Windows 7

[patch_110]

Hi i am having problems playing SC4RH on windows 7. Very sluggish and clunky gameplay with very few plugins installed namely the NAM and this is on a medium square.
My laptop is a Samsung R530 but the game played superb on my old Dell laptop though this was running Vista which also had Cam installed.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Patch

[Th3Eagle]

Hi found this a while back, solved my problems:

I installed this on my computer (Win7 Pro 64bit) and have had zero problems. The next day, I installed a copy for my girlfriend and she's had all sorts of problems. I've been looking around for answers and I think I've come up with a few.

1) A lot of people have said that they have problems with ATI video cards. I have NVidia. If you have an ATI card, be sure to turn off as many background processes as possible before starting the game (as mentioned above). If there's any video program running (youtube, vlc, itunes, etc), definitely close them.

2) Lower some of the video display settings in the game. Shadow rendering sucks up a lot of CPU power, and if you can only stand lowering 1 setting, this is it.

3) Command lines are your friend. Even more so if you run a multi-core processor. Here's a couple you should use, or at least know for reference:

-CPUCount:1 (For multicores, forces the game to a singlecore. Eliminates problems for many)

-intro:off (Turns off the intro movie)

-rXXXxYYYxBB (sets custom resolution, given by Width x Height x Color Depth 16 or 32. Great for widescreen displays)

-CustomResolution:enabled (Must be used with the previous switch to work proper)

-W (Forces windowed mode, for easier application switching)

-CPUPriority:low (Lower priority helps when running windowed, not as necessary when running full screen)



These are all added to the end of the Target Field wherever you're shortcut is. Right click the shortcut, then add those to the end of the Target. For example, I have a multicore cpu and a strange resolution, so mine now looks like this:

"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -CPUCount:1 -f -intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1732x1289x32

Source: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproappcompat/thread/3f07483d-ce05-4a47-8292-6c42464a8315/

[Haljackey]

In addition to what is stated above, Windows 7 typically doesn't have problems with running the game. It's mostly your computer itself.
-If you have a CPU with more than one core, try to run the game using less of them (or just 1 of them). SC4 was designed to run on one core as that's how many processors were designed at and before the game came out in 2003.
-You can also check compatibility modes. Try to get the game to run on say 'Windows XP Service Pack 3" mode and see of that solves any issues.
-Your GPU may also be to blame. Some simply can't run the game as well as others. Typically for older games, the older your graphics card is the better it should run the game (as long as they aren't older than the game itself).
-Lastly, if your system is 64-bit, ensure SC4 is running in 32-bit more.

This game also sucks up RAM like a sponge, especially on newer machines. This is one of those games where the more RAM you have, the better it will run (and more with more stability too!).

Anyways hope these pointers help!
-Ryan (Haljackey)