Simcity crashes on startup [Windows 10]

[Mélo]

Hi!

I've just bought the game and installed it and it keeps crashing.

Here's what I've done so far

• Use this launcher [community.simtropolis.com]
  
• and this one[community.simtropolis.com]
  
• Use theses parameters on Steam launch options :

  -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -f -d:DirectX -Cursors:fullcolor -Intro:off -CPUPriority:high -CPUCount:1

• fiddle with option to see if one of them would work
  
  Here's the spec of my computer:
  OS: Windows 10 version 18363
  Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7500U CPU @ 2.70GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.9GHz
  RAM: 16270MB (around 16GB)
  DirectX Version: DirectX 12
  Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics 620

[Supernovae]

Have you tried launching the game with no launch options or external launchers?

[Mélo]

Yes I did. It also crashes after a few seconds

[ra]

Try changing -f to -w to run the game in window mode

Also, can you please post the file whose name ends with -config-log.txt from your (steam directory)\Steam\steamapps\common\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps ?

[ra]

BTW, other than what you have listed, have you done any modification to the game files, or installed any plugins/mods?

[Mélo]

I've tried putting windowed mode and it didn't solve anything. I didn't add any mods or I haven't done any modifications.

Heres the log you requested.

Log generated on 3/27/2020, 21:20

Flags
-----
hardwareDriver = true
DXT = true
fullscreen = false
MMX = true
FPU = true
backingStore = true
forcedFSAA = false

Strings
-------
appName = SimCity 4
version = 1.1.641.0
osVersion = Windows NT 6.2
CPU = GenuineIntel
sglDriverName = DirectX
sglDriverVersion = 2.0
driverName = igdumdim32.dll
driverVersion = 0.0.0.0, GUID: D7B78E66-1A56-11CF-F373-2035ADC2CD35
cardName = Intel(R) HD Graphics 620
cardVersion = Vendor: 8086, Device: 5916, Board: 15201043, Chipset: 0002
cardIdentity = Intel(R) HD Graphics 620
soundDriverName =
soundCardName = Périphérique audio principal
buildType = Release

Numbers
-------
cpuSpeed = 2903
memory = 2048
freeMemory = 2048
screenWidth = 1920
screenHeight = 1080
screenBPP = 32
videoMemory = 128
textureMemory = 128
textureStages = 4
bogoFPS = 0
bogoMPPS = 0

Rules
-----
applying Sound
applying high sound detail
applying City Detail and Day/Night Settings
applying low computer power>
applying high computer power
option 9 = 3
option 13 = 1
option 15 = 3
applying Texture Quality and Building Variety Settings
applying low memory>
applying high memory
option 3 = 3
option 14 = 3
applying Variable Speed Automata
applying default
option 10 = 1
applying Standard hardware
option 0 = 1
option 1 = 1
option 2 = 1
option 4 = 0
option 5 = 1
option 8 = 1
option 7 = 1
option 6 = 1
option 11 = 0
option 12 = 0
applying Standard hardware>
option 1 = 2
applying Standard hardware>>
option 0 = 2
applying Standard hardware>>>
option 2 = 2
applying Standard hardware>>>>
option 4 = 1
applying Standard hardware>>>>>
option 11 = 1
applying Two stages
applying Lotsa vidmem
applying Poor color cursor
option 7 = 0
applying Not Slow GeForce

Options
-------
Visual Effects current: 2 recommended: 2
Cars/Sims current: 2 recommended: 2
Shadows current: 2 recommended: 2
Atmospheric effects current: 1 recommended: 1
Water effects current: 1 recommended: 1
Software/Hardware current: 1 recommended: 1
Cursor current: 0 recommended: 0
VariableSpeedAutomata current: 1 recommended: 1
Translucent UI current: 1 recommended: 1
Graphic Detail current: 3 recommended: 3
Building Load Speed current: 3 recommended: 3
Texture Quality current: 3 recommended: 3

Properties
-------
forcesoftwaredriver = false
renderdynamicview = true
renderstaticview = true
renderwatereffects = true
rendercloudsandfog = true
forcepointsampling = false
forcebilinear = false
forcenoalphablend = false
forcenoalphatest = false
rendershadows = true
renderdecals = true
usesecondstage = true
forcedebugtexture = false
renderparticleeffects = true
renderflorashadows = true
renderterrain = true
showupdateregions = false
usecursoreffects = true
drawlottextures = true
drawlotfoundations = true
drawlotwalls = true
forcetexturerepeat = false
usescreenshake = true
renderui = true
useupdaterectclipping = true
usevertexbuffers = true
showboundingboxes = false
useoverlayculling = true
rendersnapshot = false
noaddsigned = false
nopartialbackingstorecopies = false
usescreenflash = true
renderautomata = true
preferopaque = false
displayalertborders = true
drawlotopaquetextures = true
useviewcleanup = false
doautozoomandrotationchanges = true

viewoffsety = 0
viewoffsetx = 0
texturebits = 32
lodoffset = 0
shadowdebug = 0
maxparticlestarget = 10000
particlelodoffset = 0
effectprioritylevel = 5
backingstoremaxzoomall = 5
backingstoremaxzoombuildingsprops = 5
backingstoremaxzoomterrain = 5
backingstoremaxzoomflora = 5
shadowquality = 2
minvehiclezoom = 3
minpedzoom = 4
cursortype = 1
depthoffset = 2
debugtexture = 0
dirtyrectmergeframes = 4
sounddetail = 2
buildingvariety = 2
buildingloaderspeed = 1
modellodoffset = 0
stringtexturecachesize = 1024

particleeffectslod = 5
splattexturescale = 50
texbindmaxfree = 8
particledensity = 1
particledamping = 0
particlescale = 1
lightingupdatedelta = 0,0001
shadowmodelthreshold = 12
demolishmodelthreshold = 12
rendermodelthreshold = 6
rendermodelthresholdscroll = 40
particlesizethreshold = 300
maxvehiclepct = 1
maxpedpct = 1
opaqueuialphavalue = 0,55

[Rokko308]

I have the same problem...crash randomly. Can the developers assist?

