I just bought the Deluxe program Jan 7/2023. I was able to launch the game after it was installed and I was able to play my game until today, Jan 10th. When I logged into GOG and tried to click on the "Play" tab, it was greyed out and I couldn't launch the game. I signed out, logged back in. Tab allowed me to click on it. Clicked on it and nothing happened. Game didn't start.

The shortcut game tab on my screen only shows 1.77KB. It doesn't launch game either.

In program files (x86) under GOG Galaxy, then under games, SimCity 4 Deluxe shows up and shows 2.20 GB of data. I open this file and under launch game it only shows 2KB.

Under my downloads tab it shows GOG_Galaxy_SimCity TM_4_Deluxe_Edition but file size is 513KB

Under my programs files the system shows the program as SimCity 4 Deluxe by GOG with a tiny file size of 2.08MB Version 1.1.641 Hotfix

I downloaded the 1.2 GB offline backup but I can't seem to find that anywhere which I did twice. No matter what I try I can't seem to get the game to start. I am not even sure if it was even downloaded into my laptop.

Why would I be able to play the game right after I bought it, and now I can't?

Oh, one other thing. I actually have the original game CD set I bought in 2008. I tried installing the CD and it installs, but it wont play either. The new Origin doesn't support my game. EA support said they put this game into the Sunset file saying its now obsolete so Origin won't support it. Is there a way I can play from my CD game???

I have Windows 10 64 bit OS

I am far from techno savvy. I have probably kindergarten level. Any trouble shooting you can suggest is helpful. Just write it as if you're writing the book, technology for dummies.

This depends on how you're running it now.

The easiest way to do so right now is to use GOG's official shortcut instead of directly running the executable. The reason for that is that GOG added command-line parameters to that shortcut that limit the game to use only 1 core to prevent it from hanging on launch. Galaxy is also configured to do this.

More info on that is found on the PCGamingWiki article under Essential Improvements: SimCity 4 This is due to the fact that the retail version uses SafeDisc DRM. Microsoft disabled the driver for this DRM in Windows Vista/7/8.x in an update and completely removed it from Windows 10/11, as it has not been updated since 2008 and some edge case vulnerabilities were found for it. More info also on PCGamingWiki: Digital rights management (DRM) Believe it or not, EA, the actual publisher of the franchise since the 90s, distributed a VERY outdated version of the game on Origin (version 1.1.610 instead of 1.1.638/641). Don't even bother with that one.

Thank you very much Plok_HR for your reply to my problem. I will try your suggestions. I'm also very sad to know my CD's are useless now but at least I am not left wondering if there is something I could do if I was more knowledgeable .

They're not exactly, all you need is an executable without said DRM, either from a good crack site (wink wink) or even just replacing it with the one from GOG (you need to install both the expansion and the official 640 patch though).