Chris Sawyer's Locomotion

Not to be confused with Locomotion.

Chris Sawyer's Locomotion

Developers
	Chris Sawyer
Publishers
	Atari
Re-release	Sold Out Software
Release dates
Windows	September 7, 2004
Reception
Metacritic	59
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Building, Business, Simulation
Vehicles	Bus, Flight, Hovercraft, Naval/watercraft, Train, Transport, Truck
Themes	Interwar, Contemporary
Series	Transport Tycoon

Transport Tycoon
Transport Tycoon	1994
Transport Tycoon Deluxe	1995
OpenTTD (unofficial)	2004
Chris Sawyer's Locomotion	2004
OpenLoco (unofficial)	2018

Chris Sawyer's Locomotion is an isometric transport business simulation and building game running on a modified engine from RollerCoaster Tycoon 2. It is in essence a sequel to the 1994 game Transport Tycoon by the same author, evidenced further by the fact that the 2013 mobile port thereof restores the Transport Tycoon name. Unlike the original game, it is based mostly around scenarios with predefined objectives (like RollerCoaster Tycoon) rather than sandbox mode, but certain scenarios are played on randomly generated maps. A scenario editor is also available, and a hidden manual train driving method was implemented. A 2-player multiplayer mode is playable through direct IP connections.

After release, the game received a single patch to address bugs. It also received a custom company owner editor and a scenario which restored the Japanese Shinkansen train which was cut during development.

The game runs stable on modern systems, but lacks some features like windowed mode and high resolution support. OpenLoco, an open-source rewrite from a similar team as OpenRCT2, is working on fixing the dated engine shortcomings. It requires a Locomotion installation to run, but as of June 2023, it is not yet feature-complete and does not have a functional multiplayer, even though it is planned to be restored the future.

General information

Transport Tycoon Forums - long-standing community for Transport Tycoon and Locomotion

Owen's Locomotion Depot - a fan site for the game

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 5 DRM. Can be bypassed by running OpenLoco.
GOG.com
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam

A free demo version is available from GameFront.

Essential improvements

Patch 1.76

Fixes several bugs and inconsistencies. There are two versions: US and European.

Shinkansen Bullet Trains

Shinkansen Bullet Trains restores content that was cut during development. Once the file is placed in the installation folder, a new scenario with the Shinkansen Bullet Trains will be available, as well as the Shinkansen itself in the Scenario Editor.

Company Owner Editor

Official tool for creating custom company owner images. Archived here.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Data\GAME.CFG
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/356430/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Single Player Saved Games\ <path-to-game>\Two Player Saved Games\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/356430/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Max resolution is 1600x1200, and the highest native widescreen resolution is 1280x768.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Use the RCT2 windowed mode hack.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Capped at 40 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

In-game general control settings.

In-game key map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

In-game audio settings

Music settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music and general audio are split; however, only music has a volume slider which is available from within a scenario.
Surround sound
Subtitles		No speech.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				UK and US versions slightly differ, and are patched through different patch executables. Digital release is US.
French				Retail only.
German				Retail only.
Italian				Retail only.
Spanish				Retail only.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		2
Online play

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	2032-2400, 6073

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0b

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98	ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 500 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	85 MB	580 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 9.0b compatible	DirectX 9.0c compatible