Unsolveable/Inexplicable Crash to Desktop

[MutantPlatypus]

Hello,

So I have a problem.  The city I've invested hours in is broken.  Whenever I try to load it, I get a CTD immediately after it finishes loading.

When it was working, I was trying to fix some brown boxes associated with the CAM building packs.  Specifically, COBB's 13th St apartments and bixel's Wang Chao (also Chau) residences.  I went and downloaded the prop set from COBB and the un-CAMified version of the Wang Chao residences (I copied only the SC4Model file into my plugins folder).  At the same time, I also removed some extra files that I forgot to remove from RTMT v3.6 (I removed some Euro textures from the SAM stations, as I had both the US and Euro textures in there, along with both low and high capacity stations.  I hadn't used any of these SAM stations in my city, however.)

So I go to load the city and...CRASH!  Oops, maybe it had to do with the wonky Wang Chao model CAM/non-CAM thing.  I put that back to the way it was before the crash... still crashes.  Now I also remove the COBB prop pack...still crashes.  Now I restore the files I deleted from the RTMT folder... still crashes.  Everything is back to the way it was when it worked, and the city still crashes.  I've even tried removing the SC4Lot files associated with the problem residences, but it still crashes on load.  I tried removing the RTMT pack...stil crashes.  I pull out a few hairs.

So now I've put everything back in and tried loading my other cities.  These don't have the problem buildings or RTMT stations.  They work fine.  I make a new city, and using the BuildingPlop cheat, I plop down both the problem residences, fully expecting one of them to crash.  They don't.  The problem residences work fine in a new city.  They render without brown boxes and everything.  In fact, when I load the broken city, the problem residences render fine firght before crashing.  In the region view, the problem residences are still brown boxes because I haven't even been able to save the broken city after I made all these changes. 

I'm pretty sure, now, that the residences and the RTMT are not the problem.  How can I determine what's causing my city to crash whenever I load it?  No matter what I do - even rmeoving all plugins or importing the city to another tile in the region -  I can't get the city to load

Here is an exception report from when I load the city.  Can you tell me what information is in it?  Any infor you can give me helps, as I have no idea how to read this.

Code Select Expand

Exception time: 07/22/2010, at 15:54:14.
Exception code: 0xC0000005 (-1073741819) ACCESS_VIOLATION.
Current thread ID: 5096 (0x000013e8).
Version information:
Application/module path: D:\Program Files (x86)\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe
Application/module version name: SimCity 4
Application/module version: 1.1.610.0
System version: Windows NT 6.1
System memory: 2048 Megabytes total, 596 Megabytes free.

Exception module:  .
Exception address: 0x1d0d631d. Section:Offset: 0x00:0x00000000.

Registers
   EAX: 1d0d62e8
   EBX: 34800000
   ECX: 1d0d6218
   EDX: 1d0d6218
   ESI: 163dc8d4
   EDI: 1d0d6218
   CS:EIP: 0023:1d0d631d
   SS:ESP: 002b:0018f950  EBP:b4800000
   DS:002b  ES:002b  FS:0053  GS:002b
   Flags: 00010246

