SimCity4Mayor

Hi! I've noticed that a problem like this have been posted before but I decided to start a new thread since I think my problem is kind of unique (not trying to brag here... ), so here it is... I practically ALWAYS suffer from choppy gameplay; not just when I'm scrolling. The game runs OK up to about 2000 inhabitans, but then the choppyness/stuttering/lagging begins. By the time I reach a couple of ten thousands it becomes practically unplayable. I would like to point out that I have tried the following to improve gameplay: - Ingame settings (hardware/software rendering, other settings high-low/on-off) - Change game files (the graphic card .sgr ones) - Change nVidia settings - Shortcut parameters These are all the solutions I could find on any site and I've tried them all with practically no improvement. This is my setup: Simcity 4 + Rush Hour, latest patch (v.1.1.638), plus a bunch of plugins/mods (worth about 360MB's). The game is installed on the 'D' drive. Windows 7 Pro (x64) Intel i5-750 8GB RAM GeForce GTX470 So if anyone could please help me figuring out what the problem could possibly be, I'd be much obliged.

Hmm, might not do that then, I guess I just have to live with this. Thanks for your help!

But it doesn't matter how much you use them, they won't slow your game down? Because if so, I might change tree type...

Hmmm.... Which tree mod are you using? Just wondering as I'm not using a mod though, just lots. For me it really seems to depend on how many of the lots I use and how many trees are on them. I can quite easily run the 700k city but other cities where I've used the lots more often seem to run sluggish. And as regards to the game speeds, I use them in exactly the same way you do. The game never crashes out of itself, only when I hover with some of the train puzzle pieces over train stations for example, which I know is a known issue with NAM.

The '-CPUCount:1' option should take care of the multi core issue, shouldn't it? And turning shadows on low doesn't seem to do much for the performance of the game on my machine. In my experience it seems to be the trees themselves that cause the problem. Also, running the game at cheetah speed can sometimes have an inverted effect, especially of the game is slow already. But I can run the game at cheetah without any trouble most of the time. I love creating big cities though and I'm about to give up on that.

That's an impresive machine, but I still think it's strange that a game this old can bring my pc to it's knees with just lots of trees, don't you? But I'm glad to know that I'm not the only who has trouble caused by trees. I wonder if there are more and if so, how many people actually have a slow running game because of trees. I already knew sea gull animations could cause terrible slowdowns, but trees? I have one large tile city of little over 700k Sims with very limited use of tree lots, for my taste, and the city only occaisionally runs slow. When I'm scrolling fast for example. While in another city where I haven't got as much Sims, about 150k I believe, and used the tree lots more often it runs quite slow as soon as I start the slightest scroll.

I do it too, but there's loads of people saying you actually shouldn't because of CPU usage. I found if you use '-CPUCount:1' in the command line and tell other programs to use the other core(s) it should be fine, just thought I'd mention it. Of course this only works if you at least have a dual core procesor...

Haha! Yes, I sort of already picked that up from that post. High-schools in Holland aren't what they used to be... I never got this when I went there, plus, I've always had trouble with formula's and all that. But thanks for explaining it to me. EDIT: I've also discovered that scrolling from different angels and in different directions seems so have different effects on lag. For example, I just started a new city, plopped down quite a few of tree-heavy lots (the one's I've edited) and started scrolling viewing northwest. Pretty much any direction was a bit laggy. When I changed my view towards southwest, scrolling to one direction was VERY laggy while the opposite direction was only a bit laggy. Is that normal?

Not really layman's terms, are they? But thanks anyway... I'm convinced my problems were caused by the tree lots for a very big part. By using them way less and 'my own versions', the lag seems to be reduced greatly. However, I'm still curious about Mister Giggles' experiences with the original lots...

What exactly IS the 'knee' of the simulation curve? Can it be calculated and/or is it measurable, other than via laggy gameplay? You've talked about algorithms and exponential slowdown before. But can you explain to me in layman's terms what you mean by that? I'm not a native English speaker. I do think I know quite a lot of English but this goes over my head. I still think it's got something to do with lots that have got lots of trees on them or something... I managed to create a city of +/- 650000(!) Sims with my personalized tree lots. And the game is running fine most of the time. It's when I scroll through the residential and commercial zones that it's lagging kind of bad. I'd like to point out that I haven't used the tree lots a lot in this city though.

I am using -cpucount:1 and as few programs as possible and running the game at it's slowest speed most of the time. I rarely run it at cheetah. But as I've posted here before the game/my PC can actually handle a city of 120000 Sims at cheetah. But it was only a medium tile and Rush Hour city.

Thanks, but I don't hink I'm going to need PEG's forests anymore. Since I've modified THIA's ones I've got a city running with forests. One thing though, I may have gotten the Rush Hour tutorial city to work with lots of Sims, but thats only a medium tile city. When I'm running a city of 60000 Sims in a large tile (in a custom region) my pc does seem to be in a bit of trouble even though I don't use the tree lots.

