Hawk & Badger Railroad Forum

Someone (DevHyfes) over at the Steam forums made a post about how he got the Steam version of RT3 to work on Vista with the 1.05 patch.

Here's his post:

Hello All-

After reading a bunch about this issue, looking around at my steam install, and trying various tips, I believe I have the solution for running Railroad Tycoon 3- and when you are done, you will be running it WITH the steam client (and steam-supplied executable). So that means you can show all your Steam Friends how COOL you are as you play a 2004 game about trains. WOOT!

The Quick Answer
Basically, there is a Configuration Setting that you can apply- "Disable Hardware T&L". When this is applied, whatever illegal instructions are being sent to the Video Card stop being sent, and you can play the game. Simple, right? Except for the fact that changing this config requires you to get INTO the game, and past the main menu.

1) Go to gamecopyworld.com and search for Railroad Tycoon 3.
2) Find the 1.03 executable and download it. Note from Hawk: The 1.03 patch is available at this site. -
http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/rrt3_main.php
3) Rename the RT3.exe file YOU JUST DOWNLOADED to something like ConfigUtil.exe
4) Copy ConfigUtil.exe to the Steam RRT3 directory.
5) Now run ConfigUtil.exe as an administrator.

(Note: Most tips so far have stopped here and had people playing the game using the 1.03 executable which doesn't have the steam features or the bug fixes that came with 1.04 and 1.05.)

6) Go into the Settings --> Graphics menu and find the option for "Disable Hardware T&L". Select it. You'll get a dialogue talking about how this might impact performance, etc. It's ok, your fancy futuristic gfx card and CPU (by this game's ancient standards) can absorb the hit.

7) Exit the game- er, ConfigUtil- and start normally through steam. (If you were troubleshooting and running any -s# options in the advanced tab, you should clear these first).

If anyone wants to try this with a version other than the one from Steam, or even with a version from Steam, to verify that it works, I'll add the 1.03 patch to the archives here, along with the instructions on how to do it.

For those interested, you can follow the thread here.

Edited to update link.

I won't be able to try it for a few days, but I did try changing all the settings in 1.05 down to as low as possible using the 1.04 exe. I'm thinking that the graphics setting can be changed to correct the problem, but it's in the imb files or win files.

Disabling T&L seems to have worked for me on a normal install, but I used 1.04 beta first which I'd been using to run the game (menu screen said 1.04), and set option from the main menu, then replaced rt3.exe with a 1.05 version - menu now says 1.05.

Running VISTA (32 bit 2Gb RAM) with an NVIDIA graphics card.

I tried it too, but I am getting a weird sound when I go into the settings. But it looks like it is working. Next step is to try 1.06.

I'll spend some time on the weekend for sure. But lo and behold it appears to work. Exactly what Mr. Gorila Gorilla said to do. (Sorry, I just think it is funny how scientists gave the gorilla a funny latin name, and since your Silverback, well ...never mind. I'll go watch tv now.) :)


Edit....here's something to try....There are the cfg fies after I had 1.05 working. Rather than go through the exercise, may just copy these to the data/conficuration folder.

Might work easier than doing all the 1.04 stuff on new installs.

Let me know if it works if anyone tries it, because this could open some possibilities in the way of a Vista 1.06a patch :)

I can confirm now that the zip file in the above post is the Vista fix. However, this zip is better since it has only the engine.cfg file which is what is needed.

It's simple...copy the file into the data/configuration/ folder and you can run 1.05 and 1.06 on Vista. No need to go through the lengthy process of file swapping.

The only thing to remember is when you set the video settings, which are set high on everything 800x600 just don't uncheck the box for T&L hardware.

Hawk, just have somone confirm this, then you can post is as a fix for Vista.

nedfumpkin wrote:Hawk, just have somone confirm this, then you can post is as a fix for Vista.

Cool! I'll wait for a couple of testers to give it a go since I don't have Vista.

I converted my copy of 1.05 to the that config file, and then I used it to make 1.06 finally work. So I am very confident that it will work. I also did it all using the no crack version of 1.05, so this will allow us to save our CDs from wear and tear. (Oh, and now I can play 106 scenarios)

On the other hand, this changes things for Trainmaster since I was based on the 1.04 beta. I have to decide now whether to make the 1.05 or 1.06 exe the Trainmaster exe. I'll be easy to convert just time consuming.

But....huray!

Cool! Let's see if anyone else gives it a shot. Then I'll add it to the site.
If no one else posts in this thread after a couple of days I'll add it anyway.

Two people have downloaded it....so let's see if they let us know...I also sent it to Molse for German translation.

Actually I was one of those two.

nedfumpkin wrote:On the other hand, this changes things for Trainmaster since I was based on the 1.04 beta. I have to decide now whether to make the 1.05 or 1.06 exe the Trainmaster exe. I'll be easy to convert just time consuming.

