Hello guys,
I searched the Forum for the same problem and tried everything. But nothing helped.

I have a really unique annoying problem. Tropico 4 is Freezing somehow everytime I'm trying to play it. The screen turns black, but the music plays in the background veery slowly. Then I have to restart the Computer.
I wasnt able to detect what the problem is, because it happens randomly. Sometimes it lets me play 20-30 minutes without any problem, and sometimes just happens in 10 sec.
I thought it was a overheating problem but I cant even play it in the lowest resolution without even heating the machine.

I've tried to update Windows, to update the game, to reinstall DirectX, to update the graphic card driver and even tried the modified drivers but none worked.

What's interesting is; I had the same problem with Tropico 3 until I gave up and trashed the DVD.

Any ideas what it is about?

Here is a detailed Dxdiag info file:

Welcome to the Club !

Fameous Game!
...but crash and freezing have become for me as a part of the game!

Sarcastic?....no no no Very Realistic !!!

I am sure that this club will be bigger untill Kalypso seriously look on it !

But till now NOTHING,NADA,NOPE,no comunication,no feedback from Kalypso whats so ever....

Amen

So you're running the game on a MacBook via Bootcamp? Considering we don't usually test our games with Mac/Bootcamp compatibility in mind and the fact that you have to use very specific drivers for it, we can't really guarantee the game will run properly. This specific issue with the black monitor may be related to the generic monitor driver and the reported refresh rate mismatch between your graphics card and monitor driver. You may also want to check for WHQL signed drivers for your graphics card.

(19-10-2011 04:02 PM)Timo Wrote:  You may also want to check for WHQL signed drivers for your graphics card.

I've tried it already, didn't work.

Well, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT is probably one of the most used Graphic cards. So I don't believe its a graphic card driver problem. But I've experienced some problems with the Mobile Graphic cards (like GeForce 9400(M) GT) earlier in one of my PC's. Maybe its one of them.

I'll try to find another driver for the monitor, but I don't think it'll help.

Schade, Thanks anyway for the reply

OK I'm giving up! Nothing worked so far.
My hours and money are wasted!
Bye

the geforce 9600 GT, is actually an old card, and it wasnt even that great when it came out.. it was a cheap card made for budget systems.. and it gave poor performance on games that were out 4-5+ years ago.

Ok, it was my mistake. It was, an overheating problem. The game works fine if I can keep the CPU temp under 75°C and its not easy! The Computer shuts down so around 90°C of CPU temp. But the game freezes around 80°C. But I still believe that there is something wrong.

(21-10-2011 06:53 PM)CGGuy Wrote:  Ok, it was my mistake. It was, an overheating problem. The game works fine if I can keep the CPU temp under 75°C and its not easy! The Computer shuts down so around 90°C of CPU temp. But the game freezes around 80°C. But I still believe that there is something wrong.

Thermal throttling at 75+ could be causing a deadlock. If it goes offline at 90 then 80 is pushing it. The game is CPU intensive, so strain is expected. Can you close down any background processes to alleviate it?

(21-10-2011 10:46 PM)Swixel Wrote:  Thermal throttling at 75+ could be causing a deadlock. If it goes offline at 90 then 80 is pushing it. The game is CPU intensive, so strain is expected. Can you close down any background processes to alleviate it?

Ok I'll give it another try, but Windows alone is enough to keep it at high temperatures. By MacOS working its around 50-60°C. But in Windows its min. 70°C. with everything shut down. And the game is really CPU intensive.

It's the only game I know of which tries to simulate over a thousand individual entities, thinking in real-time. There's no doubt it's CPU intensive! The actor model is awesome, but there are reasons we don't use it for everyday games

Unfortunately, it takes about 2 minutes after the Game is launched to reach 75-80°C and our black screen is there!
I'll never see the ElPresidente rich and the Tropicans happy

Try enabling Vsync in graphics settings.

(21-10-2011 11:38 PM)Timo Wrote:  Try enabling Vsync in graphics settings.

Hey thanks,
looks like a changing some of graphic settings and enabling v-Sync worked so far. I hope it goes on like this!

it happens me too when i played created challenge with -almost- infinite money with high vegetation and resources
when i 500 - 600 citizens and fast forwarded it and clicked citizen and issued a shot order it freezes!
bide burda benden başka türk olduğunu öğrenmek iyi oldu.

I am very disappointed as well about the freezing of the game !!!

All of the sudden the game freezes, that means the screen stands still, the music goes on. I can finish those games only by program manager.

I am a member of the German forum and I have asked there several times for good advices. I have receives none!

Is there anybody out there ?
Outside of Germany able to help me?

(26-10-2011 02:25 PM)Hayro252 Wrote:  it happens me too when i played created challenge with -almost- infinite money with high vegetation and resources
when i 500 - 600 citizens and fast forwarded it and clicked citizen and issued a shot order it freezes!

High vegetation might be your problem. The game has an object limit to stop lock ups, but by placing 10,000 or so trees you'll likely hit a performance barrier (even if you didn't place them yourself, they slow things down for many calculations).

Closing the thread as the OPs problem was solved.