New to RT3

[corcov32]

Hi

I stumbled over RT3 as I watched it on shenryyr's twitch and instantly loved it. Since all this additionall stuff seems to be quite complicated to me (multiple installs 1.06 or 1.05) I would be very thankful for some tips about the best setup for one who just wants to play the game in its best version.

1. Which version do I buy to start with? Original DVD, steam verison or GOG? http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Railroad_Tycoon_3
2. I understood that the version of Windows doesnt really matter. You can run it on any version.
3. Is this all I have to install and the right order: RT3, then 1.03, then 1.04, then 1.05, then Blurry-Fix, then Vista-Fix. Anything missing?

Thank you in advance.

Greetings,
corcov32

[Hawk]

Welcome aboard.

1. Which version do I buy to start with? Original DVD, steam verison or GOG? http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Railroad_Tycoon_3

If you can get the cd version that would be good, but it's a bit hard to find these days.
Other than that, I would recommend getting RT3 at GOG, as the Steam version can be problematic with patching, although I believe it does come as version 1.05, but I'm not sure if the 1.04 patch (Coast to Coast Expansion) was installed properly.
I think the GOG version also comes patched to 1.05, and I believe the 1.04 patch was installed correctly in that version.

2. I understood that the version of Windows doesnt really matter. You can run it on any version.

RT3 will run on any version of Windows, but any version newer tha XP may require a bit of patching and work to get it to run properly. You can find a good bit of info on the various OS's in the forum titled 'RT III Installation'.

3. Is this all I have to install and the right order: RT3, then 1.03, then 1.04, then 1.05, then Blurry-Fix, then Vista-Fix. Anything missing?

The installation process and order depends on which version you get and what operating system you run.
It is strongly recommended that with any OS newer than XP that you do not install RT3 in the default location: IE - Program Files or Program Files (86).
These directories have been set up by Microsoft, since Vista, so that all files in those directories can not be changed, which makes any patching a problem.

[RulerofRails]

I think the GOG version also comes patched to 1.05, and I believe the 1.04 patch was installed correctly in that version.

Confirmed, it's 1.05. I have a copy of the GOG version. It has the Vista fix pre-configured so it should run straight out of the box even on most modern machines. An added bonus is that it installs outside of the "Program Files" directory by default (C:\GOG Games\Railroad Tycoon 3).

Only word of warning with the GOG version is be warned about unchecking the "Disable Hardware T&L" switch. This disables the Vista Fix (a configuration file that checks the "Disable Hardware T&L" switch without running the game) and next time you go to start the game it may not run. If it runs you don't need the Vista Fix. If it won't run, you need to use the configuration file from the Vista Fix download. Your machine's graphics card (Nvidia seems worst) in operating systems after XP (Vista and up) seems to determine whether it's needed or not.

Blurry textures, widescreen and the alternative to the Vista fix, do improve play experience in the majority of cases IMO. But these things are optional. There are different options for these.

Links to what I use (Installation: place files in game folder):
Blurry textures - POST - a fixed 1.05 exe - displays sharp textures, ready to be patched to 1.06 if desired
Widescreen - Instructions- Hex nooblet - for display ratios over 4:3, although some may prefer the GUI completely un-stretched
Alternative to the Vista fix - POST - Direct3D emulation - water reflections and detailed price map, may reduce performance.

. . . (multiple installs 1.06 or 1.05) I would be very thankful for some tips about the best setup for one who just wants to play the game in its best version.

"Best version" is a matter of opinion. The reason for multiple installs is that a map is best played in the version for which it was designed. 1.05 is the last proper version by PopTop, while 1.06 is a fan-made effort. 1.06 adds new stuff to the game, but some of that new stuff tweaks the gameplay established with 1.05. 1.06 maps are set so that 1.05 cannot see them in the "Load Scenario" menu. There are far more maps for 1.05, but IMO some of the best ones (made by savvy fan-creators, Oilcan/EPH/arop/etc.) are made for 1.06.

