RCT+CF on WinXP = Pain in the...

[Eric]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

Hi,

I used to spend many hours with RCT+CF a couple years ago, but since then
both CD's were collecting dust. Stumbling across them, I decided to throw
them both on my new laptop as they would be fun "mobile" games.

Of course, the new laptop is running WinXP. RCT installed and ran fine, but
after CF was installed I was greeted with that good 'ol "Access Violation"
error. No problem, I figure it must be WinXP related and surely there must
be a patch since this was/is such a popular game. A quick google search
leads me to Atari's support website, where such a patch is available. (The
upgrade to v1.10.026). I downloaded the upgrade patch while uninstalling
RTC+CF (including removing directory/registery keys by hand) -- just to make
sure the patch would be going over a fresh RTC install. After doing this
dance, RTC+CF was running great. Yay!

Next issue. I really don't have the time, like I used to have, to devote to
working parks up. I worked through many of the parks when I did have the
time. Now, I just want to have fun messing around. So, do another google
for a trainer. Many trainers out there, but which will work with v1.10.026?
After trying out many, many, trainers I finally found one that actually
worked with RCT+CF (under WinXP). The only trainers I found that would
actually work in this situation were DragonIOA v4.2 and DragonIOA v5.0.
(DragonIOA 6.0b and 6.2b would not work.) I'm just happy that I did find
one that worked. Yay!

Trying out literally a dozen trainers, I stumpled across the RCTpatch
("Drexler patch") which patches RCT so that it will be able to load saved
games where a trainer had been used. Figure since I'll probably be using
DragonIOA quite often, I downloaded "Drexler patch" and installed it. Backed
up the working RCT.EXE first, as I believed that RCTpatch might just end up
breaking RCT.EXE instead of patching it. It didn't though, everything still
works.

So, I'm now (under WinXP) at RCT + CF + v1.10.026 patch + Drexler patch.
(And will be using DragonIOA v5.0 as a trainer.) Everything works great.

Now, this leads up to my question --- is there a "NoCD" patch that would
work in this situation? I tried all the ones off Gamecopyworld (and even a
few that I emuled), but none worked. Only two had any reference as to which
version they were intended for. I backed up the working (RCT + CF +
v1.10.026 + Drexler) RCT.EXE each time, of course.

Anyone come across a "NoCD" patch that works for:
RCT + CF + v1.10.026 + Drexler ?

Or anyone have any luck removing the protection wrapper from RCT.EXE, using
any of the stripper utilities?

TIA,
Eric

 

[Dave]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 07:20:33 -0400, in alt.games.rctycoon, "Eric"
<none@death.to.spammers.now> wrote:

>Now, this leads up to my question --- is there a "NoCD" patch that would
>work in this situation? I tried all the ones off Gamecopyworld (and even a
>few that I emuled), but none worked. Only two had any reference as to which
>version they were intended for. I backed up the working (RCT + CF +
>v1.10.026 + Drexler) RCT.EXE each time, of course.
>
>Anyone come across a "NoCD" patch that works for:
>RCT + CF + v1.10.026 + Drexler ?
>
>Or anyone have any luck removing the protection wrapper from RCT.EXE, using
>any of the stripper utilities?

I'm on Win98 and using Norton Virtual Drive which came free with a
motherboard along with Norton Ghost and Norton AV.

I make a virtual CD drive then make a virtual CD image (fully compressed)
and installed from there so it would "see" the correct drive letter.

I would imagine that any of the newer virtual CD applications will do a
similarly successful job of it.

The above also applies to RCT2

HTH

Dave

--
xtalsinger@yahoo.com is a valid reply-to address but I don't check it every day.

 

[Eric]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. While I do have software installed that would
allow the use of ISO's as "virtual cd's", and did give that brief thought, I
wanted to avoid that approach.

Beyond playing games and the usual PC related past-times, I have to use my
laptop for "real" productivity. (Ok, I admit that "real" productivity may
only account for 5 percent of the time, but.. LOL)

I do quite a bit of video creation and editing, along with DVD building.
(No, not porno. LOL)

I'd rather not throw "virtual cd's" into the mix since it could possibly
have an impact with all the other CD/DVD software I use.

