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Rollercoaster Tycoon 3

Platform(s): PC
Genre: Simulation
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Frontier Developments

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As WP's managing editor, I edit review and preview articles, attempt to keep up with the frantic pace of Rainier's news posts, and keep our reviewers on deadline, which is akin to herding cats. When I have a moment to myself and don't have my nose in a book, I like to play action/RPG, adventure and platforming games.

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'RollerCoaster Tycoon 3' - Beta Patch Update 1A Available NOW

by Judy on Nov. 3, 2004 @ 4:48 p.m. PST

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 will take the series to new heights with brand new features including 3-D graphics, giving players complete control of views around the park, and a front seat to the action with a new Coaster Cam) feature that allows players to ride the roller coasters.

Get the Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Beta Patch off WP (10mb)

I - SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
-----------------------

OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows® 98SE/Me/2000/XP (Windows® XP recommended)
PROCESSOR
Pentium® III 733 MHz or compatible (Pentium® 4 1.3 GHz or compatible recommended)
MEMORY
128 MB RAM; 256 MB for XP (256 MB; 384 MB for XP recommended)
HARD DISK SPACE
600 MB Free
CD–ROM DRIVE
4X Speed or faster (8X Speed or faster recommended)
VIDEO
ATI Radeon™ or 32 MB GeForce™ 2 or higher. (64 MB ATI Radeon recommended)*
SOUND
Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible 16-bit sound card* (PC audio solution containing Dolby Digital Live required for Dolby Digital audio)
DIRECTX®
DirectX® version 9.0 (included with the retail release of the game) or higher
*Indicates device should be compatible with DirectX® version 9.0 or higher.
Windows Media CODEC version 9 is installed with the game. This technology is also installed when updating to Windows Media Player 10.

II - PROVIDING FEEDBACK REGARDING THIS UPDATE BETA
-------------------------------------------------
If you encounter problems after using this update, please send feedback to the following email address:
rct3game@frontier.co.uk

Include the following information:
Windows Version (including service pack numbers, e.g., Windows XP Pro, SP2)
CPU Speed or model (e.g., Athlon 64 2800 or Pentium 4 3.06 GHz)
Video Card (e.g., ATI Radeon 9800)
Video Drivers version number (e.g. 6.14.0010.6414 (English))
System Memory (e.g., 512 MB RAM)
Sound Card (e.g., Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum)
DirectX version (e.g., 9.0c)

You may obtain this information by running DXDIAG and saving all the information to a text file.

III - FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS
----------------------------
UPDATE 1a BETA contains the following changes and improvements