Loaded Modules
   Address          Size Module             Path
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   0x00400000    8187904 SimCity 4.exe      D:\Program Files (x86)\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe
   0x77d90000    1572864 ntdll.dll          C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
   0x76fe0000    1048576 kernel32.dll       C:\Windows\syswow64\kernel32.dll
   0x772b0000     286720 KERNELBASE.dll     C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll
   0x75ee0000    1048576 USER32.dll         C:\Windows\syswow64\USER32.dll
   0x773a0000     589824 GDI32.dll          C:\Windows\syswow64\GDI32.dll
   0x77300000      40960 LPK.dll            C:\Windows\syswow64\LPK.dll
   0x77580000     643072 USP10.dll          C:\Windows\syswow64\USP10.dll
   0x75fe0000     704512 msvcrt.dll         C:\Windows\syswow64\msvcrt.dll
   0x75d00000     655360 ADVAPI32.dll       C:\Windows\syswow64\ADVAPI32.dll
   0x76090000     102400 sechost.dll        C:\Windows\SysWOW64\sechost.dll
   0x75a40000     983040 RPCRT4.dll         C:\Windows\syswow64\RPCRT4.dll
   0x75900000     393216 SspiCli.dll        C:\Windows\syswow64\SspiCli.dll
   0x758f0000      49152 CRYPTBASE.dll      C:\Windows\syswow64\CRYPTBASE.dll
   0x71840000      28672 WSOCK32.dll        C:\Windows\system32\WSOCK32.dll
   0x77540000     217088 WS2_32.dll         C:\Windows\syswow64\WS2_32.dll
   0x77d60000      24576 NSI.dll            C:\Windows\syswow64\NSI.dll
   0x75da0000     999424 WININET.dll        C:\Windows\syswow64\WININET.dll
   0x759e0000     356352 SHLWAPI.dll        C:\Windows\syswow64\SHLWAPI.dll
   0x770e0000      12288 Normaliz.dll       C:\Windows\syswow64\Normaliz.dll
   0x76d00000    1265664 urlmon.dll         C:\Windows\syswow64\urlmon.dll
   0x77150000    1425408 ole32.dll          C:\Windows\syswow64\ole32.dll
   0x77310000     585728 OLEAUT32.dll       C:\Windows\syswow64\OLEAUT32.dll
   0x77620000    1163264 CRYPT32.dll        C:\Windows\syswow64\CRYPT32.dll
   0x75c00000      49152 MSASN1.dll         C:\Windows\syswow64\MSASN1.dll
   0x77790000    2068480 iertutil.dll       C:\Windows\syswow64\iertutil.dll
   0x760b0000   12881920 SHELL32.dll        C:\Windows\syswow64\SHELL32.dll
   0x722c0000     466944 DSOUND.dll         C:\Windows\system32\DSOUND.dll
   0x73f30000     204800 WINMM.dll          C:\Windows\system32\WINMM.dll
   0x72640000     151552 POWRPROF.dll       C:\Windows\system32\POWRPROF.dll
   0x76e40000    1691648 SETUPAPI.dll       C:\Windows\syswow64\SETUPAPI.dll
   0x77430000     159744 CFGMGR32.dll       C:\Windows\syswow64\CFGMGR32.dll
   0x77770000      73728 DEVOBJ.dll         C:\Windows\syswow64\DEVOBJ.dll
   0x73b60000      36864 VERSION.dll        C:\Windows\system32\VERSION.dll
   0x6f8b0000     819200 OPENGL32.dll       C:\Windows\system32\OPENGL32.dll
   0x71760000     139264 GLU32.dll          C:\Windows\system32\GLU32.dll
   0x71850000     946176 DDRAW.dll          C:\Windows\system32\DDRAW.dll
   0x719c0000      24576 DCIMAN32.dll       C:\Windows\system32\DCIMAN32.dll
   0x73b40000      77824 dwmapi.dll         C:\Windows\system32\dwmapi.dll
   0x716c0000     135168 MSVFW32.dll        C:\Windows\system32\MSVFW32.dll
   0x774b0000     540672 COMCTL32.dll       C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.7600.16385_none_ebf82fc36c758ad5\COMCTL32.dll
   0x75c10000     393216 IMM32.dll          C:\Windows\syswow64\IMM32.dll
   0x75b30000     835584 MSCTF.dll          C:\Windows\syswow64\MSCTF.dll
   0x74420000     307200 apphelp.dll        C:\Windows\system32\apphelp.dll
   0x6e930000    2195456 AcGenral.DLL       C:\Windows\AppPatch\AcGenral.DLL
   0x73d00000     524288 UxTheme.dll        C:\Windows\system32\UxTheme.dll
   0x719b0000      61440 samcli.dll         C:\Windows\system32\samcli.dll
   0x719f0000      81920 MSACM32.dll        C:\Windows\system32\MSACM32.dll
   0x717f0000      12288 sfc.dll            C:\Windows\system32\sfc.dll
   0x71710000      53248 sfc_os.DLL         C:\Windows\system32\sfc_os.DLL
   0x72340000      94208 USERENV.dll        C:\Windows\system32\USERENV.dll
   0x74b70000      45056 profapi.dll        C:\Windows\system32\profapi.dll
   0x71970000      73728 MPR.dll            C:\Windows\system32\MPR.dll
   0x10000000     638976 ~df394b.tmp        C:\Users\Greg\AppData\Local\Temp\~ef5eb6\~df394b.tmp
   0x75ed0000      20480 psapi.dll          C:\Windows\syswow64\psapi.dll
   0x73d80000    1695744 comctl32.dll       C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.7600.16385_none_421189da2b7fabfc\comctl32.dll
   0x75c70000     536576 CLBCatQ.DLL        C:\Windows\syswow64\CLBCatQ.DLL
   0x74740000    1003520 propsys.dll        C:\Windows\system32\propsys.dll
   0x74b40000     135168 ntmarta.dll        C:\Windows\system32\ntmarta.dll
   0x77460000     282624 WLDAP32.dll        C:\Windows\syswow64\WLDAP32.dll
   0x749b0000     335872 rasapi32.dll       C:\Windows\system32\rasapi32.dll
   0x74990000      86016 rasman.dll         C:\Windows\system32\rasman.dll
   0x028f0000     294912 SimCity 4 Extra Ch D:\Program Files (x86)\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Plugins\SimCity 4 Extra Cheats Plugin.dll
   0x73b20000      90112 CRYPTSP.dll        C:\Windows\system32\CRYPTSP.dll
   0x73ae0000     241664 rsaenh.dll         C:\Windows\system32\rsaenh.dll
   0x71730000      94208 bcrypt.dll         C:\Windows\system32\bcrypt.dll
   0x71400000     249856 bcryptprimitives.d C:\Windows\SysWOW64\bcryptprimitives.dll
   0x713c0000     229376 ncrypt.dll         C:\Windows\system32\ncrypt.dll
   0x708e0000      90112 GPAPI.dll          C:\Windows\system32\GPAPI.dll
   0x713a0000     114688 cryptnet.dll       C:\Windows\system32\cryptnet.dll
   0x74970000      24576 SensApi.dll        C:\Windows\system32\SensApi.dll
   0x71380000      86016 Cabinet.dll        C:\Windows\system32\Cabinet.dll
   0x71720000      57344 DEVRTL.dll         C:\Windows\system32\DEVRTL.dll
   0x6eea0000    7733248 nvd3dum.dll        C:\Windows\system32\nvd3dum.dll
   0x71580000     835584 D3DIM700.DLL       C:\Windows\system32\D3DIM700.DLL
   0x71a80000     233472 MMDevApi.dll       C:\Windows\System32\MMDevApi.dll
   0x71a10000     221184 AUDIOSES.DLL       C:\Windows\system32\AUDIOSES.DLL
   0x74af0000     278528 dnsapi.DLL         C:\Windows\system32\dnsapi.DLL
   0x74ad0000     114688 iphlpapi.DLL       C:\Windows\system32\iphlpapi.DLL
   0x74ac0000      28672 WINNSI.DLL         C:\Windows\system32\WINNSI.DLL
   0x72630000      28672 avrt.dll           C:\Windows\system32\avrt.dll
   0x6d510000     507904 DbgHelp.dll        D:\Program Files (x86)\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\DbgHelp.dll

