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TBfan313's avatar
TBfan313
5 years ago
Solved

(PC) SimCity game crashes on tutorial launch

I got Origin today. SimCity is the only game I have on it. Every time I try to boot up the tutorial the game crashes and shuts down with no error message. 

  • BlackjackWidow's avatar
    BlackjackWidow
    5 years ago

    Most of the cases that I can find that experience an exit such as you've described were all being experienced during launch - it was an issue of the servers being overloaded and timing out on the tutorial. Obviously, none of the servers are overloaded like that any more, but I'm still leaning towards something that may be interfering with the game reaching a server. 

    • If you're using a proxy, try removing it. 
    • Repair the game:
      • Delete the SimCityUserData folder. The default location is Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\SimCity\SimCityUserData (Don't worry about saving it, the game will recreate it on login)
      • In Origin, right-click the SimCity icon and click "Repair"
      • After the repair completes, open SimCity and restart the tutorial by going into the options menu and clicking "Getting Started"
    • Try a different SimCity server - after you log in, you should be able to go to the bottom left of the screen to change the server. Maybe it's just a problem with a connection on one of the SimCity servers. 
    • If possible, try playing the tutorial in Offline mode. Before launching SimCity, go to the Origin menu > Go Offline. Launch SimCity and it should change to Single Player/Offline mode. Alternatively, you can stay online in Origin and choose the Single Player/Offline tab in the Main Menu, and try from there.
    • Change the preferences.prop file & skip the tutorial 
      • Exit SimCity completely
      • Open Preferences.prop with a text editor - Default location of the file is \Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\SimCity\SimCityUserData\Preferences
      • Search for the entry "tutorial_MSTutorialMyFirstCity" and change the "0" to "1"
      • Save the file (be sure you save the file as "preferences.prop" without a txt suffix)
      • Relaunch the game; proceed to create a new region / city

    If none of these work, try a Clean Boot https://help.ea.com/en/help/faq/how-to-clean-boot-your-pc/ and attempt to launch SimCity. If it launches, you'll have some detective work to do. Enable one startup program at a time, reboot, try SimCity, until you find the program that is blocking it. Once you find the offending program, disable or uninstall it. You should be able to launch SimCity successfully without doing the clean boot after disabling the offending program.

    If you can either get the tutorial to load or skip the tutorial, then you may get an actual error message instead of getting to play. I'm hoping this is just a matter of server communication, but it's possible we might need to tweak something with the graphics settings. SimCity sometimes has an issue with newer graphic cards or UHD monitors. But it will be a fairly easy fix if that happens.

    Hoping you sail through the tutorial this time 🤞

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  • BlackjackWidow's avatar
    BlackjackWidow
    Hero (Retired)
    5 years ago

    When SimCity won't launch, or launches and hangs or crashes, it's almost always something blocking the program from running. Try the steps below to see if you can identify the problem:

    Always run installation files "As Administrator"
    Firewall and Antivirus - Make sure SimCity.exe and Origin.exe are added to exception lists. If you have BitDefender installed, disable it.
    Graphics drivers and OS are patched and updated to newest versions
    SimCity.exe and Origin.exe - Set them to run "as administrator"
    Nahimic 2 from MSI - this is an audio management program that comes with MSI motherboards. Disable or uninstall it. Nahimic 2 is known to cause this issue.
    Disable Origin in-game In Origin main menu, right-click SimCity icon, Game Properties, check the box that says "Disable Origin In-game"
    Run in Windows 7 or 8 compatibility mode - right-click SimCity shortcut; choose Properties > Compatibility tab > Check the box to run in Win 7 or 8 compatibility mode

    If none of these work, try a Clean Boot https://help.ea.com/en/help/faq/how-to-clean-boot-your-pc/ and attempt to launch SimCity. If it launches, you'll have some detective work to do. Enable one startup program at a time, reboot, try SimCity, until you find the program that is blocking it. Once you find the offending program, disable or uninstall it. You should be able to launch SimCity successfully without doing the clean boot after disabling the offending program.

    Definitely post back and let us know whether something worked. If it still won't run, reply back with any error messages you're getting and attach a dxdiag report. 

    Happy Building!

  • TBfan313's avatar
    TBfan313
    5 years ago

    Thank you for a quick answer. I've gone through the list but nothing came from it. 

    If there is an error message, I have not found it. To clarify: The game boots up well enough, it's just while on "now loading (name of tutorial town(I play in swedish so it has a different name))" the entire program shuts down and the pc acts like the game was never active to begin with. 