  • NEW GUEST LIST (PEEP THOUGHTS) WINDOW - A Guest List (peeps’ thoughts) window is present in Update #1 BETA and accessed by clicking on the ‘Guests’ button located at the bottom of the Park Management buttons. The window allows you to click on an icon to select either a view of all the individuals in the park or a summarized list. You may also display either peep status or thoughts, and control whether the information is presented in ascending or descending order. The window lists only thoughts that are relevant to game-play. Additionally, the appearance of the Attractions Management dialog box has been updated in Update #1 BETA. In the retail release of the game, feedback on how various areas of your park are performing or being rated by the peeps is provided via the Attractions Management dialog box – use the icons at the top of the dialog box to switch between Rides, Shops and Facilities. Then, from the dropdown menu below the icons, you may select what information you the list displays, such as Status, Popularity, Satisfaction, Weekly Profit, Queue Length, Queue Time, Reliability, Down-Time, Guest’s Favorite. You can use the small arrow at the top of the list to select whether the list is displayed in descending or ascending order.
  • QUEUE PATH ARRANGEMENT - In the retail release of the game, if there are two or more queues whose entrances connect to the same grid square, peeps will only go down the first queue they see, so only one of the rides connected to the grid square will get any traffic. In Update #1 BETA this is fixed so if there are two or more queues whose entrances are connected to the same tile, people will make an informed decision as to which ride to queue for rather than going down the first queue they see.
  • PEEP AWARENESS AND MAPS - Depending on the layout of your park, peeps may not know your rides are there. By selling maps you can make all those peeps who buy maps aware of all the rides in the park. Otherwise, as in a real park, peeps will only know about the rides in their immediate vicinity. Update #1 BETA increases the "awareness distance" over which peeps who don’t have maps will be aware of rides.
  • PEEPS AND RIDES - Update #1 BETA permits peeps to revisit rides that they enjoyed before going on other rides, individual guests are more likely to go on rides, and very-high-intensity rides are less attractive to peeps.
  • BLOCK BRAKE IMPROVEMENTS - Update #1 BETA changes the function of block brakes so that, in the case of a clear track ahead, the brakes section slows down the train to the specified speed and permits it continue.
  • COASTER RATING WILD FLUCTUATIONS - In the retail release of the game, coaster ratings can fluctuate wildly especially those with multiple trains. These problems are fixed in Update #1 BETA.
  • EMPLOYEES NOW STAY IN ASSIGNED AREAS - In Update #1 BETA employees stay in their assigned areas even if they have nothing to do, however testing has picked up a problem with this fix in the Update #1 BETA, which will be rectified for the final released Update #1.
  • POWERED LAUNCH - Update #1 BETA adds powered launch modes to the follwoing coaster types:
    • Compact Inverted Coaster
    • Inverted Vertical Shuttle
    • Lay Down Coaster
    • Inverted Shuttle
    • Floorless Coaster
    • Flying Coaster
    • Hyper Twister
    • Stand Up Twister
    • Vertical Drop Coaster
    • Inverted Coaster
    • Giga Coaster
    • Heartline Coaster
    • Inverted Hairpin Coaster
    • Wildmouse
    • Spinning Wildmouse
    • Inverted Wildmouse
    • Junior Coaster
    • Mini Coaster
    • Spiral Coaster
    • Mini Suspended Flying Coaster
    • Multi Dimensional Coaster
    • Suspended Swinging Coaster
    • Standup Coaster
    • Mine Train
    • Pipeline Coaster
  • FLICKERING LIGHTS - Update #1 BETA reduces flickering lights by causing cars to switch off their lights when approaching a loading station, and adding lights to loading stations instead.
  • MAXIMUM HEIGHTS - In Update #1 BETA, track rides’ maximum heights have been increased by 50% and coasters’ maximum heights have been increased by 20% (except Air Powered, Reverse Freefall, and Strata Coaster). In addition, a cheat is present in both the retail game and Update #1 BETA, whereby renaming any peep John Wardley removes all height restrictions.
  • FLIPPING CARS - In the retail release of the game, if a Floorless coaster is built with a particular track piece (flat diagonal chain) the car flips upside down; the offending piece has been fixed and is included in Update #1 BETA.
  • GENTLE RIDES TICKET PRICES - In the retail release of the game, gentle rides had to have a low price set to get peeps on the rides making it difficult to earn a significant profit. In Update #1 BETA these rides have been made more attractive to peeps so that they are more likely to generate good profits.
  • RIDES, SHOPS AND FACILITATES BREAKDOWN FREQUENCY - Update #1 BETA contains code which greatly reduces the frequency of rides, shops and facilities breaking down compared to the retail release of the game. Note: The update does not affect saved games; items already placed in a level may need to break down once before the new rate takes effect.
  • NUMBER OF COASTER CARS - Update #1 BETA ensures car trains are not allowed to be longer than a tilt section or thrill lift on the appropriate coaster, and removes the too-restrictive limit on the maximum number of cars per train for the following coaster cars:
    • Buffalo Stampede Coaster car
    • Floorless Coaster car
    • Giga Coaster car
    • Scarab car
    • Standup Twister car
    • Biplane Car
    • Bobsleigh Car
    • Bowie Knife Car
    • Bullet Coaster Car
    • Cannon Coaster Car
    • Flying Turns Bobsleigh Car