Call stack:
(Debug information (.pdb files) appears to be absent).
0x0000:0x00000000 .

Stack data: (ESP is 0x0018f950)
0x0018f7d0   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f7f0   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f810   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f830   00000000 32013201 31013501 37013801 34013401 33013701 38013501 31013101
0x0018f850   34013801 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f870   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f890   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f8b0   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f8d0   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f8f0   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f910   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0018f930   00000000 34fdffff e4020000 34fdffff cc020000 19000000 00000000 0000c0ff
0x0018f950   e8620d1d 1a325f00 01000000 18620d1d 9c33d311 a41bb922 34620d1d 0000c000
0x0018f970   0000c0ff 0000c07f 000080b4 00008034 d9327c00 18620d1d 0000c07f 01000000
0x0018f990   18620d1d dc74b902 9c33d311 0000c0ff 0000c07f 0000c0ff 0000c07f d48c7c00
0x0018f9b0   18620d1d dc74b902 9c33d311 145cc00f 18abab00 6c5cc00f 00000000 145cc00f
0x0018f9d0   d2f74f00 145cc00f 185cc00f e9e5cb00 4cab213e 4474b902 28bb62c1 da7ce43f
0x0018f9f0   864552c1 13dc6241 eb6cfb40 0000c0ff ef1a8000 c6875000 dc74b902 185cc00f
0x0018fa10   b42abf13 4cab213e 145cc00f a04b5000 01000000 01000000 9c7c7610 145cc00f
0x0018fa30   4cab213e 02aa5000 2e9a0000 48e11d42 5481be02 2e9a0000 a87c7610 a87c7610
0x0018fa50   54603d16 7a6c5000 2e9a0000 48e11d42 00000000 5481be02 007c7610 cfc84f00
0x0018fa70   5481be02 00000000 14acb014 20fb1800 a87c7610 528e4400 5481be02 14384115
0x0018fa90   20384115 2a9a0000 141ab804 141ab804 51030000 ba020000 00000000 dcacb014
0x0018fab0   540aad11 dcacb014 6478c204 00000000 2e9a0000 08fb1800 64acb014 fcfa1800

