Save / Crash to Desktop

[CorinaMarie 29,895]

3 minutes ago, daderic888 said:

What's your tip?

With it narrowed down to NAM as the culprit, it'll go well to post a new topic in the NAM Forum since that'll be where those experts hang out.

With or without NAM, the 4 GB patch is a good thing. Not only did I patch SimCity 4.exe with it, I did all the 32 bit tools like Reader and Region Census and the like.

[daderic888 216]

26 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

With it narrowed down to NAM as the culprit, it'll go well to post a new topic in the NAM Forum since that'll be where those experts hang out.

With or without NAM, the 4 GB patch is a good thing. Not only did I patch SimCity 4.exe with it, I did all the 32 bit tools like Reader and Region Census and the like.

Thanks heaps for your help :-)

[daderic888 216]

Hey, guess what.

FINALLY! I found out I missed something very important:

That 4GB Patch installation which I think Cyclone Boom mentioned, it was in the NAM folder prior to its installation. I double-clicked on it and it installed, saying that the NAM is ready to install.

I should go to Specsavers :-P

Thanks heaps again CorineMarie, Cyclone Boom and rsc204.

I'll look harder next time.

 

[daderic888 216]

I'm back again,

After everything I've done, it's crashing to desktop AGAIN! It's happening after I open up the city tile and I continue to landscape, putting the sand on the coast. I successfully saved it once today using the save button (and not using Save & Exit / Save & Quit). Since then, it has been crashing. I have absolutely no idea why. This has been happening today. Everything was going fine and I have gone a fair way until now.

I attached the 3 exception reports from today if anyone would like to try to decipher them.

Any tips before I uninstall and re-install the SimCity 4 Deluxe?

 

 

 

 

SimCity Exception Report 2021.10.03 11.37.40.txt

SimCity Exception Report 2021.10.03 11.55.18.txt

SimCity Exception Report 2021.10.03 12.10.46.txt

[daderic888 216]

Sadly, my SimCity 4 Deluxe is crashing to desktop, now when I go to save the city tile using the save button and not the Save & Exit and Save & Quit method (both of which are disabled courtesy of the related mods).

I have been running it as the administrator on Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit with 8.00GB of RAM from day dot, no changes.

I installed the 4GB patch.

At the moment, I am plopping the SM2 sands to lay out beaches, nothing else. This has been getting slowly worse the further I go along. Could it be the level of detail and graphics with this?

What on earth could be causing this?

I'm at wits end! Please, some help or tips.

[twalsh102 1,601]

Suggestion:  Since this is essentially a continuation of your previously posted Topic, it probably would have been better to just post it there rather than create a new topic. That would make it easier for anyone trying to help to read the entire history of what's going on. At the very least you might want to edit this and add a link to your other topic.

On to the problem!

I was curious enough to search out your previous topic and found (and read) the Exception Reports included in your last post there (or two of the three; the first contained no text). I found it interesting that the two reports with text were essentially identical, especially the second line that says ACCESS VIOLATION. Generally, access violations are of two types: a program trying to access a bit of reserved memory that it shouldn't be, or a program trying to access a file location that the user doesn't have permission to access. In my decades working in IT Support, I have seen Windows do all sorts of strange things with file permissions. Windows doesn't always do what you expect it to. The fact that exception reports are being generated stating ACCESS VIOLATION, when you are trying to save something, can't just be coincidence. I would suggest that user permissions. specifically for your Regions folder, and more specifically for the specific cities you are having problems with, bears looking into. Just because you are using the "run as administrator" option. doesn't necessarily mean that the administrator has permissions for a specific file location.

[CorinaMarie 29,895]

3 hours ago, twalsh102 said:

Suggestion:  Since this is essentially a continuation of your previously posted Topic, it probably would have been better to just post it there rather than create a new topic. That would make it easier for anyone trying to help to read the entire history of what's going on. At the very least you might want to edit this and add a link to your other topic.

Thanks, Tim.

I didn't realize this was related to the other topic. Your suggestion of continuing in the Save / Crash to Desktop thread is the ideal way. We'll merge this with that one. (There's a little goofiness on how two topics need to be merged. While I'm mostly certain I remember the steps, I'll leave it for @Cyclone Boom or @rsc204 who know exactly which way to go about it so nothing gets messed up.)

Anyone can still reply here even before the merge and all posts will get moved over.

