I think maybe it's time for me to consider building a new computer and I'd like to hear from folks who are lucky enough to have an SC4-friendly system. This is the second time in a month my region file has somehow become corrupted, trashing weeks of work.
So here's a brief description of the problems with a complete computer spec list at the end:
Graphic issues: Some trees display as black boxes (not brown!) with colored pixels scattered within. Any zoom level could be be problematic at any given time, especially 3, 4 and 5. Mostly it's the plopable trees, but Maxis streets, roads and rail lines pixelate at random zoom levels, especially on the diagonals. Also, the cursor changes into a large multi-colored box at times and clouds display as floating, out-of-focus waffle-like boxes sometimes. Powering the system down for three to five minutes usually helps, but the problems always return.
Animations (Sims waiting at bus stops, playing or walking about), frequently display as little black boxes with a few colorful pixels sprinkled in. Once again, one zoom level will display correctly, another one won't and the sequence is entirely random. Software rendering seems to work best, but it's no guarantee.
Crashes to desktop: The first one (about three weeks ago) allowed me to open cities, but any attempt to terraform (god-mode cheat) or delete anything (specifically roads or streets) caused a crash.
This afternoon, I couldn't open a single city in the region which I spent a week re-terraforming before commencing game play.
At startup: It may take two minutes or more for the game to load and respond, but today there was a three-minute pause between the bridge startup screen and the black screen which appears before the MAXIS display.
Specs:
MB: K8 Triton (GA-K8NF-9)
CPU: AMD Athlon (tm) 64 3800+
Display adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Series (Purchased two years ago but not installed until 5-6 weeks ago. It didn't help with the display problems.).
RAM: 2GB (matched set of four 512s).
OS: Windows XP Pro with SP2.
Other: Dual monitors (Viewsonic 19", under a year old), a matched pair of Lite-OnDVD R/RW SOHW 1673S units and a 400GB HD which the system refuses to recognize. (It sees only the 160GB C: drive.) Also, a 500W power supply built into the tower.
I designed and built the system two years ago, and since then, it's been turned on and in use 10-16 hours a day. Display problems with SC4 began about a year ago and have become progressively worse. Crashes began a month ago as described above. None of these problems occur with other software which includes the Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie game series and a bunch of other graphic-heavy adventure games. Heat is not an issue either. The computer has its own 10M BTU window air conditioner and runs at a cool 19-26C.
I don't think I need a need a dual-core CPU. I just want a system that can stand up to the intense demands of SC4 for a couple of years, but I don't do branded computers.
To those patient and tolerant enough to plow through this mess, you have my undying gratitude and any suggestions would be most appreciated. In the interim, I'll probably just play a very small experimental region where I can indulge in some tutorials and experiment with mods and lots I haven't tried yet.
Thanks in advance.
Joan
Luckily, I never had issues like these, so I can't give much valuable information, but the best guess I have is that some part of your system doesn't work properly, i. e. the RAM modules. Bad RAM modules can cause all kinds of problems, and quite often, it's not obvious as long as you do "normal" tasks with your computer. We all know that SC4 is quite a memory hog, though, so it might be possible that one of your modules is broken, and it doesn't get "filled up" with data when using other applications. Of course this is just a wild guess, but it's something I always had to deal with when buying inexpensive RAM modules, in order to safe a few bucks.
Thank you for your suggestion, Andreas. I seem to recall cutting $ corners on the RAM a bit (the whole in-case system ran over $2,000!), so a new and better set might fix the whole system. My son-in-law, who has a degree in computer science, will be here next week so I'll present your idea to him.
If you have a system that's SC4Dx-friendly, what are the specs? Even if it's a brand-name computer, maybe I could do some research and find out about the components. Specs from other successful players would be appreciated as well along with problems experienced. It would help me in choosing the components for a new system.
Once again, thanks for responding, Andreas.
Joan
About the graphics issues, make sure it happens either in software and hardware mode ( can be choose in the SC4 graphics options ). In that case it should be RAM issues as Andreas posted it
If it happen only in hardware, it may be either a Nvidia driver issue or worse, your graphic card maybe damaged. but it does not seems to be that as others games works
Also before playing, turn off you second monitor as well as others in memory resident programs ( AV, firewall etc... do not connect to internet while playing )
Run DatPacker , and run a disk defragmenter, it may help to remove some crashing issues.
You can start by moving your plugins folder elsewhere in your system to see if it help
Take care
@Joan: I build my computers myself, so I know exactly what's in there. ;) And since I didn't have $2000 when I build my current one in spring 2005, I had to make some sacrifices regarding the overall performance. But it still turned out to be a great system, and SC4 runs fine:
Mainboard: MSI KT8 Neo2
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
VGA: GeForce FX 5700LE 256 MB RAM
RAM: 2x 512 MB Infineon
OS: WinXP Pro SP2
HD: 2x 250 MB Samsung 250 GB (as RAID-0)
Case: Arctic Cooling Silentium T1 with 350 W power supply
CPU fan: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64
I think I paid about 700 € ($900) for these components, and I was able to sell my old computer for 250 €, so it was a nice deal. I also built a very similar as the one described above for my neighbor, but I got Samsung RAM for it, which was a few bucks cheaper, but I had lots of problems, since the PC was not stable in all situations. I had similar experiences before, that's why I won't touch cheap RAM anymore. ;)
Joan,
Please go to http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php, then download and run CPU-Z. Then, could you tell us about your RAM?
I suspect that it is either your RAM or motherboard that is the root of the problem.
If the RAM seems to be an iffy brand, I would suggest running MemTest86 next, it is a program that tests RAM's integrity, telling you whether or not its good.
I am currently living with the mistake of cheap RAM, I really should know better by now.
Hopefully we will be able to figure this out!