Instruction data: (EIP is 0x1d0d631d)
0x1d0d629d   63 6f 44 e1 79 8d 43 0c cb 12 45 0a fa 78 44 18 83 90 43 d5 28 15 45 98 aa ab 00 01 00 64 08 c7
0x1d0d62bd   00 00 00 77 00 00 00 c7 00 00 00 77 00 00 00 8c 6d b9 02 d0 7a 6b 45 af 7e d9 44 28 f1 6e 45 76
0x1d0d62dd   ab 6b 45 a2 e7 d9 44 aa b3 6f 45 1c 63 0d 1d 00 00 00 00 d0 62 0d 1d 14 63 0d 1d d4 62 0d 1d 39
0x1d0d62fd   00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f0 62 0d 1d 34 63 0d 1d f4 62 0d 1d 50
0x1d0d631d   63 0d 1d 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 63 0d 1d 54 63 0d 1d 14 63 0d 1d 3a
0x1d0d633d   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 63 0d 1d 74 63 0d 1d 34 63 0d 1d 3a
0x1d0d635d   00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 50 63 0d 1d 94 63 0d 1d 54 63 0d 1d 38
0x1d0d637d   00 00 00 02 00 00 00 b8 63 0d 1d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 70 63 0d 1d b4 63 0d 1d 74 63 0d 1d 3a


[k808j]

Check to see if you have any mods, I've heard Columbus Tree Terrain Mod will CTD with certain files. Then load city w/o plugins.

[xxdita]

Adding a prop pack or any sc4models wouldn't cause a CTD, so we can rule that out as the problem. Have you maybe removed something else from your plugins?

[jmyers2043]

K808j has a good thought. Two tree controllers (and maybe two terrain mods) will cause a CTD. Some transportation things are sensitive too. Like if you have a seaport and remove it from the plugins without demolishing it from the game first..

I understand that the prop packs are probably the last thing you 'know' you did. But props are simply not there - they don't even cause boxes. Buildings if not in the plugins will cause boxes but I've not known of any that will cause a CTD.

Was there a 'cleanitall' file associated with one or your more recent plugins? I'd be looking for something that was there that is now not ... and transportation things like a seaport or airport would be high on my list of things to check. As well any duplicate tree or terrain controllers.

Good Luck. . .

- Jim

<edit>

Try to do a search ... CTD ... or 'crash to desktop' may point to a thread where others have asked and found answers. . .

[MandelSoft]

Another thing that could cause immediate CTDs is the Functional Landmarks Mod. If you install this mod while having already built Maxis Landmarks, this causes the game to crash.

[MutantPlatypus]

Thanks for all the suggestions, but none of them worked.  I tried loading the city with no plugins, and I don't have any tree mods.  In fact, to make sure, I searched for tree mods.  I discovered one I like and am using it in another city now .  I have all the seaports and don't have the functional landmarks mod.  I'm very sure I didn't modify my plugins in any way except as mentioned above.

A search for crash to desktop only finds this thread.

As I was installing the Meadowshire mod, I realized this:  the crash to desktop happens AFTER the city loads, unlike when I was missing the terrain textures, where the game crashed before the city appeared.  The game actually renders the city once before it crashes.  Brown boxes will even appear/change depending on dependencies.  When I remove all plugins, the crash happens before the city loads.  What does that mean?