Thanks,
-Eric

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

In article <108v4rq6hr8377e@corp.supernews.com>,
none@death.to.spammers.now says...
> Hi,
>
> I used to spend many hours with RCT+CF a couple years ago, but since then
> both CD's were collecting dust. Stumbling across them, I decided to throw
> them both on my new laptop as they would be fun "mobile" games.
>
> Of course, the new laptop is running WinXP. RCT installed and ran fine, but
> after CF was installed I was greeted with that good 'ol "Access Violation"
> error. No problem, I figure it must be WinXP related and surely there must
> be a patch since this was/is such a popular game. A quick google search
> leads me to Atari's support website, where such a patch is available. (The
> upgrade to v1.10.026). I downloaded the upgrade patch while uninstalling
> RTC+CF (including removing directory/registery keys by hand) -- just to make
> sure the patch would be going over a fresh RTC install. After doing this
> dance, RTC+CF was running great. Yay!
>
> Next issue. I really don't have the time, like I used to have, to devote to
> working parks up. I worked through many of the parks when I did have the
> time. Now, I just want to have fun messing around. So, do another google
> for a trainer. Many trainers out there, but which will work with v1.10.026?
> After trying out many, many, trainers I finally found one that actually
> worked with RCT+CF (under WinXP). The only trainers I found that would
> actually work in this situation were DragonIOA v4.2 and DragonIOA v5.0.
> (DragonIOA 6.0b and 6.2b would not work.) I'm just happy that I did find
> one that worked. Yay!
>
> Trying out literally a dozen trainers, I stumpled across the RCTpatch
> ("Drexler patch") which patches RCT so that it will be able to load saved
> games where a trainer had been used. Figure since I'll probably be using
> DragonIOA quite often, I downloaded "Drexler patch" and installed it. Backed
> up the working RCT.EXE first, as I believed that RCTpatch might just end up
> breaking RCT.EXE instead of patching it. It didn't though, everything still
> works.
>
> So, I'm now (under WinXP) at RCT + CF + v1.10.026 patch + Drexler patch.
> (And will be using DragonIOA v5.0 as a trainer.) Everything works great.
>
> Now, this leads up to my question --- is there a "NoCD" patch that would
> work in this situation? I tried all the ones off Gamecopyworld (and even a
> few that I emuled), but none worked. Only two had any reference as to which
> version they were intended for. I backed up the working (RCT + CF +
> v1.10.026 + Drexler) RCT.EXE each time, of course.
>
> Anyone come across a "NoCD" patch that works for:
> RCT + CF + v1.10.026 + Drexler ?
>
> Or anyone have any luck removing the protection wrapper from RCT.EXE, using
> any of the stripper utilities?
>
> TIA,

Have you tried running everything under Windows 98 compatibility mode?

I've had similar problems, but not the exact same situation, and that
worked. If a patch won't work under Win98 compatability then try another
patch... If none of that works then the only option I can see is to have
both XP & 98 installed on your system and boot 98 when you want to play
RCT..

(you will need 2 HDs to do this or if not create a partition on your HD
to install Windows 98)


--
LittleMissMikey

I make jokes for my own benefit...
Don't feel obliged to laugh...

 

[Eric]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

LOL -- thats what I was attempting to avoid; creating another partition just
for Win98. :^)

Not that its difficult (first thing I did with this laptop was chisel out
partitions for Linux boot, native, and swap drives), but because I'm greedy
with trying to maintain as much HD space for XP as possible since I do a bit
of video and DVD editing/creation. (Well, plus I admit I'm lazy. LOL)

I looked tonight for a workable patch, but there doesn't seem to be one that
will work for RCT+CF+1.10.026+Drexler.

I'm going to give VirtualPC a try and see how well RCT will run under it.
(I had Win98 running on VirtualPC under WinXP for a while, but deleted it
since I didn't ever use it that much.)

Failing that, I'll just do another partition dance and get Win98 a home of
it's own. Actually, that wouldn't be too bad since I've been itching to
play Jane's USAF again -- and that also only works well under Win95/98.

Thanks,
-Eric

 

[Eric]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

Decided the easiest solution would be just to pick up a copy of RCT2.
(Its dirt cheap, anyway.)

Came across the "Rollercoaster Rider" program while looking at RCT stuff on
the web.

Downloaded the demo and it ran fair enough for the two rides that the demo
works with.

Anyone use this program to "ride" all their coasters?

Looks like it would be something fun to play with until RCT3 is released.