  Edited October 17, 2021 by Cyclone Boom  
Merging completed! :-)

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

3 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

We'll merge this with that one.

And all done now.

@daderic888

No worries about this either as it's what our moderator tools are here for to help with moving and consolidating topics.

Here's hoping we can get to the bottom of the crashing issue, as it sure sounds really frustrating.

[daderic888 216]

Thanks guys.

The administrator is the only user in my PC, there aren't any other users.

Just wondering if any changes to my desktop background would bugger up the game?

I'm about to uninstall the AVG Anti-Virus and install AVG Internet Security very soon.

A stupid question: How do I go about setting the permissions?

7 hours ago, twalsh102 said:

Suggestion:  Since this is essentially a continuation of your previously posted Topic, it probably would have been better to just post it there rather than create a new topic. That would make it easier for anyone trying to help to read the entire history of what's going on. At the very least you might want to edit this and add a link to your other topic.

On to the problem!

I was curious enough to search out your previous topic and found (and read) the Exception Reports included in your last post there (or two of the three; the first contained no text). I found it interesting that the two reports with text were essentially identical, especially the second line that says ACCESS VIOLATION. Generally, access violations are of two types: a program trying to access a bit of reserved memory that it shouldn't be, or a program trying to access a file location that the user doesn't have permission to access. In my decades working in IT Support, I have seen Windows do all sorts of strange things with file permissions. Windows doesn't always do what you expect it to. The fact that exception reports are being generated stating ACCESS VIOLATION, when you are trying to save something, can't just be coincidence. I would suggest that user permissions. specifically for your Regions folder, and more specifically for the specific cities you are having problems with, bears looking into. Just because you are using the "run as administrator" option. doesn't necessarily mean that the administrator has permissions for a specific file 

[twalsh102 1,601]

I can't see changing a background doing anything to cause a program to CTD. I'm assuming you're not having any problems with any other program.

No such thing as a stupid question!

The fact that Administrator is the only user makes it less likely that file permissions are the culprit, but it won't hurt to check.

To check permissions on any file or folder, browse to the folder/file you want to check; right-click and choose Properties; choose the Security Tab. For you, it should show System and the user Administrator (or the Administrators group), both probably with Full Control. Another thing you might check is Ownership of the file/folder. From the Security tab, click on Advanced at the bottom; The second line is Ownership; It should show the user Administrator or the Administrators group.

If everything looks good, we'll just have to continue to look elsewhere.

[daderic888 216]

Thanks mate.

I'll check all of this out.

Will see what happens.

Stand by and watch this space.

 

[rsc204 21,866]

9 hours ago, daderic888 said:

The administrator is the only user in my PC, there aren't any other users.

3 hours ago, twalsh102 said:

The fact that Administrator is the only user makes it less likely that file permissions are the culprit, but it won't hurt to check.

Whilst Administrator may be the only actual account you created, there will be plenty of other 'profiles' which are all linked to the underlying system in Windows. Which rights you have or need in a given situation can be quite complex, it can be that you need to manually give yourself access to certain data, known as 'Taking Ownership'. I would do this on the root folder SimCity 4 inside documents, that way it'll cover all your mods and save files in one swoop.

If the CTDs are always happening when you try to save your cities, this really is the most likely cause. Are you using any third party security software on your computer?, often I find they can be the ultimate cause of Windows being set to do things that are not default behaviour.

[daderic888 216]

On 18/10/2021 at 9:11 PM, rsc204 said:

Whilst Administrator may be the only actual account you created, there will be plenty of other 'profiles' which are all linked to the underlying system in Windows. Which rights you have or need in a given situation can be quite complex, it can be that you need to manually give yourself access to certain data, known as 'Taking Ownership'. I would do this on the root folder SimCity 4 inside documents, that way it'll cover all your mods and save files in one swoop.

If the CTDs are always happening when you try to save your cities, this really is the most likely cause. Are you using any third party security software on your computer?, often I find they can be the ultimate cause of Windows being set to do things that are not default behaviour.

Thanks rsc204,

At the moment, I have the basic AVG antivirus free edition installed and I am about to install AVG internet security after removing the AVG free antivirus.

I'll have a go at the root SimCity 4 folder in documents and see what permissions are happening. If this is the situation that I'm thinking of, I'll probably change the permissions from administrator to the associated profile that has the downloads folder and the control panel?

Will see what happens.

