Merging: Has something changed?

[rick1958]

Hey folks,
I've been merging routes for a long time. 9 chances out of 10 they would merge without a hitch. Then, most times, they would merge on a second attempt. LATELY... 9 out of 10 fail to merge, no matter how many attempts I try!
I'm running '19
I tried insuring both routes are using the same grid size.
I tried cloning either route so they were both my KUID. (Just shooting in the dark)
The routes never merge. It just hangs with the busy symbol twirling. I have to alt-ctrl-del to get out.
After reopening the route, using the changes, it seems everything merges except the ground.
Like I said, I've been doing it for a long time, so I know the basics. Just one day something changed. Any thoughts?

 

[G.M.]

Hi Rick, what version of TRS19 you notice this?
and which routes (kuids sizes)

I use build 100240 for all my editing and merging and no problems so far even on huge routes

-merging needs a lot of RAM, so if you have it set on "let windows decide my swap etc"
that you have plenty of HardDisk space
-make sure no anti virus software interfenes
Here I only have the standard windows defender in use the last 8 orso years
no longer need for other software in that department.
-if A merge B, wont work, try B merge A
-make sure the layers dont conflict
i often rename the source layers in advance: RouteA and RouteB etc.

 

[rick1958]

Hi Rick, what version of TRS19 you notice this?
and which routes (kuids sizes)

I use build 100240 for all my editing and merging and no problems so far even on huge routes

-merging needs a lot of RAM, so if you have it set on "let windows decide my swap etc"
that you have plenty of HardDisk space
-make sure no anti virus software interfenes
Here I only have the standard windows defender in use the last 8 orso years
no longer need for other software in that department.
-if A merge B, wont work, try B merge A
-make sure the layers dont conflict
i often rename the source layers in advance: RouteA and RouteB etc.

Thanks for the reply...

That's the odd thing.. nothing has changed, and I've been amusing myself playing "merge the routes and delete" for years...LOL
I have build 117009
Windows defender
Several gig's of free HD space
Size of the route doesn't seems to matter either. It can be a single baseboard or a large map
Like I said originally, 9 out of 10 fail, but the one that sneaks through, goes through like butter.
The only thing I can think of that has changed is, I moved my content folder to another drive. Trainz hasn't complained and seems to work just fine and some routes will merge, so that's probably not the cause.

 

[rick1958]

I suppose the lack of responses is actually the answer to my question, which is... No...nothing has changed. This isn't meant to be sarcastic. It's actually helpfully to at least nothing has changed during an update etc... I now know something must have changed locally... on my PC.

 

[JCitron]

If you have any layers, flatten them before merging the routes. I find that having multiple layers can make the program hang. I also run the Delete Missing Assets utility.

As G.M. says, make sure you have plenty of disk space and RAM. If this is a regular hard disk, defrag the drive too.

 

[FootplatePhil]

I have always had problems with large merges in SP5 (117009). It is one of the reasons I am still developing in SP4 (114800).

 

[rick1958]

If you have any layers, flatten them before merging the routes. I find that having multiple layers can make the program hang. I also run the Delete Missing Assets utility.

As G.M. says, make sure you have plenty of disk space and RAM. If this is a regular hard disk, defrag the drive too.

Truck loads of RAM and disk space...BUT... I have never thought of merging the layers. Interesting thought. I'll have to give that a try. Thanks for the input John!

 

[Paulsw2]

There is an issue with merging routes in TRS19. It has been mentioned in some other threads (can't remember which off the top of my head) but I'm not sure a solution has ever been proposed.

 

[rick1958]

There is an issue with merging routes in TRS19. It has been mentioned in some other threads (can't remember which off the top of my head) but I'm not sure a solution has ever been proposed.

I discovered something. If I have a route of my own and a third party route. If I open the third party route, I can merge my route into that one, no problem, but I can't seem to merge the other route into mine.

 

[JCitron]

I discovered something. If I have a route of my own and a third party route. If I open the third party route, I can merge my route into that one, no problem, but I can't seem to merge the other route into mine.

