people, you need decent graphics card to run this game. get a dx10 card at least, that can do the latest shader model because even if you have a 2ghz dual core, if your video card is crap, it will still struggle and might not even run.

the problem i see is most people think their computer is fine to run this game but they are badly mistaken or know nothing about running the latest 3d games. you need decent hardware to run this game. this means more than having a 2ghz dual core cpu.

1gb ram? cmon now, you need more than that these days...

DX10 card atleast?
My old card (before it fried) was a X1950 XTX and it would have ran it fine.
The card I have now may be DX10, but it's running on DX9.
Most of this seems to be a RAM issue if anything. Too many background programs can quickly suck up that 1.5GB. Even if there is nothing in the little tray on the bottom right corner..there are probably still things running in the background. Spyware could also suck up that precious ram.
Also: Just finished the demo. The second mission was FAR easier than the first..I had so much money I didn't know what to do with it.
All in all...I MUST HAVE THIS GAME, NAAAAAAOWWWWWWWWWWW.

That is all.

Major graphics issues here as well. Strange 'bands' moving across the screen, no detail or water. Boot screen, after selecting the "bananas" mission goes weirdly pixelated.

I've tried playing with all settings (Lowering settings, turning shadows off etc), made sure VPU Recover is on etc etc. Scratching my head on this one as all other games on my machine work flawlessly.

Specs:
Dual 'Dual Core' Xeon 2.66Ghz
9GB RAM (Kingston)
ATi Radeon X1900 (512Mb)
Latest graphics drivers
Display Resolution: 1920x1200@32bit
WinXP

Krell

duy1124 Wrote: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, sometimes 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)

This is my problem
I think there is a error in memory usage
May be game engine conflicts with somethings in my PC
Can you help me

Geleihoofd Wrote:

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, because 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...

krell Wrote:Major graphics issues here as well. Strange 'bands' moving across the screen, no detail or water. Boot screen, after selecting the "bananas" mission goes weirdly pixelated.

I've tried playing with all settings (Lowering settings, turning shadows off etc), made sure VPU Recover is on etc etc. Scratching my head on this one as all other games on my machine work flawlessly.

Specs:
Dual 'Dual Core' Xeon 2.66Ghz
9GB RAM (Kingston)
ATi Radeon X1900 (512Mb)
Latest graphics drivers
Display Resolution: 1920x1200@32bit
WinXP

Krell

And that is user nr. 3 with a Radeon X19XX card with the same problem, I see a pattern developing here...

"And that is user nr. 3 with a Radeon X19XX card with the same problem, I see a pattern developing here..."

And unfortunately the one game I've been most looking forward to... *sigh*

krell[/quote]

Did yall try going to OLDER drivers?
Sometimes it works.

Luwinkle Wrote:Did yall try going to OLDER drivers?
Sometimes it works.

I originally played the game with drivers that were about a year old and had these issues, which prompted me to get the new ones.

Shame too as I tried to sign up for the Beta testing but wasn't asked to take part. Might have solved these issues had I been...unless they already knew X19xx graphic cards were shoddy and unfixable!!!

Geleihoofd Wrote:And that is user nr. 3 with a Radeon X19XX card with the same problem, I see a pattern developing here...

And here is the 4th one. With a Radeon X1950Pro having major problems with weird shadows and no water. Tried to turn on/off AA and VPU Recovery, changed texture quality and updated ATI Driver to 9.8 but no improvement. I don't necessarily need shadows but water would be fine

System: AMD X2 3600+, Radeon X1950Pro, 2GB Ram

Hi, my PC won't run this because I don't have SM3 so will there be a Xbox 360 demo so that I can try the game out?

Everything runs fine on the highest settings available, but sometimes the game slows down for 1-3 seconds. Only noticed this when a sound is going to be played (so it slows down while searching for a specific sound?)

The only issue I'm having is the inability to Alt+Tab in and out of the game - whenever I Alt+Tab out, I can't get back in (shows the desktop, despite Tropico being supposedly active, I can hear the sounds, but no display) and have to terminate the game via the task manager. With very limited troubleshooting, I think this may be related to AA (or even to changes in AA settings). Other than that annoying bug (I do tend to Alt+Tab every now and then), it's been smooth sailing.