[rsc204 21,866]

6 hours ago, daderic888 said:

If this is the situation that I'm thinking of, I'll probably change the permissions from administrator to the associated profile that has the downloads folder and the control panel?

You should only need your user account to ‘own’ the folder and its contents, messing around with profiles is something I wouldn’t recommend unless you really know what you are doing.

A lot of security software, I can’t speak for AVG specifically, has options that can ‘secure’ your PC against various threats. You should familiarise yourself with any such features and the consequences of switching them on. It is certainly not normal for Win7 to require such permissions by default for an Admin account running the game with Admin rights to have these troubles. So something has changed them, it it wasn’t you, then logically something on your machine must be behind it.

[daderic888 216]

On 10/21/2021 at 1:40 AM, rsc204 said:

You should only need your user account to ‘own’ the folder and its contents, messing around with profiles is something I wouldn’t recommend unless you really know what you are doing.

A lot of security software, I can’t speak for AVG specifically, has options that can ‘secure’ your PC against various threats. You should familiarise yourself with any such features and the consequences of switching them on. It is certainly not normal for Win7 to require such permissions by default for an Admin account running the game with Admin rights to have these troubles. So something has changed them, it it wasn’t you, then logically something on your machine must be behind it.

Thanks rsc204,

I removed the AVG Antivirus free edition and installed AVG Internet Security.

I installed the latest Windows 7 updates to hopefully give the PC some more stability.

I haven't changed any of the permissions or the profiles. I left them as they are.

Well, now I can't even start the game as an error window keeps popping up saying "Please login with administrator privileges and try again." (???)

What gives here?

I have backed up my region, city tile and plugins.

Should I just uninstall and re-install the game to hopefully fix this issue?

 

[twalsh102 1,601]

So what has changed? If you could previously at least start the game, but now can't even do that without the error window you mentioned popping up, that certainly suggests "something" has changed. It now sounds like you have permissions or ownership issues with the game install folder and/or the SimCity 4 folder in My Documents. The error itself almost certainly relates to either permissions or ownership issues. You never mentioned what you found when you checked those settings on your Plugins folder. I would now check those settings on the game install folder as well. Uninstalling and reinstalling the game is not likely to fix whatever problem you are experiencing, and would likely be a waste of time until you discover what the underlying causes are. In fact, given this latest error message, you might not be able to reinstall.

[rsc204 21,866]

If the only changes boil down to changing the version of AVG in use and behaviour changes start elsewhere, that’s a big flashing light for me. Have you tried whitelising SC4 in AVG, I can’t see what else would give a permissions warning. Especially since by default the OS allows you to run an app as Admin by default and you have Admin rights. The error message doesn’t sound to me like it came from either Windows or SC4, I’ve certainly not heard of this error before.

Remember that security = less functionality or more hoops too jump through all in the name of keeping you safe. The problem is that the underlying system tends to rely on whitelisting only known apps, rather than actually checking for potential problems. Older games/apps can get caught up in this easily, requiring some user intervention to allow them to run properly.

Since you don’t appear to have full Admin rights, again AVG is the most likely culprit. The idea being, if the running account is restricted in terms of access, so would any potential malware or the like, preventing it making changes requiring such rights. 

[daderic888 216]

On 29/10/2021 at 11:30 PM, rsc204 said:

If the only changes boil down to changing the version of AVG in use and behaviour changes start elsewhere, that’s a big flashing light for me. Have you tried whitelising SC4 in AVG, I can’t see what else would give a permissions warning. Especially since by default the OS allows you to run an app as Admin by default and you have Admin rights. The error message doesn’t sound to me like it came from either Windows or SC4, I’ve certainly not heard of this error before.

Remember that security = less functionality or more hoops too jump through all in the name of keeping you safe. The problem is that the underlying system tends to rely on whitelisting only known apps, rather than actually checking for potential problems. Older games/apps can get caught up in this easily, requiring some user intervention to allow them to run properly.

Since you don’t appear to have full Admin rights, again AVG is the most likely culprit. The idea being, if the running account is restricted in terms of access, so would any potential malware or the like, preventing it making changes requiring such rights. 

Hi rsc204,

I whitelisted the game in AVG by going through the exceptions and selecting both the program folder in C Drive and the SimCity 4 folder in the Documents folder to "allow."

Now, when I go to start the game, the same error message displays as before, saying "Please login with administrator privileges and try again."

