cities.exe not working

[robbiecol]

The game starts up just fine, I just can not get into a New Game. I can click New Game on the main menu just mine, and can even select and name the location I want to start in. However, once the location is about halfway done loading, I get a cities.exe error and the game crashes. I have googled this with very little help, but have realized that some other people have the same problem. I'm not sure if it is because I just upgraded to Windows 10, but I have an i5 2.5 GHz processor 64-bit and 8 GB of RAM. I feel I should not have any issues on my computer.

 

[AndrewT]

So the game used to work before going to Win10, is that right?

If so
Please try a clean reinstall:

- Remove the game from Steam (delete local content)
- Manually delete all these files and folders, if still there:
...\Steam\steamapps\common\Cities_Skylines\
...\Steam\userdata\<SteamID>\255710\
...\Users\<UserName>\Documents\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines

...\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines
(first move the /saves/ folder elsewhere to keep your save games)

- In the Steam Workshop, un-subscribe from ALL mods and assets
- Install the game again, but BEFORE running for the first time, in Steam right-click on this game and choose Properties. Click on Set launch Options, and paste this in there: -force-d3d9
- Now run the game up and start a new city.
- If all goes OK, move the save games back and try again.
- If still OK, you can start subscribing to mods and assets again. But test the game after every few, to make sure a bad one has not come down again.

 

[robbiecol]

No actually, I just purchased the game, and have never been able to start a new game.

 

[DM7897]

same here, like i mentioned on my own thread, i suspect its because of unity, their 64 bit editor seems suddenly incompatible with a lot of cpu.

looking at unity forum suggested the same thing, there's quite a lot of people that suddenly can't use unity 64 bit editor.

@Dev : i suggest making the 64 bit optional, rather than having 64 bit only

@robbiecol : do you know your full detailed specs ?

btw i also haven't been able to launch the game at all, since i bought it during the steamOS sale, my OS is 64bit, and my cpu is 64 bit.

 

[robbiecol]

It's weird isn't it. Here's my card specs. Not sure if this helps or not.
Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
DAC type: Internal
Device Type: Full Device
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0416&SUBSYS_229E103C&REV_06
Display Memory: 4174 MB
Dedicated Memory: 112 MB
Shared Memory: 4062 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)

 

[DM7897]

the spec thing is for the dev to look at, need more details though, rather than just intel i5,
HD 4600 from intel, don't know if its gonna be able to run it or not, maybe try getting a dedicated card for gaming,

intel integrated graphics naming is so confusing, that everyone is confused on which one is good or bad.

well, i do prepare myself for a refund, if the dev kept ignoring me, i maybe just 1 person, but for sure i will warn everyone i know about this game,

i still have before 12 August 2015, to decide for a refund or not, but probably gonna do a refund, because what is the use of a game that is unplayable,

i still think its a bad decision by making a game 64 bit only,

 

[robbiecol]

Yeah. I guess there is nothing I could do regardless of the information. I will just have to get a refund. Really upset about it.. seems like a really cool game. And I play other games (not a lot) but other steam games such as gmod, cs strike, tf2, just fine.

 

[KnightHawkTFC]

i suggest making the 64 bit optional, rather than having 64 bit only

That is not going to happen.

 

[DM7897]

That is not going to happen.

without any reasoning, that just sound fanboyism,

besides looking at it from business aspect, its a plus, because it means more customer for Cities Skyline,
because it adds customer that is stuck using 32 bit, to be able to buy cities skyline.

and less issue like what happens now, "some customers using 64 bit OS and CPU, can't get it to run, because of unknown compatibility issue caused by game engine."

 

[AndrewT]

The problem in this thread has nothing to do with 32bit Windows. If you have that, the game does not start with an "Unknown Error". And the last thing the devs are going to spend their time on is rewriting the game to run on 32bit Windows. The ROI is just not there, and if it was they would have done that in the first place.

Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600

The game is not supported in Intel video at all.

 

[Eldrarak82]

Actually, I have the exact same configuration as OP, and the exact same problem. Cities Skylines was running on my Intel HD Graphics 4600 (Intel i5-4200 CPU) perfectly in Windows 8.1. I just upgraded to Windows 10, and since the upgrade, I cannot get into game on anything more than the lowest graphical settings. I've updated to the latest Intel Windows 10 Drivers, but this has not fixed the issue. Attempting to access the asset editor, or a game map, with anything above minimal graphical settings immediately causes a CTD. Also, if I get the game up and loaded on Minimum settings and then try to raise the settings, the same issue happens. Specifically, I can say that raising the Texture Quality to High (with all other settings at minimum) created a CTD, but not sure if its just that one setting, or others too which can cause it for me.

EDIT: Just did some more testing. With graphical quality on the absolute minimal settings, I was able to load the asset editor, but even with the Intersection template selected, the road button (only) appeared in the build menu, but clicking this icon did not fire off any event handlers that I could see. IE: The button didn't do anything. Again, this is new behavior in this game for me since upgrading from Win 8.1 to Win 10.

Also, when I attempted to "Quit to Main Menu", the game CTD'd, however I was experiencing the CTD on "Quit to Main Menu" before upgrading as well. I assumed it was mod related at that time (because the game did not have this problem for me at release and it emerged, what seems like, randomly), but I am currently using a vanilla install and having the same problem, so likely not related to Mods.