    • Ghoster Coaster Car
    • Inverse Impulse Car
    • Inverted Wild Mouse Car
    • Junior Ladybird Car
    • Junior Log Car
    • LIM Coaster Car
    • Looping Car
    • Looping Snake Coaster Car
    • Maggot Coaster Car
    • Min Coaster Rocket Car
    • Mini Coaster Toboggan Car
    • Retro Monorail Car
    • Shooting Star Car
    • Side Friction Car
    • Twister Coaster Car
    • Water Coaster Car
    • Wild Mine Mouse Car
    • Wild Mouse Car
    • Wooden Wild Mouse Car
  • REDUCED FREQUENCY OF PEEP COMPLAINTS FOR QUEUE TIMES - Update #1 BETA contains code which increases the amount of time before peeps start complaining about queue times.
  • LITTER: In Update #1 BETA, peeps drop litter less frequently compared to the retail version.
  • WATER RIDES SOUND EFFECTS - In the retail release of the game, water rides have the sound effects for a steel coaster, with no water sounds. This has been fixed in Update #1 BETA.
  • GO KARTS SOUND EFFECTS - In the retail release of game, the Go Karts sound very loud. This is fixed in Update #1 BETA.
  • FREQUENCY OF MOST DISAPPOINTING PENALTY - In the release of the game, the “Most Disappointing” fine can appear frequently. The threshold at which this fine kicks in and the frequency of the fine have been reduced in Update #1 BETA.
  • BENCHES - Update #1 BETA contains code which reduces the frequency of wooden benches being vandalized compared to the retail release of the game, and increases the rate at which guests regain energy when sat on benches.
  • SCENERY VISIBILITY TOGGLE CAUSES SOME GRAPHICS TO SHIFT - In the retail release of the game, if you use the Scenery Visibility toggle, trees and rides can sometimes start shifting all over the screen. This was a bug due to graphical matrix palettes not being set correctly in some circumstances. Update #1 BETA fixes this problem.
  • COMPATIBILITY - Update #1 BETA addresses a number of compatibility issues which could cause instability in the retail release of the game. Ensure you have up-to-date device drivers that are known to be good and update the game. (See the FAQ section "Why does my game suffer from frame-rate slowdown / lags, graphical glitches, crashes?" for a complete discussion on the topic of known-good drivers on www.frontier.co.uk/games/rct3/faq.html)
  • COASTER CAR STALLS: Update #1 BETA fixes splashboats car rolling back at top of lift hill and log flume stopping on some flat track pieces. Additionally it contains a new ‘cheat’ – renaming any peep "Andrew Thomas" decreases track friction, which can help when importing some RCT1 or 2 coasters into RCT3.
  • QUEUE LINE TERRAIN EDITING: In Update #1 BETA terrain editing of ground queues is not allowed.
  • FIREWORKS TUTORIAL: In Update #1 BETA double click on firework markers is not allowed to bring up the colors modifier window when in a tutorial.
  • MAPS: Update #1 BETA ensures that all scenery items are colored correctly on maps.
  • TERRAIN RESIZIING: Update #1 BETA fixes a bug in the retail game which can cause corruption when terrain is re-sized.
  • FRONT SCREEN MENU: Update #1 BETA fixes front screen menu glitch in the retail game which occurs after a change of screen resolution.
  • PEEP VIEWPORT: In Update #1 BETA, intermittent bright lines from the peep viewport are eliminated.
  • RIDE MUSIC: in Update #1 BETA ride music is synchronised when rides share the same track.
  • PINCERS: In Update #1 BETA the peep pincer grips staff in the correct place.
  • COASTERCAM: Update #1 BETA fixes a graphical glitch that occurs in the retail version when you pause the game and then enter CoasterCam.
  • WINDOWS ME: Update #1 BETA contains a bug-fix for a misaligned mouse cursor in WindowsME after a screen settings change.
  • ATTRACTION NAMING: In Update #1 BETA, new attractions are named in sequence from "Attraction 1" instead of "Attraction 01"
  • CLOSING TIME: Update #1 BETA allows park closing time to be set to 24:00.
  • SAVED GAMES: In Update #1 BETA the day-of-month is stored and displayed in saved games, and the game doesn’t reset vendor uniform colours when loading levels.
  • PARK INSPECTOR: In Update #1 BETA the Park Inspector no longer has a number after his name.
  • RIDE OPERATION PANEL: In Update #1 BETA the Ride Operation Panel has been re-arranged to ensure the speed spinner doesn't overlap
  • WATER FLOW VISUALS: In Update #1 BETA there are improved water flow visuals on coasters.
  • REVOLUTION: In Update#1 BETA the animation loop on Revolution ride has been fixed.
  • UNICODE: In Update #1 BETA Avatar families names can contain UNICODE characters.
  • OPTIMIZATION: Update #1 BETA contains improved performance for some fence rendering.
  • AUTO-CONFIG: In Update #1 BETA an auto-config button is added to the graphics settings panel (to allow a ‘reset to factory values’ of graphical parameters), and auto-config chooses 1024x768 instead of 800x600 for High Quality.
  • LOCALIZATION: Update #1 BETA allows for localized names for carried items, ride cars and has improved localized date-time formatting.
  • STAFF QUIT MESSAGE: Update #1 BETA adds a message that is displayed when a staff member quits.
  • HAPPINIESS: In Update #1 BETA, guests become unhappy when they feel sick, and staff become unhappy when they are bored.
  • THOUGHT ICONS: In Update#1, clipping for people thought icons is fixed.
  • RAINING: In Update#1 BETA, some rides are flagged as under-cover so they can be used when raining, and a rain weather effect is added.
  • CAR CRASHES: In Update #1 BETA, if a car crashes, the connected link cars also crash.
  • VERSION NUMBER: Update #1 BETA displays the executable version number in the program info dialog.


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