I checked the accounts (including Administrator) and all of the boxes are ticked under "Allow" except for special permissions.

I'm not sure what the go is there, except it might be related to the Windows program itself.

[daderic888 216]

Guys,

After doing some Googling, I might have found what has been causing the issue and a solution.

Stand by, I'm going to try the solution and will see what happens. I might have it done a few days.

If this works, I will either copy and paste what I have found or add the link to the info.

Wish me luck........................

[CorinaMarie 29,895]

8 hours ago, daderic888 said:

Wish me luck........................

Good luck........................

[daderic888 216]

I'm back,

I thought stuff it, I'll stay up a bit and give this a go.

Guess what...............................

SUCCESS!!!

I found that a particular Windows Update was responsible for the CTD when saving the city tile and the failure of the game to start.

After uninstalling this update and restarting the computer, I went to start the game. The game started then I added just the barest minimum to the city tile and I went to save it. It saved successfully.

I changed the computer's settings for how the updates are installed from "Install updates automatically (recommended)" to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them"

I attached the link where I found the answer:

"Please login with administrator privileges and try again" - The Gaming Den (the-gaming-den.com)

 

Copied and pasted from the website / link in case the link doesn't work:

The Error Message

Every time you try to launch certain old games the following error message appears:

“Please login with administrator privileges and try again”

 

SafeDisc, SecuROM and the Security Hole

The above error message is caused by a Windows update and affects some but not all games. Microsoft knowledgebase article KB3086255 discusses it. Click here to read the article. This problem can be traced back to two copy protection programs – SafeDisc and SecuROM – used on CDs and DVDs between 2003 and 2008. The problem affects all SafeDisc-protected games and some SecuROM-protected games released during the given time period. SafeDisc by Macrovision and SecuROM by SONY were developed to prevent software piracy.

When computers running Windows would boot, a file called SECDRV.SYS would load a program into memory. Later, when an attempt is made to play a SafeDisc or SecuROM-protected game, the SECDRV program would examine the installation CD/DVD in the DVD drive to ensure that it is an authentic copy and not an illegal copy of the disc. If an authentic copy of the game disc was not in the drive, the game would not start. Microsoft decided that this process created a security hole – the risk was that your computer could be hacked or exposed to a virus.

So, Microsoft in its infinite wisdom, released an update – KB3086255 – in September, 2015, for Windows Vista / 7 / 8.0 / 8.1. Once the update is installed, if an attempt is made to play a SafeDisc or SecuROM-protected game, the update stops Windows from confirming that the authentic game CD/DVD in the drive is, in fact, authentic. The update does this by deactivating the program loaded by the SECDRV.SYS file. Microsoft’s main interest was, as one would expect, maintaining security. Other issues were secondary. The update seals the security hole but the method used prevents SafeDisc and SecuROM-protected games from being played because Windows can no longer confirm that authentic game discs are actually authentic. This issue has never been resolved to the satisfaction of all involved: Microsoft and gamers.

Microsoft employs many smart people, as evidenced by the many good programs it has developed. Sony and Macrovision, no doubt, employ plenty of smart people, too. One would think that with all that collective brain power, these companies could work together to create a proper solution to this problem – a solution that seals the security hole but doesn’t make many old games unplayable. Unfortunately, such a solution has not been developed, leaving us with the current problem.

 

Solutions

Information about this issue can be found in many YouTube videos, forums and gaming-related sites. It is a widely, discussed topic. For Windows users who want to play their SafeDisc or SecuROM-protected games, the options differ depending on the version of Windows installed.

 

Windows 10

In windows 10, update KB3086255 is built into Windows and cannot be removed or disabled. This leaves you with three options

1. Download a patch from the game developer
2. Create a dual-boot system with Windows 10 and an earlier version of Windows
3. Repurchase the game from a digital distributor

Before doing anything else, check for a patch from the game developer. Some game developers released patches that made their games playable. This is, of course, the best solution. I would assume that the patches simply instruct Windows not to bother examining the game discs to ensure that they are authentic.

Windows 10 users who have the install disc for an earlier version of Windows have another option. They can make use of option two – create a dual-boot system. Such users would have two versions of Windows installed on their computers and they would need to ensure that update KB3086255 is never installed to the earlier version. To play SafeDisc or SecuROM-protected games, users would boot to the earlier version of Windows since the games would not be playable in Windows 10. Instructions can be found online for how to set up a dual-boot system with Windows 10 and an earlier version of Windows such as 8.1 or 7.

