Got it running on Win7 64bit

[Eboreus]

Ha! Unbelievable! I got it running after all! I tell you what I did - maybe not everything was vital, but finally it worked out. I got the "could not find steam" error directly after starting the game.

1) I copied the steam.dll from the Steam directory to the directory of the game in SteamApps\common. That helped so much that the "could not find steam" error was gone. Instead I crashed to the Windows screen, but with a resolution of 640x480. Ooops. Luckily that could be reverted by killing the RT3 process which was still active.

2) Then I applied the engine.cfg fix - which did not seem to do anything.

3) In the game folder there are several starting batches for safe mode. I could start RT3 in safe mode windowed. With resolution 640x480. I could go up to resolution 800x600 in the settings. Then I could go to full screen mode, and after that I had access to the higher resolutions. I tried 1280x768 which worked fine. Applied anti aliasing, too. Looked fine and seemed to work. The problem is: It does not save the settings in safe mode, and you would have to run through the process each time you start the game, which would be very annoying - but at least it would work.

4) BUT: Then I went to the compatibility mode settings for the normal exe starting file (RT3.exe) and set them to Win 2000 (I read somewhere some guy recommended that) - and suddenly it worked. I could start it with the usual desktop launcher, even after leaving Steam and starting it new, even after a complete computer reboot. And guess what: The game now uses the settings I executed when starting in safe mode. Ha!

Okay, I have not yet really played much, so maybe I will encounter new difficulties, but as it seems to be now - it works. Also it is possible that something much shorter would work also - like just applying points 1, 2 and 4. Or even just 1 and 4 - that's up to you to find out.

[Eboreus]

Addendum: Ah, I see I also got the low res problem. No matter which resolution you set the ingame world reverts to low res after a few seconds. I strongly advise AGAINST using the low res/blurry textures fix, though, because the game refuses to start again and you have to go again through the whole process with starting in windowed mode and so on ....

[Eboreus]

Addendum 2: Well you CAN play the game with high resolutions, though, when you use the low res fix. BUT you must start it in safe mode windowed when doing so and get back to normal settings (full screen, resolution, anti-aliasing ...) by the preferences menu each time you start it. If you put a link to the safe mode windowed batch on your desktop it's not that much a drama. The higher resolution is well worth it ...

[DemonEyes]

never really had a problem myself with win 7 64 bit, glad you got yours working well though :)

[Eboreus]

Yes, it's certainly fun - I played it for a long time when it was released - and I'm just finding out again, why. ;-) In my opinion it's even better than RT2. There don't even seem to be any problem once I got it running. And starting it in safe mode, then returning to hires settings is not that much a hassle. So, yes, I'm happy I took the risk to buy it. ;-)

[Axor]

The fix may be even easier than you imagined… Check your screen resolution. I changed mine to 1024×768 and 16bit color and launched via Steam … Bang… it worked. I had tried everything on the internet and nothing worked, but something that simple did.

[Eboreus]

It's unbelievable, but that worked, Axor! But now, you want to hear something really weird? Since I did that I can start it with the normal desktop icon, even with my usual resolution and even with 32-bit colours. And it starts right with my preferred settings, hires and all. I can reboot the computer, and it's still working! That must be some sort of magic ...

[Eboreus]

Addendum: Hahahaha! But as soon as I start some other Steam game inbetween it's not working anymore but crashing again to the desktop. Well, I guess I stay with my safe mode solution. I don't really like to fiddle with my resolution, especially since I got a widescreen monitor which looks quite funny in 1024x768. But kudos to you for finding that out - it may help some people ...