custom scenery

[Chriz]

i have the regular roller coaster tycoon 3 without any expansion packs or anything. when i download custom scenery it works most of the time but when i save the game, open it again, and ckick on the scenery icon it crashes the whole game. any suggestions?

[Cedar Point]

Make sure you're installing the CS to the right place...are you getting an error message?

No :svd for :sid, perhaps?

[Chriz]

sometimes, but most of the time it just crashes and says the game has stopped working

[TheChicosAStar]

What kind of sets are crashing. Some sets crash on me because my computer cant handle it

[Chriz]

everything. i download the sets and extract the .zip file to C:\Program Files\Atari\RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3\Style\Themed. whenever i use the CS that works and then i save the game, i open the saved game back up and it wont let me use more scenery. it just crashes and says it stopped working. could it be doing that because i dont have the expansion pack?

[Viscosity086]

Could be, If you don't have Wild or soaked, and they made it with one of those, then yes it could crash, but it normally wouldn't work at all, I had that problem once before..

[TheChicosAStar]

Let me get this straight. You put the zip file in the Style\Themed folder. If you are this is the cause of your problems

[Chriz]

i extract the .zip file into style/themed

[TheChicosAStar]

You need to open the zip file and extract it's contents into the style\thmed (except the read me)

[gavt1976]

I think that you have to extract to your desktop first before you move the folder to your themed folder.

[wabigbear]

Read this and then use it to check the CS sets you have downloaded. It's wwritten for XP buy Vista is almost the same:

The thing to remember is that the game engine is designed so it follows a specific path to access each scenery file. If that path is altered - by placing the file in the wrong spot or extra files being created - the game is unable to access the file.

The most common error is where an extra folder holding the CS files is created. The way to check for this is to navigate to where Scenery folders are stored. Most people will know how to access this, but I'll lay out the steps for those who may not be sure:

If you are running XP, you probably have an icon on your desktop called "MyComputer", double-click that icon to open.

Most people have the game installed on it's default position, so find where it lists your hard drives and find "(C: )", double-click on that entry to open.

Now you need to find a folder named "Program Files", again double-click to open.

Among the individual folders should be one labeled "Atari", go ahead and double-click to open.

Inside you'll find the folder for "RollerCoaster Tycoon 3", open that.

Inside are lot's of files and folders required in the game, scroll down and find the one labeled "Style", double-click to open it.

Customs Scenery goes in the folder entitled "Themed", yep, go ahead and open that one too.

Here you will see all the different scenery folders - in-game and custom. This is where you place your custom scenery folders. Find the folder for the set you are having problems with and open it.

This is the important part, as soon as you open that folder you will see one or more files or folders that are the actual individual object files PLUS there should be two OVL files...one named Style.common and the other Style.unique.

Those two OVL files MUST be there for your CS to function properly. That's where the path the game follows to access them says they must be. If they aren't, then usually an extra folder has been created during the zip process.

If the two OVL files are missing, is there instead just a folder with the name of the scenery set on it present?

I thought so. Go ahead and open that folder. Chances are when you open it you'll find those two missing OVL files plus the actual scenery files/folders.

What's this mean? Well, the path the game is looking for when you see those two OVL files is C:\Program Files\Atari\RollerCoaster Tycoon 3\Style\Themed\Set (you can see the path up at the top of your screen).

The path if there's an extra folder will show C:\Program Files\Atari\RollerCoaster Tycoon 3\Style\Themed\Set\Set. Note how that folder at the end appears twice? We need to get rid of that extra layer. It's simple to do...

Find the folder that holds the two OVL files (along with the actual object files/folders that were there with them.) and drag that entire folder to your desktop.

Now in Style\Themed you should have a folder with the name of the set that is empty. Delete that extra folder.

Now you can drag the correct folder (the one with the two OVL files) from your desktop back into Style\Themed. That should make the path correct for the game to access the objects and the set should now work.

How does an extra layer get formed by mistake? Well, there's several ways but one way to make sure it doesn't occur is to always unzip new CS set's to your desktop FIRST, and then find the correct folder (with the two OVL files) and drag it to your Style\Themed folder yourself. If the CS set comes with an .exe file, I always change the destination to have it go to my desktop as well.

[Chriz]

im trying to use one that has multiple OVL files. it has different folders for each pice of CS and when you open each they all have the style.common and style.unique

[wabigbear]

What you want to remember is that when you look inside Style\Themed, and pick out any one of the CS folders inside, as soon as you open it you need to see style.common and style.unique. They will have those exact names.

There usually will be other files or folders in there as well, but those two ovl files MUST be located inside that first folder.

