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

Re: simcity won't play?

Hi @r0seC - that sounds incredibly frustrating. Can you please give me some more info so that I can try to help? Are you playing on a PC or a Mac? Since you have a play/resume button, I assume you've been playing the game without these problems until now. Are you playing on Multiplayer/Online or Single Player/Offline?

When SimCity won't launch, or launches and hangs, 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 from MSI - this is an audio management program that comes with MSI motherboards. Disable or uninstall it. Nahimic 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!

4 Replies

  • r0seC's avatar
    r0seC
    5 years ago

    Thankyou for your help!

    However.. I updated my Mac as i noticed it did need updating, and now the new software doesn't support 32bit games so now i can't play Simcity at all :'( 

    I just get messages telling me that the creators of the game need to make an update of the game so it can work.

    😞

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

    @r0seC - I'm sorry to say that Apple dropped support for 32-bit games like SimCity, beginning with MacOS Catalina 10.15. There is more information in this post: https://answers.ea.com/t5/SimCity-2013/Mac-SimCity-and-MacOS-Catalina/m-p/8298578#M127940 , including some options for running 32-bit games after upgrading to Catalina.

    You might want to read through this post that gives step-by-step directions on how to install an alternative way of running 32-bit apps (via external drives or virtual machines). 

  • realkingviktor's avatar
    realkingviktor
    5 years ago

    @BlackjackWidow I'm having the exact same issues on my Mac, but still on Mojave 10.14 – have you got any suggestions on how to get it working on that?

    Thanks

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

    @realkingviktor - So SimCity won't launch at all on Mojave 10.14? Or does it launch, but nothing happens when you click the SimCity Play button?

    There is a display issue in Mojave that can cause the cursor to be off on the display, making it look like the cursor is on the Play button, but when you click, you're actually clicking up to an inch or two away. If it turns out this is your issue, there's a fix in This Post. Please let us know if this fixes your issue.

    If it does not solve the problem, then let me know some more details - are you using the Origin or Aspyr App Store version? What are your specs from About This Mac, including exact model. Thanks!

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