Error when starting up Simcity 4

[Esparko]

It says that Sim City will launch with the Software Driver when next launched. But nothing changes, and it always says this and then closes the game when i start it.

It did work the first time i played, I dunno what happened there. Maybe I might've changed some graphical settings. Is there some way to change what driver the game uses?

[icharus5558]

Sounds like you change from software to hardware rendering.. Would be easy to fix, by changing it back. But you need to be in game to do so.. Hm...

[Rellik66]

Happened to me, all I did was update my graphic drivers; start the game, re-select hardware mode and restart the game.

[Esparko]

Hm, okay, I'll look into that solution soon. THanks.

EDIT:
Still nothing.
I reinstalled steam too. Nothing.
I think Steam remembers the graphics I left it on. argh. how can i just reset everything?

[jdenm8]

There are command line options you can use to force the game into a particular mode on boot.

Adding "-d:software" (Without the quotes) forces SC4 into Software mode.

[Angre_Leperkan]

bump? Anybody solve this? I just had this problem as well :{

[icharus5558]

Did you try adding -d:software ?

[Angre_Leperkan]

Indeed I did. No effect, I even went into the config file and changed the force-to-software-mode setting to true. Also no effect. I also tried running as an administrator, updating my drivers (no way to roll them back apparently), using compatibility mode, different resolutions, etc. Idk how to run in windowed mode, so that wasn't tested. But I know the game works on my PC, it was working last May.

[Rathi]

An old thread, I know, but since I had the same problem today, I might as well post how I managed to fix this.

Delete the SimCity 4 folder in your documents directory. This will probably destroy your savegames, but everything will be reset once you launch the game again.

[icharus5558]

Originally Posted by Rathi

An old thread, I know, but since I had the same problem today, I might as well post how I managed to fix this.

Delete the SimCity 4 folder in your documents directory. This will probably destroy your savegames, but everything will be reset once you launch the game again.

You could also back up your region folder..

[Catechumen]

I also had this problem, which started when I changed my graphics settings to the highest resolution. After trying just about everything, I finally fixed it.

In addition to the Sim City 4 folder within Steam's folder in the Program Files directory, there is another located (at least on my Windows 7 computer) here:

Libraries > Documents > Sim City 4

Within that folder there is a file called SimCity4.cfg. I deleted it and SimCity 4 finally loaded. I still had to tweak the graphics settings - and it created the same error again when I tried to set the resolution too high - but just deleting that file made it load successfully again every time.

I hope this helps!

[Prysewhert(GER)]

Originally Posted by Catechumen

In addition to the Sim City 4 folder within Steam's folder in the Program Files directory, there is another located (at least on my Windows 7 computer) here:

Libraries > Documents > Sim City 4

Within that folder there is a file called SimCity4.cfg. I deleted it and SimCity 4 finally loaded. I still had to tweak the graphics settings - and it created the same error again when I tried to set the resolution too high - but just deleting that file made it load successfully again every time.

I hope this helps!

i just want to add that in my case, i needed to delete the entire sc4 folder, not just the cfg file. but you can backup the regions folder, so you dont lose any cities.