Color Saturation Problem

[alcohee]

Hi, I'm a newbie here and introduced myself in the newbie section. Now I have an elusive installation problem. First, some background. I'm running an HP desktop with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 cpu, 8 Gb ram and an NVidia video card. I had RRT-3 installed for quite some time and it worked fine. I think it was version 1.04, but at some point I must have added the Coast to Coast expansion because I had the coast to coast and Alt USA scenario as well as several others. I don't remember how I got back to version 1.04, but the version I was running did not say "Coast to Coast" on the main menu. Anyway, it all worked fine. When I found this website, I noticed that there were new patches, so I figured I would install them. I followed the directions I found here. (Like a dummy, I deleted my working version.) I reinstalled from the CD, then installed Coast to Coast and patch 105. Then I copied that into a new directory and installed patch 106. Then it didn't work (because I'm running Vista) So I downloaded the "Vista Fix" and replaced the engine configuration file and everything worked fine... except for one thing. Now when I load a scenario, the color saturation is HORRIBLE! Before, with my working version, I could see subtle differences in color even with $1 or $2 price differential, now I don't see even a perceptible change until there is at least a $12 differential. This is very disappointing since I know how it should look. I've tried all different game settings. I've tried different settings in the NVidia control panel and on my monitor, all to no avail. Nothing I've done has had any effect. Like I said, it worked fine before I reinstalled the game. I've very disappointed and regret changing it. :(

Has anyone else had this problem or have some clue as to how I can fix it?
Thanks.

[Blackhawk]

Have you tried installing RT3 again in another directory and not updating it to see if the colors returned back to what you were used to?

I think it was any version of RT3 after Coast to Coast (1.04) had issues with some of the graphics not working as they should. Ex. The water no longer had the reflections. If that is the issue you are having, I don't think any fix was ever found for that. It seemed like some people (but not all) had issues with it in Win7, think everyone who used Vista had an issue with it, but as of now no one has had any issues with Win8. I remember a couple people were trying to isolate if it was graphics card, cpu, or software related, but I don't think they ever came to a resolution.

[Gumboots]

I've never heard of this one. I assume you are talking about the colour gradients on the price maps.

There are options to choose different colour schemes for that view. I've tried them and prefer the default, but maybe one of the optional schemes would give you better contrast.

[alcohee]

Yes, that is right. The color gradients on the price maps. I've tried the gray scale and alternate color schemes but they seem to be about the same. I should see subtle gradients of color at price difference of $1 to $3, but now I don't see any variation until the price difference is over $12.

[Gumboots]

Aha. Just checked my copy of the game. I get the same thing. I'd just never paid attention to it before so had assumed it was normal. As far as I recall, it was exactly the same back when I was running XP (I'm now on W7) but I've never been running anything earlier than 1.05 (CtC Expansion).

[alcohee]

I just made a major discovery.. Apparently, it's not my computer. I just found a version 1.01 demo online and downloaded it. The color map is working correctly with that version. Now I just need to isolate whether it's the RT3 engine or one of the support files that is causing the problem. If it's the engine, I guess there's no way to fix version 1.06, but if it's a pixel shader file maybe I can patch version 1.06. Either way, I'll let you know.

[AdmiralHalsey]

Strange. I've never had this problem and I run 1.06 almost exclusively.(I'm just starting to use the TrainMaster version.)

[Hawk]

I don't know if this is relevant to your issue or not, but have you tried the Blurry Texture Fix on this page?

http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/Xtras/

[Gumboots]

Different issue. I have the blurry texture fix installed (works a treat) but get the same gfx for the cargo map price differentials (I'd just assumed it was normal).

I'm running 1.05/CtC, so it's not solely a 1.06 issue. I'd be looking at 1.05 if the gfx were better for 1.04.

Oh and if anyone ever figures out how to fix the water reflections that'd be cool.

[Hawk]

I didn't think it was the same issue, but thought I'd mention it anyway.

As for water reflection, are you saying you don't see the clouds in the water, like this?

water.jpg (25.49 KiB) Viewed 8583 times

I'm not sure what you guys are talking about with the color gradients. I'm guessing you're not talking about the supply/demand colors like this.

demand.jpg (14.71 KiB) Viewed 8583 times

[Gumboots]

Nope, no reflections. They don't work on my box.

