Account and installation woes galore

[BillM2]

I'm very noob. I just bought Trainz 12 yesterday. I think. I mean, I got a receipt and serial number and I downloaded the files. But I never got an e-mail of any kind. Not a receipt or activation. I'd figure I typed in my e-mail wrong. But if I try to re-register the system tells me my e-mail is in use. So I got the right e-mail, for sure.

The download was REALLY slow, even though I bought a FCT. It took hours. And I had to re-do at least two of the files. But I got it done.

Thing is, I need to install on a PC other than the one I used to download. So I burned DVDs with the files. I used Nero and, wouldn't you know it, it tells me the second DVD is bad. I retried five times, even using another burner. I even updated the firmware on my main DVD burner. The odd part is, I can read the files on the DVD. And, the log file doesn't have any error messages except the one telling me the burn failed. No one on the Nero forum is able to tell me what's up. So my best guess is that it worked even though it thinks it didn't.

So I copied the files to my other PC and fired up the install. You know the rest. I got a message that a file is corrupt. But I can't tell which of the downloaded files contains it. So I guess I have to download everything again.

Now that wouldn't be so bad but I can't log in. I use Lastpass to generate and remember all my passwords. But it doesn't show one for auran. So it looks like I've NEVER logged in. I'm thinking maybe I just didn't get the activation letter.

That wouldn't be so bad either but when I try the Forgotten Password link, I never get an e-mail message for login help.

That wouldn't be so bad either but when I try the Chat link on the Trainz home page, that link is broken.

That wouldn't be so bad either but since I don't know my password I can't login to the forum. Fortunately, I have more than one e-mail address so I was able to create a second user account and access the forum. Finally, something worked!

So I'm sitting here posting this message using an alias, wondering if I really bought Trainz and, if I did buy it, how I'm going to get it to work.

Does anybody have any idea how to solve any of the problems I have going? It's beyond me to even count them. Only thing I'm sure of is that I'm not having fun yet.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Cheers,

P.S. I can see that I'm logged into the forum. But when I try to submit this message, it tells me I need to log in. Okay, I guess I can do that. But at this point, I'm wondering, does anything actually work???

 

[shaneturner12]

It sounds like you need to use the Helpdesk button to contact N3V so they can sort the account issues out first.

You will need to include your original username.

Shane

 

[BillM2]

Thanks for the reply, shaneturner12. I forgot to mention. I did that, too.

It's a shame the chat link is down. That would have brought hope of a quick solution.

Another thing I forgot to mention. I started an installation on the PC I used to download. It failed on the same file as the earlier attempt. So, the problem appears to be the download rather than the DVD. Maybe. I sure wish I knew which file. I would be nice if the MD5 or SHA1 checksums were posted for comparison. It'd also be nice if some application-level file integrity checks were included in the installation program :{

 

[fran1]

If you can get the computers close enough maybe you could use a lan cable and transfer that way. You can download the files as many times as you need to, why not to the comp your going to use ?

 

[BillM2]

If you can get the computers close enough maybe you could use a lan cable and transfer that way. You can download the files as many times as you need to, why not to the comp your going to use ?

Thanks, Fran. But the PC on which I plan to install is on a 5-10 Mbps wireless link that's got a firewall between it and the PC I used to download, which has a 20 Mbps Internet feed. In principle I could do what you suggest but the cable run would be costly. I think that if I ran a server on the install PC I could access it from the download PC. But it seemed easier to burn a pair of DVDs than figure out how to temporarily reconfigure the firewall. I think that next time I burn the DVDs I'll do a write verification so that I can be certain the data was written properly. If so I'm good to go. If not your suggestion starts looking attractive,

The tough nut to crack is gaining login access. I guess no one's awake at the other end.

Cheers,

 

[Scottbe8]

It seems like many people are having trouble signing up on Planet Auran, in addition to existing users not receiving emails. I would say use this account to open a support ticket. Give the exact same username and email address you used to purchase Trainz in your request. If they are able to restore your account, I would suggest using a download manager to obtain the .BIN files.

Also, check your spam/junk folder, the messages may have been routed there.

If you ask me, it should be possible to download torrents of the installation packages since they require a legitimate Auran username, password, and activation key in order to install in the first place.

 

[BillM2]

It seems like many people are having trouble signing up on Planet Auran, in addition to existing users not receiving emails.