Aside from having a 1.05 and a 1.06, the other reason that multiple installs are nice is that RT3 isn't really super friendly to customization. If you install some new engines, buildings or rollingstock, the simplest and easiest way to undo those changes is often a fresh install. Any saved games and maps that require custom assets (another name for any new engines, etc.) will not run or load unless you have all those things installed. So if you mod your game up, you may want to have a dedicated install for that.

Multiple installs are actually pretty easy to make. Just copy the entire 1.05 game folder. It's about 1.4GB out-of-the-box. If space is tight, the folders "Movies" (150MB) and "Music" (100MB) in the Data folder can be deleted. The default maps (~500MB) can also be shaved bringing space occupied down to about 650MB. There is no need for those things in 1.06 for example.

Please note that RT3 doesn't have a compression for saved games. They are actually larger than the map file itself! They will likely end up taking most of the space in your install. No need to copy those around. I have a 1.05 install which swelled to over 18GB thanks to heaps of saved games.

Patching to 1.06 is pretty easy, just click-through then the important part: specify the right file path. I copied the setup file "setup06.exe" (25MB) into my 1.06 installs. This way it is easy to find should I need to make a fresh install of 1.06.

So that's info, but not an answer to your question. I would recommend 1.05 while getting familiar with the game because you can play the campaign as intended. Once you get confident, you should probably try 1.06 and/or mod the game with extra installs. Good to hear from people just discovering the game. There's lots of detailed game info here. Enjoy.

Edit: fixed attachment URL.

[Hawk]

An added bonus is that it installs outside of the "Program Files" directory by default (C:\GOG Games\Railroad Tycoon 3).

That I wasn't aware of, even though I have 6 GOG games, I never install in the default location, even GOG games. I have a separate partition on my hard drive just for games.

That's good to know.

[corcov32]

Hello

excellent information, guys. Thank you very much. I will go with the GOG version then and start with 1.05. And thank you for the warm welcome amongst the railwaymen.

Greetings,
c

P.S. Uncompressed save files? Jees.

[seventyfive]

Hi,

Great information @RulerOfRails !! Thanks!

One note, running a GOG version on Win10/64 pro (may affect other configurations), I've found that when applying all 3 patches suggested the third one causes the game to fail on launch:

1) First it reports that wined3d.dll is missing, and indeed it is missing.
2) Searching for it online, I found an updated package at http://adolfintel.com/?p=wined3d/index.frag however installing it according to the instructions for DirectX 8, causes the game to freeze.

So unless someone more savvy than me in DirectX can give advice, I'd suggest to backup affected DLLs and be ready to undo the third patch if you get the same behavior I got.

The first couple of patches, however, are stellar! So thanks again for the info!

[Private Codex]

Hi,

Great information @RulerOfRails !! Thanks!

One note, running a GOG version on Win10/64 pro (may affect other configurations), I've found that when applying all 3 patches suggested the third one causes the game to fail on launch:

1) First it reports that wined3d.dll is missing, and indeed it is missing.
2) Searching for it online, I found an updated package at http://adolfintel.com/?p=wined3d/index.frag however installing it according to the instructions for DirectX 8, causes the game to freeze.

So unless someone more savvy than me in DirectX can give advice, I'd suggest to backup affected DLLs and be ready to undo the third patch if you get the same behavior I got.

The first couple of patches, however, are stellar! So thanks again for the info!

Hi
I just posted an alternative DirectX fix in this thread, which may help with your problem (works for me and I'm on Win10):
viewtopic.php?f=82&t=3892&start=20

[seventyfive]

Hi
I just posted an alternative DirectX fix in this thread, which may help with your problem (works for me and I'm on Win10):
viewtopic.php?f=82&t=3892&start=20

Thanks, it did launch, however oddly enough, the terrain textures would not load, and the terrain was completely blank, sort of unified cream color for the entire terrain for grass/ground/hills etc but not for anything on the terrain such as cities and trees, removing the three files brought back the terrain.

