RCT 3 PC RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 FAQ

[Michael Brookes]

Why does water not appear on my system?

For players with certain Intel graphics cards and the retail version of the game with or without Update 1 the water will not appear in game. This is caused by the fact that these Intel cards handle lighting effects slightly differently to cards from all other manufacturers. This was tracked down too late to be included in Update 1 and so as a temporary measure we have provided the solution here in the form of a 10k byte zipped file (153k byte uncompressed) which contains a replacement for the RCT3.dgf file shipped with the retail game. Please note that UNLESS you are experiencing this problem with water and have an Intel graphics chipset in your PC then we DO NOT recommend you use this new file, it resolves this one issue only and will be included in a future Update.

Steps to get a fix for the problem:

• Download the zipped file by clicking on this link and choosing to save the file to anywhere on your PC.
• Open the RCT3 folder that was created when RCT3 was installed on your PC (this is usually C:\Program Files\Atari\RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3 unless you chose another location)
• Rename the file in that folder called RCT3.dgf to RCT3_old.dgf as a back up – it is unlikely it will be needed but if you start experiencing any problems after switching to the new version of this file then you can delete the new file and rename the old file back to RCT3.dgf.
• Unzip the downloaded file into the install folder and check that a new RCT3.dgf file has successfully been placed in that folder.

You can then run the game as normal and will see water.

 

[Michael Brookes]

Why doesn't my Looping / LIM Coaster connect properly?

The Looping / LIM coaster track type has two versions of the vertical twist. One is accessible via the main UI (clicking on ‘tight curve left/right’ whilst going vertical), the other via the ‘specials’ tab (also whilst going vertical). The piece in the specials tab is an odd number of game metres in height compared to the other track pieces, meaning that if you use an odd number of these pieces throughout your track, the track will end up being 'off by one' when trying to connect back to the station. The solution is to either use an even number of these pieces when building a coaster, or refrain from using them and instead use the larger pieces available using the main UI.

 

[Michael Brookes]

Why can I import certain track configurations, but not build them in RCT3?

Some track piece combinations that were allowed in RCT1 & 2 such as Large to Small Helix cannot be used in RCT3. In previous games the track was represented in 2D and some track pieces actually pass through each other when constructed in 3D. The track importer tool enables you to import these tracks by disabling the collision detection, allowing you then to tweak the track design to make it work correctly in RCT3.

 

[Michael Brookes]

Why can’t I save the game when ‘My Documents’ folder is on a network drive?

First you should ensure that your user account that you are playing the game with has sufficient access rights to write to the My Documents folder.

RCT3 cannot save to a My Documents folder who's target is a network address, e.g.: \\servername\folder\My Documents. It can however save to a network drive if the drive has been mapped. To facilitate this you should create a mapped drive to the server containing the My Documents folder. For example you could map the S: drive to \\servername\folder, you need to then update your My Documents target to S:\My Documents, or however you have mapped the new drive.

 

[Michael Brookes]

Why are rides/scenery placed in the air after changing terrain?

If you have terra-formed some terrain and then attempt to place a piece of scenery or a ride in that area, you may find that the item is raised in the air. To avoid this you can either use the “flatten for rides and scenery” tool in the terrain tools menu, or hold the ‘CTRL’ key while placing the item to automatically flatten the ground for placement.