SimCity not running on mordern hardware?

[Pakistani890 122]

Hello everybody so i reinstalled SimCity 4 on my new pc but it seems i have problems running it basically now it runs (very fast) but there r some graphic glitches like these:

btw it's a freshly installed vanilla version of SimCity 4 and all graphic settings are at default and these r my pc specs:

and this is the ssd in which evreything runs:

and this is everything i have installed:

so please tell me why is this happening???

[Ulisse Wolf 4,456]

I think SC4 is using Intel graphics.

1 Go to the Nvidia control panel and set SC4 to maximum performance mode with nvidia card

2 Do not use render software. You need to use the hardware render. (Direct X) If you have a screen larger than 1920x1080 you need to use the wrapper here is a quick guide

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=18734.0

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/759813-test-of-various-directx-wrappers/

[rsc204 21,866]

First question is do you even have a dedicated NVidia or AMD GPU in your laptop? If you are stuck with the Intel GPU, the drivers have poor legacy game support and there may not be a lot you can do about it. A wrapper may help here, since it improves how modern hardware interacts with DirectX, translating more modern functions to work better whilst running legacy DirectX code.

[twalsh102 1,601]

If we look at the 4th screenshot down that shows the Performance tab of the Task Manager, we see that indeed there is both Intel Integrated Graphics and a discreet nVidia GeForce MX series chips. Conventional wisdom forever has been that Intel Integrated graphics were crap, and generally to be avoided.

However, the Performance Tab reveals that this laptop includes the latest generation Intel Graphics chip, the Intel Iris Xe graphics chip, which by all reports I've seen is considered to a realistic alternative to most current mid to lower end nVidia MX series chips. I don't use these chips, so obviously don't have personal knowledge of whether these reports are on the money, or mostly hype.

I suspect that the real issue here isn't the Intel chip itself, but rather SimCitiy 4's inability to determine the capabilities of the chip and thus the correct settings for the Graphics Rules.sgr and Graphics Cards.sgr files. This is obviously not a new issue for a game that is almost on 19 years old. I suspect that part of the problem there is that with a Graphics chip that is only about a year old, there is not a large body of knowledge within the community on how to configure things to get proper performance from the Intel Xe graphics chip. If something simple like trying to force the game to use hardware rendering doesn't resolve the issue, there's going be a large amount of (probably hit-or-miss) experimentation needed. I've seen hints that the latest version of the Graphics Rules Maker software (version 2.0.0, dated 29 April 2020) (available at https://www.simsnetwork.com/tools/graphics-rules-maker in both 32- and 64-bit versions) might alleviate the need to conduct such experimentation to properly configure both the above mentioned .sgr files. If it doesn't work, there really isn't anything lost as long as you have proper backups of the 2 files this software will create, in order to revert to the currently existing versions, if necessary.

[Pakistani890 122]

hey @ulisse SC4 is using Intel graphics but in my old pc it also used intel graphics that i didn't have any problem and btw here is my nividia control panel and geforce panel what should i do??

and here's the geforce option for games:

 

hey @rsc204 emm i think i have both nividia and intel u can see this pic below:

i think intel one is dedicated because it is the one running most in the task mangr. 

Hey @twalsh102 so will it fix the game and also my screen size is 1980 x 1020 (HD) and yes the intel one is dedicated

 

 

[Ulisse Wolf 4,456]

47 minutes ago, Pakistani890 said:

hey @ulisse SC4 is using Intel graphics but in my old pc it also used intel graphics that i didn't have any problem and btw here is my nividia control panel and geforce panel what should i do??

and here's the geforce option for games:

 

hey @rsc204 emm i think i have both nividia and intel u can see this pic below:

i think intel one is dedicated because it is the one running most in the task mangr. 

