Decided to start all over again

[Alkaola]

Hey all, I've been away a long time and just a few days ago after visiting Cairo I decided to start again with simcity 4.

I used to have a gigantic plugin folder (and gigantic crahsproblem  ) I removed it all and start over downloading.

I'm downloading now for one day only from the SCD stex....I just downloaded all props and model files available and some NAM files..
How can it be -only downloading prop packs from the SCD stex - that I experience zoom crashing after playing 15 minutes simcity 4? I'm so sick and tired of it but I can't seem to find a solution for it.

So is there anyone with a big plugin folder who can show me how to get a big plugin folder without getting crashes when zooming in or out ?

[alan_vzla]

The most probable thing is that you don't have enough RAM, my older computer with slightly less than 400Mb plugin folder, crashed a lot.

Please post how big your RAM memory is

[mtg]

i had the same problem (with 3gb of RAM) get a dual core and your problems are gone, unless you hover over TEpp

[Alkaola]

hmm doesn't seem plausible my friends,

intel dual core 6700 2.66GHz 3,00 GB

that must be enough i would guess 

maybe it could be the rush hour cd ...you never know ?

is  3,00 really too low? ... i mean it crashes with big cities ok, but with my plugin folder now it crashes after 10 minutes playing when zooming out ...that's not what you call a big city

[alan_vzla]

Could be a case of uncompatible plugins, try playing the game without any plugins, and if the problem continues then the most likely thing is that the CD or the game itself has a problem

[catty]

Simcity 4 was never designed for dual core computers, have a read of this Topic: Vista, Dual Cores & Other Technicalities..  and see if it helps at all with your problem

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?PHPSESSID=06f65b197cfd705656dc7ffde6ea270e&topic=5060.0

[jeronij]

Hi Alakola, nice to see you again . How many files do you have in your plugins folder ??. Not the size  of the folder, but the total number of files and folders inside it

Anyway, the higher the number, the more you should think about using compressed files, instead individual files. This would help not only to minimize CTD (when the game tries to open too many files at once) but also decrease significantly the game and menu's loading times. HD defragmentation also helps the game to better access the files.

You can use Datpacker to compress your files, but dont forget to make a backup first 


And welcome back to the community 

[SimFox]

One thing you may want to try is to download Prime95 (google it) for you type of System (x86 or x64) and your type of CPU single or Multi core. And let it run in a mode testing both CPU and memory.
These random crashes me be result of "weak"7faulty memory. SC4 uses more of it them most programs you would run in everyday situation as a result you may expirience with it problem you don't notice in other situations.

[Alkaola]

Alot of thanks for the replies guys

@Jeronij it's nice for me to be back too, I'm very motivated to create new cities the upcoming months and show pictures here on the community

but uhmm... well a few days ago i started downloading files here on SCdevotion...i didn't downloaded files from the Simtrop exchange yet. Most of the files i downloaded are BCS creations...So it works with the autoinstaller and automatically put it in folders.
Can you give me an idea of how to get a stabil plugin folder....Jeronij? Because i'm not sure how to do this...

to the others:

Thanks for the advise, I keep you all updated

[jeronij]

Hi again A.

I posted a link to the Datpacker tool in my previous post. This tool allows you to compress your plugins folder, and make a big file of it, excluding all the non necessary (html, bmp, txt,...) and duplicated files (sc4lot, sc4desc,sc4dmodel...)

You have to create your plugins folder the usual way, just place the files there, using installers or manually. Once you have all the wanted plugins there, make a copy of the folder and call it plugins_uncompressed, or something like that, so you can always modify and recompress that backup plugins folder.

You can make a game run and load it. Check both, the game loading times, and the ingame menus loading times. Just for the sake of curiosity

Run the Datpacker tool, please, read carefully the instructions and information about this tool before proceeding, otherwise unexpected results may occur 

If everything went fine, you should have only one BIG file in your plugins folders, instead the original maremagnum of files and folders. Run the game now, and check the loading times again. Also, the zooming crashes should be gone, at least, most of the times, except it there is some conflicting plugin or the resulting dat file is really big. I have an +-4GB plugins folder, made of several datpacked files, not only a big one, and I have very decent loading times, and almost no zoom crash, except if I zoom too quick in a very dense (lots of models) city.

As a suggestion, I use both game's plugins folders. One for the regular plugins, usually whatever is lot related, and the other for the modds. I'd strongly suggest to follow this way, so you can safely compress the regular (lots) plugins folder as often as neccessary, and keep the modds individualized in the other plugins folder. Usually the CTD's (not the zoom-related ones) are caused by conflicting mods

I hope this helps 

[Alkaola]

Hey J

Thanks for your answer I indeed installed Datpacker and i must say i'm quite astonished !!

The loading times are much faster. Amazing!    Though i didn't play the game long enough yet to see result regarding crashing...but we will find out !!! I hope it'll be fine now..

Just one last question: What exactly do i have to type in at properties to get rid of the EA games intro   (something with intro off ? i forgot )

[jeronij]

Code Select Expand

-Intro:off 

[Alkaola]

Thanks my friend 

But it doesn't seem to work ...i'm typing it like this now  "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4\Apps\SimCity 4.exe"-Intro:off   it seems that i'm doin ' something wrong


anyway ...let's talk about something else :

I've been playing the game for two hours without ONE SINGLE CRASH   

I've tried everything you people told me and with succes, i'm zooming in and out without any trouble My plugin folder is 2.5 gigs big ....and still downloading 

Thanks everyone for the great help....i will show off my accomplishment the upcoming weeks 

[meinhosen]

Hey Alkaola, welcome back!

Try this to get rid of that pesky intro:

Code Select Expand

"C:\...\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -f -intro:off

Looks like jeroni forgot the -f.  Hope that helps!

[jeronij]

Well, I dont have any -f ... 

This is my full shortcut code:

Code Select Expand

"C:\...\Maxis\SimCity 4\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -CPUCount:2 -Intro:off

Oh¡¡, dont forget the blank ¡¡¡ ( I cant see it in the code you wrote )

However, sometimes the changes I made to it didnt take effect inmediately -dont ask me why  - and I had to wait for the next day (PC restart??) for the changes to take effect...

Anyway, I am glad to see the the Datpacker made its job once again  Thanks Wouanagaine