Hawk & Badger Railroad Forum

Hi

just managed to get RT3 running on windows 7 Home Premium, so here is a rough log of how to do it, ignoring the false starts, with some explanations.

If you understand how Windows generally works and read the W7 intro then you have a good chance of getting this to go - but be warned it is Windows, so if you trash your system I will not be able to give much if any help - so back it up before you start......

System has AVG anti virus + firewall in place.
The machine i use is an Intel quad core, running w7 home premium, 2 Gbyte of memory, Nvidia graphics card.
The system is set up with multiple user accounts and the default w7 security model - i think you might have to use an "admin" type account to operate the game since running in emulation mode gives access to hardware such as the DVD drive that w7 tries to protect - but i didnt check that box, so more testing......

Basic scheme follows the earlier instructions for Vista.
install RT3 as standard from the original DVD (v1.0.0.1 on my disk), then patch to v 1.03.
Alter the settings for video acceleration off in "Settings" - disable hardware T&L.
Patch coast to coast, v1.05, v1.06 (or stop at that point you like).

there are probably other ways to do this such as installing all the patches and putting the vista "engine.cfg" file in the Data\Configuration directory, but this was recommended for Vista and worked, so i let well alone.
While I was testing I managed to get the same symptoms with immediate crash at the main menu after patching to 1.06, and replacing engine.cfg fixed that......

Alter the icon you use to launch the program to run RT3 in XP SP3 emulation mode

(right click the icon, choose properties, go to the compatbility tab, and set the checkbox there, but leave all other settings default).

You will get a w7 security winge each time you start the program - i havent found how to fix that yet, but dont really care about 1 extra mouse click.

Tests so far are running the campaign for a single user, so this is no where near a complete set of tests - other stuff may need more tinkering.

The graphics at high quality is better than the w2k pentium 4 machine it replaces with the quality turned right up and doesnt affect speed, so software graphics is not affecting gameplay.
The only draw back so far is some wierd screen artifacts when starting / ending a game, or starting / finishing the program.

So - a few words of warning:
Vista and W7 both hide various files and extensions by default in file lists, which complicates this process - but changing the defaults could make "other stuff" look different.....
Any crash may lock files so that patches etc refuse to copy over the earlier version - a reboot should sort this out, or renaming the target file rather than copying over the top.
You can apply patches as often as you want as long as you do it the right order, so keep trying.
W7 has lots of security "model" things that can be tweaked, so dont be surprised if your system is set up differently and you have different results.
There are are at least 5 different types of W7 - this was "Home Premium".

I am away from my win 7 machine for a while but I shall go over my installation process a few more times when I get backto see if I can get the game to run.
Thanks for the step by step information.

I've moved this to the right forum and made it a sticky.

shope.

It's nice that you made your W7 RT3 installation hints available within this great forum. It's the right place concerning RT3. I think, that most of the folk "lurking around here" will do the step to W7 within the next two years. So, your comments may be helpful for them.

Just one other bit FYI

My system is running W7 in 32 mode, so 64 bit mode may give some other interesting effects.

there are several issues noted elsewhere about poor graphics in Vista / W7 - but many of those seem to be running 64bit mode, and I am not seeing display issues, so this might be a common factor.

I use a Samsung LCD which is pretty good - 1080 x 1660 which RT3 runs as 1024 x 1650 (or close). Certainly much better than the illyama 19" CRT which it replaced......

This is a monitor, but the same panel is available in the UK as a varient in an HD LCD TV which i have as well on a different system - stuff built for TV typically has be bright to work in daylight. the graphics detail / colour are clear and bright.

anyhow - good luck

Stephen

Just thought I'd comment on this topic seeing as I am running Windows 7.

I got RT3 running by using the compatibility mode feature, which you can access by right clicking the icon on your desktop, clicking properties and selecting the compatibility tab. You can run the game in all versions of Windows going way back when, and at least one of them works!

When I had 1.00 installed, I needed to use an XP compatibility mode to get it to work. However, I now have 1.05 installed, and it worked with the Vista mode, but, I did need use the tip mentioned for making the game work on Vista, whereby you download a copy of the executible file. Rather than have two versions running and god-knows what, I didn't even get that, I just used the new executible, turned off that graphics option which causes the problem, and away I've gone.

I've never had this wrong CD error, thankfully.

