I FOUND THE SOLUTION TO "Cities.exe has stopped working" AT STARTUP

[ZeroGravity~]

So after digging through dozens of forums online, I found a solution that worked for this error. I have Windows 10 and a couple forums state that that may cause issues with the game (even if it has worked fine in the past)...

THE SOLUTION:

Set Cities.exe and steam.exe to "run as administrator" in properties of that application. Find it in the Cities_Skylines folder under steam and right click (you must be logged in as an admin to do this) and set to "run as administrator"... do the same for steam.exe, navigate to that app (usually in program files somewhere) and set it to run as admin. ALSO include this in launch options: -force-d3d9 . Worked for me, finally, this error has nothing to do with mods even though the game may work with the run without mods command... :)

EDIT:

It seems that simply playing with Steam offline solves the crashing issue, I just go online to download new stuff, and go offline to start the game.. works every time... hope this is fixed eventually.

[ZeroGravity~]

Ok now it's not working again.... UGH

[RAYD3N7]

It still crashes, my workaround was starting the game with Steam offline. No more crashes. That even worked allright for all these problems with the latest patch, as Steam is offline the game was not updated and I could keep playing my city. I will only go online again either when I'm done with this city or when the mods are updated to this patch version. ;)

[ChillCore]

Try removing the run as admin parameter and only use the -force-d3d9 one; it should still work.
Add "-NoMods" and "-NoWorkshop" if you really need them.

Runnning as admin is like the worst possible advice you can give and do. you'll get nothing but problems from doing that. It's like saying to the program: "Here is my hardware, OS, progs and private documents; do whatever you want, I don't care even if you set fire to it all."

Just saying. ;)

[ZeroGravity~]

I understand.. but it worked when I tried doing that and CO has suggested it on their own forums.. also I ran steam in Offline Mode and the game works now... FINALLY.. so is it a Steam issue?

[ChillCore]

Abusing admin rights is just the LAZY-DEV's way of dealing with file permissions instead of doing it properly.
If the Developers told you to do that ... make of that what you will, I'll stick with lazy.
Any somewhat serious programmer with a conscience will not be telling you to enable admin mode, ever, but instead fix whatever is wrong that stops you from playing.

The real problem however (with this and other games) is that you give a lot more peeps than you realise ROOT access to your PC too. Read: modders, who's mods you may be using using, have the exact same power over your hard-/software as you gave the program they are runing under.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy your game works for you. Just the way you achieved it is not the best it could be and it should be them, not you, 'fixing' it and in a very different way. ;)



As for the game running in offline mode and not in online mode ... I am not sure if it is a steam issue per se ... It could be Steam, it could be Collosal Order, it could be Paradox, it could be a modder who is not responding to the call home in order to collect user data of all kinds and stops you from enjoying what you payed for while online.

[RAYD3N7]

Last night after seeing the two main problems have been fixed (mod talking), Fine Road Heights and Crossings, I went online, updated my game and prayed. As expected, loading the game online crashed to the desktop with the infamous message "Cities.exe has stopped working". So, I went offline and the game loaded to the menu screen and I was able to load my saved game. Not a single crash for 5 hours until I quit to the desktop and went to bed. :) If that is a Steam problem or a Mod problem, I'm not sure about it, but the truth is, offline I can play the game, offline no!

[Sonic]

http://steamcommunity.com/app/255710/discussions/0/405692758725881442/