Why won't Simcity 4 run on my Windows 7 computer?

I've tried loading it stock, with Rush Hour, and with the 638 patch and every time I go to play the screen flashes black once or twice, then acts like nothing happened. It displays a prompt each time asking me if I want to allow the unknown program to make changes to the computer and I hit run. It then briefly displays a message about switching to some basic mode (can't see it long enough to read), then gives up.

I changed the compatibility mode to every possible setting (XP, Vista, etc.) but have no luck. Any ideas on what I can do? I know the game works because I've played it on my old XP computer, but the game becomes too slow on there once I start adding in mods, so I want to play it on my faster Windows 7 comp.