SOLVED: My game crashes to Desktop ¡¡¡

[jeronij]

Hello SC4 Devoted Player 

Is your game suddenly dissapearing and bringing you back to your desktop?.

Do your cities no longer load, or the game crashes as soon as you load your cities?.

Do not Panic  ¡¡¡ This is know as a CTD (Crash To Desktop) and we have the solution for yours 


First thing to do when your game starts to CTD:

• 1) --> Remove the last plugin that you intalled and try again. This will solve 90% of the CTD cases. If this works for you, move to point 4.1)

If you do not recall what was the last installed plugin, or you removed but the game is still CTD'ing, well, you are in trouble....  ..... nah ¡... not really, only some more work to fix the issue 

• 2)--> Rename your current plugins folder to anything different, and create a new empty folder called plugins in the same place. Run your game and make sure it does not crash. Remember that there are two Plugins folders: One in the Program Files folder, and the other one in My Documents folder. Make sure both are backed up and empty.

• 3)--> Once the game runs fine again, start moving your plugins from the backup folders to the new plugins folders. Do it step by step. Move one plugin and run your game and test your city. It works ?. Move the next plugin. It crashes? You are a winner ¡¡ . You found a bad or conflicting plugin. Move it out of the game's folders, and continue moving the plugins one by one until you have moved everything (but the bad guys) back to the plugins folder.

Now that your game is "clean" and you have one or more conflicting plugins located, make sure that:

• 4.1) --> They are not outdated versions of the plugin. For instance an old NAM version. To solve this simply donwload the latest plugin version and install it. If it solves your CTD, congratulations, you are done ¡¡¡. If it does not, then you may need to require further assistance from the plugin's author. You can post your help requests in the appropriated threads in these forums.

• 4.2) --> The plugins are not incompatible with other installed plugins. For instance, two terrain mods can not be installed at the same time. Same goes for some tree controllers, and so on. Make sure you read all the documentation about the plugin before installing it, to make sure it wont conflict with an already installed plugin.

• 4.3) --> The conflicting plugins are worth it  . Sometimes older lots, badly modded due to the lack of knowledge about modding when they were released, (2004/2005/2006...) will make crash your game for misterious reasons... who knows why  ?, so, is it worth it to keep the lot?. If you make a search in our LEX you'll surely find a good and qualified replacement for that plugin 

"But.... I could Not find any conflicting plugin... the game crashes when I scroll or zoom in or out...."

• 5)--> A a good recomendation for BIG plugins folders.... did I hear 3 GB   ¡¡¡, is to use Wouanagaine's Datpacker tool, which will not only compress files and save some HD space, but also greatly increases the game/cities loading times, and practically eliminates the CTD's related to screen scrolling or zooming. Really. Use it and you wont regret it. But again make sure you read and understand all the Datpacker related documentation before starting to use it  ¡¡¡

Finally, once you have your game running again, change your mind about plugins, and do not install hundreds of them at once  . Choose them carefully and test them inmediately after installing every one of them. Test them in empty and in existing cities. Test them ¡¡¡    Also be wise and install only those plugins that you will use. Do not clutter your menus with hundreds of icons if you wont use them regularily.



I do really hope that this list will help you to solve your CTD's and make your gaming experience much more enjoyable 

[MandelSoft]

One other cause of a CTD: Hovering a Transit Enabled Lot over a puzzle piece will crash the game.

[dedgren]

That's great info, jeronij.  I'll throw in a few tips of my own, for good measure.

• I'd add to no. 5 the suggestion that, whatever plugins you have and however large your folder is, organize it!  The better-made custom content often has an installer that uses default paths- these are best left alone, as conscientious content creators have generally thought through an organization scheme for their work.  If there is no installer, try using subfolders to organize similar content- like placing all textures in a subfolder, lots in another, and mods in still another.  Using a subfolder for each creator is also frequently done.  You can generally place further levels of subfolders in these subfolders in order to achieve whatever degree of organization you would like.
  