Hey @twalsh102 so will it fix the game and also my screen size is 1980 x 1020 (HD) and yes the intel one is dedicated

 

 

nvidia control panel -> manage 3d settings -> program settings-> select SimCity 4.exe -> set up high-performance NVIDIA graphics

[rsc204 21,866]

13 hours ago, Pakistani890 said:

and yes the intel one is dedicated

Technically no, it’s the integrated one, the NVidia is the dedicated card.

Not all Intel GPUs are the same, so both the hardware, drivers and likely the OS (since Win 11 is very new) are different from before. Given this, the expectation should not be that your experience should be identical.

None of this really matters, since you have a dedicated NVidia card, once you force that to be used, the problem should go away. Historically NVidia cards have much better backwards compatibility, but again a Wrapper may be necessary just to force the NVidia GPU for SC4. I’d take a look at dgVoodoo2, since it allows you to specify the GPU to be used. Technically this should be selectable in NVidia control panel, but there are many cases where this doesn’t actually get invoked, especially when legacy DirectX is being used. If your system is similar then a Wrapper is mandatory if you want to use your Dedicated card.

[Pakistani890 122]

hey @ulisse and @rsc204 nothing is working it;s still glitching and yes the nividis was dedicated and i did set SimCity 4 there and turned everything to high but nothing work the graphics r glicthy. So what should i do???

[rsc204 21,866]

If the instructions from @ulisse to force the NVidia card didn't work, then you probably need a wrapper to do so. To determine which GPU is in use, open the INSTALL\Apps folder for SC4, the precise location depends on where you got your copy of SC4 and whether or not you used a custom location. Either way it's the same place where the SimCity 4.exe resides, so do a Windows search to find that if you are having problems. In this folder is a file YOURCOMPUTERNAME-config-log.txt, this log contains information about the setting detected by SC4, if it lists your Intel GPU here, then the NVidia one is not being used.

Note I have been following the fate of Intel GPUs in relation to SC4 since 2013 when I built my current PC. I had initially intended to just stick with the Intel HD4600 that came with my processor, but ran into the identical problem you are facing. Eventually I bought an NVidia card to get around the compatibility problems Intel's drivers had with SC4. in 2015 Intel finally released an updated driver that solved a lot of the problems that made using them impossible, but some little glitches, especially with shadows and tearing like you are showing remained. Frankly the more time that passes, the less likely it is that Intel will fix legacy problems like this. What I'm trying to say is, whilst the game can run on an Intel GPU, it's always been known to be problematic, so why waste your time here, when you have a dedicated NVidia GPU.

Here are some step-by-step instructions for setting up dgVoodoo2, follow those and be sure to force the NVidia card to be used, this should resolve things.

[Pakistani890 122]

On 11/25/2021 at 6:32 PM, rsc204 said:

If the instructions from @ulisse to force the NVidia card didn't work, then you probably need a wrapper to do so. To determine which GPU is in use, open the INSTALL\Apps folder for SC4, the precise location depends on where you got your copy of SC4 and whether or not you used a custom location. Either way it's the same place where the SimCity 4.exe resides, so do a Windows search to find that if you are having problems. In this folder is a file YOURCOMPUTERNAME-config-log.txt, this log contains information about the setting detected by SC4, if it lists your Intel GPU here, then the NVidia one is not being used.

Note I have been following the fate of Intel GPUs in relation to SC4 since 2013 when I built my current PC. I had initially intended to just stick with the Intel HD4600 that came with my processor, but ran into the identical problem you are facing. Eventually I bought an NVidia card to get around the compatibility problems Intel's drivers had with SC4. in 2015 Intel finally released an updated driver that solved a lot of the problems that made using them impossible, but some little glitches, especially with shadows and tearing like you are showing remained. Frankly the more time that passes, the less likely it is that Intel will fix legacy problems like this. What I'm trying to say is, whilst the game can run on an Intel GPU, it's always been known to be problematic, so why waste your time here, when you have a dedicated NVidia GPU.

Here are some step-by-step instructions for setting up dgVoodoo2, follow those and be sure to force the NVidia card to be used, this should resolve things.

