Windows 7 SimCity 4

[Sasha]

Hey all, Ive been going though my games to see which work in win7 and which don't and well i ran into one that semi works. SimCity 4 installs fine and boots, i can even get into the gameplay but what i keep running into is the fact its really laggy, not really constant lag just when i try to do anything, it seems to be eating a unholly amount of resources and in most cases requires me to kill it manualy though task manager. I thought it could be an issuse with my Dual core so i tried to run it on only one CPU which didnt really work, the game went wonky and the games graphics whent nuts, Im thinking this may just be an issuse with the Display driver but im not sure. Oh ive tried diffrent rez aswell as display settings on low,med, and high all act exactly the same

System Specs are

Mobo: Galaxy NForce 680i LT SLI
CPU: Intel Core2 Dual E8400 3.0Ghz
Ram: PC2-5300 4x1gb - 333mhz
gfx: Nvidia 8800GT 512mb

 

[Zorac]

i was loosing my desktop every time i exited it, so i just started running it in windows mode, and if i forget to turn on my external sound card, it wont start either (just freezes), but other than those two hickups its fine on my computer. game play is smooth and never crashes.

 

[Sasha]

Ok i solved my original problem of the lag, but i am having the same problem that Zorac has where you lose the desktop, This seems to be a regular occurance with the Beta, Not sure if its Windows or if its just the Beta Video Drivers. Whats worse is when things are in smaller resolutions the screen contracts and goes to lets say 800x600 in a little box in the center of my screen (not the game but the desktop it self) only way to fix it is to restart the comp.

The way i managed to fix my game lag and crashing was i turned off the hardware rendering and changed it to software

 

[Zorac]

Ok i solved my original problem of the lag, but i am having the same problem that Zorac has where you lose the desktop, This seems to be a regular occurance with the Beta, Not sure if its Windows or if its just the Beta Video Drivers. Whats worse is when things are in smaller resolutions the screen contracts and goes to lets say 800x600 in a little box in the center of my screen (not the game but the desktop it self) only way to fix it is to restart the comp.

The way i managed to fix my game lag and crashing was i turned off the hardware rendering and changed it to software

sasha, try running it in windowed mode, right click on the shortcut, and in the target field add -w after the quotes so it looks like this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -w

works for me.

 

[Comptech25]

Different problem...

I've been running the release candidate for some time now and the game appears to perform better than my Vista or XP machines. However, I have had a problem with the game crashing. I'm not sure if it's software or hardware related though. The game will run fine for about 10 min, but then the whole machine will power down. No warnings or errors, just as if someone has pulled the plug. (That's not the cause since I'm running this on my laptop). I have been running some diagnostics, but nothing shows hardware issues. The video drivers are up to date. Anyone else having similar issues or recommendations?

 

[Radenight]

Hello Comptech25 and Welcome to Windows 7 forums..

Have you made sure there aren't any patches out for Sim City 4 yet? If there are make sure you install them.. If there aren't any or you already have them installed perhaps it's your power supply failing? It could be that your asking for more power then it can give you..

 

[Comptech25]

Power needs?

Have you made sure there aren't any patches out for Sim City 4 yet? If there are make sure you install them.. If there aren't any or you already have them installed perhaps it's your power supply failing? It could be that your asking for more power then it can give you..

I have made sure I have the most recent patch from Maxis and I don't play the game when running on batteries. So if the power supply is the case, how much power is required?

 

[Windows7gamer]

I've been running the release candidate for some time now and the game appears to perform better than my Vista or XP machines. However, I have had a problem with the game crashing. I'm not sure if it's software or hardware related though. The game will run fine for about 10 min, but then the whole machine will power down. No warnings or errors, just as if someone has pulled the plug. (That's not the cause since I'm running this on my laptop). I have been running some diagnostics, but nothing shows hardware issues. The video drivers are up to date. Anyone else having similar issues or recommendations?

I too am having a similar problem my laptop is brand spanking new and I did not have this problem before I upgraded to Windows 7. This is solely a problem to do with Windows and nothing else. For whatever reason the game despises Windows 7 and slaps you in the face with a system freeze. I am having one issue you did not identify though. When my computer freezes my screen goes grey and I must remove all sources of power to turn it off :s I find I can run the game longer if I dumb down all hardware needs but even then it only lasts 20 minutes or so without freezing.

 

[tristanmc99]

Ok i solved my original problem of the lag, but i am having the same problem that Zorac has where you lose the desktop, This seems to be a regular occurance with the Beta, Not sure if its Windows or if its just the Beta Video Drivers. Whats worse is when things are in smaller resolutions the screen contracts and goes to lets say 800x600 in a little box in the center of my screen (not the game but the desktop it self) only way to fix it is to restart the comp.

The way i managed to fix my game lag and crashing was i turned off the hardware rendering and changed it to software

How did you solve the problem of lag?

 

[superbit64]

hi guys,
- try running in winxp sp2 mode
- disable desktop themes
- disable desktop composition
- disable scaling on high dpi
- run as administrator

this worked for me!