I've run into that in the past for unknown reasons in TS12 and even earlier versions.

 

[pware]

I just tried merging my two largest routes in both Trainz Plus and TRS22PE and had no problems in either. The merge was noticeably quicker in TRS22PE.

The larger route (183MB) was loaded into Surveyor first and the smaller (56MB) was merged into it.

Some basic rules:-

1. always load the larger route into Surveyor first then merge the second (smaller) route into it.
2. with the first route you can load the session but not with the second
3. DLC routes cannot be used in the merge
4. if you are merging DLS or third-party routes into TRS19 make sure that they are compatible with TRS19. The route build numbers should be no higher than the program versions listed below:-

Route Build No	TRS19 Version
4.6	TRS19
4.7	TRS19 SP2
4.8	TRS19 SP3
4.9	TRS19 SP4
5.0	TRS19 SP5

You do not have to merge all the route layers in each route before the merge but the layers must have unique names. You can rename and/or merge layers during the merging process but I find it more useful to name the layers in the original routes so that they do not have conflicting names - e.g. the "route-layer" is renamed to "route-layer 1" in the first route and "route-layer 2" in the second - or at the very least rename the layers in the second route only. This means that the two sets of layers are still separate and independent of each other after the merge and that can be useful for trouble-shooting, further development, etc.

 

[FootplatePhil]

I just tried merging my two largest routes in both Trainz Plus and TRS22PE and had no problems in either. The merge was noticeably quicker in TRS22PE.

The larger route (183MB) was loaded into Surveyor first and the smaller (56MB) was merged into it.

Some basic rules:-

1. always load the larger route into Surveyor first then merge the second (smaller) route into it.
2. with the first route you can load the session but not with the second
3. DLC routes cannot be used in the merge
4. if you are merging DLS or third-party routes into TRS19 make sure that they are compatible with TRS19. The route build numbers should be no higher than the program versions listed below:-

Route Build No	TRS19 Version
4.6	TRS19
4.7	TRS19 SP2
4.8	TRS19 SP3
4.9	TRS19 SP4
5.0	TRS19 SP5

You do not have to merge all the route layers in each route before the merge but the layers must have unique names. You can rename and/or merge layers during the merging process but I find it more useful to name the layers in the original routes so that they do not have conflicting names - e.g. the "route-layer" is renamed to "route-layer 1" in the first route and "route-layer 2" in the second - or at the very least rename the layers in the second route only. This means that the two sets of layers are still separate and independent of each other after the merge and that can be useful for trouble-shooting, further development, etc.

Have you tried merging in TRS19 SP5? Just curious to see if its me only. I find large merges work reliably in TRS19 SP4 and TRS22+, but not TRS19 SP5.

 

[pware]

Have you tried merging in TRS19 SP5? Just curious to see if its me only. I find large merges work reliably in TRS19 SP4 and TRS22+, but not TRS19 SP5.

Unfortunately I do not have TRS19 installed anymore. I have Trainz Plus, Trainz Plus beta and TRS22PE only.

 

[CobraLAD]

I just tried to merge 2 of my own routes, not happening, stuck on the loading screen 10 minutes already. 34.7mb & 75.6mb route. I will let it run for another 30 minutes

This is recent. I merged about 2 week ago

 

[rick1958]

I just tried to merge 2 of my own routes, not happening, stuck on the loading screen 10 minutes already. 34.7mb & 75.6mb route. I will let it run for another 30 minutes

This is recent. I merged about 2 week ago

For me, if that happens, I'm locked out and the only way out is to Ctrl-alt-del. Then I re-open Trainz and re-open the route using the changes and everything merged but the ground layer. So, I have to go back out of the route without saving then re-open the route again. This time reverting the changes, then save. Pretty annoying.

 

[CobraLAD]

I just tried to merge 2 of my own routes, not happening, stuck on the loading screen 10 minutes already. 34.7mb & 75.6mb route. I will let it run for another 30 minutes

This is recent. I merged about 2 week ago

+- 40min later, closed 19 with end task in task manager. Only way to close