Only one city crashes

[rayfuenz 2]

My game crashes when loading a city in my region. It loads every other city just fine. I'm worried I corrupted the file by minimizing while it was saving or something.

1. I have NAM installed

2.I have the 4GB Patch

3. I do have mods but none downloaded between the last use.

4. The backup on my computer was not turned on

5. I use AMD Adrenaline to run the game.

Any help is greatly appreciated. This was the city in this region I'd spent the most time on (like many many hours), and I'd be sad if I lost it. I'm not very computer savvy so sorry if I referred to anything incorrectly.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,057]

A situation like this happened to me when I installed a replacement for a military base with the original, vanilla base having been previously built and saved into the affected city.

In other words, it is possible that you might have downloaded a replacement item for something that already exists in your city and has exact same IID. In such a case, the game is unable to determine which item to use and will crash.

If you think this sounds likely, try to recall which item did you download and remove it before trying to load the city again. In the worst case scenario, simply remove the entire custom BAT folder to see if it is indeed a BAT that's causing the trouble for you.

[rsc204 21,815]

Ultimately problems like this usually come from saving the city and then some change in Plugins being incompatible with said change.

The binary search method should help you track down the problem file in this case:

 

[rayfuenz 2]

On 11/2/2025 at 5:02 AM, TheMurderousCricket said:

A situation like this happened to me when I installed a replacement for a military base with the original, vanilla base having been previously built and saved into the affected city.

In other words, it is possible that you might have downloaded a replacement item for something that already exists in your city and has exact same IID. In such a case, the game is unable to determine which item to use and will crash.

If you think this sounds likely, try to recall which item did you download and remove it before trying to load the city again. In the worst case scenario, simply remove the entire custom BAT folder to see if it is indeed a BAT that's causing the trouble for you.

Tried this and it still crashed ☹️

[rayfuenz 2]

On 11/3/2025 at 7:49 AM, rsc204 said:

Ultimately problems like this usually come from saving the city and then some change in Plugins being incompatible with said change.

The binary search method should help you track down the problem file in this case:

 

Tried this and no luck - it crashed with both sets.

I just attached a video of what it looks like when it crashes. Any input is very appreciated!

Video.mov

[11241036 5,100]

Unfortunately, crashes can have a lot of reasons. Let's try to trace back your latest steps to find out what could have happened.

A few questions:

1. Did I see this right: A few seconds after the loading screen of the city is gone, you get a CTD?

2. You didn't install any mod in the time interval between playing this city for the last time and now?

3. Also, you didn't uninstall something?

If you can answer question 2 with yes, this rules out a plugin conflict. If you can also answer question 3 with yes, this rules out the possibility that the city tile has saved something and now can't find it anymore in your Plugins folder. In this case, I can think of three possible explanations (although maybe there are more):

1. You might have installed a broken plugin,

2. Hardware issues,

3. or, as you already mentioned, the save game is corrupted.

I can't help you with number 3, I'm afraid, because, even though I'm a pretty cocky player and modder, this hasn't ever happened to me in 15 years of playing SC4, I've never had any case of a city tile not loading without me either being able to fix it, or figure out the reason why it didn't load. Also, I can't help you with number 2.

However, as for number 1, you might want to think about it and try to remember if you have been using a particular plugin/mod/lot or whatever only in this city tile. Or, if you are modding files on your own, try to trace back the latest changes you made, maybe you made a mistake. If you can find such a plugin, please attach it to your next post and I'll have a look.

[CorinaMarie 29,618]

Just an idea:

I re-read a thread from long ago which Tibi posted a link to earlier today. This is a one-off type of thing, but did you happen to have an old version of the Airport Shuttle lot? And if so, did you bulldoze it then save? It is the only instance I know of where you do absolutely nothing wrong with your plugins, but can still completely bork the city tile.

If this is a possibility, I'll re-find the linky where I explained the cause and lot fix and such. (There is no hope for the borked city if this is what happened. The lot fix is so it doesn't happen again.)