CTD when loading one city

[dranaden 2]

I am getting a CTD when attempting to load only one city in SC4D. It is my only large tile; the medium tiles load and play fine. So I've been thinking it's a 4GB issue and applying the various fixes I've read about across forums. I've learned  about making ancient vintage apps run on Windows 11 but haven't fixed the CTD. It might be a plugin issue but that would surprise me.

For reference here are the first 3 sections of the *-config-log file. Note the 1024 memory and freeMemory values. I think this means I am not getting to 4GB but I would welcome a correction. You can see it's using dgVoodoo.

Spoiler

Flags
-----
hardwareDriver = true
DXT = true
fullscreen = true
MMX = true
FPU = true
backingStore = true
forcedFSAA = false

Strings
-------
userName = [redacted]
appName = SimCity 4
version = 1.1.641.0
osVersion = Windows NT 6.2
computerName = [redacted]
CPU = GenuineIntel
sglDriverName = DirectX
sglDriverVersion = 2.0
driverName = dgVoodoo
driverVersion = 17479.2.8.1, GUID: D7B71E3E-5105-11CF-E877-FE140EC2CD35
cardName = dgVoodoo DirectX Wrapper
cardVersion = Vendor: 0000, Device: 0000, Board: 0000, Chipset: 0000
cardIdentity = dgVoodoo DirectX Wrapper
soundDriverName = {0.0.0.00000000}.{a229bd14-0478-4248-9a83-479ab136acdf}
soundCardName = Speakers (Realtek(R) Audio)
buildType = Release

Numbers
-------
cpuSpeed = 2419
memory = 1024
freeMemory = 1024
screenWidth = 1920
screenHeight = 1080
screenBPP = 32
videoMemory = 4095
textureMemory = 4095
textureStages = 8
bogoFPS = 0
bogoMPPS = 0

I'll post my specs next in case it is a memory issue so we can diagnose it. The other possibility I've considered is a bad interaction with PEG CDK3. At the time of the first CTD, I was messing around with exact placement of a CKD3 Container Port and where to put roads nearby. I know CDK3 is a little fragile and I might have put it into some bad state. The tile is big but the city was just getting started: 125k residents and 30k jobs, vs. medium-tile neighbors with more than double each. So that's why the memory problems seem weird. But if it was messing with the port, then why would that have wrecked the saved tile so I can't load it after the first CTD?

All right, specs:

• Windows 11
• SC4D on Steam
• Processor: NVIDIA GeForce RTX Laptop GPU
• Mods
  • NAM (ran the 4GB patch of course)
  • SC4Fix
  • PEG CDK3
  • I-HT Bug Fix
  • Industry Doubler
  • "SImedicalmodd" which increases Large Medical Center capacity, having trouble finding the source again; don't think it's the problem since the higher-capacity hospitals are also in the tiles that load and play fine
  • SC4 Launcher
  • Ran the Graphics Rules Maker as in the Italian video embedded at the bottom
• Steam launch options: -d:software -intro:off -CPUCount:1 -CPUPriority:high -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32
  • Yes, I'm aware the Launcher overwrites some of this
• dgVoodoo
  • General: Direct3D 11 (feature level 11.0) using the GPU
  • DirectX: dgVoodoo Virtual 3D Accelerated Card, 4096 MB of VRAM
  • x86 DLLs in the SC4 app directory
  • Watermark shows up in game
• Running ReShape as in the Italian video embedded at the bottom

Let me know what other info would help. Would really love any help anybody can provide. I've played this game on and off since it was released. Hard to believe it's been 20 years! I've gotten really back into it lately with about a dozen cities creating an ecosystem that was supposed to feed into this large tile. Really hoping to get back in there and finish what I started. Will very happily name cities after anybody who can help!

The Italian video:

 

[Ulisse Wolf 4,399]

First if you are using the launcher then you have to remove the launcher prorpieties on steam because they are redundant and it's just useless.

Now from what I understand you received the first CTD while you were using PEG CDK i makes me assume that the CTD is caused by a bad interaction between modding and the save system which may have corrupted the save and thus the city goes into CTD.

So first I recommend that you corectly install SC4FIX.dll in the folder indicated in the video as all Mod DLLs should be installed there. (The plugins folder inside the folder where SC4 is installed) All other mods should be instalte in the following path Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins

I suggest you remove SImedicalmodd which might give problems for alleged bad modding but we don't know exactly

In addition, corruption can easily occur if you use functions such as Save and Exit and Save and return to Region as they can increase risks of CTD and corruption of saves. Use this mod

Another tip is to check all the mods you use (Except DLL Mods) and do the loading to see if there is a mod causing the CTD. If the match is negative then you have a corrupted city and it cannot be reprised unless you have a copy of the region before the CTD

[dranaden 2]

Hey, thanks for the video @Ulisse Wolf! It was great to see it all step-by-step like that.