  
• If you find your game crashing during a session while you are just moving around the screen- There is a bug affectionately known to the jaded and burned (the voice of experience here, eh?) as the "Transit Hover Bug."  You are at risk of placing bait for these creatures whenever you move your cursor over transit networks (road, rail, etc.) while placing "transit-enabled" lots.  The bug announces its arrival by crashing the game the desktop, sometimes preceded by screen freeze.  How do you resolve this?  Well, don't move your cursor over transit networks while placing transit-enabled lots, for starters.  More seriously, you should always know what transit-enabled lots you have in the game, and keep them in mind while building your networks.  Also, save often!  The question is not if your game will ever crash to desktop- it is when.
  
  
• If you find an item of custom content that creates an issue, don't just fix your own problem.  Let at least the creator of the content know (if possible, that is- we know some have gone on to the great beyond) what you found.  Trust me, nobody reasonable will take that as criticism.  I can't bring immediately to mind any custom content creator out there who hasn't jumped at the chance to fix his or her work when a problem is pointed out.  You can also, in a polite and constructive way, post the issue in a thread on this site, and I would think on other SC4 fansites as well to let other members of the community know about the issue.  I shouldn't have to tell you not to say stuff like, "That lot by ________________- it's a bunch of garbage.  It crashes my game whenever I put it in my plugins folder."  Aside from being rude, that's just not helpful.  Describe what the problem is in matter-of-fact terms, perhaps accompanied by noting that you liked the content enough to try to use it in the first place and that you would hope that it could be fixed.  Providing some detail is especially important when you have two items of custom content that appear to conflict, or when an item causes random crashes once the game is started.  It is also important to do when the content creator is no longer in the community.
  
  

Oh, and did I say save your game often?  Well, I did, but there is nothing like creating that amazing neighborhood or perfect pastoral scene and then having your screen freeze or the desktop suddenly appear.  You like SC4?- give it the old "two-finger salute" fairly often: [Ctrl] and [ S ].  If you areally in a hurry, use [Ctrl] and [ Alt ] and [ S ] for a fast save (the region thumbnail is not updated).

Have fun, play safe and Good Luck!


David

[callagrafx]

But also remember that sometimes it's not always the game's fault...If you keep your operating system in good order then some unexplicable CTDs can also be reduced.  Device drivers, updated hardware etc all play their part too.

[spa]

Well I have found another CTD source (with help from the BSC crew!). I recently updated all my plugins. I went through and deleted some that didn't fit what I was building and adjusted the lots to use the setbacks, textures and props I like. It was a big undertaking. When I tried to use my new plugins folder, however, I wasn't able to access any of my cities that had any development in them, but the new and improved plugins worked fine if I started from scratch on a blank tile. The crashes occurred in my big cities, my farm cities, in one that only had garbage incinerators on it and one that only had roads. It puzzled me because all I had changed were lots. Missing Co, Cs and R lots shouldn't cause crashes. They should just appear as blank and they definitely shouldn't effect cities that they never even grew or were plopped in. Using the method that Jeronji described in 3 (restored the plugins and started taking out files one by one until I found the one causing the crash) I was able to trace the problem back to a single custom lot I had downloaded and deleted, Glenni's Steinsaas Taarnet. When the Taarnet was in my plugins folder, I can access my cities, but when it's not, I can't, no matter how many of the other custom content buildings I deleted! This one file has become a crucial dependency to every city I built with it in my plugins folder. Not being a technical wizard, I sent the file to the BSC crew to look under the hood and the source of the problem is the second lot file, CO$$8_4x3_Steinsaas_b23c08a6.SC4Lot. The problem is that the exempler was set to RCI instead of Lot configurations! Below is the problem as seen in the SC4tool:

