Demo Released

I believe that one of the problems with the original game was on of perception. I was one of those "We need more flat's" type of people, with RCT and RCT2 simply because I was not using it so much as Roller Coaster Tycoon, but rather Amusement / Theme Park Tycoon.

And from that point of view... looking at the game from an entire park perspective, I was not all that enthused about seeing a POV on coasters, etc. I would have been just as happy with a Flat Ride expansion to RCT or RCT2.

After reading all of this, I am not sure I am even going to bother with this third incarnation of the game. I am more than content with the current version that is out there. *** Edited 9/27/2004 8:48:22 PM UTC by SLFAKE***

Well, I was able to rotate the game now correctly... I'll admit that I really didn't take the tutorial on how to rotate, only read on the keys... so rotation is very easy as is zooming... there was no problem in that.

However, with my sound card... despite having a top-of-the-line card, I cannot adjust the music in the game. The levels in-game when using the slider don't make a difference. They do on the title-screen, however, so go figure?

I had the game crash 3 more times since I originally reported that it crashed. I kept the same settings when it WAS working normally... one crash came out of nowhere, another came when building an observation tower, and another... well, that came out of nowhere either!
The crash completely resets my system.

This... this is a VERY buggy game, and for a game that during the opening sequence has ATI as a graphics card of choice, and of which one I do indeed use... should not be having these kinds of problems.

I think this demo is seriously flawed. I'm getting used to get the game interface itself, as it's starting to get a little easier... but I do not like the sounds in the game so far, and it has too many bugs that makes this demo feel more like a beta release.

...only difference is that Atari/Frontier isn't asking for a bug report.

I was able to download the game but on one PC it absolutly will not load and on another PC I get this error: *** Assertion failure *** : C:\Coding\FGDK3\Code\Windows\GE_Surface.cpp(264) : Invalid call

I am no computer genouis but would like to be able to play. Does anyone knoe how to fix this problem?

Did anyone read the press release? It says this is running on beta code. This demo was probably finalized a few weeks ago. Also, remeber, many magical things can happen in one month before release.

I'm personally VERY DISAPPOINTED!

But not because of the demo...because I pre-ordered the game, paid it off, thinking it would work on my computer...only to realize that my video card won't even work with the demo...so after calling Hasbro/Atari, I realize I'll have to get a new video card for my computer, one that would support the game....but I don't have the money to do it! So, I'm unfortunately going to have to go and get my money back and un-pre-order the game...I'll have to wait a while until I get a full-time job and have the money to get both the game and the video card. :(

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Trick Track said:
I was able to download the game but on one PC it absolutly will not load and on another PC I get this error: *** Assertion failure *** : C:\Coding\FGDK3\Code\Windows\GE_Surface.cpp(264) : Invalid call

I am no computer genouis but would like to be able to play. Does anyone knoe how to fix this problem?

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My exact problem...I called it in...see my above post...

For all those who are having major problems...
Read this information:

http://dlx.gamespot.com/pc/rollercoastertycoon3/moreinfo_6108906.html

It does not fit me, as I got the Radeon 9600 All-In-One, but still crashes (says all the 7x00 series has problems)... but does mention of a lot of known issues.

Unfortunately, there seems to be even more-so out there than reported in that article.

It runs like crap on my computer. Simple as that. Hyper Rails works fine, though. My computer is perfectly fine, Gateway bought a year ago, meets all the requirements.

Kind of sad. :(

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viper432@aol.com said:
"I don't have any problem with the music..." Its not the zoom level.

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Well, yeah, actually it is. The further you zoom out from the playfield, the louder the ambient music gets. Also, in your case, the camera's position determines how loud that ride's music is. It's not randomly cutting in, your camera position is getting close to it. Not sure that makes sense to me. The audio position should be where you're looking, not where you're looking from.

ATI has the worst drivers ever made. Great hardware, but a history of horrible drivers. I guess that's why my last three video cards have been Nvidia-based. Aside from not meeting performance targets, I haven't had any real problems.

