Windows 10 blurry graphics problem & dgVoodoo

[Grandma Ruth]

I'm starting a new thread in this forum, though we have talked about it a bit already. I installed RT3 on my Win10 computer a while ago, not taking any notice of any installation instructions. Just put in my old disc and away it went.
It's only now I've made a new scenario that I'm realising how blurry the game is and with the help of @RulerofRails and @Gumboots I've been trying to fix it. I've now re-installed RT3 and patched up to 1.05 with the dgVoodoo files. I started a new map from the "Spain" heightmap and coloured it a bit with the result you see:

This is with the files out of MS\64 in dgVoodoo.

This is with the files out of MS\86 in dgVoodoo.

This is what the RT3 folder looks like.
Can anybody think why it's not working for me?
Thanks.

[Gumboots]

Ok, first thing is that all maps use a 1024x1024 bitmap for the terrain painting. That's the maximum size used by game assets like stations, locomotives, etc. IOW, an image big enough to skin a large loco with decent detailing has to be stretched to skin an entire map.

Large maps always tend to be blockier and blurrier than small maps, because there are a limited number of pixels in the terrain painting and they have to fill your screen when zoomed in. So what size is the map? And how much of it is visible in that window? You may simply be seeing the limits of what the ancient RT3 game engine can do under optimal conditions.*

The overhead map at bottom left looks clean and sharp, which is a good sign. You have water reflections working properly, so Hardware T&L must be enabled (which is good). There is usually a translucent dgVoodoo watermark in the bottom right corner of the screen when it is running correctly (it's not obtrusive, but doesn't appear to be showing).

Another point is monitor resolution. If your window size is bigger than the resolution set in the game settings, this will tend to blur things due to the game pixels being scaled to larger than natural size for your screen. You can adjust this to any custom resolution. I have a few different config files which I use depending on how I'm playing (2560x1440 for full screen, 1920x1200 if testing in windowed mode).

*I'd love it if we could hack the .exe to accept 2048x2048 textures.

[Grandma Ruth]

The map is 448 x 384 - the window is showing only a small part - about 3% I think but my maths isn't the best! Yes, T & L is enabled. I have tried it at different resolutions and it's still the same, but I usually play at 1440 x 900 (full screen) which is OK but not ideal as my screen size is 1920 x 1080.
But it's interesting that there should be a logo, because there isn't one. So I must not have done the right thing with the dgVoodoo files.

[Gumboots]

Just noticed something. You've gone with the default installation location of Windows(C:) > Railroad Tycoon 3.

That can cause issues, because funnily enough Windows thinks it owns Windows(C:) and doesn't like anything messing with programs inside it. I don't know if that actually is the issue here, but most of us who want to customise things run RT3 from another folder. For example, I have C:\Users\Peter\Desktop\RT3. That holds all my RT3 stuff, and the actual installations are inside that:

C:\Users\Peter\Desktop\RT3\105_testing
C:\Users\Peter\Desktop\RT3\106_basic
C:\Users\Peter\Desktop\RT3\CtC_105

You can make as many as you like, just by copying an existing one and renaming its folder.

My files look like the attached screenshot. Don't worry about the non-standard folders. I use a range of non-standard folders for holding various custom bits and/or backups (the game ignores non-standard folders). Notice there are four .dll's: D3D8, D3D9, D3Dlmm and DDraw. You don't have the first one.

RT3_folder_shot.png (11.22 KiB) Viewed 18034 times

I went digging for how I got this Jurassic mongrel of a game working on W10. This is what worked for me.

The important bit:

Result: game now runs without Vista fix, but still looks like crap. Different sort of crap though. Breaking waves are going about twice as fast as normal, oceans look muddy, etc, etc. So...

• Decide to ignore official dgVoodoo instructions and try an experiment

• Instructions for dgVoodoo on 64 Bit OS say to use one file (D3D9.dll) from the MS/x64 folder

• Instructions for dgVoodoo on 32 Bit OS say to use all four files from the MS/x86 folder

• The experiment was to use all four files from MS/x86, even though I'm running 64 bit W10.

I've also attached a custom engine.cfg file set for 1920x1080 resolution.* You can drop that into Data/Configuration and it should give you native res on full screen. Note that it will revert to one of RT3's default resolutions if you go into windowed mode, so you'll need to paste in the custom file again to get native res back on full screen.

