, that I'm having brownouts, but I'm clearly not, both with no brownout Zots nor does the graph show that I'm overdrawing power. I'm not sure if the bug lingers through closing out of the program and opening it back up again.

[rsc204 21,857]

On 20/01/2020 at 11:48 PM, c4bl3fl4m3 said:

Too Much Money bug: 

An issue too for Windows, let's face it if this happens, you are probably cheating. Solution: don't.

On 20/01/2020 at 11:48 PM, c4bl3fl4m3 said:

Moneysuck Medical Clinic Bug:

For me this isn't a bug, just a little illogical. The game, like all computer code, uses "triggers" to determine when such messages appear. If you reduce the radius of your only medical facility to change money, a perfectly valid strategy, that can be enough to activate the trigger. Look under the budget panel, Expenses/Health & Education as follows:

See how our actual funding is to the left of the White line (yellow circle), which represents a fully funded system. Nothing is wrong, but the LUA code is designed to show this message when the funding is below this level, so the game is doing what it was designed too. It is a bit annoying and illogical perhaps, but if the trigger didn't take this into account, then the message may not appear in situations where it needed to.

On 20/01/2020 at 11:48 PM, c4bl3fl4m3 said:

Not Enough Power Freakout Bug

You can easily have more power than your city requires, but still not have enough power. For example, multiple power sources that are not connected into a single grid, can lead to brownouts, even though sufficient capacity exists overall to prevent them. Once more this works from triggers, the message appears because a part of the system, even if it isn't obvious from the other data where, is getting close to its limits. I've also seen this occur when neighbour deals are in use that threaten the overall power supply. It seems to me, one of these causes may be behind this.

I would also add, using a scroll wheel (I know, who'd use a Mouse on a Mac), to scroll through menus is very, very broken. Down is not so bad, but up inexplicably only works if you also move the mouse itself vertically at the same time, which is very kludgy. I guess Aspyr never bothered to test it without anything but touchpads.

[c4bl3fl4m3 405]

On 11/14/2020 at 11:03 AM, rsc204 said:

An issue too for Windows, let's face it if this happens, you are probably cheating. Solution: don't.

Except when it happened to me, I literally was not cheating nor did I have any cheat mods. I had a couple of gently tweaked schools/power plants, but nothing extreme. No money giving mods, no using the built-in cheats. (Heck, I don't even have any "no garbage" mods.) You can go back and read the thread if you like and I can provide additional pictures.

And I must admit, I'm pretty offended that you would assume I was simply cheating. I came to this community for solutions, not baseless accusations and simple dismissal. Uncool.

[rsc204 21,857]

2 hours ago, c4bl3fl4m3 said:

And I must admit, I'm pretty offended that you would assume I was simply cheating. I came to this community for solutions, not baseless accusations and simple dismissal. Uncool.

I think you may have taken my comment both a little too literally and personally.

Typically the sums of money you'd need to amass to get to the point of triggering the bug are so high, that I can not fathom how one would get there during normal play. I know I've certainly never had that sort of monthly income/balance from normal play, not even remotely close to it.

But the word cheating, in this context is not like saying you did something wrong, just like the word you doesn't apply wholly and specifically to you either. By cheating, I simply mean use of some sort of mod or method to amass more money than would usually be possible. I stand by this statement, because it's implausible to me how it could happen otherwise. You don't have to take this as some sort of personal attack, anyone who chooses to "cheat" playing SC4, isn't it the literal sense cheating. One could argue any mod that alters how the game functions is a "cheat", I think if you've been around here as long as I have, you might see this comment in a different context. I mean if I really felt you or any specific user were a cheater, I'd be a special kind of hypocrite to point it out, I literally give myself as much money as I want to play the game, it's the first thing I do in any new city.

Likewise, if a faulty lot or mod has triggered a huge boost in taxation/income, that is not a game bug, is a faulty mod, which from a cursory look at the thread, would be my hypothesis.There is a finite number of sims you can fit in a large tile, that literally makes it mathematically impossible without something else being at play. $19m R$$$ tax income is NOT normal, although I do see how you may not have intentionally got there.

You in English in the context I wrote doesn't single anyone out, rather you in this sense means the person involved, whomever that might be.

2 hours ago, c4bl3fl4m3 said:

I came to this community for solutions, not baseless accusations and simple dismissal. Uncool.

Nothing I said is baseless, the Windows version too suffers a problem when the amount of money you have hits an integer based limit. Likewise, because I can back up most things I say with any authority, such comments are not baseless either. If were inclined to see this as more than a misunderstanding, I might well be offended too.

[mattb325 28,890]

3 hours ago, c4bl3fl4m3 said:

I came to this community for solutions, not baseless accusations and simple dismissal. Uncool.

So many Mac bugs come to light....it seems with each new O/S release, something else goes awry. Having fixed a lot of old BSC content with the last 64-bit upgrade, I can feel your pain.

On 21/01/2020 at 9:48 AM, c4bl3fl4m3 said:

Too Much Money bug: 

I had a look through the linked topic 'too much money bug' and saw that Cori had postulated the most likely reason behind the bug as well as writing a little mod.

Did you ever get the mod to work in either an affected city or a new one, and if so, did that ever fix any of the issues?

PS: I don't have a MAC myself, but I've always tried to ensure that my work is compatible for users who do own a MAC.

  Edited November 17, 2020 by mattb325  
grammmmmmmmaaaarrrrr

[countermoon 46]

I should probably start a thread and describe everything I have had to do, step by step, to get SC4 working properly on my Sierra Mac. Mac users need to know that Catalina (and onward) made substantial changes to the OS. Usually when they do this many things break.

[c4bl3fl4m3 405]

On 11/17/2020 at 3:31 PM, mattb325 said:

Did you ever get the mod to work in either an affected city or a new one, and if so, did that ever fix any of the issues?

I'll be honest, my real life got in the way and since I haven't had it affect any new cities since then, I never pursued it further. (Although I have had some CTD in one of the regions which had cities affected by that, but that's a much newer issue, so I don't know if it's related or not.)

[The Battery Mill 41]

@c4bl3fl4m3

From your experience, have you seen broken plugins? As I've mentioned in the Mysterious Glitch thread, had encountered several items that did not work even through datapacking.

[c4bl3fl4m3 405]

On 5/5/2021 at 9:14 PM, The Battery Mill said:

@c4bl3fl4m3

From your experience, have you seen broken plugins? As I've mentioned in the Mysterious Glitch thread, had encountered several items that did not work even through datapacking.

Have I seen plugins that worked before datapacking but then not afterward? I don't think so, but I never really thought about it.

If you mean have I seen plugins that are just broken, period? Yes, most definitely.

[The Battery Mill 41]

On 5/13/2021 at 9:11 PM, c4bl3fl4m3 said:

Have I seen plugins that worked before datapacking but then not afterward? I don't think so, but I never really thought about it.

If you mean have I seen plugins that are just broken, period? Yes, most definitely.

Oh, found out I had made a mistake when previously datpacking - I left the plugins folder alone besides for "compressed". I will however test some of the plugins that have given me trouble in the past to see if they are truly compatible with this 64-bit version or not.

[The Battery Mill 41]

I'm not on Mac anymore but from what I've noticed, some of the cities I've played in recent years have been completely erased. Others that I haven't touched in longer still stand. Does this issue have to do with the game or something else on my Mac?