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Frequently Asked Questions

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MarkL edited this page Mar 4, 2014 · 8 revisions

###Frequent issue 2013

####The game crashes on startup or after clicking start game

The game worked just fine prior to CorsixTH 0.20, but now it crashes before I get a chance to play or I can't read the text!

Most often this is due to corrupt Theme Hospital data files. Please try copying them from your source once again, such as the game CD. Note that pirated versions from the Internet are known to crash CorsixTH, please acquire Theme Hospital from a legal source (like GOG.com.) You can usually tell by the size of the Theme Hospital folder. If it is around 16 MB it won't work. The correct size is over 150 MB.

There are other issues caused by using these pirated versions i.e. odd looking fonts. If you got your copy in this way, please do not ask us to try and fix any problems that you get with it or ask us for the missing files, as the answer will always be no we cannot help. Theme Hospital is not abandonware, as it is still on sale and it is not very expensive either!

###General

####Why is the project called CorsixTH?

The obvious name of OpenTH was already taken by an existing project. All of the initial code (r2 in SVN) was written by someone going by the alias Corsix, and so by shortening Corsix's Theme Hospital, the name CorsixTH was obtained.

####What operating systems are supported?

  • All "modern" versions of Windows (i.e. 8, 7, Vista, XP) are fully supported, and testing takes place on them regularly. Older versions of Windows (going back to Windows 95) are supported, though testing on them happens much less frequently.
  • Linux is fully supported, with testing happening regularly on Ubuntu.
  • Mac OS X lacks a developer supporting it, but it has been confirmed that CorsixTH works with 10.6
  • Other platforms are not supported at this time, but CorsixTH should work as long as a C++ compiler, CMake, and SDL are available.

####Why is a copy of the original game required?

Like OpenTTD (up until 2010), we have taken the approach of loading the original game's data files. At some point in the future, there may be an effort to recreate all of the game's artwork and sounds from scratch, at which point the original will no longer be required. People are a lot more likely to put in the effort required to recreate all the assets after there is a mature codebase which needs them. However in order to create a mature codebase, some assets are required, and hence the original game assets are used.

####How do I play the game in my own language?

If you want to play the game in a language not present in the original game, check out [Fonts this page].

####Isn't it a waste of time to recreate something which works fine in DOSBox?

The original game does work in DOSBox, but it retains all of the problems which the original had, including:

By creating an open source clone, we can fix the problems of the original, add new features, and natively support a wider range of hardware and operating systems.

####Why are you sticking to 2D - surely it would be better to recreate Theme Hospital in 3D?

Firstly, moving from 2D to 3D could cause some of the charm of the original game to be lost. The commercial [Hospital Tycoon] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_Tycoon) went down the 3D route, and was not well received (although obviously being in 3D was not the sole reason for it flopping).

Secondly, doing everything in 3D would require 3D artwork. Until there is a recreation of the original artwork, we only have the original game artwork to use, which is all in 2D.

####Is multiplayer support planned?

As there was a multiplayer mode in the original game, eventually CorsixTH will have a multiplayer mode, but there are lots of other things which need to be implemented first.

####When will feature X be implemented?

The short answer is that it will be implemented when somebody decides to code it. If you are a programmer, then you could assist in implementing feature X by contributing code. If you're not, then you could send an email to the development list to show that there is a desire for feature X, which might encourage existing developers to consider it.

###Configuration

####Where do I find the folder with my saved games?

The save game folder is by default located in the same directory as the configuration file. Information about that file can be found here.

####Where do I find the configuration or the gamelog file?

Information about the configuration file can be found here. You can find gamelog.txt at the same location as the config file.

####How do I use CorsixTH with the Mac version of Theme Hospital from gog.com?

In order for CorsixTH to recognize the game assets of the Mac version of Theme Hospital, please unpack a certain folder using your favourite extractor:

  1. Open the .dmg file in your extractor program.
  2. Walk down the folder hierarchy by double clicking the largest of the presented files six times (The first one is called 4.hfs).
  3. Extract the folder called C.harddisk to any place on your harddrive.
  4. Point CorsixTH to that folder.

###Gameplay

####The game is in two languages at the same time

If the main menu is in German and a lot of other strings in the game are in English, go to the DATA folder of your Theme Hospital installation and switch the two files "LANG-0.DAT" and "LANG-2.DAT"

##Technical problems

####Windows

####The game won't start at all or hangs when playing

If you find that windows is blocking you from opening CorsixTH you can right click on the .exe then select properties and then against security select/click on unblock.

It could also be that your antivirus/firewall software is blocking CorsixTH and will let it freeze during playing it (it sees CorsixTH as a virus.) This is a false positive. Temporarily disable your antivirus/firewall software or set the CorsixTH executable as an exception. AVG is an example of antivirussoftware that sometimes does this.