If you look and there are NOT those two ovl files right inside, then I would suggest moving that whole folder to your desktop so you can look at it easier.

If the two ovl files aren't there, are there other folders? If so open one.

Do you find the two ovl's inside of it?

If so then drag just THAT folder with the two ovls (and any other folders or files inside) back into style/themed.

Then continue to check all the other folders on your desktop. The folders that go into Style\Themed MUST have the two ovl files (style.common and style.unique) in them to work

Does that make sense? It's sometimes hard to describe the steps needed.

[Chriz]

i did all of that and got the scenery to work. the only problem now is that when i save and open that saved game again, it wont let me use any more scenery. i click on the scenery icon and it crashes and says there was and error so i have to debug it.

[ApolloTheEagle]

I know this isn't my thread, but I need CS help :P

I have the 2 .ovl files in each of my CS files (Path and Border), but when I open the game, there are 2 lots of the buildings, and when I open them, it comes up with "no :svd for :sid" :P

I followed the instructions posted by wagibear, but it still didn't work :S

This is Style/Themed/Path
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m364/Erdbier/RCT3ThemedPath.jpg

Style/Themed/Border
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m364/Erdbier/RCT3ThemedBorder.jpg

And just Style/Themed
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m364/Erdbier/RCT3Themed.jpg

There's probably something really obvious there, but I'm having a brain fart today =]

[azanderz]

Hey :)
I tried the exact same problem and wabigbear solved it for me.

What he told me is that RCT3 sometimes creates broken Park files. So try and delete your park files, place some coasters and then save the game. now shut down rct3, open it again and load your map :) now it should work :)


EDIT: Look at this (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=656045) thread :)

[Chriz]

does anyone know why i cant save a game with custom scenery?

[wabigbear]

You saved the park at least once, then worked on it and when you tried to save it crashed?

This was the same park you were working on when you fixed your CS to work?

[Chriz]

I sure appreciate the help. I am beating my head against a wall with this problem.

Actually, I haven't been able to create a park with CS yet. Here's the specific sequence of events that will cause the crash:

1. I open a new sandbox scenario
2. I insert CS
3. I save the sandbox scenario
4. I exit the sandbox scenario
5. I exit the game
6. I open the game back up
7. I open the saved sandbox scenario with the CS
8. I click on the scenery icon
9. I click on scenery items icon
10. CRASH!

[mattatt14]

If I were u I would try buying the expansions to see if that fixes the problem.

[samous]

I sure appreciate the help. I am beating my head against a wall with this problem.

Actually, I haven't been able to create a park with CS yet. Here's the specific sequence of events that will cause the crash:

1. I open a new sandbox scenario
2. I insert CS
3. I save the sandbox scenario
4. I exit the sandbox scenario
5. I exit the game
6. I open the game back up
7. I open the saved sandbox scenario with the CS
8. I click on the scenery icon
9. I click on scenery items icon
10. CRASH!

i had the same problem (search forums, i asked the EXACT same question you did). It seams the original RCT3 doesn't work with CS that well. I did everything right, and it still crashed like that. Then, i found a RCT3 Platinum disk on the ground, and it worked (unbelievable hu?) and then when i re-opened a map with CS, it worked. I sugest getting an expansion pack for, preferably Platinum(b\c it comes with all the packs inside it), then it should work.

This problem is not fixable AFAIK, sry :(

=samous

[Chriz]

thanks guys for the help. i knew i could count on this forum. i went right on amazon and bought rct3 platinum. im pretty sure that was the problem.

[wabigbear]

Good luck Chriz, let us know if it works once you install Platinium.

[azanderz]

thanks guys for the help. i knew i could count on this forum. i went right on amazon and bought rct3 platinum. im pretty sure that was the problem.


Im sorry to tell you that you didnt had to buy the game :) unless it actually was something you thought about some time :)


im 100 % sure that it is because of a broken park file :)

[Rct3Luke]

It could be the set your using is only compatible with soaked or wild expansions.

[Chriz]

it worked! :D i bought rct3 platinum and it all works fine

[samous]

im 100 % sure that it is because of a broken park file :)

then your REALLY bad at calculations... RCT3 normal doesn't let you re-open CS, unless you have expansion packs. I know for a fact that the problem he had wasn't b\c of a broken or corrupted file.

=samous
-u did have to buy the game, unless you somehow get as lucky as me and find it, lol. Happy you have it fixed though.

[nooben3]

i have platinum but it crash!!!

[b2tfking]

umm hi welcome to the fourums and 1st thing dont bump a old thread after 30 days umm make sure it instaled propely that all i can say really