normac

I have an AMD dual core processor and I rarely have crashes. I have the dual core optimizer installed. In my case, this eliminates the need to set affinity to only one core. I also have an NVIDIA 7900GT and 2GB of ram running XP Pro. I have more than 1 gig in my plugins folder. In my case, there are only two reasons why the game will crash on me. The first is a zoom crash when using the scroll wheel on my mouse. I've found that for me, it's because some other application in the background has somehow stolen the focus from SC4 (I tend to run WinAmp and IM in the background all the time). If I don't make sure these applications (as well as any others that have the potential to utilize a mouse scroll wheel) are minimized, I will get zoom crashes. The other reason the game crashes for me is due to the sound effects. I don't know if it's the same in your case, but I found I've solved 99% of my issues by turning the game sound off. If I want the music, I'll play it through WinAmp instead. Aside from faulty plugins, in my personal case, the sound issue is the number one reason why my game will crash when I'm seemingly doing nothing (maybe I'm scrolling, or I just built power lines like the above example, or I'm trying to terraform, etc.) You might see if turning the sound off works for you.

Someone else came up with it in these forums eons ago. I try to spread the word when I hear of this problem as the solution seems to work every time. Glad I could help!

Plop another Juneau bank tower right next to it and try to demolish both lots. If that doesn't work, surround it with Juneau bank towers and demolish all of them. I believe this problem it's due to some overhanging props that get messed up somehow. For me, I find the above trick works every time.

I'm just curious to know if you use a mouse scroll wheel to zoom or if you use the keyboard. I've found the many times I've had a crash when zooming it's because some other application has managed to steal focus from SimCity (even though you wouldn't see it since SC is a full screen game). SimCity doesn't do a good job of making sure it's the priority app at any time. If that is the case, make sure you minimize or close anything that may have a scroll bar or other item that may be manipulated by a scroll wheel on a mouse. That solved all my problems.

This is a clear case of the prop pox. There is no known solution. There is a thread over at sc4devotion about it.

Howd you get those trees on your streets like that?

Haha awesome! Any chance you'd be willing to part with the greyscale?

Waway where'd you get that map?

I blame the ram or lack thereof

I have a mod that adds the SimCity 3000 throwaway lines into SimCity 4. I know there's a mod like that floating around on this site somewhere.

There's a suicide lane mod somewhere on the STEX that removes the shrubbery and replaces it with pavement.

I have this same problem sort of. I have the newest NAM installed with the perfectpathfinding plugin. This is listed as a long commute. This building subsequently abandoned. Image edited to fit guidelines. N_O_B.

Thank you so much!

Current desktop has wallpaper that changes every 15 minutes automatically.

Tungston: I did notice Swamper used the AMD fix, as do I for reasons I mentioned in my previous post and the zoom crash thread. I don't really care whether people prefer Intel over AMD either. I was just contributing my findings to the general knowledge pool. I do not have brand loyalty. I have 6 computers, 3 Intel and 3 AMD's. SimCity just seems to run better on the AMDs. Whether you agree with that or not is fine but you shouldn't discredit my findings simply because yours are in conflict. Also, I do know that Intel chips outperform AMD chip, especially recently. But I counter that because SimCity is 4 years old. Modern computing standards and general performance vs. SimCity performance I do not believe are entirely correlated when it comes to current benchmarks.

Originally posted by: tungston These reports are individual opinions. There are no substantiated reports that one brand of processor runs Simcity 4 any better than the other.quote> I disagree. Looking through the numerous threads on CTD's and other various bugs you can see a bias towards AMD's. I've run SimCity on 3 Pentium 4 based computers and 3 Athlon based computers and whether you choose to believe me or not, I'm just passing along the information that I find AMD processors to be generally better at handling the computing power SC4 requires. Especially with the new dual core processors, there are numerous reports of people having problems with the new Core Duos. The solution? Gimp your processor and make SimCity run on one core effectively cutting your processor power in half. With the AMD's on the other hand, although the information about the dual-core optimizer is fairly new, people have already reported that it solves CTD problems without having to gimp the processor. Swamper77 is the most notable of these people. @ screamingman12: I would consider quality RAM to be anything that isn't the cheapest RAM available. For example, Kingston has a line of RAM that is specifically called ValueRAM. I've used it and I had more crashing errors due to zooming and other things with it than I have using top of the line stuff. Crucial is an excellent manufacturer. Tungsten is right about prices too. I also have 2gb of Ballistix Tracer RAM I bought for ~$100 from www.newegg.com. Other decent RAM makers include Corsair, OCZ, Kingston, Mushkin, and G. Skill to name a few. All of them have a "value" line to my knowledge. As long as you steer clear of that you're okay.