  • BlackjackWidow's avatar
    BlackjackWidow
    Hero (Retired)
    5 years ago

    Most of the cases that I can find that experience an exit such as you've described were all being experienced during launch - it was an issue of the servers being overloaded and timing out on the tutorial. Obviously, none of the servers are overloaded like that any more, but I'm still leaning towards something that may be interfering with the game reaching a server. 

    • If you're using a proxy, try removing it. 
    • Repair the game:
      • Delete the SimCityUserData folder. The default location is Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\SimCity\SimCityUserData (Don't worry about saving it, the game will recreate it on login)
      • In Origin, right-click the SimCity icon and click "Repair"
      • After the repair completes, open SimCity and restart the tutorial by going into the options menu and clicking "Getting Started"
    • Try a different SimCity server - after you log in, you should be able to go to the bottom left of the screen to change the server. Maybe it's just a problem with a connection on one of the SimCity servers. 
    • If possible, try playing the tutorial in Offline mode. Before launching SimCity, go to the Origin menu > Go Offline. Launch SimCity and it should change to Single Player/Offline mode. Alternatively, you can stay online in Origin and choose the Single Player/Offline tab in the Main Menu, and try from there.
    • Change the preferences.prop file & skip the tutorial 
      • Exit SimCity completely
      • Open Preferences.prop with a text editor - Default location of the file is \Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\SimCity\SimCityUserData\Preferences
      • Search for the entry "tutorial_MSTutorialMyFirstCity" and change the "0" to "1"
      • Save the file (be sure you save the file as "preferences.prop" without a txt suffix)
      • Relaunch the game; proceed to create a new region / city

    If none of these work, try a Clean Boot https://help.ea.com/en/help/faq/how-to-clean-boot-your-pc/ and attempt to launch SimCity. If it launches, you'll have some detective work to do. Enable one startup program at a time, reboot, try SimCity, until you find the program that is blocking it. Once you find the offending program, disable or uninstall it. You should be able to launch SimCity successfully without doing the clean boot after disabling the offending program.

    If you can either get the tutorial to load or skip the tutorial, then you may get an actual error message instead of getting to play. I'm hoping this is just a matter of server communication, but it's possible we might need to tweak something with the graphics settings. SimCity sometimes has an issue with newer graphic cards or UHD monitors. But it will be a fairly easy fix if that happens.

    Hoping you sail through the tutorial this time 🤞

  • TBfan313's avatar
    TBfan313
    5 years ago

    Thank you. I noticed that I couldn't change servers, but after repairing I could, so it must have been some mishap during installing the game. Issue solved.

  • BlackjackWidow's avatar
    BlackjackWidow
    Hero (Retired)
    5 years ago

    @TBfan313 - so glad you were able to get it running. Thanks a bunch for letting me know what helped

    Happy building!

  • nathanico7's avatar
    nathanico7
    3 years ago

    Hi,

    I've recently installed SimCity 2013 on my new computer from origin and cannot get it to work. I have also downloaded command and conquer generals on the computer and this works fine and I have had no problem running  this. In addition the game runs fine on my laptop.

    I will get to the start button and then the game will get to the start menu but then just freeze, or will even freeze during the intro to the start menu (When the maxis logo shows) I have tried almost everything I can think of, including your suggestions on this thread. What is strange is  that I can still hear the menu music playing in the background and can click on buttons (I can hear the buttons clicking) but the screen is just frozen. My Thoughts were that the settings are saved from the laptop and then these are conflicting with my desktop but I have no clue. Any help would be appreciated. 

  • cda601c208c039e's avatar
    cda601c208c039e
    3 years ago

    I have an identical problem. I have tried all of the steps listed including the Clean Boot and when disabling all the programs my game still crashes when I try to enter a city. I cannot play single player mode either. Could someone post the "tweaking the graphics" solution? Or anything else?

  • KOOL-DEATH's avatar
    KOOL-DEATH
    2 years ago

    I found a fix by default these are checked  ON

    in video settings if you can get into that part 

    Uncheck full Screen and check borderless

    Uncheck VSYNC this one seemed to make most everything start to work and run correctly.  

    turn off frame rate cap, most newer computers dont run low at 30 or 60hz any more, this is old game.   

    doing the borderless / uncheck vsync once i got the game to load in one time, fixed all of it now it runs good

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