Atomic Systems

Just downloaded that scenario and it loads fine - managed to miss the DVD reset and got an emergency stop but that was down to me sight seeing! So rough guess, this was the straw that broke the camels back!

This scenario is likely to have been the one *broken* by the installation failing, whether that was just bad luck, the fault of the game/workshop or some user setting/action.

FWIW, I have had weird problems with corrupted scenarios when I try to subscribe to multiple ones from the Workshop in one go. Usually it is when I download three or more.
So my standard practice is to only get them one at a time.
Warren

gptech wrote:

brysonman46 wrote: just delete them. If you need them back at some stage, they will be in your waste basket,

Bad advice, potentially even dangerous Nick.
Never, ever, not even once, delete anything unless you KNOW that you ain't gonna need it again. The recycle bin is a handy little utility for getting us out of the *stuff* when we make a mess of things, and delete something erroneously, not as some kind of 'half way house backup of stuff you might not need'
What would you suggest if the deleted items were too big for the recycle bin?---most folk don't read messages on screen so chances are they'd click 'Yes' to a "permanently delete?" message.
What would you suggest if they did as you suggest only to find the game still wouldn't load so decided to run through the whole procedure again---which copy of the SDB file(s) would be the one to bring back out of the bin if needed?
You may use that method, you may be comfortable with it but you've an idea about what you're doing---when helping others you have to be mindful that they may not be as PC literate, will probably be a bit agitated because something isn't working so you have to make sure that whatever they do can be quickly, easily and accurately reverted back to a known state---broken or not, going back to square one is an important option.

I agree that you shouldn't delete anything unless you definitely know that you do not need it again. In this case, we are dealing with files that may, or may not be the culprits in the OP's problem. When TS starts up, it calculates the SDBCache checksum, and compares with its MD5 file. If there is a match, it does not need to rebuild the Scenario Data Base. If either is missing, then it will rebuild (all results of research). In which case, one can safely delete one or both of these files, as they will be returned once TS is started up again. If these new ones are corrupt in any way, then so too would the former ones, so why back them up? If they were OK, then so too will be the new ones.
If the game will not rebuild the database, then there is something amiss with the Railworks application, a much more serious problem.

I'm guessing that very few, if any, of you are aware of the alternative method of installing workshop stuff...

http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 1#p1808355

Turns it into a nice 'drag and drop from a .zip into the game' operation that you're in control of, handles downloading of multiple files at once (just tried it with 6 scenarios), is quick (30 minutes from opening the Workshop to having all 6 scenarios in game---includes time spent browsing for scenarios that were interesting enough, and swapping stock with RW Tools) and needs no special tools or knowledge.

Give it a whirl, there's nowt to lose by trying.

brysonman46 wrote:so why back them up?

For those particular files I'd agree that there's no need to, but your general advice to depend on the recycle bin for restoring things you might need later is still wrong, and still potentially dangerous.. Remember, many who don't know what's what will take an authoritative looking post as Gospel and apply such a generalisation in all cases. You tell somebody who doesn't know the full story to just 'delete the file, it'll be fine' and you're then liable to be blamed for breaking things even more when/if your suggested action doesn't fix things...as was the case in here when a *proper* rename of the files didn't work.

I renamed his original SDBCache.bin to SDBCache.old
I renamed his SDBCacheMD5.bin to SDBCache.oldest

But the problem still persists ! TS still fails on the "Updating Scenario Database" screen.

At least with a renamed file the game could be put back to how it was, broken or not doesn't matter. As the cause of the problem appears to have been corruption in a scenario caused during the installation phase, and crash at that point, no amount of renaming, deleting, sacrificial offerings would have changed that, but a simple rename does retain those files for inspection if the issue was elevated to a support ticket with DTG or Steam and they asked for them to be sent. Yeah, I know that's stretching things too, but if you've ever been involved in support you quickly learn to cover all bases.

gptech wrote:

brysonman46 wrote:so why back them up?

For those particular files I'd agree that there's no need to, but your general advice to depend on the recycle bin for restoring things you might need later is still wrong, and still potentially dangerous.. Remember, many who don't know what's what will take an authoritative looking post as Gospel and apply such a generalisation in all cases. You tell somebody who doesn't know the full story to just 'delete the file, it'll be fine' and you're then liable to be blamed for breaking things even more when/if your suggested action doesn't fix things...as was the case in here when a *proper* rename of the files didn't work.

I renamed his original SDBCache.bin to SDBCache.old
I renamed his SDBCacheMD5.bin to SDBCache.oldest

But the problem still persists ! TS still fails on the "Updating Scenario Database" screen.

At least with a renamed file the game could be put back to how it was, broken or not doesn't matter. As the cause of the problem appears to have been corruption in a scenario caused during the installation phase, and crash at that point, no amount of renaming, deleting, sacrificial offerings would have changed that, but a simple rename does retain those files for inspection if the issue was elevated to a support ticket with DTG or Steam and they asked for them to be sent. Yeah, I know that's stretching things too, but if you've ever been involved in support you quickly learn to cover all bases.

And I did say that you shouldn't delete files unless you know that you do not need them again. I was NOT advocating the waste bin as a "backup folder". I will say no more on this matter.