Graphical glitches: blinking buildings

[blackavenger44]

I have blinking white stripes around my buildings when I move the camera in different positions. From some angles of view it doesn't happen. How can I fix this?

[BlackjackWidow]

First, the basics - Make sure that you have the latest graphic drivers for your card, and that your OS is up to date with newest patches. Set both Origin.exe and SimCity.exe to run "as Administrator".  If you have BitDefender (antivirus program) or Nahimic 2 (MSI's sound application) installed, uninstall or disable them. SimCity does not play well with dual monitors or 4k resolutions. Disable any dual monitor software (set to use just one for the game); video resolution should be set to 1080p (or lower) resolutions; try setting the fps to 60.

Repair game - In Origin, right-click the SimCity icon and choose "Repair"

SimCity Recovery - Default location is \Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\SimCity\SimCityRecovery\SimCityRecovery.exe Right-click and run as Administrator. (run from the exe, not from any shortcuts in the menu)

Hope that helps - if you still have issues, reply back with the type of card, which version of Windows and post a dxdiag report. How to Dxdiag 

[blackavenger44]

I tried all of these and still doesn't help. My card is Nvidia GTX 750Ti; Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64 bit. Here's the report:

[BlackjackWidow]

Thanks for the additional info - I didn't see anything in the dxdiag, but I'm not very good at reading dxdiag reports. Maybe @EA_Mai can give us a hand? 

I did a search for this exact problem, and DID find a thread where players with the GTX 750Ti all had the same problem. It seems it may be related to this card in some way. The good thing is that apparently it only happens on low wealth density areas, so once your city starts to grow the problem may go away. There might be something in the graphics settings that you can tweak to make the issue go away. 

You could try putting all your video settings down to low/minimum, and then slowly increase each setting until you find the setting that is causing the problem. If I were you, I would concentrate on the following settings:

Screen resolution:

• In-game, set to 1600 x 900/60 Hz. (This is the resolution of your monitor according to your dxdiag). 
• In Windows, change your video resolution to the native resolution of your monitor. From Control Panel > Appearance & Personalization > Adjust Screen Resolution. Then set SimCity's video settings to match
• Change SimCity.exe so that it controls the dpi scaling: Right-click SimCity shortcut. Choose Properties > Compatibility > enable the option named Disable Display Scaling on High DPI Settings. In Windows 10, you can choose to have the application control the scaling. I can't remember if that option is available on Windows 7, but if there is a drop-down box choose "Application"
• Use a profile in Nvidia's GeForce application; there is an optimization for SimCity 2013. 

Turn On or Off (if the SimCity setting is checked, uncheck it - or vice versa)

• V-Sync
• Anti-Aliasing
• Full Screen
• Borderless window

 I hope one of these helps. If not, I'm kind of out of ideas. Hopefully, @EA_Mai will have some better options. Good luck!

[blackavenger44]

Well, I tried all that, and seems the only way is to set the lighting quality to the minimum. It also comes with the Nvidia optimization, but, the picture with the low lighting settings looks very awful. So it's kinda unplayable for me. Well, thanks a lot anyway for your help, hope I will find something to do eventually

[BlackjackWidow]

I am sorry there isn't a better answer. There must be something about the driver for your particular card, since I can find a few other posts about the same card, with the same issue and resolution (lighting set to minimum). 

You might have some better luck if you don't mind playing around with the Nvidia control panel. I played on Windows Vista Home Premium for years with a lower-end Nvidia card, and had the best luck by creating a profile and tweaking the settings in there (under "manage 3d settings). Interestingly, under SimCity 5, they recommend setting lighting = minimum and shadows = off. I agree, it looks awful like that. Sorry there doesn't seem to be much more to do. (Edit - here's a quick tutorial on finding the profile area http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2615/~/how-do-i-customize-optimus-profiles-and-se...)

Hopefully, once your city grows past the Low Wealth Low Density phase, the issue will go away. If that's the case, you won't have to bear it much longer. Happy building!

[blackavenger44]

Okay, I'll try to build some more to see if the glithes go away then. Thank you for your help anyway

[blackavenger44]

Hey again. Want to report. So I tried to build some more zones and yeah, all blinkings has gone. Seems it works, the glithces appear at the start of the game. I will try to build really big city and see if that happen again or not to make sure

[BlackjackWidow]

That's so good to hear! Thanks for the update - I was just wondering if it worked out. Helps others who might have the problem in the future, too. So glad that you don't have to deal with that the whole time, it would be such a pain