Possible Vista fix for Sim City4?

[c0rnh0li0]

Like alot of people, I've been having problem w/crashes. Earlier this week, I downloaded some updates per routine. Ever since, I haven't had a crash. The game will try to crash. But after freezing temporarily or the screen going black, you can get back into the game from where you were w/out reloading.

Keep in mind, I'M NOT A COMPUTER GUY. Not saying this does the trick. But I did want to pass it on if it was a solution.

Update for Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 (KB951213)
Update for Windows Vista - English (KB937286)
Intel Corporation - Display -Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family

Those are the updates I downloaded that day. I have no idea which "fixed" the problem. Like I said, I'm not tech savvy. My guess would be the 2nd one. If anyone has better knowledge of this & can chime in, please do so to help everyone else w/this problem.

[krbe]

If it was one of these, I doubt it would be the KB937286 update; that's an update for local help files. Likewise, Silverlight has to do with the .NET technology, so it was probably graphics related.

[c0rnh0li0]

Might be. Seems most of the time the game crashed on me, it was during zooms in & out.

[girlfromverona]

I thought I had Vista issues too when I got a new PC, but it turned out that SC4 doesn't like dual core processors, so maybe that's your problem? To fix it, once you're running the game, go into your Task Manager, right click on the SC4 process, and then click Set Affinity. Untick one of the CPU boxes and hit OK. Unfortunately you have to do this every time you run the game, but I haven't had any crashes since I started doing this, so it's worth it. 

[rushman5]

I want to keep this topic going.

Vista works seamlessly until i build anything that has been made with BAT GMAX or 3DS studio (in short, custom buildings, not textures such as terrain mods)

Any fix or attamps I should make?  GTA4 is starting to get boring...

[HandsOn]

I thought I had Vista issues too when I got a new PC, but it turned out that SC4 doesn't like dual core processors, so maybe that's your problem? To fix it, once you're running the game, go into your Task Manager, right click on the SC4 process, and then click Set Affinity. Untick one of the CPU boxes and hit OK. Unfortunately you have to do this every time you run the game, but I haven't had any crashes since I started doing this, so it's worth it. 

There is a permanent fix for dual cores - if it is required! That's always an "if" question because no two dual-cores are alike in handeling affinity and - equally important - priority. Going in and out of the Task Manager get's old real quick.

I do have a simple fix for the latter (priority) that even the unitiated can try (and discard if it does not do the trick): it means always using the same short-cut for the game (Vista example, but should work under XP, too):

• Right-click on the short-cut and select "Properties" from the drop-down menu;
• There are several tabs, select the one called "Shortcut";
• In he text box it will say the full path to the SimCity 4 exe. Put your cursor at the beginnin of the path, before the drive letter and add the following statement: "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c START "high priority sc4" /high " - best copy and past it making sure you do not accidentally overwrite the path of SC4!
• See the pic below.

All this does is change the way Vista treats the game when it comes to memory allocation - by putting it high on the list, after essential services.

As for the permament fix of the processor affinity, there have been debates elsewhere about it. I swear by it and my game is now crash free and up to speed with plugins exceeding 2GB. Anyone who wants that advise needs to PM me with an email address, I'll send full instructions in return. 

Finally, I suggest that everyone experiening problems, Vista or not, take a look at Star.Torturer's excellent tutorial on the various short-cut options you can add to make live in SC4 easier. It can be found under Other Tutorials as a sticky

BTW, c0rnh0li0, the update that did it for you is indeed the Intel update, since you obviously have on-board graphics chips. It is always a good idea to check on updats for whatever graphic card you have - or even invest in one (unless you're on a laptop) because you need to remember that SC4 is an "old lady" when it comes to hardware.

rushman5 Have you looked at the graphics option in the shortcut & the compatibility mode? With something working so close to the graphics core (which Vista has messed up seriously) your problems are likely to lie in that area..

[girlfromverona]

Going in and out of the Task Manager get's old real quick.

That's for sure! Especially when you forget, and the game crashes before you've saved... 