If solutions one and two are not available to you, the only thing you can do is repurchase the game from a digital distributor – a game download site. Since you’re downloading the game, there is no installation CD/DVD so the game will run fine. For people running Windows 10, this is the only remaining solution. Hopefully, the game you want to play is available from a game download site.

 

Windows 7 / 8.0 / 8.1

For Windows 7 / 8.0 / 8.1 users, there are three options.

1. Download a patch from the game developer
2. Repurchase the game from a digital distributor
3. Remove or disable update KB3086255

Once again, before doing anything else, check for a patch from the game developer. If no patch is available, choosing solution two, above, puts you in the same group as Windows 10 users who need to buy the game from a game download site. If you choose solution three, you have three alternatives. You can enter a command at the command prompt or edit the registry to disable the update or you can uninstall the update. All three alternatives, from the user’s point of view, accomplish the same thing and all three put the computer at the same amount of risk.

Uninstalling the update is the solution given in many YouTube videos and gaming-related sites. I uninstalled the update from my computer because it was preventing me from playing some of my games. I believe the risk from viruses and hackers is low. Anti-virus protects against viruses and a hardware firewall protects against hackers. Everyone has both of these (there’s a hardware firewall built into all cable and DSL modems).

Also, keep in mind that the security hole existed for 12 years before being patched in 2015. If many computers were being hacked or exposed to viruses, Microsoft would have patched the problem very quickly. Instead, they waited 12 years. I don’t believe that this security hole is a legitimate threat because Microsoft hasn’t treated it as such. If you want to play your game and solutions one and two are not available to you, you have no choice but to deal with the update using one of the three methods mentioned earlier. Below are the Windows 7 steps to uninstall the update.

 

Perform the following steps at your own risk:

1. Go to Control Panel
2. Change “View by:” in the top right corner to “Category”
3. There are 8 categories. The bottom left category is “Programs”. Under “Programs” it says “Uninstall a program”. Click on that
4. The “Programs and Features” window opens
5. At the top left is a menu bar. Under the menu bar you should see “Control Panel Home” and below that “View installed updates”. Click on “View installed updates” shown in blue on the right
6. Click in the search text box in the top right corner of the window
7. Enter KB3086255. As you enter each character the list of installed updates is searched automatically making the list smaller and smaller until only 1 update remains (if it’s installed).
8. Click on the update to uninstall it

 

If Windows is set to install updates automatically, the update will be re-installed automatically and you’ll have to go through the above steps again. To prevent the update from being reinstalled automatically, follow these steps.

1. Click the Start button and then Control Panel.
   1. If you’re in “Category View”
      1. Click “System and Security” at the top of the left column.
      2. Click “Windows Update” 4 items from the top.
   2. If you’re in “Classic View” – “Large Icons” or “Small Icons”
      1. Click “Windows Update” at the bottom of the list of items.
2. Click “Change Settings” on the left of the window as shown in blue on the right
3. Click the drop-down menu under “Important updates” and set it to something other than “Install updates automatically” as shown below.
   .
   .
4. Make other changes in this window if you want and then click OK

 

If anyone else starts experiencing the same or similar issues, all the info is above to hopefully guide you out of trouble. Please feel free to quote this too.

Your antivirus or internet security will cover the security hole left by uninstalling this update KB3086255.

Hope all of this helps you's out.

Thanks heaps for all of your tips and help.

Now, I'm planning to add posts to the City Journals and Forums.

Can't wait to get stuck into it!

Cheers.

 

[rsc204 21,866]

I hate to tell you but this has been well known about since the release of Windows 10 some years ago.

However the ‘solution’ simply doesn’t fit given your problem. The why is simple, the Disk Check is performed immediately upon starting SC4, it’s quite literally the first thing the game does. How if you had the secdrv.sys driver inactive have you been starting the game at all?, seriously you shouldn’t even see the SimCity 4 splash screen or the Intro videos. Logically if you were not using one of the work-arounds, you must have been using some kind of NoCD crack, which removed the DRM check. In such cases, all bets are off, because who knows what else that patch does? Maybe AVG sees that there is a security issue and won’t give the game write access as a result?

