Ask the Experts / The RCT Guide to Windows 7/8 [Merging & Window Mode Guide Too]

The RCT Guide to Windows 7 & 8

 

So after several people still have issues with Windows 7 and 8 I felt it would be best if we had 1 topic for everything Windows related.

 

In this topic you will find guides on:

 

-Running RCT2 & RCTLL on Windows 7 & 8

-Running RCT2 in Windowed mode

-Merging in RCT2 on Windows 7 & 8

 

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Running RCT2 & RCTLL on Windows 7 & 8:

Once the games are installed, set them to run the following compatibility settings:

-Run program in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
-Disable visual themes (not applicable in Win8)
-Disable desktop composition (not applicable in Win8)
-Run this program as an administrator.

These setting should be made to apply to all users (even if there is only 1 user of the computer).

Apply all these settings to everything that works with RCT, so all trainers (8cars, SOB etc) Everything should then run perfect, never freeze, never crash, and should always works how it always has done.

 

The only thing that doesn't work is merging in 8cars. But there's a tutorial for merging with Map Object Manipulation below.

This works in both RCT2 & RCTLL.

 

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Running RCT2 in Windowed Mode:

-Go here and download rct2-ddhack2.zip (second file down)

-Load up RCT2. Set your resolution to the size you wish you window to be. Quit RCT2.

-Pop ddhack.ini ddraw.dll & detoured.dll (from the zip file you downloaded) into your RCT2 directory. (Where the screenshots and subfolders are)

-Load RCT2. And it should load in Windowed Mode.

 

-If the game says vcomp100.dll is missing, then download this .dll off the internet and place it in both your System32 folder and your SysWOW64 folder.

 

Unfortunately, you can no longer double click on a save to open it, you have to go through the game to load saves.
Also, to reset resolution sizes you need to take the files out of the folder, reset the resolution in full screen mode, and the replace the files again.

 

In Windows 7 & 8 you still need the compatibility settings the same as you normally would (see above for the guide)

 

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Merging in RCT2 on Windows 7 & 8:

 

Tutorial by turbin3 can be found here.

Thanks for this post. I recently installed RCT2 on my new Windows 8 laptop, didn't have any problems. It even runs faster and smoother than I ever experienced before! No problems with 8cars so far, but I didn't test the difficult stuff like merging yet.

Is there another topic on RCT2 windowed mode? I get the window, but the game itself doesn't show up. An image of the desktop is frozen on the window and I can't see the game at all. 

There is, but it holds no answers to this problem.

 

All I can suggest is that all steps are followed carefully and make sure everything is done correct, because if it works for one person on an operating system, it should work for everyone.

I'm running on XP, and I think that might be the problem...all the people that have done it on 7 or Vista that I know haven't had problems. Oh well. 

Thank you so much for this! Such a simple solution!

So I tried everything in this tutorial, but RCT will not stop freezing for me every time I try zero-clearancing, which basically renders me unable to build anything substantial. Any other suggestions?

VM?

What does that mean?

I'm not positive but I think that he's referring to windows virtual machine. It's a pain to set up though

If I have to do that much, I'd rather not play.

it's not hard at all if you have a spare copy of windows xp lying around somewhere. but if you have to get ahold of it and whatever, it would probably be a pain.

Are you using windowed mode or full screen?

Full-screen, and windowed mode won't work for me, despite following the above instructions. Basically, since my computer crapped out last June, my RCT has been fucked since.

 

I also don't have a spare XP copy around, so virtual machine isn't an option.

Is it just zero-clearancing that is making RCT unplayable? This was happening to me at first, until I put my trainers on the same compatibility settings.

 

All I can say is make sure that your trainers are on the same settings as RCT. And if they already are, then I don't know what to say.

Everything is on the same setting. I changed my resolution in RCT and now there doesn't seem to be a freezing issue. The only downside is dealing with black bars on the side of the screen as I play.

:/

 

At least you can now play though!

Full-screen, and windowed mode won't work for me, despite following the above instructions. Basically, since my computer crapped out last June, my RCT has been fucked since.

 

I also don't have a spare XP copy around, so virtual machine isn't an option.

 

Crazy though it sounds, I have RCT1 LL running on WINE (Windows on Linux).

The Linux is Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop

The Linux is running in VMWare Player on a Windows 7 Ulitimate 32-bit !

 

Why? Because I could. But it means no Win 95/98/XP is needed in the VM  

 

http://forums.rctspa...ndpost&p=319963

Louis, it seems that RCT screws up (for me) when desktop composition is disabled. 

Hmmmm... you running Windows 7 or 8. In the case of 8, you don't need it. If you run 7 then just try disabling it and see what happens.

This does not work for me, but I can run it without, although I would prefer windowed mode. I have the GOG.com version because my disk was too scratched to read and it says, "Unable to run in minimized mode."  The Windows XP says service pack 3 and I can't change it. It said the same thing without compatability mode. Is my problem because I have the GOG.com version?