Night Mode, a question

Boeing777300ER · December 23, 2014, 03:20:49 PM

I am unable to get any night lighting to work in Darknite buildings despite having installed Simfox's Day n Nite mod and having updated my game using the Maxis updates. Am I missing something? Maybe a setting or another mod I should have installed?

Any help appreciated.

Regards, Dave.

vortext · December 23, 2014, 04:00:14 PM

Have you also installed the BAT update which is necessary for custom nightlight? After applying the game version should read 1.1.640.0 which you can check by right-click on the .exe, select properties and then 'details' tab.

Boeing777300ER · December 23, 2014, 05:23:12 PM

Hi, yes I have installed the BAT update, several times times just in case

but to no avail, still no lighting in the buildings. The road and rail vehicles are working fine, its just the buildings.

Regards, Dave

mgb204 · December 23, 2014, 11:20:56 PM

Quote from: Boeing777300ER on December 23, 2014, 05:23:12 PM
Hi, yes I have installed the BAT update, several times times just in case

My first thoughts here were that you maybe didn't apply the 1.1.640.0 patch successfully, when you say you have installed this several times, that is not possible as the installer will not continue to run and gives an error when the patch is already there.

Please can you follow the steps from Vortext and verify that you indeed have version 1.1.640.0 before moving forwards. If you don't have this patch successfully installed (that's really the only cause that makes any sense) starting to play around with graphics settings is only going to make your problems worse not better and potentially break things rather than help so it's very important to be 100% on this.

Boeing777300ER · December 24, 2014, 01:19:19 AM

This seems to be where the problem is, I have checked the .exe as vortex suggested and no matter how many times I run the SC4Update4BAT.exe file it does not change the SC4.exe file to read 1.1.640.0, this is despite the message appearing to say that the update was successful. Is there something else I need to do to get this patch to work?

Regards, Dave

vortext · December 24, 2014, 01:47:12 AM

So, what version is it? And which edition of the game are you playing, i.e. Rush Hour or Deluxe? It might be the various updates weren't applied in the correct order.

In addition and without accusation I might add the BAT update only works for legitimate copies of the game. If it turns out to be a cracked version you're out of luck and the case is closed.

Boeing777300ER · December 24, 2014, 02:06:27 AM

The .exe file shows file version 1.1.638.0 It is a genuine original copy of Deluxe installed from a DVD as supplied by Amazon, and the updates were installed in the correct order. First the Patch 1 update so that I could install NAM and then the SC4Update4BAT to patch the .exe file to 1.1.640.0 which for some reason will not work.
I will keep trying to find the cause of the problem, I just hope that I don't have to do yet another re-install of the complete game as it is becoming a pain.

Anyway, thanks for your help so far, any other suggestions are most welcome.

Regards, Dave

mgb204 · December 24, 2014, 05:56:50 AM

I've just double checked and indeed the Update4Bat will not install if you already have updated the game, it gives an error and refuses to continue. I wonder if it's at all possible you've inadvertently installed SC4 more than once on your PC? That way the update could be working, just not for the version you are looking at. It's a long shot but it's worth double checking your Program Files and Program Files (x86) folders for SC4 or Maxis related stuff and making sure there is only one version installed.

Additionally whilst installing these patches, have you modified simcity_1.dat at all, for example by installing the I-HT fix? Again I'd expect an error to be thrown up in this event. This problem is a strange one because it doesn't make sense that the installer gives the all clear if it's not able to complete its operations successfully.

APSMS · December 24, 2014, 08:11:45 AM

The BAT update installer dumps a Log file into the container folder whenever you install (or try to) the update. Maybe have a look and see what it thinks the problem is?

When I tried to install the EP1 update, I picked the wrong one by mistake, and the installation of course failed. What it also did, however, was prevent me from installing the right regional update, because the wrong update files had still changed certain files. A reinstall (surprisingly painless, though admittedly I'm on a fresh install of Windows) fixed this, and the correct region patch installed seamlessly.

Check the log, though. Clearly it's not liking some of the files, and the log will tell you if you need to reinstall or not by identifying the issue

Boeing777300ER · December 24, 2014, 03:13:52 PM

Thanks for all the replies, I will have a look over the next few days to see if there are any conflicts or changed settings. if not, it looks like the long overdue format of my PC is on the cards, so I can try a fresh install of windows and everything else.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Regards, Dave.

HappyDays · December 24, 2014, 08:53:13 PM

This is the less free option, but it'll guarantee your nightlights work:

http://www.gog.com/game/simcity_4_deluxe_edition

This site is my preferred poison, but there are other options such as Steam and Origin. GOG has the advantage because it's removed the disk-check and doesn't need a third party to function.

Sales come around occasionally, dropping the price down to 9.99 or 4.99.