Crash To Desktop

A Crash to Desktop, abbreviated as CTD, is the name for when the game unexpectedly closes and returns you to the desktop.

Commonly Known Causes of CTD's

• Zooming in or out rapidly. Zooming requires the game to regenerate the graphics at a new zoom, which can overwhelm the program.
• Making contact between Puzzle Pieces and Transit Enabled (TE) lots.
• Functional Landmarks Mod, while you still have normal, non-functional Landmarks in your city.
• There may be others not listed here.

Puzzle Piece & Transit Enabled Lot Conflict

NAM FAQ This issue occurs only when a Puzzle Piece of a certain network is hovered over a Transit Enabled lot that is transit enabled with the same network. For example, Elevated Heavy Rail Viaducts over a Transit-Enabled Rail Station.

The issue is the result of hardcoded material in the main .exe file; the SimCity 4.exe file, for some reason or another, tends to get stuck in an "infinite loop" when puzzle pieces are hovered over TE Lots. The infinite loop causes an exception and the game closes itself automatically due to this.

It was previously thought to be unfixable due to it's hardcoded nature, until Simmaster07 discovered a solution via DLL modding. The DLL SC4 Fix completely removes the crashing due the TE Lot/Puzzle Piece hovering, and also stabilizes other aspects of the game, making CTDs generally less likely, though still possible (e.g. zooming in/out too fast). You can download it from the STEX here, though please note that, as of May 2016, the NAM RHW Disconnector tool still caused CTDs with all TE Lots, regardless of network type.

For more info on TE Lots, see mott's discussion on the topic [1]. Thanks to Chrisim for providing some additional information on this issue!