SimCity 2013 Crashes, Errors, Online, Freezes and Fixes

List of workarounds to fix general errors, crashes and freezes you might experience in SimCity 2013.


The latest iteration in the SimCity series has finally been released to masses. If you are a SimCity follower, you must be itching to jump into the city building simulator by EA. The game however, may present you some technical problems not allowing you to enjoy it properly.

If you are facing such issues, you should look for a possible solution from our list of workarounds. If you are facing an issue that isn’t listed or know any other workaround that might fix these issues, don’t forget to share in the comments.

#1 SimCity 2013 Crashes on Launch – Missing DLL File
The error usually occurs due to some conflict between Origin/Game and some other software installed in your system like your firewall or antivirus. Unblocking the “.exe” files both for origin and the game in firewall/antivirus can help you fix the problem.

#2 SimCity 2013 Graphics Issue – No guides, or Data layers, No Zots
If you have updated drivers, you should try to tone down lighting to minimum to see the missing things.

#3 SimCity 2013 Graphics Issue – Ground Texture and Other Objects not Being Displayed Properly
Same thing, you should reduce the lighting to minimum to make them visible.

#4 SimCity 2013 Stuck on ‘Processing Large File”
Chances are that it’s not stuck since the game itself is 13GB in total. If your download is slow at some point or even halted, you should wait for it to complete. The download speed obviously will depend on your connection speed.

#5 SimCity 2013 Bug – Tools don’t Show up
If you have been able to run the rest of the game fine and just happened to stumble upon this issue, restarting the game should fix the issue for you.

#6 SimCity 2013 Not yet released Message
The game has only be released in these regions for the time being:

  • North America
  • Canada
  • Mexico
  • Brazil
  • Singapore
  • Hong Kong
  • Korea
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Russia

If you are in some other country, you will have to wait till 7th or 8th of this month. Furthermore, if you are in one of the above mentioned countries and still getting the message, you should know the support team at Maxis is working to resolve the issue.

#7 Simcity 2013 Install Stuck at 30% – Runtime Error
If reinstalling the redistributable package doesn’t fix the problem then you should try to uninstall all the redistributable packages installed on your system and let the game install the one automatically. It may sound crazy but it’s worth of a shot if you don’t want to be on the waiting list for a patch.

#8 Performance Boost for ATI Users
You need to disable the catalyst control panel to improve the performance of the game. It can also fix the small graphics related glitches for you.

#9 SimCity 2013 Crash – The Music Plays but the Game Crashes
As a quick fix, try disabling origin in-game. Restart the client and this time, SimCity will not crash.

#10 SimCity 2013 Crash – Error SMCY28
The error is not persistent so a simple restart can fix the problem for you. The error occurs due to interruption between the client and the internet connection so refreshing your connection can also prove helpful.

#11 SimCity 2013 Error Code SMCY32
If you are getting this code, you need to uninstall the game and install it again.

#12 SimCity Black and White Screen Problem Fix (Windows 8)
On windows 8, you might come across a black and white screen that won’t allow you to proceed further. In that case, you need to run the game in windows compatibility mode. To do this:

Locate your SimCity.exe file (either in your SimCity installation directory or on your Desktop), right-click on it and choose Properties. A new window will appear. Click on the “Compatibility” tab and activate the Checkbox next to “Run this Program in compatibility mode for:”. In the Dropdown Menu choose “Windows 7” and confirm by clicking on OK.

If you have come across any other issues in the game, let us know in the comments and we will try to help you out!

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Ali is a passionate RPG gamer. He believes that western RPGs still have a lot to learn from JRPGs. He is editor-in-chief at SegmentNext.com but that doesn't stop him from writing about his favorite video ...