They are downloaded, Before my current installation I used a forest lot made by PEG. I can't find that one on the STEX. EDIT: I'd like to remind you that I use them quite extensively. And I've just modified the 1 tile lot; I've deleted all the trees on the lot and instead, I've added just one prop family. I deleted all of the original lots in one of my cities and plopped the modifed one down instead. City worked like a charm afterwards. Apparently, my SC can't handle lots of trees (on a lot). I also have all other programs running again while playing SimCity... No lag while not using those lots. I've also tired the 1x1 lot with 5 of the same prop families and plopped them down, game still running fine.

@Nonny Moose: I already tried changing (all) ingame settings, that doesn't help. And in nVidia's control panel I've also already set everything I can to application controlled. @ArchangelMichael: Thanks, I will try that! Will let you know what results I get. @Mister Giggles: I'm pretty sure it's the tree lots that cause (some to most of) the trouble. Because when I ran that city in Berlin I did absolutely nothing besides letting the tim run on cheetah. Didn't zone or plop anything. I'll try what you suggested. EDIT: So I've just built a city of 120000 Sims in 15 minutes, using the Rush Hour tutorial city as a base. Only plugins used were some growable buildings and ordinances. However, all plugins were still loaded. I used just roads, no public transport. Ran it at cheetah speed continuously, no lag... Just some occaisional stuttering, must have got something to do with the plugins I use. I really think it's the tree lots.

@Mister Giggles: I would like for that to be the issue because it would be easy to resolve. But I really don't see how? How can every hardware configuration I had or some program cause my touble? I really don't think I'm using the same software as say, 6 years ago. But are there any known concflicting programs? @ArchangelMichael: I'm not a tweaker. I like working on PC's but I've always kept my hands off over- and underclocking. And the nVidia stettings I've changed are the settings for SimCity only. I can take a look into Linux I suppose, but I'm going to need to some for that. I'm not really a Linux expert. @JD: The copies (SC + RH) I have are the original CD's that I bought on the release dates, they are all still in mint condition. Plus, the game won't update if any files are corrupt and I can install updates. EDIT: I think I may have made a bit of a discovery. When I loaded one of the 'standard' cities (the biggest one in 'Berlin') and set the speed to cheetah it ran perfectly fine. In about a minute the city went to 30000 Sims, but the choppyness nearly wasn't there at all, even when scrolling. I tend to use a lot of parks packed with trees in my own cities... Maybe it's a stupid question, but could this be (part) of the problem? 2nd EDIT: I've checked it out already, I've deleted all those tree lots from my city and replaced some of them with a palm tree lot. Seems to make a very big difference. So I should probably stop using those tree lots. That's a major bummer for me because I like those tree lots to seperate roads and neighbourhoods and for building forests...

Those PC's were years ago, I'm not using the same programs as I did back then. I've had more PC's (or different configurations of hardware) and SC never, ever seemed to run as I expected it to. I build and install all my PC's myself so I know what's running on my PC's. For as far as I can tell there shouldn't be anything on there that can cause trouble. In fact, I've only reïnstalled my PC in january so this is a pretty clean installation. My PC can run BF3 (and many other games) without any trouble so I don't think it's a program on my machine that causes my problems.

@ Nonny Moose: I've set the pagefile manually and I clean up and defrag my disks about once a month. I also clean up the registry a lot because a messed up registry also causes a major slowdown And always running the game at it's slowest speed; I don't like the higher ones. As I mentioned before I only have a bout 360MB's worth of plugins so that shouldn't cause a major slowdown I guess.. And what do you mean by "the in-core size of the game"? The space it takes up in the RAM? @Mister Giggles: I've tried changing the in-game settings (see first post), no joy... And I've also tried reïnstalling the video card drivers already. This thread is really something of a last resort since I've already tried so many things. I'm really annoyed at the fact that my PC should easily be able to run this game but never seem to do so. Dont get me wrong, I'm not trying to shoot down all of your tips and advices. In fact, they're much appreciated. On a side note, I once had an AMD Athlon X2 system with a Geforce 6600GT, 4GB's of RAM. That PC also didn't run SC4 properly... :S A later system, Intel E-5500, GeForce 285GTX and also 8GB's of ram, same story...

Alright, I have pagefile enabled again, minimum size is twice the RAM, max. is four times. I've actually created a seperate partition for it on a different physical drive. I closed all other programs and I've got the -cpucount:1 in there. Again, it seems only a little better. I still think performance could and should be a lot better though. Tell me, don't you have any lag at all until you hit 125000, or or do you already have some early on in the game? But again; in my case it's already unplayable at a couple of ten-thousand. What is it exactly that makes the game lag? A lot of props? Inhabitants? Particles?