RRT3 1.05, 106, and Windows Vista... a Fix

[Hawk]

but then run into the "No Disc Present" error.

You have a Private Message.

[thietavu]

Just a reminder for people out there: these days NOT all Windows 7 users (tested in W7 SP1-64 bit) require any tweaks or tricks to get RRT3 running. Microsoft and/or AMD seem to have done some changes somewhere. Whatever the reason, I can confirm that at least the combination of 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 and an AMD Radeon HD5770 (driver versions 11.3-11.5 tested) graphics card both install and play RRT3 versions 1.0-1.06 including Trainmaster without a hitch. Just install and play - that's all. Since you can keep the hardware acceleration on, the framerates achieved are quite respectable, and the graphics look as good as they can.

I suspect that this newly-found compatibility results from some of Microsoft's "recommended" (not obligatory!) Windows 7 updates. Most people probably won't install them since they are not necessarily even aware of their existence. There are right now at least 3 such "recommended" compatibility updates for Windows 7-64. I don't know which one of them does the trick (if any). It is also possible that AMD has made something with their drivers, making them now RRT3-compatible. One can only try for himself, I guess. But with some luck, the result can be great!

[DragonsREpic]

Just found this site hoping to find help. Im running Win7 and the game is v1.05

Just bought the game. Loved it back in the day. Had an issue saying it couldn't find steam. Found out that starting Steam in administrator works. Skipped intro. Got to main menu and immediately crashed...

[Gumboots]

Sorry, I can't help with that. Hawk may know something about it, but I know he hates Steam. You may get better advice on the Steam forums.

Most of us here (maybe all of us?) don't run the Steam version. The original CD version is much more forgiving of customisation, and is available for a few bucks from several places. The Steam version not only requires a connection to Steam to play it, but also reverts any customisations you may have made, and we have a lot of custom content. If you want to get back into RT3 and don't mind spending a few extra bucks, I'd recommend grabbing a CD.

Best of luck anyway.

[RulerofRails]

Hi, Welcome to the forum!

RT3 has a graphics problem with some of the newer (basically after the game was released) graphics cards/drivers. The crash at the main menu makes me think it may be that instead of specifically a steam thing. The simplest one is the Vista Fix (Disabled Hardware Transformation and Lighting), the topic of this thread. Go to the first link in the OP, and go down the page a little to find it.

There are also other solutions you can try that do the same thing a bit differently. Have a look at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=82&t=4020

PS. GoG has the game available as well, and if you could refund the Steam one I would suggest to swap for that one. The GoG one is setup with the "Vista Fix" already applied. It's just as good as a cd one, and less wait/hassle.

[Gumboots]

Yes but if you run the newer and better Voodoo fix, then you don't need the old "Vista fix", and you'll get better performance and better graphics. I used to run the Vista fix, but ditched it once I found out about Voodoo. I'd suggest anyone try that first.

Start here: viewtopic.php?f=82&t=3892&start=20#p42169

Read that page and the next page.

[DragonsREpic]

oh no i have the CD some where in a private airport hannger that's being used as storage. another thing is I didn't build my computer with a cd drive...*** who doesn't like steam?!

Sorry, I can't help with that. Hawk may know something about it, but I know he hates Steam. You may get better advice on the Steam forums.

Most of us here (maybe all of us?) don't run the Steam version. The original CD version is much more forgiving of customisation, and is available for a few bucks from several places. The Steam version not only requires a connection to Steam to play it, but also reverts any customisations you may have made, and we have a lot of custom content. If you want to get back into RT3 and don't mind spending a few extra bucks, I'd recommend grabbing a CD.

Best of luck anyway.

[DragonsREpic]

Im going to get it on GOG see how that works..

[Hawk]

Post back and let us know how the GOG version works, although I think it will work just fine.

[RulerofRails]

I have had the GoG version for awhile. But, I only installed it properly (have many installs with various executable etc. files) on my old machine that doesn't need the Vista Fix . . . Until NOW.

So, I wasn't using the GoG executable file with dgVoodoo.