I'll give the priority fix a try, though. It might do the trick. I've looked into permanent fixes for the affinity problem, but they always looked quite complicated. Is your fix very easy?

[HandsOn]

That's for sure! Especially when you forget, and the game crashes before you've saved... 

I'll give the priority fix a try, though. It might do the trick. I've looked into permanent fixes for the affinity problem, but they always looked quite complicated. Is your fix very easy?

Everything's easy if you follow the instructions. I'll email you what needs to be done - after you've tried the first part. See how that works first, then there's still time to move to the next step. 

[girlfromverona]

Unfortunately just changing the priority didn't work for me. I'd be most grateful if you'd send me the instructions for the permanent affinity fix, HandsOn!

[daeley]

Might be. Seems most of the time the game crashed on me, it was during zooms in & out.

this is a known bug in the game and has frustrated many of us, it seems to appear under any OS (at least under XP - as I know out of experience ). It seems scrolling while zooming can sometimes cause this, so the best cure is not to scroll while zooming and not zooming too rapidly.

[HandsOn]

Unfortunately just changing the priority didn't work for me. I'd be most grateful if you'd send me the instructions for the permanent affinity fix, HandsOn!

girlfromverona: I've just sent you an email with a PDF attachment with the instructions. 

Daeley: It does not need to be that way; I used to get these damn zoom - and sometimes even menu-scrolling crashes - for no other reason that SC4 has no idea about Vista, Duo-Cores, or graphic cards beyond a simple ATI or early nVidia. I don't get them anymore..I repacked my EXE and permanently set the priority to high. Now I run iTunes, SnagIt and Outlook while playing the game full-screen - without crashes.

[amapper]

I have a quad machine and I've tried setting the priority to high and the affinity to just one core but the game is still jerky and crashes. The above fix worked with my old dual core machine but not this one. Any ideas?

Dick Wright

[CabraBuitre]

Sorry to unearth an old topic... but I'm having a problem with a fix noted here and rather than create a new topic, I figured I'd just reply to this one.



I've been trying to work the permanent affinity fix found HERE http://www.eu-contractor.com/downloads/sc4%20repacking%20tutorial.pdf  among other places...  but I can't seem to get it to work.

Here's what I get when I enter the "correct" stuff (per the pdf):



No idea why this isn't working... can anyone help?

[RippleJet]

Seems like your OS doesn't like the " sign...

When you've changed the directory to C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 DeLuxe\Apps, instead of entering DIR, enter DIR /X

This would show the old (DOS age) shorter filenames (8.3) as well as the new longer filenames.

"SimCity 4.exe" is probably called SIMCIT~1.EXE in its shorter form.

Thus, once you've verified the shorter filename, try the following instead:

imagecfg -a 0x01 SIMCIT~1.EXE


EDIT:
I think you've copied the command from Peter's manual...
In that case you would have copied an opening and a closing "apostrophe".
Those both look like " in the command window, even if they are not the same character...

Try writing those apostrophes from the keyboard instead.

[CabraBuitre]

Well... I tried all of those fixes, but none of them worked.  I also emailed Peter, and he said:

do what I did: rename SimCity 4.exe to simcity4.exe then run the command line. The, when it is done, rename the EXE to its original name, including the space. But please, do make a backup copy of it first - just in case.

I tried that too... but it didn't work either.

[null45]

Under Vista or later another way to set Sc4 to one processor is to put

"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C start /affinity 1"

before the path to Sc4

for example

"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C start /affinity 1" "C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe"

There must be a space between the the quotes separating the paths. 

[CabraBuitre]

Is that permanent or just for one individual time playing?

[catty]

Is that permanent or just for one individual time playing?

It would be permanent as long as you continued to use the same shortcut for simcity, you may also want to check out the EA Support at the top of the page and make sure your game is updated to the latest version EP1 Update 1 / 1.1.638.0 

[CabraBuitre]

... I don't know how I missed it... but I didn't download the update from my most recent SC4 install.  That may have been the whole issue.  I'm going to try to play with the fix downloaded and see if that solves stuff... if not, then I'll try again!