System specs:
Core i7 950@3.8Ghz - 6Gb RAM
Vista 64 bit SP2
2 x GTX 285 (SLI) @ default clocks - 190.38 driver version (tried newer driver, same problem, keeping .38 for compatibility with other software)
1680x1050 resolution @ max quality settings (AA off - see above)

mackintosh Wrote:The only issue I'm having is the inability to Alt+Tab in and out of the game - whenever I Alt+Tab out, I can't get back in (shows the desktop, despite Tropico being supposedly active, I can hear the sounds, but no display) and have to terminate the game via the task manager. With very limited troubleshooting, I think this may be related to AA (or even to changes in AA settings). Other than that annoying bug (I do tend to Alt+Tab every now and then), it's been smooth sailing.

System specs:
Core i7 950@3.8Ghz - 6Gb RAM
Vista 64 bit SP2
2 x GTX 285 (SLI) @ default clocks - 190.38 driver version (tried newer driver, same problem, keeping .38 for compatibility with other software)
1680x1050 resolution @ max quality settings (AA off - see above)

It's probably because you're running the game on Windows Vista 64 bit. Does using the Windows button work?

krell Wrote:Major graphics issues here as well. Strange 'bands' moving across the screen, no detail or water. Boot screen, after selecting the "bananas" mission goes weirdly pixelated.

I've tried playing with all settings (Lowering settings, turning shadows off etc), made sure VPU Recover is on etc etc. Scratching my head on this one as all other games on my machine work flawlessly.

Specs:
Dual 'Dual Core' Xeon 2.66Ghz
9GB RAM (Kingston)
ATi Radeon X1900 (512Mb)
Latest graphics drivers
Display Resolution: 1920x1200@32bit
WinXP

Krell

OMFG you are f*cking kidding me?? Why have NINE GIGABYTE OF RAM when you only have a mediocre 2.66 GHz dual core, and an outdated Radeon X1900?!?!?!? It is a waste of RAM! You will never use all that! Instead of spending money on RAM that you are never going to use, buy a new processor! And a new graphics card!!!!!

On another note, I agree with the earlier comment by minmaster, that people seriously need to upgrade their systems if they expect to run a new game at peak performance, with no graphical errors/slowdowns etc. If people don't want the hassle of upgrading their systems, or taking some personal responsibility for maintaining their pc, then get an Xbox360, and get Tropico 3 for that instead, cos at the end of the day, it is not the fault of Kalypso or Haemimont if your game doesn't run properly on an obsolete system.

eagle Wrote:It's probably because you're running the game on Windows Vista 64 bit. Does using the Windows button work?

No. I mean, it works in the sense that it does show the desktop, but I can't get back in, just like with regular Alt+Tab. And it's definitely caused by AA, just did a bunch of testing and as long as AA is off, everything works fine. Weird that it'd be caused by 64 bit tho, I don't have these problems in other games.

BlackXcalibur Wrote:

krell Wrote:Major graphics issues here as well. Strange 'bands' moving across the screen, no detail or water. Boot screen, after selecting the "bananas" mission goes weirdly pixelated.

I've tried playing with all settings (Lowering settings, turning shadows off etc), made sure VPU Recover is on etc etc. Scratching my head on this one as all other games on my machine work flawlessly.

Specs:
Dual 'Dual Core' Xeon 2.66Ghz
9GB RAM (Kingston)
ATi Radeon X1900 (512Mb)
Latest graphics drivers
Display Resolution: 1920x1200@32bit
WinXP

Krell

OMFG you are f*cking kidding me?? Why have NINE GIGABYTE OF RAM when you only have a mediocre 2.66 GHz dual core, and an outdated Radeon X1900?!?!?!? It is a waste of RAM! You will never use all that! Instead of spending money on RAM that you are never going to use, buy a new processor! And a new graphics card!!!!!

If he has a 64bit OS than it ain't a big waste.
If his windows XP is 32bit, than it is a waste, since only a max of 4gb can be referenced.

krell Wrote:Major graphics issues here as well. Strange 'bands' moving across the screen, no detail or water. Boot screen, after selecting the "bananas" mission goes weirdly pixelated.

I've tried playing with all settings (Lowering settings, turning shadows off etc), made sure VPU Recover is on etc etc. Scratching my head on this one as all other games on my machine work flawlessly.

Specs:
Dual 'Dual Core' Xeon 2.66Ghz
9GB RAM (Kingston)
ATi Radeon X1900 (512Mb)
Latest graphics drivers
Display Resolution: 1920x1200@32bit
WinXP

Krell

I have the same exact problem!I also have the same Ati Radeon

BlackXcalibur Wrote:

krell Wrote:Major graphics issues here as well. Strange 'bands' moving across the screen, no detail or water. Boot screen, after selecting the "bananas" mission goes weirdly pixelated.