I didn't say SimCity wouldn't work well with anything other than what I wrote. I just said that this is what I've found to be the best.

Having run SimCity4 on a total of 6 different computers with various combinations of Intel/AMD and nVidia/ATI through the years I can conclude the following: SimCity prefers AMD over Intel. Current AMD dual core processors will run SimCity quite well, without having to gimp your system by making it run on only one core, provided you download the dual core optimizer I mention in the zoom crash thread (or click here for those of you who are lazy). SimCity runs far better with an nVidia graphics card than with ATI. ATI's drivers just don't mix with SimCity's requirements. Every ATI system I've played it on, graphics are choppy when scrolling and the game is generally sluggish. It's been well documented that SimCity prefers nVidia over ATI due to the way they draw things. Look through the forum here and in the graphicsrules file in SimCity. SimCity will run much better with large amounts of QUALITY RAM (2gb). I stress quality because 2gb of value RAM doesn't preform as well. Most zoom crash issues can be attributed to this. Things I have found that don't really make much difference (that's not to say it may not improve the game for other people) are: Graphics card RAM size (a GeForce MX440 with 64 MB of RAM will work just as well as an nVidia 8800GTX with 768 MB of RAM). Remember, SimCity was made to run back in the days when all these new fangled cards didn't exist. Although I'm sure Maxis thought of the possibility of better cards, they had to make a game that would run well back in 2004. Page file size. If you have 2gb of ram, your optimal page file size is 4096 MB anyway, so it shouldn't really matter too much. A RAID 0 setup for your hard drives will increase load times but not by as much as you might think. It's a benefit, but not a great one. My current set-up (AMD x2 5200+ w/dual core optimizer, 2gb Crucial RAM, nVidia 7900 GS) runs SimCity perfectly and has for quite a while. No lag and ZERO crashes.

Does anyone know where to get the garage block that is a required dependency for the low wealth mega set? It's no longer available on the exchange and is causing brown boxes in my cities.

As I said several posts earlier, this is the best solution. No gimping your system and it works great!

A better alternative is to go to amd.com and download the X2 dual core optimizer. I have almost the exact same specs you do (AMD x2 5200, 2gb ram, GeForce 7900). I've never had a problem since downloading this tool. Reading about it, it's almost as if it was made specifically for SimCity since it synchronizes the timing between the two cores.

Anyone who wants to take advantage of thier dual core power without making SC4 crash should get the dual core optimizer if you have an AMD X2. http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html

A view of the suburbs of middle haven. To whoever was asking about not letting R$$$ grow. Just make your streets so that you don't have a zone larger than 2x2. Clicky

Originally posted by: Nardo69 As bbfan02 already said: you have to build farms first before you do anything else. The demand cap of I-AG is limited and will disappear for good if your city reaches a certain size and education niveau. If you build too much alternative jobs in CO or other Industries ýour I-AG demand will decrease too. The only way to restore it I ever heard of is bulldozing all educational, commercial and industrial lots as well as all neighbouzr connections .. A bit too radical fopr me - I never tried it ... Bernhard quote> This is untrue. All you have to do is wait until you have a large population increase. Say about 5,000 or so to allow for uneducated sims to move into your city. If you can spur this growth somehow that will help you out. Monitor your demand graphs closely and you'll see a short period of AG demand even in a well established city. The trick is to just pay attention to when population growths are occuring.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport - NW WorldGateway Terminal. Over a mile long from end to end.