[spindash_st]

It's strange. A blank new installation of SC4 should work outside the box.
Have you tried emptying the plugin folder? Even more, deleting the whole folder from your userspace. This will force the game to recreate the userfolder.

Have you tried Windows compatibility mode? You need to find the .exe file of the game in Steam (inside Program Files), right click , Properties, and try one the compatilibty modes.
Even then, a fresh installation should work outside the box.

[Ned]

Hi, I don't know if the following launch parameters will work for you but they do for me and I'm using a 64bit Windows 10 machine.

-CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -intro:off -CPUCount:1

[Rokko308]

Thanks for the post I found this in one of the other chats:

-CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -f -d:DirectX -Cursors:fullcolor -Intro:off -CPUPriority:high -CPUCount:1

Pasted this into the Launch Settings of the game (in Steam Library), got a warning that its only for "Advanced Users", ignored the warning and seem to work fine...so far...haven`t had the problem again. Would thank the person for posting it but unable to relocate it again now..but thanks again to you too for sharing it :)

Play time.

[GySgt~SPARTA~]

nothing works...i use a 32 inch curve monitor and it still crashes on start up

[MGB]

So the first thing to understand is what the various launch options do, simply copying and pasting them without knowing what you are changing, wouldn't be my approach here.

We really need to know a few things about your setup to troubleshoot an issue. If you have literally installed the game and without any modifications, it fails to start, then almost certainly you have a compatibility issue between your system's videocard/drivers and DirectX. The first steps would be to try the following command in the Launch Settings:

-CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -f -Intro:off -CPUCount:1

Each command begins with a hyphen, above are five.

The first two force custom resolutions, necessary for all widescreen setups, 1920x1080 would only be correct, if your monitor can support it, although it should since it's the very standard Full HD.

-f
This tells the game to run in Full Screen mode, conversely you can use -w instead to use Windowed Mode. Since both options are rendered differently by Windows, it can be that one works, where another doesn't.

-intro:off
This simply disables the intro videos, but some users have found this necessary on some modern videocards. It seems the low resolution of them simply can't be displayed by certain hardware, causing the game to crash on startup.

-CPUCount:1
Adding this won't make a bit of difference to your current problem. But, when you do get the game working, assuming you're system has a multi-core CPU, without this you'll experience general game instability. So might as well add this whilst we're here.

If those commands don't help, try adding:

-audio:off
This disables the audio, some modern soundcards can prevent SC4 running, in some cases simply not having any speakers/headphones plugged in, causes crashes. If adding this changes nothing, I'd remove it again, you'll also need to toggle the Audio back on in-game afterwards.

Last resort time, see if Software Rendering works by adding:

-d:Software

If that works but nothing else did, you might need to troubleshoot further. Yes you can play in Software Rendering, it's after all there for when all else fails. But it's worth taking the time to analyse the problem, usually it can be fixed. The experience with DirectX is just vastly superior.

You may also want to consider using a DirectX Wrapper, which if you want to run DirectX with SC4 at a resolutions much higher than Full HD, is not optional. They can also help with general legacy DirectX compatibility problems. It's also something many users of dual-gpu laptops with NVidia chips need, so they can force the game to run on the dedicated GPU.

[Walter das Trevas]

Originally posted by spindash_st:

It's strange. A blank new installation of SC4 should work outside the box.
Have you tried emptying the plugin folder? Even more, deleting the whole folder from your userspace. This will force the game to recreate the userfolder.

Have you tried Windows compatibility mode? You need to find the .exe file of the game in Steam (inside Program Files), right click , Properties, and try one the compatilibty modes.
Even then, a fresh installation should work outside the box.

Yes, I bought it yesterday and it worked without any problem, 82 minutes and no crash so far.

[vitric]

I'm having this same issue. I've used a launcher, verified intergrity of game files, set many different parameters on said launcher, but right as the region map would show, it exits,

Specs:
13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-13420H 2.10 GHz
8.00 GB (7.65 GB usable)
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
144Hz refresh rate

What else can I do?

[greeen98]

None of that worked for me. I will keep checking back. Hope someone finds a workaround for this issue.

[Ralf Ferdius]

@Mélo Maybe you try to run a game without better video card. Try to run SimCity 4 Deluxe with lower resolution and windowed mode.
Close all other, not needed software.
You did buy SimCity 4 Deluxe on Steam for sure?
If not already done first, remove any mods, plugins and not original game data. Try another city / saved game, or start a new city. Check game date with Steam.
Update drivers. Run game and Steam as Administrator. Install all updates for Windows.
First, try custom resolution and 1 CPU count, with full screen or window mode options.
Use Windows Safe Boot.
Make a new local Administrator user account, log in here and try to game again.
Try another computer. Find a computer near this game requirements.

Windows Compatibility Mode gives more problems and akes more time then it fixes.

@greeen98, Same here.

@b ö n k, No video card?!