Thx so much @rsc204  bro. It worked this is the settings of dgvoodoo i have: 

and before and after pics of SC4:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

btw i have some problems starting SC4 i mean it starts but it says sc4 cant render hardware mode and if i do it it causes problems but not crash to desktop here r some errors:

one thing Windows + D doesn't work when i am playing a city it's a problem when i am doing multitasking and can u plsss tell me how to fix them.

[rsc204 21,866]

dgVoodoo2 should be using its own version of DDraw (DirectDraw), one which is more compatible with legacy games. So I think what is happening is that when that message appears, SC4 is defaulting to Software Rendering which then bypasses the wrapper also, since DirectX is not being called for by the game. This would explain why even though you've set the dgVoodoo Watermark checkbox, it is not appearing in your screenshots. With this active, the dgVoodoo2 logo should be overlaid whilst you are playing SimCity 4, it basically is a way of knowing dgVoodoo is working.

Just to be sure, check that you've installed the correct supplementary files as noted in the previously linked post:

On 03/03/2021 at 6:56 PM, rsc204 said:

Download the latest version as a .zip file, inside the zip are two files:

dgVoodoo.conf & dgVoodooCpl.exe, copy both to your INSTALLDIR\SimCity 4\Apps folder (i.e. where the main SimCity 4.exe file resides). Now, still in the .zip file, open the MS\x86 folder, additionally copy the following four files from there, D3D8.dll, D3D9.dll, D3DImm.dll & DDraw.dll, into the same folder as before.

Outside of that, perhaps your hardware simply isn't capable of working with the legacy DirectX modes, even with a Wrapper present? You could try the various options under the Output API dropdown menu, it might be that a lower version of DirectX (11 or 10) may work where the latest (12) does not. A newer driver might improve things too or sometimes an older one works better, though I doubt many Win11 revisions exist for any drivers at this point. You could also see if dgVoodoo2 can run with your Intel GPU instead, perhaps it helps fix the graphical oddities?

If none of this works, then you might want to try using an alternative Wrapper, many exist and they all do a similar thing. I don't know off-hand of another with such an easy method of forcing a particular graphics card though.

In some cases though, it might be necessary to run SC4 with Software Rendering, due to an inherent compatibility issue. The MX series of GPUs are quite at the lower end of NVidia's offerings, it wouldn't completely surprise me if they were designed without legacy support for example. On the other hand, you'd have the option to revert to your previous setup using the Intel GPU with DirectX rendering without a wrapper. It's not impossible that a future driver update might improve things there, although I wouldn't hold my breath either.

[dgplex 39]

I had a similar problem, with the same graphical glitch occurring as @Pakistani890. I think this might be a universal issue with some of NVidia's newer cards in general, as I have a 3050Ti and the issue still happened. Using dgVoodoo I set it to use the Intel GPU like @rsc204 said, and the glitch went away. While this might not be optimal I'm just happy that SimCity 4 works again, so I'd recommend doing this

[Pakistani890 122]

hey @rsc204 First of all i am sorry i didnt reply for a few days or i think months i was busy installing programs and stuff like that btw when u said this:

On 12/6/2021 at 3:02 PM, rsc204 said:

This would explain why even though you've set the dgVoodoo Watermark checkbox, it is not appearing in your screenshots.

 

i had turned the watermark option off so when direct draw wasnt intialzing i fully reinstalled SimCity 4 and now i will set up dgvoodoo and will update u about my progress one thing even aftera fresh install SimCity 4 still have that glitcheness

[rsc204 21,866]

8 hours ago, Pakistani890 said:

one thing even aftera fresh install SimCity 4 still have that glitcheness

Which probably means there was nothing wrong with your install. Yes, if things go really screwy a re-install may be the solution, but for problems like you are having, it's simply a compatibility issue. As soon as you configure your system for SC4, it should all be fine. However, every now and again a system comes along that just can't play the game or do so without minor glitches, it's not likely but it can happen. But the dxWrapper usually solves the GPU/DirectX issues that are becoming more of a problem as NVidia are dropping legacy DirectX support from their drivers.