I've tried playing with all settings (Lowering settings, turning shadows off etc), made sure VPU Recover is on etc etc. Scratching my head on this one as all other games on my machine work flawlessly.

Specs:
Dual 'Dual Core' Xeon 2.66Ghz
9GB RAM (Kingston)
ATi Radeon X1900 (512Mb)
Latest graphics drivers
Display Resolution: 1920x1200@32bit
WinXP

Krell

OMFG you are f*cking kidding me?? Why have NINE GIGABYTE OF RAM when you only have a mediocre 2.66 GHz dual core, and an outdated Radeon X1900?!?!?!? It is a waste of RAM! You will never use all that! Instead of spending money on RAM that you are never going to use, buy a new processor! And a new graphics card!!!!!

On another note, I agree with the earlier comment by minmaster, that people seriously need to upgrade their systems if they expect to run a new game at peak performance, with no graphical errors/slowdowns etc. If people don't want the hassle of upgrading their systems, or taking some personal responsibility for maintaining their pc, then get an Xbox360, and get Tropico 3 for that instead, cos at the end of the day, it is not the fault of Kalypso or Haemimont if your game doesn't run properly on an obsolete system.

I'm sorry that your dog died but don't reflect that on other people. Granted, 9GB RAM seems a bit of an overkill but his rig is definitely NOT obsolete, it meets the min. specs. As you may have (or probably have not) read there are more people (i.e. Radeon X19XX users) who have problems with shadows, water and/or AA, so my best bet is that there are still some AA problems with the game that should be ironed out when the game is in store (or in a patch).

mackintosh Wrote:

eagle Wrote:It's probably because you're running the game on Windows Vista 64 bit. Does using the Windows button work?

No. I mean, it works in the sense that it does show the desktop, but I can't get back in, just like with regular Alt+Tab. And it's definitely caused by AA, just did a bunch of testing and as long as AA is off, everything works fine. Weird that it'd be caused by 64 bit tho, I don't have these problems in other games.

I said it's probably caused by your 64 bit system. I'm running the game on Windows Vista 32 bit with all settings maximized (which is equal to AA?) and have no problem at all. I guess it's now up to Haemimont to investigate and possibly resolve this problem.

Geleihoofd Wrote:

BlackXcalibur Wrote:

krell Wrote:Major graphics issues here as well. Strange 'bands' moving across the screen, no detail or water. Boot screen, after selecting the "bananas" mission goes weirdly pixelated.

I've tried playing with all settings (Lowering settings, turning shadows off etc), made sure VPU Recover is on etc etc. Scratching my head on this one as all other games on my machine work flawlessly.

Specs:
Dual 'Dual Core' Xeon 2.66Ghz
9GB RAM (Kingston)
ATi Radeon X1900 (512Mb)
Latest graphics drivers
Display Resolution: 1920x1200@32bit
WinXP

Krell

OMFG you are f*cking kidding me?? Why have NINE GIGABYTE OF RAM when you only have a mediocre 2.66 GHz dual core, and an outdated Radeon X1900?!?!?!? It is a waste of RAM! You will never use all that! Instead of spending money on RAM that you are never going to use, buy a new processor! And a new graphics card!!!!!

On another note, I agree with the earlier comment by minmaster, that people seriously need to upgrade their systems if they expect to run a new game at peak performance, with no graphical errors/slowdowns etc. If people don't want the hassle of upgrading their systems, or taking some personal responsibility for maintaining their pc, then get an Xbox360, and get Tropico 3 for that instead, cos at the end of the day, it is not the fault of Kalypso or Haemimont if your game doesn't run properly on an obsolete system.

I'm sorry that your dog died but don't reflect that on other people. Granted, 9GB RAM seems a bit of an overkill but his rig is definitely NOT obsolete, it meets the min. specs. As you may have (or probably have not) read there are more people (i.e. Radeon X19XX users) who have problems with shadows, water and/or AA, so my best bet is that there are still some AA problems with the game that should be ironed out when the game is in store (or in a patch).

'I'm sorry that your dog died'?!? Excuse me for being realistic when I say that using a dual core rated at 2.66GHz with 9Gb RAM and a 512Mb graphics card seems a bit unbalanced for a PC, especially in handling some of the newer games out there. Yes I have read the posts by other Radeon X19XX users, and am all too aware that there seems to be an endemic shadow glitch, as well as disappearing water, buildings, and even Tropicans . The reason I am getting a tad annoyed with people on here is that some people are moaning about performance issues, when clearly the issue lies with the end user not having a decent enough PC. I do, however, accept that my comment regarding the Radeon X1900 being 'obsolete' may have been a bit harsh, but it is certainly heading in that general direction.