CorsixTH is perfectly safe and will not damage your computer.

####Cannot run after compiling using Visual Studio If the game cannot start because it can't find a function entry point in some file, try this: Switch to advanced mode in cmake and remove all references to "INCREMENTAL". ####An error message pops up with the message that a file like d3dx9_43.dll is missing when I start CorsixTH You could get a message about one of the following files are missing on your computer:

  • D3DX9_24.DLL through D3DX9_43.DLL
  • D3DX10.DLL through D3DX10_43.DLL
  • D3DCompiler_33.DLL through D3DCompiler_43.DLL
  • D3DX11_42.DLL
  • D3DX11_43.DLL
  • D3DCSX_42.DLL
  • D3DCSX_43.DLL
  • XACTENGINE2_0.DLL through XACTENGINE2_9.DLL
  • XACTENGINE3_0.DLL through XACTENGINE3_7.DLL
  • XAUDIO2_0.DLL
  • XAUDIO2_1.DLL
  • XAUDIO2_2.DLL
  • XAUDIO2_3.DLL
  • XAUDIO2_4.DLL
  • XAUDIO2_5.DLL
  • XAUDIO2_6.DLL
  • XAUDIO2_7.DLL
  • XAPOFX1_0.DLL through XAPOFX1_5.DLL
  • X3DAUDIO1_0.DLL through X3DAUDIO1_7.DLL
  • XINPUT1_1.DLL
  • XINPUT1_2.DLL
  • XINPUT1_3.DLL

Please install the DirectX Runtime from here to solve this issue: http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=35.

####Cannot hire staff or/and no patients enter the hospital or the message ''There are no diseases on this level! Please add some to your level!'' is displayed.

Firstly you need to open the HIRE STAFF menu to hire staff, not the STAFF MANAGEMENT menu! Make sure you have built a reception desk and hired a receptionist as you will not get any patients until you have a staffed reception.

Check to see if the build timer is still running, it will close on its own after several months, but you should close this when you are ready for patients. Patients will not start to arrive if the build timer is still running.

When this doesn't solve your issue, you probably using corrupt .sam files (original level files from TH.) You can solve this issue by directly copy the HOSP folder from the Theme Hospital CD and use these files.

####Black screen and mouse cursor when playing movies using the DirectX version There's a workaround for this issue: Press ALT+F4 (or CTRL+ALT+DEL,) open the game again, it is now opened in a window mode and working like it should. This only affects with DirectX, not with the other modes. We're investigating this issue.

####CorsixTH skips the intro' movie!

If CorsixTH can't find the intro' movie in the installation folder of Theme Hospital it will skip playing it, this can be resolved easily. Copy the INTRO folder from the original Theme Hospital CD to the folder where you've installed Theme Hospital on your computer.

####Some hotkeys don't work (anymore) Then probably the settings of your keyboard are wrong or changed. When you put the settings of your keyboard on something like ''United States (international)'' or US English, the problem should be solved. You can do this through the taskbar at Windows (the little keyboard icon.) This solution also works on Mac OSX.

####Mac OSX For Mac OSX User's it has been reported that sometimes you cannot get CorsixTH to run: Mac OSX gives downloaded files meta tags such as "quarantined" if they are not from an authorized author, such files can't be started ... if you have this problem with corsix TH just open the Terminal.app and type: 'xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine /Users/xxxx/Applications/CorsixTH/CorsixTH.app' The "xxxx" is your user Accountname, the exact path will depend on where you have saved your files though!

####Beta3

  • "dyld: Library not loaded ... SDL ..." (OS X)

The pre-compiled version of beta3 on the downloads page requires that you have [http://www.macports.org/ MacPorts] installed, and have used the following line in a terminal to install SDL and SDL_Mixer:

port install libsdl_mixer

  • (French only) The game freezes at the end of the month

In french the original strings differ from the other languages, and this was not handled. It has been fixed in the trunk. Either update to that version (compiling may be required) or comment line 686 in Lua/world.lua by putting "--" at the start of the row.

####Error / exit-status 255 (OS X)

This means the that game compiled and was launched successfully, but the configuration file couldn't be found, or was incorrect (generally due to not having theme_hospital_install set correctly). Launch CorsixTH from a terminal to see what the problem was.

####The mouse is out of control (Ubuntu)

Some games have problems with the mouse pointer jumping around if using Ubuntu, SDL and the X server.

To fix this error use the following solution:

In the xorg.conf file find section "Module" and add the following line:

Option "omit xfree86-dga"

This means the file will look something like this:

Section "Module" SubSection "extmod" Option "omit xfree86-dga" EndSubSection` EndSection

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