Because the lot is an RCI, it is integrated into every city I built with it and I have to keep the file to access those cities. Having restored the lot, everything works perfectly again. So on the mistakes made in modding front, if you're having crashes to desktop, it would be worth checking to see if any lots that were recently deleted were set to RCI since cities that were saved with them will only be accessible if they're kept in your plugins folder. I note the Taarnet was downloaded over 4,000 times so if you've used this lot and can't access cities, redownload it and you'll be able to again. Just keep it out of your plugins folder for any new cities unless you want to keep it forever. I have pmed Glenni and I'm hoping we can get the old simtropolis upload locked and have the Taarnet fixed and reuploaed. That way it would be accessible for anyone who's used it and now needs it to access old cities, but it will stop creating new victims. This isn't meant to slag Glenni. I understand he wasn't doing his own modding at the time (someone in Blam was) and for a novice who doesn't know what they're doing, I can see how you might think that the property has to be set to RCI.

So to recap, another source of crash to desktops:
Lots that were mistakenly set as RCI's, were in the plugins folder when a city was saved and were then deleted.
Solution:
Reinstall the broken lots.

[Pat]

Spa thank you for adding to this great new find to how a lot is set to RCI can cause some havock on your cities... Setting at RCI if I am understanding right is what causes the bug or is it removing it from your plugin folder what triggers it?

Also another great add would be talking about Vista crashing and how to fix it, also included in this another helpful fix even for XP too... With the help of many great folks here and around the community at large I was able to get my vista machine to work grand without any more CTD's...

This is a simple step by step guide put together by Peter; Handson aka docrolach HERE [linkie]... He didn't find this fix but simply put it down to a step by step for everyone else to do... From what I understand the credit for this is to go to Shoreman aka Dave?

[BarbyW]

The Exemplar Type in the LotConfig Exemplar should NEVER be set to RCI and has been done manually in this case as LE would never do that.
The CTD is caused when having had this in your plugins you remove it. It must be kept in plugins at all time although the model and the other lot for this can be removed. This flawed lot will never grow and does not appear in LE or in PIM_X but it has made changes to the game files so cannot be deleted.

[Pat]

Ahh OK thank you Barby for better clarifying that...  So more or less this lot was deliberately set to cause harm then or was it an accidental whoopsie when modding?

[RippleJet]

Most people wouldn't even know what RCI exemplars are...
There are 38 types of exemplar files, and they are distinguished by the value in the property Exemplar Type:

• 0x01 Tuning
• 0x02 Building
• 0x03 RCI
• 0x04 Developer
• 0x05 Simulator
• 0x06 Road
• 0x07 Bridge
• 0x08 Misc Network
• 0x09 Network Intersection (unused, 0x21 used instead)
• 0x0A Rail
• 0x0B Highway (Puzzle Piece)
• 0x0C Powerline
• 0x0D Terrain
• 0x0E Ordinances
• 0x0F Flora
• 0x10 Lot Configuration
• 0x11 Foundation
• 0x12 Advice (unused)
• 0x13 Lighting
• 0x14 Cursor (unused)
• 0x15 Lot Retaining Wall
• 0x16 Vehicle
• 0x17 Pedestrian
• 0x18 Aircraft
• 0x19 Watercraft
• 0x1E Prop
• 0x1F Construction
• 0x20 Automata Tuning
• 0x21 Network Intersection (Type 21)
• 0x22 Disaster
• 0x23 Data View
• 0x24 Crime
• 0x25 Audio
• 0x26 MySim Template
• 0x27 Terrain Brush
• 0x28 Misc Catalog
• 0x2A Trend Bar
• 0x2B Graph

Only some of these can be created in PIM and LE, e.g. 0x02, 0x10, 0x1E.
For most others there are no tools to create them, other than using Reader.

So more or less this lot was deliberately set to cause harm then or was it an accidental whoopsie when modding?