*This has all the game settings I use, but with your resolution instead of mine. Obviously you can change any settings to suit yourself, but I don't just max out everything. I've tested a fair bit, and some graphics settings have no benefit past a certain level, so I only wind them up to a level that gives the best appearance then leave them at that. I figure this will help performance to some extent.

[Grandma Ruth]

So, first I created that separate folder - thanks - and the new config file - very good! Then I tried to find the d3d8.dll in the download of dgVoodoo that I had. Not there. Only the three other files. So, thinking I was being a clever so-and-so, I downloaded a d3d8.dll file from another website (http://www.dlldownloader.com/) and put that in. After that the game wouldn't load at all. I checked and it was the d3d8.dll that was stopping it.
One thing I'm not sure about - when I re-installed from disk, I replied "No" to downloading Dx8 - was that a mistake?

[Gumboots]

No, that was the right thing to do. I also avoided downloading Dx8 when asked. I mention that in the post I linked to.

I've zipped the .dll files that work for me with W10 64 bit. I set RT3 up from scratch in January this year (after my old computer motherboard karked it for Christmas) so hopefully these files will work for you.

I haven't tested whether or not my installation will run without D3D8.dll. I just accepted that it was running and didn't want to know any more at the time. Will test that if you continue to have problems.

Re the folder outside Windows(C:): this should be the folder that RT3 is installed to. IOW, if you have a previous installation to Windows(C:) get rid of it. There should be no RT3 files or folders in Windows(C:).

[Grandma Ruth]

That's done it. I've now got the watermark so it's obviously working properly.

[FierceVinegar]

Just noticed something. You've gone with the default installation location of Windows(C:) > Railroad Tycoon 3.

That can cause issues, because funnily enough Windows thinks it owns Windows(C:) and doesn't like anything messing with programs inside it. I don't know if that actually is the issue here, but most of us who want to customise things run RT3 from another folder. For example, I have C:\Users\Peter\Desktop\RT3. That holds all my RT3 stuff, and the actual installations are inside that:

C:\Users\Peter\Desktop\RT3\105_testing
C:\Users\Peter\Desktop\RT3\106_basic
C:\Users\Peter\Desktop\RT3\CtC_105

You can make as many as you like, just by copying an existing one and renaming its folder.

My files look like the attached screenshot. Don't worry about the non-standard folders. I use a range of non-standard folders for holding various custom bits and/or backups (the game ignores non-standard folders). Notice there are four .dll's: D3D8, D3D9, D3Dlmm and DDraw. You don't have the first one.


RT3_folder_shot.png


I went digging for how I got this Jurassic mongrel of a game working on W10. This is what worked for me.

The important bit:

Result: game now runs without Vista fix, but still looks like crap. Different sort of crap though. Breaking waves are going about twice as fast as normal, oceans look muddy, etc, etc. So...

• Decide to ignore official dgVoodoo instructions and try an experiment

• Instructions for dgVoodoo on 64 Bit OS say to use one file (D3D9.dll) from the MS/x64 folder

• Instructions for dgVoodoo on 32 Bit OS say to use all four files from the MS/x86 folder

• The experiment was to use all four files from MS/x86, even though I'm running 64 bit W10.

I've also attached a custom engine.cfg file set for 1920x1080 resolution.* You can drop that into Data/Configuration and it should give you native res on full screen. Note that it will revert to one of RT3's default resolutions if you go into windowed mode, so you'll need to paste in the custom file again to get native res back on full screen.

*This has all the game settings I use, but with your resolution instead of mine. Obviously you can change any settings to suit yourself, but I don't just max out everything. I've tested a fair bit, and some graphics settings have no benefit past a certain level, so I only wind them up to a level that gives the best appearance then leave them at that. I figure this will help performance to some extent.

i downloaded the config file and now the game just crashes when i try and play it

[Gumboots]

You mean the engine.cfg file? What did you do with it? And is your monitor 1920x1080? What was the game doing before that?

[Demes]

You mean the engine.cfg file? What did you do with it? And is your monitor 1920x1080? What was the game doing before that?

Any chance you could provide a 2560x1440 res engine.cfg? I'm not sure how to edit the file myself.

[Gumboots]

Sure. I've attached a zip, with a range of resolution settings in four different files: 1024x768, 1920x1080, 1920x1440, 2560x1440.

This should make it clear how the edits are done. They are near the beginning of the file.