5 replies to this topic

[Little-B]

I have RCT2 & RCT3 on my PC, RCT2 Runs like a charm, no lag what so ever, but it seems everything i try, switching out Graphics cards, trying new ones, switchin processors out etc, RCT3 just wont stop lagging, is it just that there is no way for RCT3 To not lag?


You know beacuse i imagine in RCT3 like it was in RCT2, where i was able to build a HUGE park, without any lag.

[coastercrazy]

Do you have lag even in a blank sandbox park? If so you should try turning down some of the graphics levels. Go to the options button when you are in a sandbox park. When that comes up click the little button on the window that popped up that looks like an eye. Then click advanced on that window and there you can turn down many graphic settings.

Good luck!

/CC

[wabigbear]

Remember that lag is a fact of life with RCT3, and you can not compare it to previous versions of the game, the coding is completely different. But there are some general things everyone can do to lessen lag:

Install the game's patches/updates - several address specific types of lag and their causes.

Make sure all the parts of the equation are there: No one single thing will lessen lag, it's how things work as a group. Make sure your motherboard and processor will handle your video card, same with power supply and the fans, make sure you have the RAM needed.

Add more RAM. The more the better, especially if you are running Vista.

Turn off background programs and disconnect from the internet. Have the resources you DO have working for the game, and not MSN or a screensaver program. Some time check what programs you have running when they aren't needed (and remember that some always ARE needed), you'd be amazed at what they add up to.

Get a better video card. I switched from a 128 Mb card to a 256 Mb one, and saw a huge difference. I later switched to a 526 Mb card - the difference is amazing. Make sure you keep the drivers for your card up to date - most people don't.

Keep you machine maintained: De-frag regularly. Clean up files, dump temp internet files. Make sure it's clean inside and that the fans are running correctly and there's no over-heating issues.

Make sure your game setting match what your computer is capable of: The first time the game is installed the game will chose setting based on your computer's cababilities. Many people use the Options tab to alter these settings. That's fine for things like taking screens shots, but you need to return to the settings selected for you...or below.

Keep it small: Yes, they allow you a bench size up to 254 X 254 or so...but don't try to build a park that big! Keep it small, you'll use less resources, and thus have more for the computer to perform correctly. You can always break up a large park and model it on several benches.

Use of Custom Scenery: Some custom scenery os optimized - some is not, in fact some CS has HUGE file sizes and can crash your computer. If you often have problems with lag try to limit the amount of CS you use.

Number of Rides/Shops/Peeps/Staff - all of these effect lag. You need to balance each of these things so that they don't all end up in one area.

Water - water features are big time laggers! The reason is that reflective water causes the game engine to not only draw the original object, but it has to also draw the objects upside down and reversed, plus add the effect of flowing water. You can turn off reflective water in the options tab, that helps alot.

Lighting - night-time lag is common. The game engine has to compute how lights effect eact and every object in the game. Even worse? A park with lots of reflective water and lots of light sources at night. Keeping it daylight in your park will lessen lag.

Pools and Animals: Many people report that the pools and water rides in Soaked! add a lot of lag, which makes sense. Not only do you have water to deal with (for the reasons stated above), but this is an entirely different set of peeps and their AI to interact with the water and water rides. The same with the animals in Wild!

I know there's other things that can help reduce lag besides these.

[Little-B]

Wow, thanks for the great sugjestions wabigbear

[wabigbear]

You are very welcome!

I have to admit, a lot of those I've had to learn through trial and error.

I also like to build big parks (which is what we SHOULD be able to do!), and I've even spent money over the last couple of years upgrading my machine (but never just to play the game!), and I've gotten to the point where I finally can make a medium park (100 X 100 tiles) with fairly heavy themeing - something that looks realistic, so that includes custom scenery - without the lag making in unenjoyable.

It's hard to compromise different things so that you avoid the lag and yet still have a park that looks good. I think everyone has to adjust things and make personalized compromises to get to that point, but once you do, I still love the game.

[Sambo]

I think what you said is the key - compromise. You can give some in the area of the visual display to gain more space/attractions. You can give some on scenery to increase visual display. You can cut back on attractions and shops for the scenery and visuals... and that's only the in-game stuff.

The advantages of hardware elevate all the above. I'm surprised by how much can be built with a 128 meg card and only one GB RAM - if you balance what you do in-game. Having a 256 meg card or more, and 2 GB RAM really extends what you can build without lag. Add to that mix a 64 bit dual core processor and super fast buss, you gain even more headroom.

The machines that are being built today, are what the minimum specifications should be. When they built this game, they were hopeful that it would work on existing machines - but it fell short of that. The machines that will be the standard in two to three years won't have any difficulty, except for maybe the operating system. But I anticipate even that will be worked out with service packs.