Back again.

[JSS]

Greetings to all.
It has been such a long time since my last post that it feels like that I am a newbie here again. Thanks Hawk to get me reconnected.
It is great to know that the site is still up and running. It will take me quite some time to catch up with what has been happening here.

Have not played RRT for many years mostly due to not being able to install it on Windows 10.
However, have recently started playing Railway Empire which reminded me to connect up to this board again and perhaps share that experience with other players. Looking forward to it.
Till later.
JSS

[Hawk]

Welcome back John. Good to see you back, and good to see you were able to successfully login.

As for RT3 on Win 10, here's a whole topic about it, if you're interested.

viewtopic.php?f=82&t=3892

If you have any questions about RT3 and Win 10, please feel free to post in that topic. There's a few folks here that will be more than happy to help.

[RulerofRails]

Greetings!

I am a bit in awe of how much time you put into SCBC. It was awhile since I played it, but I think I remember mention of later versions in the thread than the version that's in the archive.

I have been playing Railway Empire from time to time too. If you search for that you will find some comments scattered around. At this point it's mainly the updates that encourage me to play it some more.

There are several ways to get RT3 running on modern machines, the best is a thing called dgVoodoo2 that Private Codex shared. Search that on Google. Simple instructions below:

The download site has a couple links to documentation first. Just look for the one called "dgVoodoo v2.54"
When opening the zip you will have some readmes, dgVoodooCpl, and two folders.
Place dgVoodooCpl on your desktop.
Run this.
Under DirectX settings, make sure to set VRAM to 1024MB (this is analogous to the texture fix). Can turn the watermark off too. Can "Force vSync" to stabilize frame rates.

Now go into the MS folder of the zip.
Select D3D8.dll
Place that in your game folder
Run the game
Go to graphics settings and make sure the "Disable Hardware T&L" switch is off.
Restart the game if you changed that switch.
You're done.

If you got the game from GoG, there is a little extra step needed for that version of the executable.
Long version. Short version:

Remove/backup the file d8tx.dll from your game folder.
Rename the file D3D8.dll that you just put there with the name "d8tx.dll"
The game will now use the dgVoodoo instructions, enjoy.

[JSS]

Thanks RulerofRails for the instructions.
At this point I am not certain if I will return to playing/working wit RT3 for several reasons. One of them being that now that I am retired I seem to have less time than when I was working. Go figure!
The other is that since I have started playing Railway Empire (and that only for a few months) I like playing that game much more than RT3. I never really liked playing RT3 that much and much rather played RT2. But I will never say never.
The only possible reason I would return to it would be to do some more work on the SCBC map. If I remember correctly it is an almost finished map with only a few extra missing events to fill in the gaps later in the game.
In retrospect I must admit that it was an overly ambitious project. Furthermore, it seems to me that I really pushed the innards of game because of certain things were happening when playing the game at times that did not happen when testing events individually by themselves. Oh well it was still fun trying new event technics and doing it.
You are right, the developments going on with Railway Empire are great and I am looking forward to what they have planned for the future. I miss the personal wealth part in the game though and it would be great if they worked on that. Have you used the editor by any chance?
Thanks again.
JSS

[Gumboots]

Hi. I wasn't around when you were here last, but welcome back anyway.

I took a look at your SCBC map and noticed in the thread for it that you'd had another 69 betas after the version that is in the site archives.
Do you still have a copy of the last beta you made (#426)? If you do, it might be worth uploading a copy so people can mess with it.

[JSS]

Gumboots, I took a quick look and all I have on this computer still is #357(one of the official betas) and #423. Would have to do a lot of digging to find any other version at this time. Both are from 2006/2007.

[Gumboots]

Yep, 357 is the one available here. Took a look at that already, and it's a very well made map in terms of topography and texturing, but if there another stack of betas after it...

[JSS]

Gumboots I have Build 423 here on my computer but I truly don’t remember in what state the game was at that point. I simply made a save at least once a day I worked on the scenario. If you like I will find a way to make that version available to you but it might not work as well as build 357.

[Gumboots]

Ok. No rush. I just thought it might be handy to have an idea of where you had intended to go with the map, in case anyone wants to try it.

[JSS]

As I mentioned above, at this point I am not planning to go any further with the map. So if you like the latest build let me know please.

