Mysterious Glitch For SimCity 4 Mac

urbanbabel215 · May 27, 2020

On 5/25/2020 at 3:38 PM, xxdita said:

Not everyone else is going to provide the same level of tech support though, so learning the problems and how to fix them will become a necessity, I fear. It would still be extremely helpful if you could report problematic files as you find them. Because unless these files are corrected on the exchanges, then future MAC players will suffer too, and anyone trying to provide tech support will be chasing their tails.

Hi @xxdita, definitely happy to participate on behalf of all, and hopefully my being able to correctly identify issue files with iLivesReader will validate any files I report (rather than just relying on CTDs) so I don't create any wild goose chases for you all.

In that regard, I believe I've been able to identify a few transit files with the Float32 discrepancy that folks on this thread have been kind enough to explain that don't appear to have been updated yet on the STEX. Where is the best place to report these as I come across them? Should I continue on this thread, or is there another thread targeted specifically at these issues? Thanks again for all the help!

xxdita · May 27, 2020

30 minutes ago, urbanbabel215 said:

Hi @xxdita, definitely happy to participate on behalf of all, and hopefully my being able to correctly identify issue files with iLivesReader will validate any files I report (rather than just relying on CTDs) so I don't create any wild goose chases for you all.

In that regard, I believe I've been able to identify a few transit files with the Float32 discrepancy that folks on this thread have been kind enough to explain that don't appear to have been updated yet on the STEX. Where is the best place to report these as I come across them? Should I continue on this thread, or is there another thread targeted specifically at these issues? Thanks again for all the help!

I'm not staff here, so I can't make an official call on that, but my preference would be for someone to start a new thread that can put in the energy to maintain at least a first post on a regular basis. This should include problematic files, preferably with a link to the original. When a fix is provided, there should be a link to either the forum post it is attached to, until staff can get the original upload corrected, or however they choose to handle that.

I've already said this same thing in the main 64bit thread, just yesterday, but haven't gotten a response yet. If it gets to the point where I have to make such a thread myself, then I'll do it at SC4D, where I can fully control the moderation and am much more familiar with the forum's code.

The Battery Mill · September 4, 2020

Hello, good work here. I have a few contributions to this thread myself, as I am someone who also had a similar bug.

I'm running the 64-bit SC4 update on High Sierra (on a late 2009 iMac), with the game having been a Steam purchase. I was dazed and confused as I had finally updated my OS to play this new update, only to run into this glitch trying to play the game. Earlier on in the process, I tried some methods mentioned here: updating to NAM 37 and then 38, datpacking my Plugins folder, and replacing the HSR stations; all of which had not been effective (aside from the NAM update in the long run).

Running this game vanilla allowed me to normally use all functions of the game without encountering this bug. Then seeing as how rsc204 suggested , I had another idea: to directly check to see if I had any of these affected downloads. I spent an afternoon copying plugins into my folder, testing only a few at a time in order to pinpoint what was causing problems for my game. I was eventually able to run my game once again and enter one of my regions that I had backed up, albeit without two items. With this, I have discovered some additional plugins that produce compatibility issues with this update. Those are:

Sabretooth78's Highway Sound Walls

SimFox Day and Nite Modd

Of these two, the DNN modd produces a slightly different CTD. Running the game with it installed does not reset graphical settings and open the "glitched region". It also has a different approach to crashing, immediately doing so after the intro pops up. This does not seem to be the case with both glitched plugins installed.

With such a discovery made, perhaps any of you could test to see if these plugins cause issues from your end. I am also hoping these two plugins can get proper patches - I've used these sound walls in many of my cities. With that being said, here are some other observations I have made regarding my copy.

When the sound wall plugin was installed (or both were), the game would occasionally launch in a glitched state. The glitched game would mostly crash after the black window screen appears (following the intro), but crashes early in the SC4 video intro were also prevalent. All text would disappear (from the intro card to the settings) and a "glitched region", always in a set pattern, would generate if I made it past the intro. The game could crash with the push of any button, but ultimately failed when I attempted to create a city in said region. Pictured below are two views into the glitches provided by the game. The first photo features all the regions generated upon each "reset", while the second is an in game screenshot of the "glitched region".

The intro at default resolution, as well as the black, windowed screen are also a part of the non glitched startup sequence. The latter may be present on the account that I have a good amount of plugins in my folder.

Have any of you experienced these same symptoms with a Mac copy of the game? I've fixed my errors thus far, but I wouldn't mind looking into this problem some more and helping out here.