When you try to patch Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 you might encounter the following error:

Cannot locate RCT3 USA, RETAIL, on your computer

If you get this error when trying to install a Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 patch you have downloaded a damaged patch, OR one for the wrong region (don’t feel bad, it seems they are quite commonly mislabelled).

At this point you have two options. You can either use the autopatcher from the start menu shortcut “Check for Updates” OR if this fails, patch manually. To properly manually patch your game follow the steps appropriate to your region. Note the following patches should only be installed if you do not have any expansions installed.

US Version

1. Patch to version 3.2.8.13 (update 3). Depending on your game version there are different patches you need to install:
   retail – 3.2.8.13
   3.0.12.58 – 3.2.8.13
   3.0.12.73 – 3.2.8.13

Other Version (EU)

1. Install EU update 2. If you have the EU version of the game you only have to patch directly from retail the latest version (update 2)
   retail – update 2

There is a very comprehensive post on patching vanilla RCT3 that you can find here. If you have any issues updating the game, please post any error messages, your game version and your region in the comments below.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 has an in built auto patcher that you can run to get the latest patch from Atari. In some cases when trying to patch automatically you may encounter the following error:

"Neither command line parameter specified is an directory."

To get around this follow these steps:

1. Download and manually install retail update 3.
   Download link 1 <– Atari (US version)
   Download link 2 <– AusGamers (US version)
   Download link 3 <– Fileplanet (EU version)

If you’re curious the error is likely due to having an invalid character in your file path (in this case a copyright symbol). If you want to be able to update automatically reinstall the game and when prompted for the installation directory remove the copyright symbol from the path. For more info see:

• http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=665028
• http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1104
• http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?p=9017

If you have any trouble patching the game to the latest version manually, post the issue you are experiencing in the comments below. The more detail the better!