I installed RT3 to a new Windows 7 installation on my newest PC which has Windows 7 Pro. About 3 weeks ago. I'm not running any compatibility settings at all, and it's working just fine. What I did was install from the retail disk (version 1.00 I guess). I did not even try to run this version. Then I immediately used a patch file that updated it all the way up to version 1.05 in one shot. Think I got it from Hawk & Badger. then I did the 1.06 update.
It's working fine. No issues at all. Video is good. Maps and options are working. I have played thru about half of the original campaign at the hard setting, just for fun.
So don't be afraid to update to Windows 7. My experience with it so far is that it is solid and stable. Boots up quickly. Sleep mode is very good. And everything that I have brought over from Win XP has worked so far.

Part 2. I just checked on that update that I used. Did not come from H&B. It came instead from a torrent site. So might not be considered kosher here. But it works great. I did start from the retail disk. Then ran the updates from that package.

Did that torrent patch include the Coast to Coast Expansion (1.04 patch)? On this site the C to C is about 119 MB alone.
There were some additional scenarios and rolling-stock in the C to C.

A bizarre but happy update to RRT3 1.06 & TrainMaster compatibility with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. Unlike before, now both RRT3 and TrainMaster run flawlessly EVEN WITH "disable hardware T&L" disabled! Means: hardware T&L enabled. This, of course, means clearly better frame rates in game!

But why? I'll be ****** if I know! I have only updated my Windows (including its occasional software compatibility updates!) and the system drivers (mostly Radeon graphics drivers).

So, I am using the very latest W7-64 bit setup with very latest official Catalyst 10.9 drivers for my Radeon HD5770. Nothing else has changed as far as I can tell. There is a chance that one has to install RRT3 with T&L disabled and that later one can enable them, but that sounds pretty far-fetched to me. Still, with computers, you never know...

I hope this is something that works on other people's computers too, since it makes a difference!

Hawk,
Sorry for the slow reply. The torrent download was big like 800 MB and it included everything in 2 or 3 .exe files when unpacked. A full RT3 install, then 1 or 2 update jobs. It included the no-CD patch which I liked too (so the CD can stay in its box). I ran the Retail install and then ran the updates from the package. Works like a charm on Win 7.
I must say that software compatibility on moving applications from XP to Win 7 has been very high. I have had almost no problems. I am running Win 7 Pro in 32-bit. I have had to set up a compatibility mode for one app (not RT3).

I'm assuming you scanned that illegal download for viruses and such.
You know we don't much care for software piracy around here, don't you?

Is RRT3 legally available these days, btw? I haven't seen it in game stores for a long time, at least here in Finland. :( I'm a bit worried about my own old installation CDs - one day they'll do their final whistle. Since PopTop exists no longer, I wonder who, if anyone, does the distribution?

Actually, Atari is still distributing the cd. It can be found sometimes on the discount racks here in the US for $9.95 USD, but it's not very often.
I found about 8 on the rack a few months ago.

I wouldn't consider it vaporware yet.

The Steam web site also still sells RT3, but I'm not a big fan of Steam and the exe is kind of proprietary, as is all exe's bought through Steam.

in the UK its available via sold-out
http://www.sold-out.co.uk/productSoldOu ... tLabelID=1
They will ship free in the UK but charge delivery for the rest of Europe

I just found out that RT3 can be purchased at JustTrains for $7.99 USD.

Just installed RRT3 on a new tower under Windows 7 with no trouble at all. Runs slick, even on Ultra-High graphics setting. Thanks to all of you for the tips and advice!

I've been able to run RT3 on Windows 7 without doing anything special. But when I hit a certain point, like a number of trains or an amount of track, the game slows to a screeching halt.

In a previous game I was able to run over 100 trains with no problem - no slow down whatsoever. And my current game started that way as well. But at one point it slowed right down - nothing gradual about it; it was instant.

Now, even if I have the game speed set to very fast, it can take twenty minutes to play a month. If I click somewhere, it's going so slow that I may have to click multiple times and it might take 10 or 15 seconds to register and do anything. Changing the settings doesn't affect anything as far as I can tell.

BUT, if I pause the game, everything goes smoothly again.

Has anyone else experienced this? Could it really be a hardware issue? I wouldn't think it would slow down that much on a laptop under a year old. Or is it that the game itself just can't handle too much stuff at once? Is there anything I could try that might work? Seems strange that it still works perfectly when paused, but once I start up again, it goes so slow.

Due to the fact that I can play RT3 Patch1.05, Patch 1.06 as well as TM without any troubles (on my HP Pavillion Elite HPE) under Windows 7 64 Bit it couldn't be the game (RT3) or the OS (W7), so it must be your laptop!

I had a pause with RRT3 - now, after some Windows updates (Win 7-64 Ultimate) the game (or Trainmaster version) doesn't start anymore. :( Any other experiences like this? Or have I just somehow messed up my computer?