[Pakistani890 122]

Ok so finally @rsc204 after following your instructions SimCity 4 is fixed and if u closely look at the the red highlight there there is the dg vodoo watermark
 

 

i have put the dg vodoo files in this directory:

 

and also all dg settings r at default:

 

btw thx so much @rsc204 , @dgplex , @ulisse and @twalsh102 your help helped me run SimCity 4 thx 

[dgplex 39]

no problem, mate (even if all I did was leave one comment)

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Bumping this thread as I'm running into a similar issue on a new machine, but I'm stuck (at least for the moment) with an Intel UHD 750 GPU.

My old PC had an Intel HD 620 GPU and seemed to render the game without any issues, so I went with an Intel card on my new machine. I'm now running into some of the same graphical glitches, such as this issue with waves (I also get the same problem with lot and network previews):

Is there anything I can realistically do to fix this with the Intel UHD GPU I have? Or should I just go ahead and invest in an Nvidia or AMD GPU?

[rsc204 21,866]

Intel GPUs and SC4 can be a bit hit and miss in terms of legacy DirectX driver support, which is most likely the cause of your problems. Essentially many modern GPUs and it's not limited to Intel ones either, simply don't directly support certain DirectX 7 APIs which are vital to ensure the game appears as intended.

It's usually worth checking out all of the potential options for running SC4 to compare the results. In essence that means trying both DirectX (Hardware) and Software rendering modes, for both in Windowed and Full-Screen mode, DirectX + Full Screen being the default setup. I would imagine Software rendering removed the graphical issues but that other issues including the game running slower would make it less desirable. But between those four setups you might find one that you are happy with.

If none of that helps, I would configure a Wrapper like dgVoodoo2, since that allows legacy support by converting API calls to older DX versions. This is pretty much becoming necessary to run SC4 on a lot of new hardware without problems, but there is no reason it wouldn't work for an Intel GPU. Bear in mind that running what is essentially an emulation layer means that overall your computer needs to do more work to run SC4, but that's probably not a big deal for a system like yours.

If after this you still have not managed to improve things, you might consider a dedicated GPU, but you have to consider that it too may run into the very same problem. It's hard to say buy X and it will work flawlessly or first time, although generally any ATI/NVidia card paired with a Wrapper should do so. That said, SC4 doesn't require a fancy GPU and a NVidia GTX 750ti retains good out of the box compatibility and can run the game without breaking a sweat. In fact, I'd imagine any mid-range card from 2010 or later is more than capable of running the game as well as it is possible too. So if you do go this route, think second hand GPUs and something from around 10 years ago, if you only want to play SC4, that's going to work better for you and won't be all that expensive.

[Pakistani890 122]

@BartonThinks i got into the same problem with Iris XE intel integerated graphics i think you need a wrapper mainly dgvoodoo2

[BartonThinks 3,416]

On 5/22/2022 at 3:24 PM, rsc204 said:

Intel GPUs and SC4 can be a bit hit and miss in terms of legacy DirectX driver support, which is most likely the cause of your problems. Essentially many modern GPUs and it's not limited to Intel ones either, simply don't directly support certain DirectX 7 APIs which are vital to ensure the game appears as intended.

It's usually worth checking out all of the potential options for running SC4 to compare the results. In essence that means trying both DirectX (Hardware) and Software rendering modes, for both in Windowed and Full-Screen mode, DirectX + Full Screen being the default setup. I would imagine Software rendering removed the graphical issues but that other issues including the game running slower would make it less desirable. But between those four setups you might find one that you are happy with.

If none of that helps, I would configure a Wrapper like dgVoodoo2, since that allows legacy support by converting API calls to older DX versions. This is pretty much becoming necessary to run SC4 on a lot of new hardware without problems, but there is no reason it wouldn't work for an Intel GPU. Bear in mind that running what is essentially an emulation layer means that overall your computer needs to do more work to run SC4, but that's probably not a big deal for a system like yours.