Turns out that when patching the blurry texture issue, GoG includes a custom dll file (d8tx.dll) that is called by the GoG version executable. Thing is that dgVoodoo also includes dll files (not an expert, but I believe that only the D3D8.dll (DirectX) one is actually needed, the other two are for Glide and DirectDraw) that need to be placed in the same folder as the RT3 executable.

There is some conflict between the two: d8tx.dll and D3D8.dll, and deleting d8tx.dll results in crash of "failed to find ...". What ended up working was deleting d8tx.dll, taking a straight copy of "D3D8.dll" that dgVoodoo 2.54 (latest version at time of writing) uses, then renaming the copy to "d8tx.dll", and the GoG executable is working under dgVoodoo.


Please be aware that the GoG version is the most up-to-date version that is ready to go (major issues have been patched successfully) which is why I recommended it over the Steam version, just that the dgVoodoo** solution is better than the "Vista Fix" ever was (solution used by GoG) and this is currently the way to get the best possible game for people who don't want to fiddle a little (dgVoodoo is pretty easy setup).

**Notes on using dgVoodoo (see this thread), needs to be setup with video RAM at least 128MB (Edit: read following posts, previously suggested limiting to 512MB) to safely avoid random low texture objects, if Graphics solution enables high 300+ FPS while doing a train ride etc. may need to use option to Force Vsync to avoid skipped frames. Known down-side: screenshots don't work in full-screen mode, I use FRAPs.


Here's an illustration of the most obvious differences between having "Hardware Transformation & Lighting" disabled (Vista Fix) vs. using dgVoodoo.
Water reflections are broken:

whereas with dgVoodoo:

Price map gradients:

compared to the detail with dgVoodoo:

This is not only cosmetic, reading the price map accurately is important at advanced play levels.

Note: there are rare machines which use graphical solutions that will run the game out of the box with Hardware Transformation & Lighting un-checked, in those cases price maps should be normal already, however sometimes dgVoodoo will allow water reflections. dgVoodoo seems to help performance, but so far nobody has attempted a test on machines with benevolent graphical solutions.

[Gumboots]

On my box (nVidia card) Voodoo made the difference between water reflections and no water reflections. The general graphics quality is greatly improved too. I assume this is down to hardware T&L being able to work with Voodoo. Price maps are also better, as is performance.

I recommend trying Voodoo set to 1024 RAM. It works for me and may work on any other box. Only way to find out is to try it. If it CTD's, just set it back to 512. The game runs fine on 512 but seems a bit better with 1024, which I suppose makes sense. Doubling usable VRAM has got to be good if you can get it.

[RulerofRails]

Actually I was just fiddling with it and 1024MB is working fine for me too. Thanks to your comment I fiddled a bit more. What I knew was that I had random low texture buildings (some were fine, others not) before I customized the VRAM size via the dgVoodoo Control Panel. Being simple about stuff like this (don't understand the address system in general), I assumed that there was a simple correlation between size of VRAM and blurry textures. I should probably point out at this point that the behavior I describe (random buildings with low texture) is a mild case of "blurry textures" and perhaps it's a mistake to classify it as such.

In my investigation just now, I realized that the default on a computer where dgVoodoo Control Panel has never been run (no saved settings) is 64MB. I tested the various levels and I get some blurry buildings on 64MB and below , but the 128, 256, 512 and 1024MB settings are all fine. It's worth opening up the dgVoodoo Control Panel to get rid of the watermark anyway, so boosting VRAM is a good idea.

PS. Edited my previous post to correct the bad info.

[Gumboots]

Cool. Good to know. 1024 should be reliable for anyone.

[bombardiere]

I have Win 10 and GoG version. I had some troubles, but finally I was able to install dgVoodoo fix.

There is some conflict between the two: d8tx.dll and D3D8.dll, and deleting d8tx.dll results in crash of "failed to find ...". What ended up working was deleting d8tx.dll, taking a straight copy of "D3D8.dll" that dgVoodoo 2.54 (latest version at time of writing) uses, then renaming the copy to "d8tx.dll", and the GoG executable is working under dgVoodoo.

