Railroad Tycoon II History File - 21 January 1999 Version 1.05 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Overview 2 Technical Notes 3 Change History ================== 1) Overview ================== These notes should accompany the 1.04 version of Railroad Tycoon II. You can install this patch over any version from 1.00 to 1.03. For this patch, there is only one version, not separate European and North American versions like with previous patches. This version is backwards compatible in multi-player with all previous versions of Railroad Tycoon (1.00, 1.02, 1.03), though some of the enhancements in this version may be disabled if playing in a multi-player game with someone with an older version. Also, as with all previous patches, the format for saved games is unchanged, so you can read your old files. ================== 2) Technical Notes ================== This patch clears up all technical issues we're currently aware of, except the following, which are outside of our control: A) Some users of Sound Blaster Awe 64 cards report relatively frequent crashes. Early versions of the drivers for this card had problems. The best solution is to get the latest drivers from www.creativelabs.com. If this doesn't work, you can also turn the sound volume to 0 within the game's options panel (Not in Windows, but rather in the game itself). This will disable sound and prevent any problems. B) Some users report scrambled colors when running the game. (i.e. all the colors are wrong, greens, blues, etc.) A few video cards incorrectly report their color formats to the game, and there's nothing that the game can do about it directly. There are 3 solutions: 1) Run the game in 8 bit color (Press to toggle). 2) Update your video card drivers. 3) Adjust your video hardware acceleration. Go to Start - Settings - Control Panel / then Display - Settings - Advanced - Performance Adjust the performance slider up or down (some cards do better at a low setting, some do better at a high setting), then restart the game. C) The Heat.Net service included on the CD is primarily geared at North American users, as that's where Heat has the strongest infrastructure. If you're playing in Europe or elsewhere, you may or may not be able to successfully use this service. However, you'll be able to play internet games regardless - just use the TCP/IP option in the game. The only thing Heat provides is a convenient means of locating other Railroad Tycoon II players, you'll have to do this on your own if you aren't using Heat. ========================== 3) Change History ========================== --Changes in 1.05 Version-- A) Fixed one serious bug introduced by 1.04 version that caused crashes. --Changes in 1.04 Version-- A) Reduced bonuses of passenger support buildings by 5-10% each. Overall, a city with maxed out passenger support buildings now has a total bonus of 45% versus 80% previously. Increased overall cargo and passenger revenues by 7% to make up shortfall. The net effect of this is that passengers and big cities should be less important. B) Fixed some significant memory leaks that could cause the game to gradually slow down (or possibly crash) over the course of a long play session, in either multi-player or single player. C) Did away with separate European and North American versions. One version now works on either. D) Fixed the win conditions for campaign scenario 17 (Australia) which would sometimes take an extra year to trigger a win. E) Bulldozing trees now costs $1,000 per tree, matching the cost for laying track over trees (and closing down a loophole where it was cheaper to bulldoze first, then lay track). F) Declaring bankruptcy now has an additional effect that the creditors receive stock equal to 50% of outstanding shares (effectively reducing current shareholders percentages by a third). --Changes in 1.03 Version-- A) Track Laying - Added new interface allowing several new track laying options. Reduced jumpiness of cursor, improved responsiveness late in game when a lot is going on. Improved track laying over bridges. B) Train crashes - added prompt for train replacement upon train crash. C) Multiplayer - Fixed out of synch bugs. Fixed problem handling multiple simultaneous merger attempts. You might still get out of synch errors if you're playing someone using an earlier version of the game. D) Tweaked revenues for pre-1920. Passengers and mail now earn less, all others earn more. E) Autosave - Added autosave feature. You must enable this yourself, if you want it, under the options menu, 'Gameplay' category. F) Added ability to name your player in single player mode (in the player detail screen.) G) Fixed problem of trains not stopping at stations if you've double tracked or electrified in their vicinity. H) Fixed sporadic crash bug when A.I. assumes control of a formerly human owned company (via a human's starting a new company or resigning). We didn't quite nail this one in the 1.02 patch. I) Fixed a problem in breakdown odds computation with throttle slightly in the red. J) Fixed a bug that in rare instances, would allow you to access competitor's trains and stations through the train detail screen. K) The game now uses the manager-adjusted station build cost to see if you can afford a new station. L) Fixed the +$80,000 company cash choice in campaign scenario #2 (Handle on the Breadbasket). M) Fixed a few small miscellaneous graphical issues. N) Fixed a bug preventing track laying in territories where a company has track laying rights, but not train running rights. O) Fixed a bug that could cause a crash if the A.I. inherits a railroad that has been bulldozing stations. --Changes in 1.02 Version-- (Note: 1.01 version was only used for German release, and primarily implemented support for German language issues). A) Created versions that work around European copy protection flaws, which were causing GPFs for some Pioneer CD Rom drives and 'Invalid Windows Version' errors for NT users. B) Fixed sporadic crash bug when A.I. assumes control of a formerly human owned company (via a human's starting a new company or resigning). C) Fixed Campaign Scenario #13 (India) so A.I. companies now build. D) Fixed Campaign Scenario #10 (France) so gold and silver wins work. E) Fixed Stand Alone Scenario (North America) removing buggy coal price event. (Note these scenario fixes are automatically applied by the program, you don't need new or updated .MAP files) F) Interface change to clarify when a station placement counts as connected to a particular city (for scenario win conditions and cash bonuses). City name will now say 'Connected' as you place station or when you move your mouse over a nearby station. G) Removed error message when music unable to play a track, allowing game to continue without music. Note: this makes for easier multi-player games off a single CD - just start on one machine, remove the CD, use that CD to start on second machine. H) A few small fixes to multi-player issues, primarily with setting up a new game. I) Fixed bug when a train is unloading and all of its station stops are removed. J) Various text fixes for foreign language versions. One .EXE should now support English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, automatically detecting the version based on the default.lng file being used.