Jul 30, 2014, 03:51 PM (This post was last modified: Jul 30, 2014, 05:27 PM by pikachewbacca.)
RollerCoaster Tycoon, by default, only supports 3 full-screen resolutions (640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768), but if you have a widescreen monitor, or some other odd size, you can replace one of these resolutions with a custom size. Because these resolutions are hardcoded into the game, the only way to modify them is to edit the game's code.
Black bars... ugh!
Note: I am using original 1998 version of RollerCoaster Tycoon. I have no expansion packs installed, only this one Atari patch that fixes a scenario-loading bug on newer PCs. It should work on the expansion pack versions or the deluxe versions, but I have not tested it on them. If anyone can verify that it works on these versions, by all means, let us know.
I will be using this awesome hex editor called HxD. It's one of the best hex editors I've seen and very easy to use, and works on every version of Windows so far from Windows 95 to Windows 8.1.
Website: http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/
1. Make a backup copy of the original RCT.EXE file. If you accidentally mess up this file, you'll need to be able to restore it. It's located in 'C:Program FilesHasbro InteractiveRollerCoaster Tycoon' ('Program Files(x86)' if you're using 64-bit Windows). Copy RCT.EXE to some place on your computer, such as the Desktop.
Back up!!! I can't stress the importance enough!
2. Decide the resolution you want to support. My laptop screen is 1024x600, so that's the resolution I want to use. If you choose something bigger than what your screen can display, the game will default back to 640x480. Supposedly, 1280x1024 is the max that the game can handle. (Sorry, 1080p users! :-( )Next, decide which of the default resolutions you want to replace. I think 640x480 is quite small, so I won't be using that one. So, I've decided to replace the 640x480 option with 1024x600.
3. Convert your resolution to hexadecimal (base 16) values. You're obviously using a 'hex' editor!
I like this site for converting numbers. http://www.mathsisfun.com/binary-decimal...erter.html. My width is 1024, which equals 400h in hexadecimal, and my height is 600 which equals 258h in hexadecimal. (The little h just represents that the number is in hexidecimal.) However, Intel processors are little-endian, which just means that they store the least significant byte first, so we have to accomodate for that. Since my resolution is 0400h by 0258h, we need to reverse the bytes (the two last digits become the two first digits), and it becomes 0004h by 5802h.
3. Open your hex editor and open the RCT.EXE file located in 'C:Program Files...'
Decide which of the default resolutions you want to edit.
If you want to change 640x480, search for these two strings of bytes in the file.
08 68 E0 01 00 00 68 80 02 00
F8 C7 45 FC 80 02 00 00 C7 45 F4 E0 01 00
If you want to change 800x600, search for these two strings of bytes.
08 68 58 02 00 00 68 20 03 00
F8 C7 45 FC 20 03 00 00 C7 45 F4 58 02 00
If you want to change 1024x768, search for these two strings of bytes.
08 68 00 03 00 00 68 00 04 00
F8 C7 45 FC 00 04 00 00 C7 45 F4 00 03 00
Make sure you're searching for 'Hex-values'. If you're searching for a Text-string or something else, it won't be found. All of this data is located near offset 0x00000700 in the file.
As you can see, there is a pattern to how these resolutions are stored in the file, which I've color-coded. The yellow value represents the screen height and the blue value represents the width. Changing the blue value to your width and the yellow value to your height changes the resolution. For example, I wanted to change 640x480 to 1024x600, so I looked for these two strings:
08 68 E0 01 00 00 68 80 02 00 and
F8 C7 45 FC 80 02 00 00 C7 45 F4 E0 01 00
and I changed them to:
08 68 58 02 00 00 68 00 04 00 and
F8 C7 45 FC 00 04 00 00 C7 45 F4 58 02 00
Editing the 640x480 resolution
Once you're finished, save the file.
4. Now, launch RollerCoaster Tycoon and you should now be able to use your new resolution. The only catch is that the Options menu still displays the old resolution in the drop-down box. I have yet to figure out how to change that, but selecting it will actually change it to your new resolution.
Voila! RollerCoaster Tycoon running at 1024x600 in full-screen.
Black bars... ugh!
Note: I am using original 1998 version of RollerCoaster Tycoon. I have no expansion packs installed, only this one Atari patch that fixes a scenario-loading bug on newer PCs. It should work on the expansion pack versions or the deluxe versions, but I have not tested it on them. If anyone can verify that it works on these versions, by all means, let us know.
I will be using this awesome hex editor called HxD. It's one of the best hex editors I've seen and very easy to use, and works on every version of Windows so far from Windows 95 to Windows 8.1.
Website: http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/
1. Make a backup copy of the original RCT.EXE file. If you accidentally mess up this file, you'll need to be able to restore it. It's located in 'C:Program FilesHasbro InteractiveRollerCoaster Tycoon' ('Program Files(x86)' if you're using 64-bit Windows). Copy RCT.EXE to some place on your computer, such as the Desktop.
Back up!!! I can't stress the importance enough!
