i think you have to get a real voice actor for upcoming releases, as the tutorial is the first thing that most players will check out. i really miss the old voice of tropico1

This doesn't run so well on my laptop because of mhy graphics card, pity.

Does anyone know if they'll release the demo for the Xbox 360?

orinsul Wrote:With the suggestion from a few in this thread that the size is the result of multi-language voice overs and the like would there be any possibly of a demo release without sound, music, video or other auxiliary files so as to lower the size of the programme download without lessening the demands of the demo. With the size of it as it is a great many of us cant possibly download it due to dial-up internet or bandwidth limitations or costs and a game demo is damn handy in working out whether or not the final product will run on your system and therefore in securing sales of the game.
If not no worries but i for one and im sure a great many of us from those nations separate from the great continents would be deeply grateful of it.

Unforunately not; if this were the case, we'd go the (more confusing and inconvenient) way of releasing separate language versions. However, all the languages taken together are less than 150 MB of the total 1.1 GB (don't have exact number with me, but you can look around the folder structure). It's just that there's a lot of art in a citybuilding game, and the player has access to most of it right from the beginning, unlike a shooter where every level has completely separate art assets.

Most of the issues that people seem to be having are related to issues like inadequate hardware, Windows 7, outdated drivers, poor PC maintenance, none of which are the direct fault of Tropico 3 itself, nor the fault of Kalypso or Haemimont, but some people on this forum seem to insist on pointing the blame at them......

Geleihoofd Wrote:

Geleihoofd Wrote:Tried the demo and I have some problems with shadows. I have to turn shadows completely off or I get a lot of black lines/grids wich are really annoying. On the other hand, without any shadows it just looks weird. Is there something I can do to get it right?

Specs:
Intel Core2 CPU 6600 @2.4Ghz
2.9GB RAM
Radeon X 1950 Pro (256MB)
ATI Catalyst Display Driver 9.8
Display Resolution: 1024*768@32bit
WinXP SP3

Otherwise it runs really great, even with all options on high/ultra, no lag whatsoever...

Now the black lines/grids has been replaced by thick text...
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7562/tropico3.jpg

And I forgot to mention that there is no visible water. Saw in the German topic some answers about turning off AA, but that didn't do the trick.

Geleihoofd Wrote:

Geleihoofd Wrote:

Geleihoofd Wrote:Tried the demo and I have some problems with shadows. I have to turn shadows completely off or I get a lot of black lines/grids wich are really annoying. On the other hand, without any shadows it just looks weird. Is there something I can do to get it right?

Specs:
Intel Core2 CPU 6600 @2.4Ghz
2.9GB RAM
Radeon X 1950 Pro (256MB)
ATI Catalyst Display Driver 9.8
Display Resolution: 1024*768@32bit
WinXP SP3

Otherwise it runs really great, even with all options on high/ultra, no lag whatsoever...

Now the black lines/grids has been replaced by thick text...
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7562/tropico3.jpg

And I forgot to mention that there is no visible water. Saw in the German topic some answers about turning off AA, but that didn't do the trick.

did you try going into CCC and resting all the options that have to do with graphics settings back to default? if not id try that

my PC
E4400 2.0 GHz
RAM 1,5 Gb
VGA 9500GT
WinXP SP2

The strange thing is the game have sudden lag (sometimes lag, sometime normal), although i set minimum or maximum setting (!?!)
I have no background program running when i run Tropico 3 (just turn on my PC, go to Win and play)

powergrind Wrote:did you try going into CCC and resting all the options that have to do with graphics settings back to default? if not id try that

Yes, tried it with default, performance and quality settings...
Also tried a bunch of custom settings and ran Tropico 3 without CCC at all but to no avail...

But thanks for thinking along!

I've only spent 30 minutes with the game so far, but the only flaw is the music getting a bit repetitive after 15-20 minutes. However, that's it. Everything else is beautifully done.

I'll give my full thoughts later tonight.

So..anyone have any idea on how to get the mining overlay to show up? It shows up for about half a second then vanishes and won't come back. :\

Thank you for this demo, I was a huge fan of Tropico 1 and liked Tropico 2. You can be sure that I will buy this one as well !

Timo Wrote:

Razael Wrote:Edit:
I fixed the issue, it wasnt a driver but some weird ATI Catalyst seting

Good to hear. Can you share the information on the Catalyst setting?

Yes, ofcourse. In my case there were 2 issues:

1. I had the newest ati 3870 driver but the Catalyst was older version.
2. I DL the newer Catalys Center, but i stil had the missing sea around the island
3. I fixed the missing sea by turning on the VPU Recover in the Catalyst VPU Recover.
4. Im not sure if the problem was in the older Catlyst version or becouse i have dissabled the Recover. Chech the Recover before updating Catalyst (

Geleihoofd Wrote:

powergrind Wrote:did you try going into CCC and resting all the options that have to do with graphics settings back to default? if not id try that

Yes, tried it with default, performance and quality settings...
Also tried a bunch of custom settings and ran Tropico 3 without CCC at all but to no avail...