I tried that rename tactic, but it did not work. The game launched but there was an error in the main menu and the game was not able to progress. The error was "Unexpected error" so that did not give me any clues.

So I did revert to GoG's original d8tx.dll and then added three .dll in MS folder to my RRT3 folder. The game launched normally and the screens show text dgVoodoo on lower left corner.

I while I was making changes in graphic settings, the game's terrain went white. (or more precisely light grey.) I was not able to fix it, but after switching the computer on this morning, everything went back to normal. NOw I have T & L, disabled. I can see water reflections and more precise price map.

However, I have one issue, which I have not encountered before. Moving objects, locomotives, now flickers occasionally. Not all the time, but sometimes the engine and tender flicker for while. (Pop Top's default engines) Then it went back to normal, but after some time it started to flicker again. I have a feeling that the flicker happen when there are many objects in the game, for example near stations, but I can't confirm it.

May be there is some kind of conflict as I am using both D3D8.dll and d8tx.dll

[RulerofRails]

With the rename trick, maybe I wasn't clear enough that I had both: d3d8.dll from dgVoodoo, named as such, AND I had used a renamed copy to replace GoG's d8tx.dll.

It's interesting that the process for you was a bit different, working without the rename. Main thing is that it works.

Your problem with the flickering can most likely be fixed by using the forceVsync option.

The Control Panel for dgVoodoo, is the exe called "dgVoodooCpl". You will find this option and how to disable the watermark on the 3rd tab called "DirectX."

[bombardiere]

Your problem with the flickering can most likely be fixed by using the forceVsync option.

The Control Panel for dgVoodoo, is the exe called "dgVoodooCpl". You will find this option and how to disable the watermark on the 3rd tab called "DirectX."

Yeah. I got blurry texture too. Most likely due too little Vram.

Ok, I run control panel and tried to set it as local, so it would apply only to RRT3.

One question though. COntrol panel setup is "dgVoodoo 3D Virtual Accelerated Card". Is it so that dgVoodoo can't use my standard graphic card?

[RulerofRails]

Yeah. I got blurry texture too. Most likely due too little Vram.

Ok, I run control panel and tried to set it as local, so it would apply only to RRT3.

One question though. COntrol panel setup is "dgVoodoo 3D Virtual Accelerated Card". Is it so that dgVoodoo can't use my standard graphic card?

Increase your VRAM to 1024MB to get rid of the blurry textures.

I have always used it as global because RT3 is the only game that I have used dgVoodoo's d3d8.dll file with. If you don't use that dll file elsewhere, all other games and applications will run normally. If I had another game that also needed this solution but different settings, then I would try to do local. (I don't really get into other games.)

Yes. You need to use "dgVoodoo 3D Virtual Accelerated Card". What dgVoodoo does as I understand it (a bit of a guess): makes some conversions to allow at least some of the graphics processing to run on hardware (your graphics card). The other alternative (vista fix/disable hardware T&L) is going to use a lot less of your graphics card by definition. That's what this "Disable Hardware T&L" switch is about, and why it's fundamentally better not to have it checked.

[bombardiere]

Thanks. I think I got it working. I do not see difference in game graphic (expect the water reflection that is), but I got price map as it ought to be.

[RulerofRails]

What resolution are you running? The game textures seem to look nicer in higher res.

There is the option for custom resolution if you need it. http://hawkdawg.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=36597#p36597 I use 1920x1080. Drawback with the custom resolution is that you will have to redo it every time that you switch to windowed mode or change the resolution (it's annoying if you accidentally hit the hotkeys F9, F11, F12).

[TomTheDieselEngine]

I have an issue running the 1.03 patch I renamed ConfigUtil.exe as admin...it says that there is no cd inside.
Actually, I thought that I wouldn't need cd...or is something wrong with the way I did?
And, just to let you know, I downloaded the 1.03 patch from this forum, coz in gamecopyworld i wasn't able to find any.
Am I mistaken something?