I wouldn't trust anything you read in the Atari forums... there haven't been any real official comments from anyone that I've read. Lots of angry kids with no life and the writing skills of toddlers though!

I am seriously pissed off, I downloaded the demo, install it, goes to the black screen and BAM!! An error:

IDirect3d....sumthing sumthing, i click Ok to continue running, and Bam again, closes the progam and that is it.

Why does God hate me, what shall I do, i used the link of this site, would it work if I downloaded it again from a different site???

Two issues now. The first, still being that I can't find that damn box that will let me change my setting from "low" to "extreme" or anywhere in between.

BIG D- Did you ever find it?

Second issue is the game runs well, until 8:30 P.M., every night. Then it starts to lag until 7:30 A.M. the next morning. I usually just sit there for a few minutes as soon as I get the warning that the "fireworks show is about to start."

Anyone else have this firework issue?

I just bought a new DELL a few weeks ago, and I figured it would have all the specs needed to run the game.

-Michael

I downloaded it around 8 AM this morning. I ran setup and everything appeared to install OK. Then when I try to run it I get a windows error, it doesn't give any more details then that. After trying every way possible to run the .exe file I finally gave up. So I uninstalled it, re-downloaded the file and tried installing again. Now it won't even install. I am fustrated!

The box you seek only appears the first time you run the game I think, and it's a collection of settings applied all at once. Try deleting options.txt from the install directory.

Here's the thing about 3D games... having a new computer by itself does not make it a sure thing to run a 3D game. A good 3D card (meaning you pay at least a hundred bucks for it) and an OK CPU (2 GHz or better) are pretty much a requirement.

The other thing that we struggle with is that video card hardware is on a ridiculously short product cycle, like six months. The next big thing comes out that frequently. Generally the last cycle's high-end cards are around $100 in this cycle, and should be adequate.

Well... I got a small update (as if anyone cares), that I thought I'd share...

The sound issue I resolved by updating my Sound Blaster Audigy 2. I had drivers from 2002, and updated them to 2004... was able to control the volume levels now of the default music, so I got a much better opportunity to hear the ambient sound effects, which aren't bad... but coaster sounds definately need work.

The game STILL crashes! There's no rhyme or reason. I have nothing running in the background, and it doesnt matter what I do... at some point, whether be 20 minutes into playing the game or 20 seconds, it will somewhere sometimes crash & just restart my computer. Very unacceptable for a demo to be this buggy.

I don't know whether to blame it on the Beta of this game demo, or my Radeon 9600 drivers. I'll have to see if there's an update to those drivers, considering the sound drivers fixed the issue previously had.

as for me... works completely fine... should have got some screenies of my woody :)

this games gonna get too addictive

just like the other 2...

lol. as for rotating the screen... i changed the option from e to enter so i just press enter and it moves left fine... pity no coaster cam button, so u need to know ur keys (or i might be wrong).

I would say blame the Beta.

Picked up my video card a couple weeks ago for $97. It's a Sapphire card with the ATI 9600 chipset and 256MB of memory onboard.

I still haven't crashed once and am able to run fullscreen at 1024x768 with all settings as high as they'll go.

I still haven't seen a single graphics 'glitch' and the only time the game slows down is if I record a movie or delete all the scenery on the demo scenario leaving the CPU swamped with trying to process the logic to move a couple hundred peeps onto a path (just my guess on the latter)

I've let the game run the full 45 minute limit at least 6 times over the course of the day.

I guess there's just a lot of compatibility issues and I'm lucky enough to have slipped in good on this one.

" The audio position should be where you're looking, not where you're looking from."

I agree that that might be the problem. It still seems like I can have my camera set anywhere and looking anywhere and the music will come on.

I guess it is hard to explain. Wish you were here!

Anyone figured out a way to analyze the thoughts and actions of the park guests? In RCT1/RCT2 you could view all the thoughts/actions of the peeps as a group (e.g., 120 people are riding coaster 1), can't find that option in the demo, other than individual thoughts. How are we supposed to keep the park rating up if with don't know what all the guests are thinking?

I could swear there's a thought bubble on one of the ride menu's tabs.