But thanks for thinking along!

Thought I'd chip in. I have the Radeon X1900 and have same shadow issues as yourself unless I turn them off completely. Also the water appears all messed up. Flickering on and off in bands.

Downloaded latest CCC to no avail.

Appreciate why people make comments that maybe it's our fault or we've not set our systems up correctly etc but these people should bear in mind that the average Joe on the streets shouldn't have to jump through hoops to play a video game when most games on my PC work fine out the box.

Other than that game seems fine. Didn't have long to play it. My only gripe from my short play is that you no longer get piles of goods stacking up outside buildings as per previous Tropicos. A sad loss IMO. Found these to be a really useful gauge without having to click on each building to see if they're overflowing with waiting goods. Am I correct on this or have I missed something?

Oh and when a boat arrives at the dock, the crane carries a container that intersects with other crates stored on the boat.

Oh and why does one of my teamsters with goods walk a longer distance to a car park in order to catch a lift to the docks instead of carrying his goods to the teamster's building? Just seemed odd.

The teamster's building is just to drop them off at the site to pick up stuff.
I think it's some kind of balance thing to make the garage more useful.
Personally I would prefer it if that truck stayed around and picked the teamster up after he retrieved the cargo.

Cars keep running over old people and they don't die.

Where's my smart AI and physics?

Hmuda Wrote:Just as I feared. My single core CPU is just not enough. Even on the lowest graphics, the simulation only moves every 5-6 seconds by a tiny amount (visible on the citizens), no matter the setting of time compression.

Graphics certeanly do not make my rig crawl, since on pause, the game is relatively smooth, although CPU usage still cause an occasional hickup.

What's more suprising is that in the demo, I've seen nothing the old game didn't do simulation-wise, aside a few neat new features, but even those do not justify why a single core CPU cannot handle the game's mechanics.

Too bad that these days, even games that do not justify the usage of dual/quad cores, are still unplayable on old systems.

I would have to agree with you on this. I can't get the game to run smooth regardless what settings I use, and I too am using a single core processor. I play games like AOE III at maximum settings both in game and on the card at 1680x1050 and it doesn't even stutter, as well as Oblivion (all max settings) and it runs smooth. Medieval II runs excellent at max settings as well. I know those games are a couple of years old now, but come on. This is disappointing, I was looking forward to playing and the game looks beautiful. I was hopeful that it would run fine if I turned down a few of the settings.

I even defragged and all that.

Athlon 64 3700 2.25 ghz
2GB Ram
ATI Sapphire HD 3850 512 AGP

Yes my system is AGP too, but so what all the other games I play run fine at max settings...so this should at least be ok at low settings, but it isn't. I'm also allowing the application to handle AA and anisotropic filtering, which are actually turned off in the game

Just downloaded the new ATI drivers (9.9) and it looks like these solved the freezing issue. Still unable to play the demo with the the highest visual settings, and it's quite a frustrating sistuation as I own a high end card that should be capable of doing this..

Question for the team. From the game's testing phase, how did you find the game performed on a system with 4GB ram as opposed to only 2GB? Does it really make a difference? I am using vista 64bit but have only 2GB ram and I'm wondering if this may be the culprit?

THANKS!!!! Good job!!!

Mine plays flawlessly (EXCEPT for that blasted mining overlay). Here are my system specs for comparison:
Intel Core2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4ghz
3GB DDR2 ram
ATI Radeon 4890 1GB
Windows XP SP3

Hey there. Long time fan of the series, and didn't know what to expect of the demo; I must admit that I had not heard of the developer before and was somewhat apprehensive as to how they would treat the game.

But boy, was I blown away! It's gorgeous! No bugs yet that I've noticed, the game seems very stable and quite polished!

As a cigar aficionado I found that it was the little details, like the Tobacco crop needing little humidity, that made my day. I remember that in Tropico 1 it, bizarrely, required 'plenty of rain'. Certainly not!

You've kept what worked perfectly from the first game while removing all of the time-consuming, tedious bottlenecks; e.g. ground is flattened immediately for buildings, buildings are built relatively quickly, entertainment buildings are actually visited by the population and turn profit, roads and decorations are built immediately etc. etc. And you've also brought features from the expansion pack into the vanilla game which I salute you for. It would have been tempting to leave those out and get us all to pay for the privilege a few months down the road, but you resisted

It's El Presidente though that was a real surprise. I selected Fidel Castro, sure, and thought he'd remain faceless and cooped up in the palace. It was a real delight to find that I can now control Presidente, and moreover it's a character model of whoever you select (Che, Evita, Pinochet; the lot!)! And El Presidente can also be deployed strategically - helping the construction of buildings, raising the entertainment score of the pub when he drops in for a drink ...

And I won't go on about how much I'm liking the new speech function!

Consider me sold. You've excelled yourselves on this one.

Buckshot Wrote:Just downloaded the new ATI drivers (9.9) and it looks like these solved the freezing issue. Still unable to play the demo with the the highest visual settings, and it's quite a frustrating sistuation as I own a high end card that should be capable of doing this..

