Placing Beaches causes CTD's

[PlutonianEmpire 2]

Trying to get back into the game after getting it on GOG, ported over my mods, installed all the necessary fixes, etc. Now, attempting to place beaches causes a CTD, every time.

SimCity Exception Report 2025.09.10 23.05.16.txt

[Null 45 3,065]

Did you check for missing dependencies?

The address listed in the exception report appeared to be a null pointer de-reference where the lot's building was null. But I may be wrong.

[CorinaMarie 29,786]

9 hours ago, Null 45 said:

Did you check for missing dependencies?

That reminds me that many lots require:  bldgprop_vol1.dat (328 KB) and/or  bldgprop_vol2.dat (67.9 KB).

However, as an alternative to both of the above Buildings as Props files, you may wish to instead use the Maxis Prop Names and Query Fix by T Wrecks. This is a direct replacement to the Maxis bldgprop files, and combines all the prop references into a single .dat file for convenience.

Also as a bonus, it has the advantage of fixing the query names on custom created lots. This means it displays the actual defined name of the building which the props are associated with.

^ Mostly plagiarized from the Maxis Files Page.  

[outdatedSIM 4]

I get the crash too. I am totally new and green. I installed SC4PAC, NAM, CAM, CDK3 files, optimization, graphic, CPU and QOL DLLs. Ended up with 62 plugins. Game starts fine on Bananaland-V2 region. Building roands and govermental stuff was fine, zoning too. On placing beach it's CTD. I have  Maxis Prop Names and Query Fix installed.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

4 minutes ago, outdatedSIM said:

I get the crash too. I am totally new and green. I installed SC4PAC, NAM, CAM, CDK3 files, optimization, graphic, CPU and QOL DLLs. Ended up with 62 plugins. Game starts fine on Bananaland-V2 region. Building roands and govermental stuff was fine, zoning too. On placing beach it's CTD. I have  Maxis Prop Names and Query Fix installed.

Are you using the maxis beach?

[outdatedSIM 4]

17 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

Are you using the maxis beach?

Hi, I am trying to find any documentation or guide that would explain SC4PAC, for instane "Add to Plugins explicitly" and the star system. I am not touching any of it. Just when installing a plugin I need to click the button so it installs. But then some of the stars are "explicit" in the list, some are grey. I don't understand the mechanics here.

https://pastebin.com/yTME2cVN - this is my current situation as in exported json file. 

Question: As I am new here (but extensive experience with using hundreds of mods in TES games and many other games), I do not yet understand the language I think. If by maxis beach - you mean the standard/vanilla beach, the answer is: I did not actively install any beach mod, besides potential changes made by sudden valley or any other mods I installed with SC4PAC like NAM, CAM and the rest I've mentioned.

EDIT: or maybe would you recommend I follow 

... And use CAM, ofc no SPAM then and I install the mods from there?

EDIT 2: If it helps: I tried placing maxis seaport and it works fine

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

7 hours ago, outdatedSIM said:

I think. If by maxis beach - you mean the standard/vanilla beach, the answer is: I did not actively install any beach mod, besides potential changes made by sudden valley or any other mods I installed with SC4PAC like NAM, CAM and the rest I've mentioned.

Maxis Beach means if you are using the beach lot developed by Maxis.

Also, looking at the json file, you are using mz:opera house fix, which is already present in CAM 3.0+ (specifically CAM Core). 

Since you are using Gobias Sudden Valley Terrain Mod, make sure to run the game in hardware rendering mode.

[outdatedSIM 4]

Thank you for looking at the file, removing the opera fix.

How can I tell if I'm running in hw rendering? I am using dxwrapper and SC4GraphicsOptions. However the latter works only partially, which is weird. It gives the desired resolution (3440x1440), but does not make the game intro disappear, doesn't do fullscreen (need to -f in desktop shortcut), nor does it create any log file. 

EDIT: Also I am now getting this outside of the map, maybe it will give some more ligt on the rendering question:

  Edited October 8, 2025 by outdatedSIM  
new findings

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

30 minutes ago, outdatedSIM said:

Thank you for looking at the file, removing the opera fix.

How can I tell if I'm running in hw rendering? I am using dxwrapper and SC4GraphicsOptions. However the latter works only partially, which is weird. It gives the desired resolution (3440x1440), but does not make the game intro disappear, doesn't do fullscreen (need to -f in desktop shortcut), nor does it create any log file. 

