How do I check my FPS while running RCT3

OK,guys this maybe stupid but I have never tried it or matter of fact ever tried to. So I just wanted to know how do you check the FPS while the game is running and any suggestions on how to speed it up for RCT3.

You can't really check it in-game with any RCT tools... so all you can do is guess at this point.

But to get a better frame rate, try the following:
Lower the resolution. If you're running at 1280x1024, try 800x600.
Lower the graphical settings. There's a slider bar for just about everything... so lower the quality of the rides, peeps, supports & so forth.
Lower the draw-distance of everything as well... the lower you go, the better your frame rate will be...

...but keep adding new rides & objects, your frame rate will drop right back down to what it was earlier when you had a lot more detail in there.

...believe me... I got 1gig ram, 3.0gig P4, and a 128 Radeon 9600... and it will chug at like 5fps when trying to ride the rides, especially at night. Sad, just sad... especially when Half Life 2 runs very very smoothly when there's lots of action on the screen.

ok thanks..I agree Doom 3 and Half Life 2 run great and it is hard to believe this runs so so so slow with a big park just like the one Gonch just uploaded...great park but it lags the system so much you just can't enjoy it like you could a Rct2 park!!

You need a program called Fraps to check your FPS.

I think it's www.fraps.com

I heard somewhere that you can check the FPS by naming a guest FPS but I haven't checked that out myself.

Yes, that's all you need to do. You don't need any external application. Name a person FPS and enjoy.

I love my new, new system...I just bought (to add to my BFG 6800 256 MB OC) an AMD64 4000+ with 2GB of memory.

No frame drops here...on extreme mode, I range from 100fps down to 45fps depending on the scenery and time of day. :) :) :) :) :)

I tried running it on my 6-year-old laptop yesterday (boredom in the office). You could COUNT the FPS manually! It ran though, which is an achievement

Hey Redman822, just wondering, Where did you purchase that computer? Sounds like a pretty solid system!

Bought the parts on Newegg.com and assembled it myself in less than 2 hours

My CPU is a little slower than yours, but my video card is nearly the same. On a busy map (say, this one) I'm down to single digit frame rates. No change in settings seems to change that. Frustrating when you can run Doom 3 at 1280x1024, all settings up, and get 50+ fps.

I'd be interested in your FPS, redman, on a park like Mystic Acres. Especially with your system handling the game as well (or better) than anyone else's that I've read about.

Can we make you our reference system guinea pig? :)

If so, we need to give the guinea pig a name. I suggest "Howard."

Sure, I'll give Mystic Acres a try tonight...

I'll have to test it on my system as well, it seems to handle big parks well thus far, mines expanding. Gonch's parks are the most crippling and exciting to play, but recently I've had no problems, I should also see what FPS I can get.:)

Let's see the park Gonch did Landfill Harbor though that was a small park, but it was surrounded by water, and to tell you the truth I just new it would be a slow down. But as I started it up it ran fine with no slow down. Now I know it is no way as big as Mystic Acres but still it didn't run slow at all and Mystic Acres ran slow slow slow.... I think I may do some shopping .....try to upgrade my system some. And Redman...I to would like to know what FPS you are running on Mystic Acres!!!

Ahh, I guess it's not so suprising that the game would be CPU limited, especially in the big parks. I dont know how much more elegant the AI programing is over RCT1, but just managing the movement of 1000 peeps with their set of preferences, *does* seem CPU intensive.

Hmm, I wonder how the game scales with CPU frequency....

RCT 1/2 were written in assembly language, so you don't get much closer to the CPU than that. You obviously can't do that with 3D hardware, but still, the Direct3D API isn't that inefficient, as a lot of games use it.

I tried to load Gonchar's park, and after five minutes of loading, I got a slide show. That's not even with people in it or any rides running.

See, I'm getting results that don't make sense to me. I'm using the in-game FPS thingy.

I tested all parks with only daylight, all rides opened and whatever staff was included in the DL file. First I let just a handful (15 or 20) peeps in to set up the FPS cheat, then after getting some numbers opened the gates to let the park fill.

Landfill Harbor with varied views runs anywhere between 8 and 14 FPS. The coastercam on that big woodie fluctuates between 12 and 36 FPS. I get better performance on the onride.

Mystic Acres under the same conditions gives me 7 to 10 FPS and the coastercams drop to the 4 to 6 FPS range.

In general Mystic Acres doesn't run much slower than Landfill Harbor as long as I'm staying in third person views. One I move to more first person views by diving in close or doing onrides, Landfill outperforms Mystic by a large margin.

Letting the park fill with peeps drags both parks down to the 5 FPS range. Less of a hit on Mystic Acres' non-peep numbers than Landfill Harbor's.

I also loaded Daydream Crag and it runs at 4 to 6 FPS regardless of whether there are peeps or not. Once enough peeps get in the park, it crashes (the other two didn't). First person views on Daydream crag dip a hair but stay in the 3 to 10 FPS range.

For my system, heavy landscaping seems to be a big killer. Peeps drag the FPS down proportionately with their numbers, but the lesser landscaped (although larger) park didn't crash under big peep crowds while the heavier landscaped parks did.

I'm trying to understand what exactly is making things slow down and what isn't.

Ok...here's my results on an AMD 4000+ with 2GB RAM with a BFG Tech 6800 256MB OC video card.

Landfill Harbor - 500 peeps
Day Watch 30-20 fps
Day Ride 50-25 fps
Night Watch 25-17 fps
Night Ride 40-20 fps

Daydream Crag - 1,500 peeps
Day Watch 20-12 fps
Day Ride 24-11 fps
Night Watch 16-6 fps
Night Ride 30-6 fps

Mystic Acres - 0 Peeps
Day Watch 15-8 fps
Day Ride 20-6 fps
Night Watch 11-6 fps
Night Ride 9-3.5 fps *** Edited 1/24/2005 7:16:23 PM UTC by redman822***