Forum Discussion

nebneferek's avatar
nebneferek
5 years ago

SimCity 4 won't launch completely, goes to desktop at EA logo.

I was playing Sim City 4 through Origin when it crashed and went to desktop. Since the game crashed, Sim City 4 now crashes during launch 100% of the time. When it does, the EA animation  has begun and EA logo is showing. 

I've got a brand new computer, just out of the box. Just purchased and downloaded Sim City 4 In Origin and had been playing for about an hour when the game first crashed.

I have tried:

  • Uninstalling both Sim City 4 and Origin. 
  • Running "Repair" on the game in the "My Game Library" in Origin.
  • Running "Update" on the game in the "My Game Library" in Origin.
  • Unchecking "Enable Origin In Gameplay" box under properties in "My Game Library" on Sim City 4 Game when right clicking.
  • Checked if Windows Update is Current, they are.
  • Checked box to "Run this program as an administrator" when right clicking Origin Shortcut, under "Compatibility tab"
  • Ended all Origin related tasks through task manager.

Any help would be great 🙂 

1 Reply

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

    Hi @nebneferek - Great job on your initial troubleshooting! Since you've already eliminated most of the basics, the only other thing I would recommend is to make sure SimCity 4 is added to exception lists for your antivirus.

    The game was built back in 2003, so it can have issues running under our new systems, especially utilizing more than one processor core. To fix, there are a few command line switches you can use to force it to play nice. Hopefully this will get the game back to running on your system. Close out of the game - make certain SimCity 4 is not running any processes (you might want to just close out of Origin and reboot your pc, just to make sure)

    • In Origin, right-click the SimCity 4 icon. Choose Game Properties > Advanced Launch Options
    • In the Command Line Arguments box type  
      -d:soft -intro:off -CPUCount:1 -f -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32
      • -d: soft sets rendering to software mode
      • -intro:off skips the intro video
      • -CPUCount:1 sets the game to use just 1 core 
      • -f sets the game to run in full screen mode (use -w for windowed mode)
      • -CustomResolution:enabled sets the resolution to 1920x1080 at 32 bit color. (you can set this to match a resolution supported by your monitor, up to 1280x1024x32)
    • Choose Save to save the command line switches
    • Exit the Game Properties and try SimCity 4 again

    These are the most common switches used, you may not want or need the full screen mode or resolution settings. Hopefully, the software rendering and forcing the cpu count to only one core will fix the crashing. Skipping the intro video can also help, since they usually play in a different resolution and cause issues. 🤞 

    Hope this helps! Happy Building!

About SimCity Franchise Discussion

Do you have what it takes to be mayor? Share your city-building experience and strategy with the SimCity forum community.1,736 PostsLatest Activity: 3 months ago