Railroad Tycoon 3

Railroad Tycoon 3

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How to run RT3 on Windows 8.1 machine.
By Mindaz The Third
A simple guide describing how to enjoy this masterpiece on a machine running on Windows 8.1.
   
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Introduction
After reading tons of tutorials, looking up dozens of forums for 100% fix, I have finally found it.

This guide is tested in many different game settings and many different scenarios and so far everything working flawlesly.

Testing Environment:
Windows 8.1 Pro x64

If for some reason it is not working for you or it is working but you have different OS, please write in the comments section below.
1. Crash Fix
1. Download WineD3D installer package
Go to WinedD3D download page (http://savannah-nongnu-org.ip-connect.vn.ua/wined3d/) and download version 1.1.38 (24-Jun-2013 11:02)
Just download installer (file with .exe extension) and keep it still for now. No need to install it.

2. Download 7-Zip archiver
Go to 7-Zip website (http://www.7-zip.org/), then download it installer and install it.

3. Extract WinedD3D package contents
Open installed 7-Zip archiver program and use it to navigate to folder where you keep your WinedD3D installer package. Find it, select it and extract it's contents. Extracted contents should contain 3 folders, named: $PLUGINSDIR, $SYSDIR and $WINDIR.

4. Copy extracted files
Locate $SYSDIR folder inside in previously extracted folder. Inside this folder you should look for these files: ddraw.dll, libwine.dll and wined3d.dll. Select these files and copy to your RT3 root directory. Usually your game should be in ...\Steam\SteamApps\common\Railroad Tycoon 3\.

5. Conclusion
After these steps you should be able to run RT3 without any problems. You can now use any setting provided in options menu, view videos and literally play the game. Well, except minor inconvienence. Notice how textures are pixelated and washed out? Well, we all gonna cover that next.
2. Blurry & Pixelated Texture Fix
1. Download required files
Go to Hawk & Badger Railroad webpage (http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/rrt3.htm) and look for Blurry Texture Fix section, once you find it, download attached archive.

2. Extract downloaded files
Simple as it is, just extract previously downloaded archive into you chosen directory. After done that, you should have a folder with two files, one of which should be named: d3d8.dll.

3. Copy file to RT3 install directory
Now, it's just one last step, copy previously mentioned file, d3d8.dll, to RT3 root directory. Usually your game should be in ...\Steam\SteamApps\common\Railroad Tycoon 3\.

4. Conclusion
Well, you have your textured fixed, but another problem risen up. Video do not plays anymore, they just crash your game. Don't be sad, look to the next section.
3. Final Fix
If for some strange reason you do not want to have high quality textures and skipped 2nd step. You can skip this part of tutorial, since this part is only required if you applied both previously mentioned fixes.

1. Locate RT3 game executable
Go to your RT3 install directory and look for RT3.exe file. Find it? Good.

2. Set color compatibility mode
Now, select or click one time on previoulsy mentioned RT3.exe file and then right click with your mouse. A menu should show up. Select last option from that menu, called "Properties". Now a window should pop up. Locate a tab called "Compatibility" and click on it one time. Window contents should change a little bit. Then, look for a section called "Settings" in it, locate option called "Reduced color mode", ant now mark the checkbox near it. After this, select box with selected default option with 8bit should appear. Change it to 16bit option. Finally click "Apply" button in the bottom to save selected changes and then "OK" button to close the window.

3. Enjoy the game

1 Comments
Enterprise12 17 Nov, 2017 @ 12:48am 
Hey i own the steam version and have been researching how to fix it for 2 days, the Vista fix works for me(at least title screen), i followed this guide but i still crash at the title screen.

I updated mine to version 1.06 (steam version seems to start with 1.05 with the coast to coast expansion) but still crashing at title screen, running as admin, your specified settings and patches, i have it installed on my D: Drive, so its not default C drive