Rollercoaster Tycoon Windows 98

Locate the executable (usually under C: GOG Games RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 Triple Thrill Pack RCT2.EXE), open the file properties dialog and switch to the 'Compatibility' tab. Set the compatibility mode to 'Windows 98 / Windows Me' and check the 'Disable Visual Themes' checkbox. The game should run properly now. I tested this on Windows 7. Create your own amusement park by playing RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. This is the final game in the series of rollercoaster games. While playing the game, you can design an amusement park that features various rides and coasters of all sizes.

RollerCoaster Tycoon
Developers
Publishers
Release dates
WindowsMarch 31, 1999
Mac
RollerCoaster Tycoon
RollerCoaster Tycoon1999
RollerCoaster Tycoon 22002
RollerCoaster Tycoon 32004
RollerCoaster Tycoon World2016
RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic2017
RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures2019

General information

RollerCoaster Tycoon Wiki - A wiki dedicated to everything RollerCoaster Tycoon related
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
  • 1Availability
  • 2Essential improvements
  • 3Game data
  • 4Video settings
  • 6Audio settings
  • 7Issues fixed
  • 8Other information

Availability[edit]

SourceDRMNotesKeysOS
Retail 1999, 2000/2002 Gold, and 2003 Deluxe releases.
All use SafeDiscDRM[Note 1].
GamersGate
Gamesplanet
GOG.com Compatible with modern versions of Windows. Includes expansions and soundtrack.
Humble Store
Steam Deluxe Edition
SafeDisc retail DRM no longer functions properly on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Downloadable content (DLC) and expansions

NameNotes
Corkscrew Follies Also known as Added Attractions in Europe
Loopy Landscapes

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

RollerCoaster Tycoon has a number of patches available from Atari's FTP server. Additionally, Corkscrew Follies and Loopy Landscapes each have one patch. These will update RollerCoaster Tycoon to v1.08.187, Corkscrew Follies/Added Attractions to v1.10.026, and Loopy Landscapes v1.20.013.

The 2003 Deluxe release, as well as all downloadable versions are already patched to the latest version.

Downloadable Content[edit]

There are two official roller coaster collection downloads from Chris Sawyer, both available via his website. While the 'Cat' collection can be used in any version of the game, the 'Phobia' collection can only be used in conjunction with games that have either the Corkscrew Follies/Added Attractions or Loopy Landscapes expansion packs.

Game data[edit]

Rollercoaster Tycoon Windows 98

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

SystemLocation
Windows
Linux (Proton)<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/285310/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location[edit]

SystemLocation
Windows <path-to-game>Saved Games[Note 3]
Linux (Proton)<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/285310/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

Video settings[edit]

General settings.
Graphics featureStateWSGFNotes
Widescreen resolution See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowedSee the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Widescreen resolution[edit]

This hack only supports the following resolutions: 1280x720 (16:9), 1280x768 (15:9), 1280x1024 (5:4).
This hack works with the original retail release, not the GOG.com/Steam/etc. versions.[citation needed]
Hack widescreen resolution[citation needed]
  1. Open rct.exe with a hex editor such as HxD
  2. Search for the following string: 58 02 00 00 68 20 03 00 00
  3. Depending on the resolution you choose, edit the string accordingly
    1. 1280x720 (16:9): Change 58 02 to D0 02
    2. 1280x768 (15:9): Change 58 02 to 00 03
    3. 1280x1024 (5:4): Change 58 02 to 00 04
  4. Search for the string 20 03 00 00 c7 45 f4 58 02 00 00
  5. Change 20 03 to 00 05 (regardless of your screen resolution)
  6. Save and close the hex editor
  7. Run the game, start/load a save, click the save icon, and click on 'Options'
  8. Select the 800x600 resolution to enable the resolution you hacked in

Notes

Higher resolutions could result in decreased performance, especially if there is a lot of attractions on screen.

Input settings[edit]

Rollercoaster Tycoon Windows 98
Keyboard and mouseStateNotes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller supportSee the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Audio settings[edit]

Audio featureStateNotes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
SubtitlesNo speech
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

LanguageUIAudioSubNotes
EnglishUK and US localizations differ in certain names and terms. The Deluxe Edition has US English.
DutchUnavailable in digital releases
French
German
Italian
JapaneseExpansions were not localized. Unavailable in digital releases
KoreanUnavailable in digital releases
PolishUnavailable in digital releases
Spanish
SwedishUnavailable in digital releases

Issues fixed[edit]

The downloadable versions are already patched to be compatible with modern systems. The fixes below are for the original release.

Compatibility modes[edit]

Setting the game to run in compatibility mode can help fix many issues with launching and playing the game. To do this, right-click the .exe, open Properties and set the game to run in Windows 98 / Windows ME, Windows XP SP2, or Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode from the Compatibility tab.

Desktop composition[edit]

Some problems can be caused in Windows 7 and Windows Vista by having desktop composition enabled. To turn this off, check the 'Disable desktop composition' option from the Compatibility menu (right-click .exe > Properties > Compatibility).

Dialog boxes not opening/unable to save[edit]

Running RollerCoaster Tycoon with visual themes enabled can prevent the open/save dialog box from opening. To fix this, check the 'Disable visual themes' option from the Compatibility menu (right-click .exe > Properties > Compatibility).

Another save game issue can be caused by not running the game as an Administrator. To fix this, check the 'Run this program as an administrator' option from the Compatibility menu (right-click .exe > Properties > Compatibility).

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Executable32-bit64-bitNotes
Windows

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS)95, 98
Processor (CPU)90 MHz
System memory (RAM)16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)55 MB
Video card (GPU) 1 MB of VRAM

Notes

  1. SafeDisc retail DRMdoes not work on Windows 10[1] and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[2]
  2. 2.02.1File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/285310/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (285310) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.
  3. When running this game without Administrator elevation, activity in %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%, and %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%VirtualStore (more details).

References

  1. Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
  2. Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16

Comments are closed.