Cheers,
Kevin
Many thanks to both of you. I'll try out your suggestions later today. And come to think of it, wouanagaine, I had downloaded and installed about a dozen new plugins right before the latest crash incident occurred. For the most part, I wanted walls and grabbed jeronij's diagonal walls along with the textures, etc., along with some seawalls. Much of the rest were Pegasus products including the new civic center which has been released just recently.
Anyway, I think I can backtrack and remove most of the new installs to see if one caused the problem.
Even if that works, the display issue will have to be addressed and I'll probably start with a new set of RAM.
Thanks again for your help.
Joan
Edit: BigSlark, you must have posted while I was creating my reply. I certainly will try out your ideas. I don't know the specifics on my RAM but I believe it was a "bargain basement" set. Thank you for adding your suggestions.
Jm
Joan,
I wouldn't buy anything until I diagnosed the problem. That's the easiest way to waste money on what usually turns out to be a simple problem.
Please let me know if you need any assistance.
Cheers,
Kevin
OK BigSlark, I downloaded CPU-Z and PC Wizard 2007, but I don't know what the data means. I have a friend who will, though, and I'm going to call him tomorrow.
Thanks again to all who offered ideas and suggestions The members are what makes this site so special.
Joan
Hello Joan,
Sorry it took me four days to reply. I somehow missed this thread in my "Show new replies" page.
In CPU-Z, click on the "SPD" Tab and tell us what the module size, Max Bandwidth, Manfacturer, and Part Number is. Do this for each memory slot, you select which one you're viewing from a drop down list with the title "Memory Slot Selection" just above it.
Through this, I will be able to Google your RAM to see if its known for being defective. As crazy as it seems, I have encountered entire models of RAM that are bad through fixing all of my friend's and family's computers over the years.
Cheers,
Kevin
OK BigSlark, but all four displayed identical readings. I did it several times just to be sure I hadn't missed a blink.
So here's the data:
Module size: 512 MBytes, Max Bandwidth: PC3200 (200 MHz), Mfg.: Corsair, Part No.: VS512MB400.
For what it's worth, this was my first attempt to build a system myself and everything that could go wrong did. The case was bent, the Mobo has a faulty chipset fan, I couldn't get sound to either one of the DVD RWs and there was something wrong with the HD (don't remember exactly what). Anyway, the RAM was just about the only part that didn't malfunction -- how ironic!
Thanks for responding.
Joan
What nvidia drivers are you running?
Another idea to stress test your system is grab a copy of some benchmarking tool that will completely stress all your system components for a number of hours. May or may not crash you.
Biggest thing though is running a good defrag or better yet, if you havent reinstalled window since you bought the system either do so or grab a copy of ccleaner or ace utilities. ccleaner is free and has some nifty features though ace util is shareware.
And one last thing, most games will not take advantage or a dual core proc. Even with dual core systems becoming std many games have yet to make the leap.
Joan,
The Crash when you try to terraform tends to be related to custom content as it's one I get when I have dependencies missing. Occasionally when I am testing I will forget to put in a necessary file, and when I terraform it will crash. Have you installed any new lots?
Also, the black pixel thing is something that used to happen on my laptop whenever I tabbed to another programme, and restarting helped. It's not an issue I have on my new laptop so it's possibly a graphics card issue.
Pheonix Rising, the NVidia driver is v7.1.2.5 dated 1/10/2005. Beyond that, I've been unable to find any support for my card at the Web site. As stated, it is two years old but was installed just a few weeks ago. I tend to keep spare parts around just in case. :D
I did a complete reformat two or three months ago, but I'm sure a good "defragging" wouldn't hurt. Also, I'll check on those benchmark programs. I agree with you on the dual-core issue as well. I don't think I need one and see no reason my system should be inadequate. The game was published four years ago, for heaven's sake, and is supposed to work (minimally) with Windows 98, a 500 MHz Pentium III and 128 MB of RAM. I cannot think of any reason why my system would be insufficient.
And Diggis, I did trace the earlier crashes to a mod I'd installed incorrectly, but the latest crash issue (a new and different region than the one discussed above), has not responded to fixes. Even complete removal of the plugin folder didn't help. So, I'm reterraforming and will be a bit more picky about selecting the plugins I want to keep. And you may be right about the graphic card. The game performs flawlessly on my year-old HP laptop.
Thanks to both of you for your suggestions.
Joan
latest drivers for a 6800 are v94.24 dated may 31 2007 get em from nvidia.com. Dont bother using anything released from the card vendor (BFG, PNY, etc.) Depending on what you have running you could experience an across the board increase in performance.
I've had this happen a few times, myself, and it was quickly fixed with a restart of the system.
Other than that, though, it worked just fine. It's a graphics card issue, and can be related to overheating.
Phoenix Rising, give yourself a pat on the back and go to the head of the class. I finally found the new driver you recommended. I couldn't find it before because I keep Java scripts turned off most of the time.
In hindsight, I realize that it was some of the newer custom content that was not displaying correctly. That would explain why the old driver could no longer handle the job.
Anyway, both the crash and display problems appear to have been solved for the time being.
Many thanks to all of you who offered advice, sympathy and understanding!
Joan
ok, that will be $75 for the tip :D If you have an add-on sound card you might want to see what the latest version of those drivers are as well. I would not install them though unless they include some new feature or speed improvement though. Last item to mention, make sure your chipset drivers are up to date or even installed. I know with the nforce boards, xp may notice them but not having the nforce drivers installed decreases performance tremendously. At least in regards to the IDE controller. I did a little research with some linux benchmarks and found a HUGE difference with the nvidia IDE controller drivers installed.
Anyway, glad to hear the video problems are sorted out. I'm gonna go bury my nose in the new Potter book for a few.