2. Decide the resolution you want to support. My laptop screen is 1024x600, so that's the resolution I want to use. If you choose something bigger than what your screen can display, the game will default back to 640x480. Supposedly, 1280x1024 is the max that the game can handle. (Sorry, 1080p users! :-( )Next, decide which of the default resolutions you want to replace. I think 640x480 is quite small, so I won't be using that one. So, I've decided to replace the 640x480 option with 1024x600.
3. Convert your resolution to hexadecimal (base 16) values. You're obviously using a 'hex' editor!
I like this site for converting numbers. http://www.mathsisfun.com/binary-decimal...erter.html. My width is 1024, which equals 400h in hexadecimal, and my height is 600 which equals 258h in hexadecimal. (The little h just represents that the number is in hexidecimal.) However, Intel processors are little-endian, which just means that they store the least significant byte first, so we have to accomodate for that. Since my resolution is 0400h by 0258h, we need to reverse the bytes (the two last digits become the two first digits), and it becomes 0004h by 5802h.
3. Open your hex editor and open the RCT.EXE file located in 'C:Program Files...'
Decide which of the default resolutions you want to edit.
If you want to change 640x480, search for these two strings of bytes in the file.
08 68 E0 01 00 00 68 80 02 00
F8 C7 45 FC 80 02 00 00 C7 45 F4 E0 01 00
If you want to change 800x600, search for these two strings of bytes.
08 68 58 02 00 00 68 20 03 00
F8 C7 45 FC 20 03 00 00 C7 45 F4 58 02 00
If you want to change 1024x768, search for these two strings of bytes.
08 68 00 03 00 00 68 00 04 00
F8 C7 45 FC 00 04 00 00 C7 45 F4 00 03 00
Make sure you're searching for 'Hex-values'. If you're searching for a Text-string or something else, it won't be found. All of this data is located near offset 0x00000700 in the file.
As you can see, there is a pattern to how these resolutions are stored in the file, which I've color-coded. The yellow value represents the screen height and the blue value represents the width. Changing the blue value to your width and the yellow value to your height changes the resolution. For example, I wanted to change 640x480 to 1024x600, so I looked for these two strings:
08 68 E0 01 00 00 68 80 02 00 and
F8 C7 45 FC 80 02 00 00 C7 45 F4 E0 01 00
and I changed them to:
08 68 58 02 00 00 68 00 04 00 and
F8 C7 45 FC 00 04 00 00 C7 45 F4 58 02 00
Editing the 640x480 resolution
Once you're finished, save the file.
4. Now, launch RollerCoaster Tycoon and you should now be able to use your new resolution. The only catch is that the Options menu still displays the old resolution in the drop-down box. I have yet to figure out how to change that, but selecting it will actually change it to your new resolution.
Voila! RollerCoaster Tycoon running at 1024x600 in full-screen.
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I made this discussion because I feel that difficult scenarios are vital to the games success. Atari really missed the mark with rct3 and I'm hoping to highlight some of the mistakes that were made.
The main thing that turned me away from rct3 was the lack of difficult scenarios and the unlimited time to complete them.
Camparisons of scenarios in rct1,2,and 3:
RCT1:
Roller coaster tycoon 1 had the best scenarios in my opinion. They had hard to beat goals and had structure where you had to beat one to unlock another. They also had unique maps where you couldn't build above the treeline or were forced to use a very small park. They had 25 parks in the original scenario list starting from very easy to decently hard.
RCT2:
Roller coaster tycoon 2 had the same difficulty levels in scenarios of rct1, but was severely lacking in structure. Structured scenarios (beat one to unlock another) gives users a reason to play through the entire campaign. It forces them to play through harder scenarios and ultimately has them spending more hours playing the game.
RCT3:
Rct3 had in my opinion the worst scenarios of the 3. They had very beautiful parks that obviously took a lot of time to create, but they lacked difficulty. They lacked difficulty in two areas. First, the scenarios goals were too modest. An example goal in 3 would be to build 2 coasters with very modest excitement ratings.. A similar scenario in rct1 or rct2 would have been to build 8 different types of coasters with a much harder rating to aquire than the counterpart in 3. Because of this, while playing through the scenarios, you were moving on to the next scenario before you even started to get attached to a park. The second area rct3 lacked difficulty in, is failure conditions. None of the scenarios in rct3 had failure conditions, you had unlimited time to achieve the goals. In the earlier installments, the failure modes were either: meet X by Y date.. or maintain condition Z (park rating ussually). Never having a failure mode killed any difficulty the rct3 scenarios may have presented.
TLDR:
Good scenarios contain:
1) Failure conditions (meet X by Y date.. or maintain condition Z)
2) A steady climb from easy to hard (ussualy takes multiple tries) in scenarios
3) A good variety of scenarios when entering the harder difficulties (very small parks, can't build above tree line, ect)
4) Structure (unlock one to beat another)
Discuss:
Do you guys agree?
What types of scenarios and goals would you like to see?
Did you enjoy the please the please the guest scenarios found in rct3, or do prefer hard goals instead (same goal, just completes as soon as you get it instead of waiting for guest X to come to the park), I personally prefer hard goals.