[Indisguise]

Well the second part is most likely a mod that changes a civic lot of some sort or a civic lot thats in your city when the game was saved, that now either not there or has been changed or modded in some manner, eg toroca's opera house fix, if you have this ploped in your city an saved it, then reopen the city without it CTD. Or if you have the old opera house ploped in your city and add the mod to your game and try to open the city after adding the mod the city will CTD. Not sure why it happens, but it happens. Think it has something to do with the save city file having the stats of the older  version of the lot and when you open the game with a lot change or a mod that changes it, the game can't find it and it gets confused and crashes.

As for your original problem, not really sure, by the stuff adding to your game that you discribed, you shouldn't be having a CTD problem, unless it's the terrian mod, which i don't mess around with myself, I start using one at the start of  rendering of a region and don't try and change it.


Could be just you have a corrupt save file for the city, very rare this happens, but it can happen.

Is it just 1 city your having this problem with or is it with other cities in the same or differnt regions  ??

ps back up any cities somewhere outside the game before trying this, or the problem affecting the 1 city could spread and if trying to open other cities, don't save apon exit

[MutantPlatypus]

Ah, ok, I know which lot would be causing the crash when I remove all plugins.  This means all the lot files are there, because it loads more than if I played with a clean plunging folder.  I'm thinking maybe I deleted a non-CAM version of a growable lot (typically comes as a dependency for the probable CAMeLot) after one popped up in my city, but the crash time would suggest I have all the lots I need.

My next step would be to confirm the above by reinstalling all the non-CAM lots again and see if it loads.  Please stop me if this is absolutely not what's causing the problem.

Anybody have a system for saving changes to the regions and plugins folders?  Kinda like a CVS for repository that updates after each save.

[Lowkee33]

Edit: Well Hello there.  My entire post is a series of quotes within quotes.

Anybody have a system for saving changes to the regions and plugins folders?

Best bet for that is copy/paste.  I have many folders of city/region-specific plugin contents.

For save games copy/paste also.  However, since they can change in game, an alt-tab copy paste works too.  I have a folder of save games that I have changed the names of to mark the year I saved (NewYork1, NewYork5)

Hmm, I wonder if the save game explorer could help you.  I just checked out a city and it lists the instances of every building/prop.  Checking what is in the save game and what is in each dependency might just be the most tedious thing I can imagine doing right now.  Hmm... Making a program to do that for you might be easier.  It does give you stats based on X,Y coordinates, but you would have to guess where in the city your problem is.

My next step would be to confirm the above by reinstalling all the non-CAM lots again and see if it loads. 

I will stop you.  Taking out the lots and the models may make problems for your city, but not a CTD.

I did have a CTD problem when I modded a .desc that was in a MegaPack that was also Datapacked with my terrain mod.  So, if you modded anything I would recommend getting that file fresh (a vanilla mod )

Thats a toughy.  You actually see the city? dang!

Ok, reading your post again.  Do you have NAM?  I remember the RTMT install asking questions about NAM, so maybe there is an issue there.  I could believe that the city loads, tries to make traffic, and buggers out.  Try a NAM re-install.

[Indisguise]

would have to agree with lowkee33 about it being a not being a growable lot thats causing your CTD issues.

Many many times I've messed around with growable lots, changing their stats, forgetting to put one I used in a region or city back in my game and never has it caused a CTD. It has cause all sort of issues with brown boxes, missing textures and all sort of demand and comute issues trying to simulate the city, but never crashed my game.

If your using the CAM you might look over the list of non capatiable mods could have accidently added one of them.

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=1925.0

[MutantPlatypus]

I don't have any CAM-incompatible mods. Let me reiterate:  other cities in the same region work just fine.

Thanks for all the help guys!  You just saved me a bunch of time.  I tried opening the city with the NAM uninstalled, but that didn't work.

Where can I get a save game explorer?  That would be super useful.

[WC_EEND]

it's on the LEX, here

[MutantPlatypus]

it's on the LEX, here

Thanks!  When I searched, I used a space in "save game", which is why I couldn't find it.  The search feature should really be changed to handle that kind of stuff.  Anyway, I found a tool that automatically backs up my saves:  SC4 Watcher