The files I copied were D3D8.dll D3Dlmm.dll and DDraw.dll from the MS folder under dgVoodoo2_53, onto RRT3's main folder. I should note that I am running the GOG version, and not the CD one.

Thanks all the same :)

[Private Codex]

Weird, have been playing all day with that fix and it works better than I could have hoped. I wonder how the GOG version has been adapted compared to my old CD version. Oh well, I guess modern CPUs can handle doing everything with hardware T&L turned off!

[RulerofRails]

. . . the third one causes the game to fail on launch.

Ok. This was totally my mistake. In trying to simplify the method and skip some of the steps in the original process detailed in that OP I mistakenly put a dll file from the game in place of wined3d.dll. Date of 2003 should give it away.

There were 85 downloads of files that will not work and you are the first one who appears to have tried it or at least reported an error. I thank you for this and I am sorry. I fixed it. Maybe with the correct wined3d.dll specific to that build this method may yet work for you.

Private Codex, thanks for sharing another method. I will try it with Win 8 on a machine where the game's T&L isn't working and post the result.

[Private Codex]

Hi
I just posted an alternative DirectX fix in this thread, which may help with your problem (works for me and I'm on Win10):
viewtopic.php?f=82&t=3892&start=20

Thanks, it did launch, however oddly enough, the terrain textures would not load, and the terrain was completely blank, sort of unified cream color for the entire terrain for grass/ground/hills etc but not for anything on the terrain such as cities and trees, removing the three files brought back the terrain.

The files I copied were D3D8.dll D3Dlmm.dll and DDraw.dll from the MS folder under dgVoodoo2_53, onto RRT3's main folder. I should note that I am running the GOG version, and not the CD one.

Thanks all the same :)

This was bugging me so I tested with both the "no-CD" exe from this site and the "no-CD texture fix" exe linked by RulerofRails and both worked fine. Then I realised the GOG version you are using already includes the "Vista fix", which turns off hardware T&L by default. Since this DX11 fix works by adjusting the hardware T&L output to work with DX11 it needs hardware T&L to be on.

So I ran RT3, checked settings and turned off hardware T&L and replicated what you saw: weird brownish scenery with a few things sticking out. Turning hardware T&L back on fixed it.

So changing that in your graphics settings should sort it out (just need to quit and restart after adjusting this setting for it to take effect). I do think it's better to free up the CPU by sorting out the DX issue rather than turning hardware T&L off, but should point out that this DX11 wrapper I linked to makes a small "dgVoodoo" watermark in the bottom right corner. Doesn't bother me at all, but YMMV.

[RulerofRails]

The method that Private Codex shared works on my Win 8 machine. After a quick test it seems to be a more complete solution, taking care of the blurry textures as well as allowing the game to use the hardware T&L lighting. Looking good. Will test it out further so will definitely report if I encounter any niggles later.

[seventyfive]

Well, I guess I have done something wrong with Private Codex's method, as my Win10 machine / AMD graphics pulls the disappearing terrain textures thing on me. I will try to redo it on a clean install some time soon.

Either way, just wanted to add something, as I just saw that earlier in this thread save game compression has been bothersome for people.

Well, my solution is by far not sophisticated, I just mark the save game folder for on-the-fly compression by windows, the result is adequate and slowdown is unnoticeable on my 4 years old computer, so there's no problem running like that...

[Private Codex]

Well, I guess I have done something wrong with Private Codex's method, as my Win10 machine / AMD graphics pulls the disappearing terrain textures thing on me. I will try to redo it on a clean install some time soon.

Did you try going into Settings-Graphics and unchecking "disable hardware T&L", then closing and restarting RT3? Disabling hardware T&L is the "Vista fix" which the GOG version has on by default, the method I was describing is a way to get hardware T&L to work without disabling it in this way. As I mentioned in my previous post, I also get the disappearing textures if I check that box.

Anyway, it's up to you - at least we get to play the game on Win10 which I was honestly not expecting when I dusted off my old cds last week!