UPDATE: After uninstalling and unsubscribing ALL Mods, Save Games, and Steam Workshop items, the game was still not running in Windows 10. This was ensured to be a completely vanilla Cities: Skylines install at this point. The fix actually came from adding the switch "-force-d3d9" to the startup options for the application within Steam. Adding that startup command line parameter allowed the game to run and work correctly even on the higher graphical settings that I reported as having issues earlier. The only thing I can add is that C:S performance seems to have drastically dropped since upgrading to Windows 10.

 

[KnightHawkTFC]

without any reasoning, that just sound fanboyism,

besides looking at it from business aspect, its a plus, because it means more customer for Cities Skyline,
because it adds customer that is stuck using 32 bit, to be able to buy cities skyline.

and less issue like what happens now, "some customers using 64 bit OS and CPU, can't get it to run, because of unknown compatibility issue caused by game engine."

Fanboyism?? Stop the immaturity, it's based on comments from the developers and the publisher. It's something that the developers commented on repeatedly months ago both before release and after, I'm sorry you don't like their anwser but don't shoot the messenger.

 

[KevJ]

So the game used to work before going to Win10, is that right?

If so
Please try a clean reinstall:

- Remove the game from Steam (delete local content)
- Manually delete all these files and folders, if still there:
...\Steam\steamapps\common\Cities_Skylines\
...\Steam\userdata\<SteamID>\255710\
...\Users\<UserName>\Documents\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines

...\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines
(first move the /saves/ folder elsewhere to keep your save games)

- In the Steam Workshop, un-subscribe from ALL mods and assets
- Install the game again, but BEFORE running for the first time, in Steam right-click on this game and choose Properties. Click on Set launch Options, and paste this in there: -force-d3d9
- Now run the game up and start a new city.
- If all goes OK, move the save games back and try again.
- If still OK, you can start subscribing to mods and assets again. But test the game after every few, to make sure a bad one has not come down again.

Andrew, I followed your instructions and was able to get CS to load but now I have new problems (Just upgraded to Win10 btw). When I subscribed to my fav assets and mods again they aren't showing up in either the game or my folders? My assets folder shows empty and I only see 3 mods which I believe are the basic ones. Any ideas? This is getting very frustrating. =(

 

[AndrewT]

If the Win10 update involved re-installing Steam, make sure you have Steam Cloud Sync enabled in two places - for the Steam client overall, and for this game in particular.

 

[Pringle01]

hi to all,
'Cities.exe has stopped working'

Hoping that this issue can be addressed soon

Having trawled through numerous postings both on Steam forums aand on Paradox forums, still without a working solution, i am at my wits end.
After purchasing this game in June, and running fine with it, i have now encountered the dreaded 'cities.exe not working'.

Unlike the other posts above, i am running win 7, all updated, i have a Nvidia 980TI graphics card installed, Intel I7 4790k running at 4.8ghz with 32gb of ram on board
all graphics drivers have been updated to latest, so the pc is well speced for running this program.
i have set the Nvidia 3d settings to 'best performance' rather than adaptive
i have uninstalled and reinstalled cities many times, uninstalled steam completely twice and reinstalled, removed all workshop subs for both mods and assets, placed the DX9 command into the launch properties (-Force-d3d9-), this got me past the initial issue i had of CS not even starting.

i am now at the point that i can start CS, get to the main menu.. all ok.. deep breath...
but select a standard unpopulated map, which then starts to load, then crashes with the above error message.

i dont know how many hours i have spent going through the suggested fixes for this, far to many for sure, and getting well PO'ed with it.
I am hoping this issue can be resolved as this is an enjoyable game...when running, but at the moment in it's current state, it is not fit for purpose for myself.

this is my pc spec from the output log
Machine ID: ae9b7f0418587aa70169d58cd8b59dce84ef0335
Model: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz (32708 MB)
OS: Windows 7 (6.1.7600) 64bit
Language: English
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz (8 core(s))
System Memory: 32708
Gfx Device: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti
Gfx Version: Direct3D 9.0c [nvd3dumx.dll 10.18.13.5560]
Gfx Memory: 6048
Gfx Shader Model: 30
Game Version: 1.1.1c

the output log file
http://pastebin.com/hnWRJ4eh

waiting in antisipation.....
Alan Stanley

 

[AndrewT]

What if you add in these switches too?
-noWorkshop -disableMods
If that allows you to start a city, then you have a mod problem most likely.

 

[Pringle01]

Hi Andrew, thanks for replying so quickly
added the switches as in your post, still no luck, same error at the same point of loading a map
as i mentioned in my post, i have unsubbed to all assets and mods from steam workshop
it's a completely clean install
cheers
Alan

 

[Pringle01]

Hello to all

Bit of an update to my problem
seems this crashing and non starting of cities has been due to the newest version of the Nvidia drivers.

I rolled back my graphics drivers from ver 355.60 released on 13/8/2015 to driver ver 353.30 released on 22/06 2015.
and bingo.. cities started up once again, able to load the maps and play as i did before.
I still get the error when trying to go back to the main menu of CS from a map in progress, program just crashes out to the desktop with the same 'cities.exe has stopped working', but i can work with this, not ideal but it is what it is.

I removed the switches suggested by AndrewT from my CS startup to see if they would have any detrimental effect, none seen

Loaded up mods and assets from steam workshop once again and all seems fine..

so there is the issue solved.. to a degree, at least i can play once again with just some work around

hope this helps any others out there that may be battling with this annoying glitch

all the best
Alan