Question for the team. From the game's testing phase, how did you find the game performed on a system with 4GB ram as opposed to only 2GB? Does it really make a difference? I am using vista 64bit but have only 2GB ram and I'm wondering if this may be the culprit?

Since my rig is comparable to yours, but performance is not (see previous posts), it would be a good start to get another 2Gb ram (but make sure its the same as your other 2Gb, otherwise it will royally f*ck up your PC). On another note, I would like to know what other programs you have running at the same time as Tropico 3 (in the system tray), as well as what firewall/antivirus program you are running.

Phenom IIx4 940
8G RAM
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 (8.15.11 driver)

Game on highest setting and it's absolutely stunning. Watching the sun set across your island, just beautiful. Very nicely done Kalypso, I am very impressed.

Can't wait for the full game release, will be definitely purchasing this.

Razael Wrote:3. I fixed the missing sea by turning on the VPU Recover in the Catalyst VPU Recover.

Tried this but no luck (it was on already)

b0ltyb0y Wrote:Thought I'd chip in. I have the Radeon X1900 and have same shadow issues as yourself unless I turn them off completely. Also the water appears all messed up. Flickering on and off in bands.

Downloaded latest CCC to no avail.

Nice to hear the same thing from a fellow Radeon X19XX user. (Well, nice.. Hmm, you catch my drift...)
This looks to confirm my thoughts, it's probably a problem with X19XX cards, beacause this isn't the first time I ran across a new game/demo which doesn't work correctly with this card. Hopefully they find a solution by the time the full game comes out...

Ok got it to install and I LOVE IT!!!

What it was is that for some reason on vista it takes it a while to come up AND you have to run it as an admin stator. It's that protection stuff that takes it so long to come up.

Anyway, loved it, can't wait for it to come out, definitely buying.

I wish it had just a little bit more new stuff, but there is definitely enough new things to keep me interested.

Great job!

Question:
Will the achievements and scenarios that I did still be there when I buy the game?

That would be REALLY ncie not to have to do those missions over again.

yeah, mining overlay is broken and some buildings are just about impossible to find a plot for. couldn't lay down plot for the tourist dock no matter what i tried.

Oh bugger, I fear my PC isn't cut out for this game, water, people and buildings all simply don't appear and the loading screens is a bunch of jumbled pixels yet seems to run smoothly. Any ideas?

BlackXcalibur Wrote:

Buckshot Wrote:Just downloaded the new ATI drivers (9.9) and it looks like these solved the freezing issue. Still unable to play the demo with the the highest visual settings, and it's quite a frustrating sistuation as I own a high end card that should be capable of doing this..

Question for the team. From the game's testing phase, how did you find the game performed on a system with 4GB ram as opposed to only 2GB? Does it really make a difference? I am using vista 64bit but have only 2GB ram and I'm wondering if this may be the culprit?

Since my rig is comparable to yours, but performance is not (see previous posts), it would be a good start to get another 2Gb ram (but make sure its the same as your other 2Gb, otherwise it will royally f*ck up your PC). On another note, I would like to know what other programs you have running at the same time as Tropico 3 (in the system tray), as well as what firewall/antivirus program you are running.

Yeah well I may just make a move to 4GB then. I have been hesitating doing it for a long time as I don't feel like re-adjusting my overclocks and starting from scratch.. I was just planning to attempt 3.7GHz on the quad. Seems I may not have a choice though.

I am running pretty much the bare minimum services (after tweaking them I did find performance was a little bit better) and background programs. I'm using the default windows firewall, and as for AV and anti-spyware I use AVG and Spybot S&S.

Jape Wrote:Oh bugger, I fear my PC isn't cut out for this game, water, people and buildings all simply don't appear and the loading screens is a bunch of jumbled pixels yet seems to run smoothly. Any ideas?

Computer specs?

I'm having the same problems as the guy complaining of not having a good enough CPU, but I'm running a duel core 2.13GHz. Is that not enough to run the game? Thats really dissapointing

Intel CPU - Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz is the minimum required CPU, I don't understand why I am having this problem.

underadarkmoon Wrote:

Hmuda Wrote:Just as I feared. My single core CPU is just not enough. Even on the lowest graphics, the simulation only moves every 5-6 seconds by a tiny amount (visible on the citizens), no matter the setting of time compression.

I would have to agree with you on this...

I even defragged and all that.

Athlon 64 3700 2.25 ghz
2GB Ram
ATI Sapphire HD 3850 512 AGP

Yes my system is AGP too, but so what all the other games I play run fine at max settings...so this should at least be ok at low settings, but it isn't. I'm also allowing the application to handle AA and anisotropic filtering, which are actually turned off in the game

I'd say that it's no surprise that guy's old Celeron prosessor doesn't run the game smoothly but I ran the game just fine with computer inferior to yours. That you tried defragging your HDD hints me you might even believe yourself that you have some other problems with your computer, comrade.