The mods are all in the right place, with SC4Fix specifically in the folder closer to the app rather than in Documents. I've tried turning them all off, it makes no difference. And yeah, I've wondered about whether CDK caused file corruption, though that seems weird since I hadn't saved recently before the crash.

Shouldn't memory and freeMemory be 4096 instead of 1024? What am I missing? Whether or not this specific CTD is a memory thing, I still want to be sure I'm getting the benefit of the 4GB fix... right?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,399]

1 minute ago, dranaden said:

Shouldn't memory and freeMemory be 4096 instead of 1024? What am I missing? Whether or not this specific CTD is a memory thing, I still want to be sure I'm getting the benefit of the 4GB fix... right?

If you have installed NAM Full controller and small and medium sized cities load then the 4GB patch was inserted corectly

[matias93 7,535]

There's a tool for this, SC4Save by Wouanagaine, but I'm not sure if it's available to download now (it was on the LEX), on it you can check if the savefile is intact or corrupt: an irretrievably corrupt savefile, instead of opening, will produce a Python execution error, like this one on a very old city of mine:

Spoiler

Unknown error while reading SC4 file : D:\docs\Documentos\SimCity 4\Regions\Berlin\City - Berlín.sc4
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "SC4Save.py", line 995, in OnActivate
  File "SC4Save.py", line 1006, in AddSavegame
  File "SC4DatTools.pyo", line 167, in __init__
  File "SC4DatTools.pyo", line 183, in ReadHeader
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'LogWarn'

Trying to open this city on the game produces a CTD for the same reason it causes this execution error: important parts of the file were deleted on a failed saving process, probably because I switched to another program while saving the city, or suspended the computer while saving.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,399]

12 hours ago, matias93 said:

but I'm not sure if it's available to download now (it was on the LEX)

https://sc4evermore.com/index.php/downloads/download/28-mapping-and-terrain-tools/16-sc4-terraformer

[matias93 7,535]

8 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

https://sc4evermore.com/index.php/downloads/download/28-mapping-and-terrain-tools/16-sc4-terraformer

That's another program by Wouanagaine, but in practice it should also show if the savefile is corrupt or not. The advantage with SC4Save is to be able to explore the non-corrupt savefiles for other types of data integrity (I think it was done to study the prop pox, in fact).

[dranaden 2]

1 hour ago, matias93 said:

in practice it should also show if the savefile is corrupt or not.

I hadn't thought of this. I loaded up the region and the large tile appeared just as it should. On a whim I recreated the region with the Terraformer/SC4 Mapper and opened the tile. All the city was gone and it was back in god mode, but the terrain was as I'd left it. So the underlying terrain at least isn't corrupt. How could I tell if the savefile with the city built up is corrupt?

[matias93 7,535]

16 hours ago, dranaden said:

I hadn't thought of this. I loaded up the region and the large tile appeared just as it should. On a whim I recreated the region with the Terraformer/SC4 Mapper and opened the tile. All the city was gone and it was back in god mode, but the terrain was as I'd left it. So the underlying terrain at least isn't corrupt. How could I tell if the savefile with the city built up is corrupt?

Wait, did you edit the region with the Terraformer? If you did that and didn't kept a backup, then you might have overwritten the city. In that case, the savefile isn't corrupt anymore, but it's also erased back to god mode.

[dranaden 2]

I duplicated and renamed first. And created another backup someplace else on disk, just to be sure. Alas, the large tile was unloadable in the duplicate too.

Does anybody have a lead on where to find this SC4Save now? And does anybody have experience with SC4Parser ( https://github.com/Killeroo/SC4Parser/blob/master/DOCUMENTATION.md )? Not used to be asked to compile my own mods....

[dranaden 2]

Following up, I've accepted my tile is corrupted. Rather than work around it, I've decided to start on a new region. True to my word, I've named cities after each of you:

• @Ulisse Wolf Lupano is a population center one tile away from the coast. I'm trying to imagine it like Lecce, even though I've never been there.
• @matias93 San Mateo is in a valley surrounded by mountains. I am trying to build it up like Santiago, with gleaming Las Condes-style buildings nestled between the mountains. Working on getting the regional population to support that.

Many thanks to you both!