 

[Eric]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

After doing some playing around, I found that RC with CF installed isn't
really "copy protected" against having to have a CD in the drive.
Supposibly, RC is protected with Safedisc, but I couldn't see any footprints
of Safedisc being on RC+CF?

Anyway, this seems to be a better fix than modifing RCT.EXE, anyway.

All I did was copy a few files from the CD onto the hard drive. (Files that
I noticed weren't in RCT's \DATA directory on the HD, but were in the \DATA
directory on the CD.)

Files are:

csg1i.dat; csg2.dat; csg3.dat; csg4.dat; csg5.dat; csg6.dat; csg7.dat;
csg8.dat; css17.dat; mp.dat; tutlk1.dat; tutl1.dat

Copy them to a directory labeled /DATA on the HD. RCT will still whine for
a CD when you start, but you can just direct it to the directory on the HD.
C:\DATA would be easiest, since just have to change the 'D' to a 'C' when
RCT whines for a CD.

This is probably old here, I'm sure -- but maybe it'll help someone else in
future...

 

[Eric]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

After poking around in WinXP's registry, I found the key that contains the
"CD path" that is looked for everytime RCT+CF is run.

The key (SetupPath) is at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Fish Technology Group\RollerCoaster Tycoon Setup

Simply change from "D:\" (or whatever your CD letter is) to "C:\Program
Files\Hasbro Interactive\RollerCoaster Tycoon" (or whatever your RCT
installed path is).

Copy the files I previously mentioned to "C:\Program Files\Hasbro
Interactive\RollerCoaster Tycoon\Data" (or whatever your installed RCT's
Data path might be) and disregard what I previously wrote about making a
seperate Data drive.

Changing this key and putting the following files in this path will not only
allow RCT+CF to run without the CD, but it also won't whine for a path each
time it is run.

The files (from \Data on CD-ROM) were:

csg1i.dat; csg2.dat; csg3.dat; csg4.dat; csg5.dat; csg6.dat; csg7.dat;
csg8.dat; css17.dat; mp.dat; tutlk1.dat; tutl1.dat

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

Well I am sure we ALL knew that!!! ;-)
sean

"Eric" <none@death.to.spammers.now> wrote in message
news:1095ofrfftqod07@corp.supernews.com...
> After poking around in WinXP's registry, I found the key that contains the
> "CD path" that is looked for everytime RCT+CF is run.
>
> The key (SetupPath) is at:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Fish Technology Group\RollerCoaster Tycoon
Setup
>
> Simply change from "D:\" (or whatever your CD letter is) to "C:\Program
> Files\Hasbro Interactive\RollerCoaster Tycoon" (or whatever your RCT
> installed path is).
>
> Copy the files I previously mentioned to "C:\Program Files\Hasbro
> Interactive\RollerCoaster Tycoon\Data" (or whatever your installed RCT's
> Data path might be) and disregard what I previously wrote about making a
> seperate Data drive.
>
> Changing this key and putting the following files in this path will not
only
> allow RCT+CF to run without the CD, but it also won't whine for a path
each
> time it is run.
>
> The files (from \Data on CD-ROM) were:
>
> csg1i.dat; csg2.dat; csg3.dat; csg4.dat; csg5.dat; csg6.dat; csg7.dat;
> csg8.dat; css17.dat; mp.dat; tutlk1.dat; tutl1.dat
>
>

 

[Eric]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

> Well I am sure we ALL knew that!!! ;-)
> sean

LOL, yep, I'm sure I was probably years too late on that. :^)

I was just happy to get it running "right".

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

In article <1091mvds05c3s4a@corp.supernews.com>,
none@death.to.spammers.now says...
> Decided the easiest solution would be just to pick up a copy of RCT2.
> (Its dirt cheap, anyway.)
>
> Came across the "Rollercoaster Rider" program while looking at RCT stuff on
> the web.
>
> Downloaded the demo and it ran fair enough for the two rides that the demo
> works with.
>
> Anyone use this program to "ride" all their coasters?
>
> Looks like it would be something fun to play with until RCT3 is released.
>
The graphics are 'okay', i registered this program, and since then
installed Windows XP. The registration is based on your machine at the
time of registration and will not work if you reinstall windows. To me
that's pretty lame, I wouldn't recomend it. I personally feel I wasted
my money...

--
LittleMissMikey

I make jokes for my own benefit...
Don't feel obliged to laugh...