Honestly, this is a case of mixing up causation with correlation, the ‘fix’ as you describe it has nothing to do with the problems you were having. Something else must have changed, the DRM check is a one time thing, it never runs again until you reopen the application. So when you save a city, this DRM simply can not be a factor in the equation. Not to mention, like almost every Windows user, I have this update too and do not see these problems. Granted that’s using the GoG digital version, but the actual game code has not changed only the ‘packaging and distribution’. SC4’s code has not been altered since it’s release, I.e. the same conditions exist for everyone playing SC4 when saving. If it needed secdrv.sys running to save successfully, everyone using patched Vista and later systems would be reporting the same problems, but they’re not. These things simply can’t be connected, it’s not how the game works. 

[daderic888 216]

Hi,

Back again.

Oh well, I'm back to having the game CTD while in my city tile and while saving with the ACCESS VIOLATION showing up in the exception reports.

Can anyone help out with any further tips in simple terms while I continue to do some googling and reading please???

Even if someone were to remote in to see what's happening, that would be great. So that this god forsaken issue can be fixed once and for all!

I'm desperate. I don't have any hair left in my head to tear out...............

 

PS: What about this DATpacker that I'm reading up on? Would that fix this issue?

Or, what if I uninstall all of the Windows updates?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,461]

17 hours ago, daderic888 said:

Hi,

Back again.

Oh well, I'm back to having the game CTD while in my city tile and while saving with the ACCESS VIOLATION showing up in the exception reports.

Can anyone help out with any further tips in simple terms while I continue to do some googling and reading please???

Even if someone were to remote in to see what's happening, that would be great. So that this god forsaken issue can be fixed once and for all!

I'm desperate. I don't have any hair left in my head to tear out...............

 

PS: What about this DATpacker that I'm reading up on? Would that fix this issue?

Or, what if I uninstall all of the Windows updates?

I might have a guess. GPU

What kind of GPU do you have? Are you using Directx (Hardware Mode) render?

 

I also do not recommend using antivirus like AVG because they can claw the ram and cpu with the possible CTD of the game as you are using all the available ram. Also I recommend you to install this mod

[Whte_rbt 1,431]

On 11/11/2021 at 4:54 AM, daderic888 said:

and while saving with the ACCESS VIOLATION showing up in the exception reports.

This is a specific error from the Windows system, it indicates that the program has tried to write to a memory location that it does not have permission to access.

You said previously that you are using SM2 sands to lay out beaches. I assume you mean these:

It should be noted that truly vast amounts of MMP usage can have weird effects. I had one years ago that would not save properly after I'd covered about half a large tile with mmp work.

[daderic888 216]

On 11/12/2021 at 9:15 AM, ulisse said:

I might have a guess. GPU

What kind of GPU do you have? Are you using Directx (Hardware Mode) render?

 

I also do not recommend using antivirus like AVG because they can claw the ram and cpu with the possible CTD of the game as you are using all the available ram. Also I recommend you to install this mod

I'm running the game in hardware mode.

I'll try the mod and will see how it goes.

Thanks mate.

[daderic888 216]

On 11/12/2021 at 9:58 PM, Whte_rbt said:

This is a specific error from the Windows system, it indicates that the program has tried to write to a memory location that it does not have permission to access.

You said previously that you are using SM2 sands to lay out beaches. I assume you mean these:

It should be noted that truly vast amounts of MMP usage can have weird effects. I had one years ago that would not save properly after I'd covered about half a large tile with mmp work.

Yep, that's the one.

Oh okay, I haven't had any issues with previous cities tiles up until what's happening recently.

I've been planning on deleting the Windows updates and restarting the computer, hoping that this fixes the issues.

[daderic888 216]

Hi, I'm back.

I uninstalled all of the Windows Updates I was able to and I restarted the computer.

I tried to run the game and this window popped up:

The SC4Fix.dll is currently in my Plugins folder.

The answer might be a simple one.

Are there any other links where I can download both Updates 638 & 640 or are they the only ones?

PS: I turned off the automatic updates in the AVG Internet Security. I'm not sure if this will make a difference.

[CorinaMarie 29,895]

6 minutes ago, daderic888 said:

Are there any other links where I can download both Updates 638 & 640 or are they the only ones?

I presume you are looking for the updates for the disc based version of the game. Right hand column on the Maxis Files page.

[daderic888 216]

Turning off the automatic updates didn't make a difference. I downloaded Update 638 and the above window keeps popping up and I'm still having the CTD issue (Access Violation).

Would it be a good idea to go back to the AVG Antivirus Free Edition?