I seem to have a rather aggravating problem with the demo. I'm running an 8800 GTX with the latest divers on Vista, but it says I don't have a DX9 compatible video card and refuses to start. I'm completely confused on what could cause this, and I've never had an error like this before. Does anyone have any advice?

OK, we obviously have a problem on Radeon X1900 cards, we'll investigate.
Ditto for SLI and alt-tabbing; we briefly tested on a SLI config, and fixed a SLI scaling problem at the request of NVIDIA, but don't have one running at the office permanently.

Re: Vista 64: my work machine runs Vista 64, it's perfectly OK for the game, the problem is somewhere else.

I can only envy the gentleman with 9 GB of RAM... the more the merrier :-)

captain jesus Wrote:I seem to have a rather aggravating problem with the demo. I'm running an 8800 GTX with the latest divers on Vista, but it says I don't have a DX9 compatible video card and refuses to start. I'm completely confused on what could cause this, and I've never had an error like this before. Does anyone have any advice?

Unfortunately, this is the message the game displays when it fails anywhere in the (long and complex) rendering initialization process, so it doesn't bring much info. Do you have anything weird set in the NVIDIA Control Panel maybe? Do you have enough system RAM (at least 1 GB?)?

Also having problem with game not running smooth, even with low graphic settings. I'm able to even run the hog FSX smooth with better settings Visually it looks great, very stable, and a noticable improvement over Tropico which I loved. I already am sold on Tropico 3 just wish it was a bit more optimized.

Athlon64 FX-57 (2.8GHz)
GeForce 7900GS 256MB PCI-e x16
3GB PC-3200 Duel DDR
Windows XP (32 bit)
[no worthless background programs, I'm a tech I know to check that first ]

BlackXcalibur Wrote:'I'm sorry that your dog died'?!? Excuse me for being realistic when I say that using a dual core rated at 2.66GHz with 9Gb RAM and a 512Mb graphics card seems a bit unbalanced for a PC, especially in handling some of the newer games out there. Yes I have read the posts by other Radeon X19XX users, and am all too aware that there seems to be an endemic shadow glitch, as well as disappearing water, buildings, and even Tropicans . The reason I am getting a tad annoyed with people on here is that some people are moaning about performance issues, when clearly the issue lies with the end user not having a decent enough PC. I do, however, accept that my comment regarding the Radeon X1900 being 'obsolete' may have been a bit harsh, but it is certainly heading in that general direction.

My apologies for that comment but most (not everyone, mind you) on here have specs above minimum so they have a right to speak out. Even with min. specs the game should run, although not with everything on max. Furthermore, it isn't complaining, it's just telling the devs what kind of problems they encounter (it's still a demo) so they give them the change to iron them out.
So again, my apologies but shouting and ranting like you did wasn't exactly necessary and those kind of comments tickles my inner senses...

assen Wrote:Ditto for SLI and alt-tabbing; we briefly tested on a SLI config, and fixed a SLI scaling problem at the request of NVIDIA, but don't have one running at the office permanently.

Re: Vista 64: my work machine runs Vista 64, it's perfectly OK for the game, the problem is somewhere else.

My problems are definitely related to SLI. I never bothered checking with SLI turned off - lo and behold, no SLI, no alt-tabbing problems to be found. Not an elegant solution but it works. While it's not a dealbreaker, since it's just a demo, nevertheless I would hope for this to be solved in the final release though...

We'll try to fix it, of course, for the final release or (more likely) for the first patch.

Managed to play the demo for an hour or so yesterday, but I was a bit annoyed to find that the second time I launched it that nothing was happening! Closer investigation revealed a collection of minidumps in the user folder.

After reinstalling the demo the game worked, once, before not loading again. Again, after reinstalling it worked fine, once. Even if I change no settings it still does this (including deleting the contents of the user folder between reinstalls).

For the dev team I've uploaded the user folder here which contains the mini dumps and log files. http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/21806/LinkedTo/T3.zip (DxDiag here: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/21806/DxDiag.txt)

Hope this helps sort out a bug before the game ships!

assen Wrote:Unfortunately, this is the message the game displays when it fails anywhere in the (long and complex) rendering initialization process, so it doesn't bring much info. Do you have anything weird set in the NVIDIA Control Panel maybe? Do you have enough system RAM (at least 1 GB?)?

I have 2 gigs of RAM, and I'm pretty sure I haven't screwed with the Control Panel. What could have caused this?

does the game automatically update directx during installation? if not, i'd advise everyone having problems to update their directx.