EDIT: Also I am now getting this outside of the map, maybe it will give some more ligt on the rendering question:

Follow this tutorial

 

[outdatedSIM 4]

@Ulisse Wolf thanks for the video. I am watching and can you explain:

1. The mods shown in the video, like GraphicOptions, they are available in SC4PAC. But they don't work correctly when installed from there

2. Should I set my SC4PAC profile in game's installation directory Plugins, or in Documents?

3. Should I install all the mods from the video manually, not using SC4PAC?

Thanks.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

2 hours ago, outdatedSIM said:

2. Should I set my SC4PAC profile in game's installation directory Plugins, or in Documents?

Mods should be installed here

Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins

2 hours ago, outdatedSIM said:

1. The mods shown in the video, like GraphicOptions, they are available in SC4PAC. But they don't work correctly when installed from there

Be sure to install this

Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 x86 Redistribute

2 hours ago, outdatedSIM said:

3. Should I install all the mods from the video manually, not using SC4PAC?

It is recommended to install mods through SC4Pac.

[outdatedSIM 4]

@Ulisse Wolf much obliged, I will double check about the VC 2022, but they were working fine before I started fresh with sc4pac. I think I have my profile folders configured wrong in sc4pac, I asked in the respective thread already. But now my dlls do not land in \Plugins, but in the profile subfolder. Will see what answer I get there.

[outdatedSIM 4]

Beach placing crash is back.

Now I have only mods installed from SimCity 4 Ultimate Guide, even removed manually isntalled Sudden Valley that was manually insatlled.

Question: Do I need to actively install anything from here: Ultimate Guide Dendency List ?

Do I maybe need to install all of those? Or is sc4pac sourcing dependencies as needed? Attached is the Exception Report, can anyone tell the culprit? Thanks!

SimCity Exception Report 2025.10.22 19.26.39.txt

EDIT: Started from scratch, making backups and so far beaches work fine.

  Edited October 23, 2025 by outdatedSIM  
solved

[outdatedSIM 4]

On 11.09.2025 at 6:11 AM, PlutonianEmpire said:

Trying to get back into the game after getting it on GOG, ported over my mods, installed all the necessary fixes, etc. Now, attempting to place beaches causes a CTD, every time.

SimCity Exception Report 2025.09.10 23.05.16.txt

Hey, I went step by step and isolated the problem happening after installing CAM with sc4pac. I have no extra terrain, trees, water, just performance and game enhancements from Ultimate Guide + NAM. After installing CAM I get straight into beach placing crash. Did you manage to figure it out by any chance?

[Foo 235]

I tested my beach lot today and i have the same issue, also installed CAM with SC4pac.

[PlutonianEmpire 2]

On 10/24/2025 at 6:34 PM, outdatedSIM said:

Hey, I went step by step and isolated the problem happening after installing CAM with sc4pac. I have no extra terrain, trees, water, just performance and game enhancements from Ultimate Guide + NAM. After installing CAM I get straight into beach placing crash. Did you manage to figure it out by any chance?

I do have CAM installed, but I installed it manually. I don't use sc4pac

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

7 hours ago, Foo said:

I tested my beach lot today and i have the same issue, also installed CAM with SC4pac.

 

37 minutes ago, PlutonianEmpire said:

I do have CAM installed, but I installed it manually. I don't use sc4pac

It's a problem with how the Maxis beach was designed, which is literally opening up a general problem with parks that requires urgent intervention.

I already have the corrective patch ready and working, but I'm not releasing it for the moment because I would first like to resolve the issue with parks once and for all. 

Later on, there will be an Experimental CAM where you can preview the changes, but it will be exclusive to SC4Pac. However, there is no definite release date for this experimental version.

[Kel9509 1,476]

1 hour ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

It's a problem with how the Maxis beach was designed, which is literally opening up a general problem with parks that requires urgent intervention.

Wait, is this a CAM issue or an issue/bug for everyone?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

6 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Wait, is this a CAM issue or an issue/bug for everyone?

It is a general problem because there is a translation issue between Maxis Exemplar and PIM-X Exemplar.

According to PIM-X, Maxis Beach exemplars are considered parks with statutes, causing a sort of corruption of the Exemplars and then causing the CTD because the game is coded so that beaches must only be parks. 

This does not surprise me because many Maxis buildings have various problems that are most likely residual bugs that are only now coming to light.

[outdatedSIM 4]

Thanks, glad it is confirmed 👌. If any testing needed I've made profiles in sc4pac to do it.

[Taz the Mystic 51]

Yup, my Maxis beach crashes so now I know why.  I can test if you need another tester.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,426]

1 minute ago, Taz the Mystic said:

Yup, my Maxis beach crashes so now I know why.  I can test if you need another tester.

It's a CAM Core issue. Wait for CAM Core 4.0 to be released to the public, or use the Experimental version of CAM Core, which contains the fix.

[Taz the Mystic 51]

Do I need to start a new region or city to test?