When Glenni's above mentioned exemplar was created, someone has definitely deliberately edited the LotConfiguration's Exemplar Type in Reader, changing it from 0x10 to 0x03. It is however equally obvious that this someone did not know what an exemplar type of RCI actually is...

There are a total of 173 RCI exemplars in the game, all defined by Maxis within SimCity_1.dat.
They deal with things like capacity and demand, how they are created, satisfied and capped.

Some of what they control is explained in the following tutorials:

• Demand Simulator: Demand, Supply and CAPs
• Workforce and Occupation Demands (Drives)

Several of these RCI exemplars have been modded in CAM.
Some attempts have also been made to add new RCI exemplars.

The RCI exemplar that Glenni has added does not contain any RCI properties though.
Thus, there is no risk of upsetting the demand simulator with this.

However, common for all RCI exemplars is, that once you have had it loaded when playing,
that particular exemplar must be available forever thereafter.
Otherwise you will face a CTD, as is so well explained above.

Thank you Samuel!

[ecoba]

One More Thing Is: If You Have A CP Terrain Modd Installed You Have To Have CP Vol03 and Vol04 Terrain Textures Or It Will Cause A CTD.

[Terring7]

And update the game to 1.1.638.0 by downloading and installing the official patch. After the update, thank God no C.T.D. anymore!!! Finally i can play a whole day without problems

[fafalone]

If none of the above works, like in my case, and you have a dual-core CPU, the following solved all my problems:

Add the flag -CPUCount:2
Restrict the game to a single core using imagecfg to fix it permanently, or Process Explorer to adjust it while running each time.

[justinrpg]

does this crash tutorial include PC shutting off automatically during play?

[SC4BOY]

does this crash tutorial include PC shutting off automatically during play?

if by "shutting off" you mean powering down and rebooting, NO.. that will be some hardware problem on your system.. most likely memory failures, but maybe other components

[TigerofRobare]

What if the game is crashing and one doesn't have any plugins?

I have a laptop from 2007 running Vista and the Deluxe Edition. So far in all my time of playing it's only crashed twice: once was a straight CTD and the other time it froze while I was saving it. Both times I was playing a city with approx 80,000 sims on a large tile.

I've read that it's not too uncommon for the game to crash like this and I was wondering if there are any fixes or anything.

[Aliktren]

try running some of the command lines options like the one that reduces processor count  - this completely fixed my CTDs (touch wood) in Windows 7

http://simcityforum.com/showthread.php?t=848

[twist2172]

Just wondering if this scenario has happened to anybody, because this is currently going on in my game and I would like to fix the problem...

I have a city with close to 80,000 population in a large city tile.  Only one section of my city makes it CTD.  It is a pretty undeveloped area in the northern section of my city.  Every time I build a regular road or try to zone property in this specific area, game crashes.  I have tested the game to where I play the game for hours in all the other sections of my cities, then as soon as I go to that one section, instantly it CTD.  Any ideas as to why this happens would be greatly appreciated.  I have not downloaded any new content in months and it just started having these problems recently.  Thanks. 

[twist2172]

Well I ended up figuring out the problem.  It was a Sheraton Hotel that had built right next to the location I was talking about.  I was lucky that since it only CTD in that specific area, all I did was bulldozed one building at a time until I found the problem.  Luckily for me, the Sheraton Hotel was second on my bulldoze list, so it didn't end up taking too long to find.  Now I just need to find the hotel in my plug-ins folder (It is a mess).

[AusBoy94]

This fixed my problem:

When the game starts, open task manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)
Right click the SimCity 4 PROCESS, and select "Set Affinity"
When that window appears choose one processor, instead of multiple.

[lacyk]

Hi all,

I think I've got it!

forget afinity, forget CPU count, forget custom resolution or plugin investigation.

First thing you have to try is to change rendering mode to "Software"

Before it was crashing even if I simply watched (one specific) city for a minute doing nothing (even no scrolling)
No CTD since then on win7, i5 quad-core, nvidia.