But....huray!

I would vote for making Trainmaster a 1.06-compatible game. Aside from the Ledger pause and ship-at-a-loss is the whole "Editor math" thing that can be very useful in scenario development. I hope it works in Vista.

Oh...way to go Hawk! :)

Wolvy, I checked the editor on a map and the problem I was facing with disappearing numbers on 1.06 seems to be corrected. Although I haven't looked too deeply. This was something I was concerned about with 1.06...and if it isn't going to be a problem, then I am heavily leaning towards using the 1.06 exe as the Trainmaster exe.

I want to play a 1.06 map before I make a final decision...but at this point I am heading in that direction.

I've just got this marvelous 'engine.cfg' from Molse's forum (my home base) some hours ago and made some tests, i.e. I did (still had) an installation up to 1.05 as well as one up to 1.06. Thereafter, I applied (copied) the 'engine.cfg' and went into some maps on both. From my point of view I can say: it simply works! Publish the good news all over the world: "There are no problems to play RT3 with Patch 1.06 under Vista!"

DevHyfes has to be moved in the hall of fame!

But Ned: please don't stop to go on concerning Trainmaster!

Thanks for the confirmation Sugus. I can see from your German and English posts that you are as excisted as I am about this.

No worries about not continuing with TM. In fact, now I am planning of mvoing forward with the 1.06 exe as the Trainmaster exe.

That's really good news

Sugus wrote:That's really good news

I second that emotion.

I have a confession to make....with the ability to play 1.06 and my curiosity wanting to test it, I started a 1.06 scenario to make sure that it is working well on Vista. Problem was that I wanted to play Trainmaster more, so I am working on the TM exe now. This brings me a lot closer to having a beta than anything.

Why do I have a big grin on my face. OK, so you can't see it on Winnie, but it is there. 1.06 seems to be working, although I'm just starting a non 1.06 scenario that I have not yet played - Five Great Lakes. Amazing.

Wolverine@MSU wrote:

Sugus wrote:That's really good news

I second that emotion.

I'll third it
GREAT news, really well done you guys!
unfortunately don't have the time to try it out now...busy at University

Finally a fix for Vista!

Short comment: WOOOWWW !!!

Long comment: I don't know what 'steam' is all about. I was a RT1 and RT2 fan from the beginning, and I bought the original 2-disc RT3 game in a gamestore here in the Netherlands the first day it came out in 2003 (I remember it was even 1 or 2 days before the official launching day. The storekeeper didn't want to wait). Ever since, it has been one of my 2 favorite games (along with the Civilization games), and I played it quite frequently, until almost 2 years ago.

Because then I got a new computer with Vista, and was very disappointed that RT3 didn't work beyond patch 1.03 in Vista. (patch 1.05 was already out by then). I played it for a little while, but without 'coast-to-coast' I lost interest, and deinstalled it.

I did get Sid Meyer's Railroads, but somehow I didn't like it. Visually it was better, but the in RT3 the economic system, the challenges, and a lot of other things were way better.

A few weeks ago I decided to install RT3 again, and patch it up only to 1.03, and even though I couldn't patch up to 1.05 or further, I got all back in the spirit again. A few days ago I remembered that back in 2003 - 2006, I visited some fansites, and for me definitely the best site was the 'Heineken & something Railroad' site (forgot it was 'Heineken & Pacific'). So I googled 'H & Railroad Tycoon 3', and ended up on your site.

And guess what? I was stunned to find out that just a few days ago, after all these years since Vista is out, someone finally came up with a solution to get RT3 working in Vista. I tried it, and it works great!! Many thanks to the wonderful mind who spent his time to find this solution.

I have only one negative note: Not to be condescending about the great work of the guy who came up with this solution, but if 'all' of the problem was the 'Disable Hardware T&L' setting, why the &#$%@ didn't anyone think of that earlier? Especially the guys who developed the game! Should have been very easy for them to identify the problem, and make another patch. And even if the company that developed it, doesn't exist anymore, the people who developed it, could have pointed the fans in the right direction, or am I thinking too simple now?

Anyway, I hope this solution spreads out soon, so that many more people with Vista will be able to enjoy RT3 fully patched again. I know I will!

By the way, Microsoft has a site, the Windows Vista Compatibility Center, where they indicate for all kinds of games etc if it is compatible to Vista. Currently RT3 is registered as 'not compatible', but you can indicate if the page is accurate or not. I indicated 'no' and in the comments I posted a link to this website to find the solution. Maybe some guy behind a desk at Microsoft actually reads these posts, and checks it out, and eventually resets it to 'compatible', with a link to this solution. (But I'm afraid that's a bit wishful thinking)

My computer: HP Pavillion dv9790ed notebook, nvidia 8600m, Vista 32bit (I also have a computer with Vista 64bit, but didn't try the new solution on that one yet)