If after this you still have not managed to improve things, you might consider a dedicated GPU, but you have to consider that it too may run into the very same problem. It's hard to say buy X and it will work flawlessly or first time, although generally any ATI/NVidia card paired with a Wrapper should do so. That said, SC4 doesn't require a fancy GPU and a NVidia GTX 750ti retains good out of the box compatibility and can run the game without breaking a sweat. In fact, I'd imagine any mid-range card from 2010 or later is more than capable of running the game as well as it is possible too. So if you do go this route, think second hand GPUs and something from around 10 years ago, if you only want to play SC4, that's going to work better for you and won't be all that expensive.

Thanks, I'll give the Wrapper a shot. I'm not very technically knowledgeable when it comes to graphics, so I think I misunderstood whether the wrapper solution might work with Intel GPUs.' I'll give that a shot when I have some spare time to configure the wrapper.

At this point, I regret not just shelling out an additional $300 or so for a decent graphics card when I bought the machine. It's primarily for work, so I invested heavily in my CPU, RAM, and storage, but then I went with the cheap option on the GPU to keep the cost down a bit. Outside the GPU, the machine's powerful enough to act as a gaming PC, and while I'm not into a lot of graphics-intensive titles, it would be nice to try out some other games if/when I have the right hardware.

[rsc204 21,866]

So first off, yes definitely a wrapper will work with an Intel GPU, so start there.

People don’t often ‘get’ Intel or modern integrated GPUs, they are for over 90% of users more powerful than they will ever need. For example my current 2013 system was built around using the HD 4600 GPU rather than shelling out for a dedicated one. The problem was that specifically SC4 has issues related to drivers. Give Intel their due, they did address that about 2 years later, of course in the interim it was unthinkable for me not to have installed a dedicated card. Back then (early 2014) a shiny new energy efficient GTX 750ti cost me 140€ new. In a sign of how bonkers GPU prices are, it’s still worth easily 100€ second hand! But having it didn’t make anything but SC4 run better, all my other games I played happily ran fine in full HD with everything on full using the Intel GPU. It’s also worthy of note, the Intel GPU supported 3 4K Displays, something the NVidia card couldn’t dream of and I doubt my current GTX 960 could handle that either. The key thing to remember is that since early 2010s, any Intel CPU with a 4### or higher revision, the iGPU is perfectly fine unless you really need to play modern games. In fact some of the recent Iris GPUs are starting to challenge even that unless you are spending 4 figures on a GPU. The problem is for many years iGPUs we’re just plain crap, they could barely handle desktop duties. This negative image has remained with many, but objectively the iGPUs of today are for all but some specific use case scenarios, more than adequate and more energy efficient, meaning it’s cheaper to run your PC.

A long time ago, before the current energy problems, I read a test report of the real cost for having a 1000w plus power supply and high end GPU (the former is often a prerequisite of the latter). Just running the same tasks in Windows it would cost around $40 more a year in electric to run, that’s before you start using it for games or other intensive use cases. The point being having a dedicated GPU you aren’t using comes with other costs than it’s purchase price. Laptops are a bit different as they can dynamically switch between the most appropriate GPU, something desktop systems can’t do. 

[Major_Parker 0]

i have a problem, when i did use DGVoodoo mod and enter the game feels choppy and lag than the vanilla

[Propfam 2,303]

10 hours ago, Major_Parker said:

i have a problem, when i did use DGVoodoo mod and enter the game feels choppy and lag than the vanilla

Can confirm. It's mostly caused by the integrated graphics and especially the mux switch on gaming laptops. You have to disable the mux switch by forcing the laptop to use only one, preferably dedicated. After that, configure dgvoodoo and run SC4 again. It should be faster, tho a bit choppy. But at least the chip can keep up, unlike iGPU.