I further believe the map is playable as is but might have some minor hiccup’s. The real issue is to follow the maps instructions to the detail and figure out what works best to reach the goal.
At the time I made the map I read a lot about the KVR history and tried to make the map and its events as authentic as possible. Perhaps that made it not very entertaining to play but it provided an insight into RR history in the area.

[RulerofRails]

Well, the Railway Empire editor is quite limited. It's more like a scenario builder. You can adjust the balance of some things, set new tasks and reposition and/or adjust the cities/resources. But you can't do scripting, you can't make a new map (apart from a random one but that has certain limitations), and you can't use it with any of the DLC content, only the US stuff that at this point is almost a year old.

I think it's worth to have the latest build of SCBC. Surely there are some improvements made in the later versions. #423 is probably good enough for now. I remember seeing some bugs in the events of the archived version. I would guess that those were fixed in the later versions? If there are still known bugs, I'm more than happy to take a stab at fixing them. By now I'm pretty confident about getting the events to behave, actually I kind of enjoy it. I did some scripting fixes in the past to Coal Miner's Daughter and Warrington Wire (TM). Both these maps have a large number of events. Please don't feel that I'm trying to rope you into anything.

[JSS]

Hopefully there will be further developments with the editor. Since I like the “feel” of Railway Empire and enjoy playing it I would not mind fiddling with it to make some scenarios. Let’s hope for the best.

I will make the #423 available on an individual basis. Have uploaded it to google drive so please just supply me with your email address (Privat Message) and I make it available to you.

It is darn difficult for me to remember what I did last week never mind what I did more than 10 years ago but bugs identified during the testing of the 375 build I am certain got fixed. But I also vaguely remember totally revamping many events to be more streamlined and easier to interpret. (order of execution, fitting better into timeline etc. etc.) Hopefully it was to the better but I do not recall at what point I really left off without taking a look at it and that would mean installing the game again.
Yes, I also enjoyed doing the scripting but the endless testing of each event was a real bummer.
You are not roping me into anything. I am just glad someone else is willing to make the sacrifice and make the map a better experience for other players.
Long live SCBC 1898.
JSS

[RulerofRails]

I sent you a message.

[Gumboots]

Can you download from Google Drive without having an account?

[JSS]

I do not think so. Does not everybody have a Google Account?
Perhaps there is another way of doing it?
What I would like to avoid is that the map is openly available. People, without knowing the circumstances of the map status might then starting to contact me about specifics and I would have to tell them “I don’t know”. Not good for someone needing help.

[Hawk]

I don't have a Google account. As a matter of fact, I don't use Google for anything.

That aside, you could zip it up and attach it to a private message for whoever asks about it. Then only the person asking for it will have access to it.

[RulerofRails]

You guys don't need a Google account to download files. It worked fine for me without signing in. Thanks JSS!

When right clicking on files in your Google drive, there is the option to "get shareable link." This puts a link in your clipboard that can be pasted anywhere and anyone who clicks on the link can then download that file.

PS. Of course I try to be privacy conscious, while I have a Google account I didn't use any personal info to make it. There is the analogy that we are just little fish in a vast ocean, but I prefer to be cautious.

[JSS]

RulerofRails, that is interesting. I did not think that one can do that because in the Google guidelines it says “Note: If you share with an email address that isn’t a Google Account, they’ll only be able to view the file.” But I am clad it worked for you.

I am also concerned about privacy but dog gone how do you keep on top of it and still keep up with the times? What would I do without my Smart TVs (requiring a Google Account) or Alexa (using the Amazon Prime Account)? Not to mention the Smart Phone. Google sends me a report once a month telling me where I have been and I get emails from stores I only walked through with my smartphone on. I am glad I am only concerned about such things and not paranoid.

[Hawk]

I don't have a smart TV. I don't have one of those Alexa things either, and I don't have a smart phone. All those things are spying on you 24/7.

I get by just fine though. As a matter of fact, I'll most likely be disconnecting from the Internet very soon. I see better things to do in life than fool with all this modern technology garbage.

Not 'preaching' to anyone. Just giving my opinion.

[JSS]

Disconnecting from the Internet? Hawk, that means you will be ……………….gone or? How will I be in touch with you? No matter how hard we will try to drum, the sounds will simply not reach us anymore.
Governments spend billions to lay Glassfiber lines to reach the last corners of the world and you want to disconnect? Say it isn’t so.