And yeah he's talking about those gradients. What's he's saying is that it's all the same shade of red between 0 and $12 price, and it didn't used to be.

[Hawk]

Could it be that my older rig and gfx card are the reason it works for me and not you folks? I'm still running XP with an Nvidea 7600 GT 256 MB RAM card.

[AdmiralHalsey]

Could it be that my older rig and gfx card are the reason it works for me and not you folks? I'm still running XP with an Nvidea 7600 GT 256 MB RAM card.

I'm using Windows 8. No clue about the graphics card but seeing as I only got the computer this past March i'm sure they're newer.

[Stoker]

This is the first I had heard of this issue. I checked, and this is not happening on my rig. There are color differences between all different price cells, even when the difference is only $1. For whatever reason, most of these graphics issues seem to be related to newer Nvidia cards.

For reference, my current rig:
AMD 555 CPU
ASUS Sabertooth Mobo
2x PowerColor HD 6790 in Crossfire (AMD cards)
16 GB Samsung Wonder RAM
Win7Pro64bit

[Hawk]

For whatever reason, most of these graphics issues seem to be related to newer Nvidia cards.

That may be what the issue is. I have read in other forums for other games that the newer Nvidia cards cause issues with some folks.
Or maybe it's driver related. I'm not sure. I know most folks update their video drivers whether they need to or not. It is pretty well know that newer drivers can cause issues with older games.

So it could be a combination of Nvidia cards and Nvidia drivers.

[RulerofRails]

I have this problem with some 1.06 maps. I have ATI Radeon graphics in a laptop. It even has an after affect, when I load a good map it will sometimes keep the corrupted scheme. I can work with it, but it is a real pain on the eyes with most of the map being a constant shade of yellow.

Here's an example of the Livestock demand on the Chile map (the green triangle is an upgraded Meat Packing Plant.):

Color washout problem.jpg (29.94 KiB) Viewed 7320 times

[Stoker]

I am not able to hover over the cells to check the prices on your screen, but I don't see any graphic problem in that screen you posted ROR. What I see is a large area with the same price on each cell (the yellow) and then color gradients being shown where there is a price gradient.

Edit to add: When I look really close at ROR's screen, it appears that there actually is a slight variation in the yellow cells. Again, I don't see anything wrong. I suspect that what you are thinking is a graphic issue is the fact that depending on where and how many supply and demand points (industries,houses, etc.) there are, the color gradient shown can be stark, like what your screen shows.

[RulerofRails]

Stoker, yes, I agree it is difficult for you to see exactly what is going on just from a screenshot. Price is not the same on all those yellow cells. I chose to show the demand for livestock as that tends to have a really nice gradient of color. It is impossible to tell, but for the purpose of the example I made sure the land is flat between the farms and Meat Packing Plant.

I am not trying to say that the gradient isn't there. I am saying that it is very difficult to see as anything but the extremes are washing out to almost indistinguishable shades of yellow. If you noticed a few green cells here and there, they are stations. For contrast here is a shot of a properly working Meat Packing Plant gradient in 1.05:

Colors as in 1.05.jpg (42.96 KiB) Viewed 7313 times

[Stoker]

I still think you are confusing a sharp cargo price gradient with a graphics issue. This is likely related more to the specific scenario and perhaps fudging of the cargo prices. The second screen you showed shows a different situation in which there is a more substantial and gradual price gradient. I just looked at some of the exact same maps in 1.06 and 1.05 and (on my computer at least) they were exactly the same.

[RulerofRails]

Fixed it.

I discovered that it is actually the "Disable Hardware T&L" option that is causing this. I had it checked to try to keep my GPU from getting hot and decreasing its life. But the thing that kept me from discovering this is that I needed to restart the game once I have changed the color scheme to another one of the options. (Just keeping the Green-Yellow-Red one the maps load the same.) Now the game is loading all the maps I know have this issue right.

Here's another screenshot with the right colors. Sorry, it isn't cropped quite the same, but you get the picture:

Chile map looks right.jpg (75.07 KiB) Viewed 7306 times