Graphics Driver Crash When Scrolling City Map

[Elvenly1 2]

Hello all!

I'm running into a specific crash on the Steam version of SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition. This was a new install after not having played SC4 in many years, and it was running NAM and CAM. To isolate the source of the crash and rule out plugin weirdness, I completely wiped my SC4 install and started from scratch with minimum plugins. The crash persists.

The specific crash? On occasion when starting to scroll the map in city view, the game freezes entirely. This freeze seems to happen in response to starting a new scrolling event instead of when I'm continuously scrolling. Sometimes it happens shortly after starting play in city mode. Other times it takes a while, but usually the crash occurs within 15 minutes of starting in city mode. During the freeze the game can still accept input and gameplay sound/music continues to play, and the cursor's appearance will actually update based on where it is or what action is being taken, but usually additional input causes the game to crash to the desktop.

When going to the corresponding event logs in Windows' event viewer, the crashes all seem to result from a graphics driver issue of some kind:
 

Quote

 

The description for Event ID 153 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event: 

\Device\Video8
Error occurred on GPUID: 100

The message resource is present but the message was not found in the message table

 

For what it's worth, SC4 is the only game I'm experiencing crashes with.

I'd love to find some way to fix this! Additional information regarding my system and plugins is below:

Desktop PC Specs:

OS Version: Windows 11 Home version 24H2
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 8-Core 4.50 Ghz
RAM: 32GB DDR5 5200
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 w/ 12GB RAM
Video Card Driver Version: 572.83 (the most recent available)
Hard Drive: SC4 is installed on a 1TB SSD (drive D); the system drive C is an identical 1TB SSD
Virtual Memory: 33.7GB total, 23.3GB available
Page File Space: 2GB

SC4 Plugins:

4GB Patch has been applied
SC4Fix
SC4DisableFPSLimit
DgVoodoo2

I'm also using the following launch options in Steam. I wasn't using these on my first SC4 install. I know it would be better to use the appropriate DLL plugins, but this crash existed before I completely wiped out my SC4 install and all its plugins and started fresh to try and determine if it was a plugin issue:

-intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -d:directx -CPUCount:1 -CPUPriority:high  -w
Omitting -d:directx has no effect; crashes still occur

Thank you so much for reading all that! Really hoping that there's something floating out there that I'm missing in terms of a solution.

[matias93 7,535]

Hi!

It sounds like the kind of problem that can happen with an incorrectly configured DgVoodoo2 wrapper. Are you using these presets?

If not, they're worth a try!

[Elvenly1 2]

Sooooo I'm a dolt and didn't even realize that dgVoodooCpl packaged with the SC4 version of DgVoodoo2 (which I had been using) was an application I could launch to fine-tune things 

Using the GeForce 9800GT (I actually had one back in the day!) option under the DirectX tab in the DgVoodoo control panel seems to have fixed the problem, pending further and more extensive play/testing. If the crashes persist, then I'll be back!

Thanks for your help!

[Ulisse Wolf 4,461]

1 hour ago, Elvenly1 said:

Sooooo I'm a dolt and didn't even realize that dgVoodooCpl packaged with the SC4 version of DgVoodoo2 (which I had been using) was an application I could launch to fine-tune things 

Using the GeForce 9800GT (I actually had one back in the day!) option under the DirectX tab in the DgVoodoo control panel seems to have fixed the problem, pending further and more extensive play/testing. If the crashes persist, then I'll be back!

Thanks for your help!

There is this tutorial to help you set up SC4.

I also advise you to completely eliminate the launch paramenters because they are broken and don't do what they say. I cosniglio you use the Mod DLLs that act at the level of the game engine allowing you to fix bugs