Game Wont Load. DirectX?

[Hanson784 165]

Well, I really messed up this time (I think).

Here's my main problem. SC4 will not load anymore, it's frozen on a blank screen. This happened after downloading a game demo. I suspect it's a DirectX or NVIDIA problem but, I'm not entirely sure.

Here's what happened. Yesterday, I downloaded the demo of a upcoming game (Tycoon City:New York). It upgraded my DirectX from 8 to 9.0. I installed it on my C: drive which I regret. The demo never worked, I got a scrolling line of dots on the load up screen and it crashed to the desktop. I tried running in safe mode but that didn't work either. I uninstalled it and decided to stick with SC4.

When I tried to load SC4 up I got the same thing; scrolling dots and a frozen blank screen.

I deleted DirectX 9.0 and tried to load again. Still didn't work. I check out the files in SimCity and nothing seemed out of place.

I tired loading again. This time I got it to load but the graphics were so badly distorted I had to force quit using task manager. I tried re-installing the older DirectX 8, but that gave me my first result. I then ran tests on DirectX in Device Manager but, no problems were found.

I searched the forums and found similar problems, but I'm not sure exactly what is causing this. DirectX? The Video Card? A misplaced file or maybe even an added file I didn't see. I

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

First, let's try the latest version of DirectX. It is here.

Since it is an ASPX file, you should use IE to download it.

[Mr. Cortez 11]

If you have Windows XP, sometimes a good System Restore operation is good.

Start, All Progs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore.

[Hanson784 165]

N_O_Body, downloaded the latest version of DirectX and that doesn

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

OK, now try turning off any stuff you have turned on for other games, like anti-aliasing. SC4 doesn't recognize nor allow for video cards it wasn't tested with.

You could also try running in Software Rendering (an option on the graphics control panel). If the game runs OK with this, then the focus needs to be on your graphics software and hardware.

[Hanson784 165]

N_O_Body, I have all other settings off that would conflict with SimCity 4 but still nothing. I'm not sure if I'm able to run it in software mode because the game won't launch (just the title page loads and then a black screen with the dancing mouse cursors). Can I switch to software mode another way?

However, I found some more strange things. Some SimCity 4 Data Files are in an application called !Quick Screen Capture (located under C:-applications-!Quick Screen). The data files are called unins000, save, and configure.

What are those doing there? Are these data files there for SimCity's snapshot tool? I have a feeling they were misplaced somehow.

Edit: All other games are working fine.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

3.  Command Line Options

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Audio:

-audio:on|off		Enables or disables all audio for the application
-music:on|off		Enables or disables all music for the application


Graphics:

-Cursors:bw|fullcolor	Sets the color depth of the game cursors
-d:DirectX|Software	Sets the graphics driver for SC4

From the readme file on the rush hour disk. Hope this helps.

[Hanson784 165]

Would I run that in Command Prompt? Or are those in-game options?

Well, I'm able to get the game loaded but the graphics are still so distorted and streaky that I can barley recognize anything. It is similar to having the wrong frequency on a TV and having those annoying lines. They look scrambled I'll post a picture.

Edit: I pressed Print Screen and took a snap of the streaky graphics, pasted so I could save it, and was pleasantly surprised at the picture of my region just as I left it-perfectly unharmed!
Though, this is strange because the graphics are still streaky and the problem hasn't yet been solved. Hmmmm... interesting. Progress is being made (very slowly). I'll keep you updated.

Edit: I just found out my problem is most likely due a refresh rate that is too high for the game. The graphics are wavy and looked very compressed. I suspect the demo switch the refresh rate when I tried to configure the settings. But when I checked Display it says the rate was 60 hertz, I think that's correct. I then changed moved it up to 70 but that didn't help. Well, at least I'm pretty sure where I should focus my efforts.

Edit: I finally solved my refresh rate problem!
What I did was able to overide the refresh rates for my screen size. The game is 95% back to normal. I so happy to be able to see my cities again after 5 days of distress. However, my shadows are purplish blobs... I'll tinker around with the shadow settings.

Ok, after switching to hardware rendering the game is now 100% normal! Yay!

Thank's for all your help. Lessoned learned: don't download anything which can monkey around with your system. If in doubt leave it out. Now, SimCity and I are going to do a lttle catching up. *makes up for lost time*

[vidicheese 0]

I have a month old computer with 1GB of RAM. It played the game great until I had a recent medical problem, passed out and knocked over the monitor. The computer was shut down by the button, instead of a proper shut down. Since then, the game won't load anymore. I get the bridge, then cursor, then the EA logo, and then back to the desktop. I've uninstalled and reinstalled, removed everything from my plugins folders and updated my drivers. That (easy info) application is missing too. Someone please help. It is making me crazy. Thank You.