It's not that I'm glad to hear that. But it's good to know I'm not alone.

I would say use this account to open a support ticket. Give the exact same username and email address you used to purchase Trainz in your request.

It's almost the start of day in Australia now. If I don't hear something today in response to my e-mail about the "forgotten" password, I'll do exactly that. Good plan.

If they are able to restore your account, I would suggest using a download manager to obtain the .BIN files.

Obviously, I should have taken that advice the first time. But I don't like cluttering my browser, especially with plugins that might provide a toehold for malware. I'll avoid that problem by using IE (which I never use for everyday web browsing since it has a big target painted on it) to do the download, with an installed manager plugin.

Also, check your spam/junk folder, the messages may have been routed there.

Did that already, thanks. I think it's good to get all these ideas in the thread as a trail of breadcrumbs for the next wayward would-user.

If you ask me, it should be possible to download torrents of the installation packages since they require a legitimate Auran username, password, and activation key in order to install in the first place.

Other than the minor set up effort, I can't see that doing so would be all that tough. And it would seem to be a big win-win. It would reduce load on servers, increasing available capacity for other functions. And users would get faster, error-free downloads. The benefit just from avoided repeat downloads would be considerable. I do suppose that quite a few Trainz users aren't set up to use torrents. But it should be easy enough to cobble together clear, customized instructions by modifying existing freely available instructions. Very good idea, IMO.

Actually, though it would be considerably more work, I think it would be even better to build a more capable installation program that would do the downloading itself, if the files aren't already downloaded. That way, torrents could be used without the burden of users having to install a torrent application and figure out how to use it. A potential problem would be firewalls that block the torrent ports. But it would easy enough for the installation program to detect that problem and fall back to FTP or some other download mechanism that's less likely to be blocked. Actually, multiple levels of fallback would likely be needed to cover all situations since the only thing known for sure is that HTTP is not blocked. But it wouldn't be that tough for the installation program to download the files via HTTP and then verify some checksums. I think I would write such an application in a single day and I haven't written code regularly for many years.

 

[Scottbe8]

It's not that I'm glad to hear that. But it's good to know I'm not alone.


It's almost the start of day in Australia now. If I don't hear something today in response to my e-mail about the "forgotten" password, I'll do exactly that. Good plan.

Trust me, you won't hear anything for at least a week. They're already 2 km deep in support claims as it is.

On top of that, the website just went offline a few minutes ago.

 

[BillM2]

Trust me, you won't hear anything for at least a week. They're already 2 km deep in support claims as it is.

On top of that, the website just went offline a few minutes ago.

Oy vey. Good to know, thanks.

You can blame the web site failure on me. If it wasn't already clear from the improbable series of events I recounted in the original posting, you could now fairly infer that I have that effect on software systems. It could be worse. My son has a similar effect on hardware systems.

Ah, confirming evidence just arrived:

Ticket ID: RCX-382639
Subject: Login trouble
Department: Email Queue
Priority: Low
Status: Open
​

I take careful note of the notation "Priority Low." That priority would perhaps be morally appropriate in the case of a user who neglected to record the password. I don't know how the system works but I'm quite sure I didn't assign and then forget a password, because Lastpass does all that for me. The likelihood that Lastpass forgot the password is effectively nil.

I'm now wondering whether to stop payment on the transaction and be done with it Is it really worth the hassle? This is the worse software purchase experience I've had since software was invented. But certainly the forum seems to be a pleasant and helpful place.

Cheers,

P.S. Sitting here wishing I could somehow make some progress I'm thinking it's rather pathetic that the files aren't available for public download. Obviously a serial number and web site password are required to use the files so it's not as though making them available would be giving away the store. And I don't doubt that the files are available on MegaUploads or other or the sites in the warez scene, Preventing public download seems to me to accomplish nothing other than inconveniencing customers such as me

 

[clam1952]

Should have put something like Urgent new user unable to log in or install. I think unless you specify urgent it gets a low priority, hopefully Zec will pick it up from this thread.

Actually as you haven't registered Trainz yet as it's not been installed, I think you could do it under the name and password you are now using on the forum,
the serial number is tied to the username you enter during the install, not the one you ordered it on, however that may cause problems later if you need to download again.

Generally most of us have no problems with N3V and it's service, allow for an element of exaggeration that you get on all forums. You may have to wait for a week? emphasis on may, you may not, there have been some quick turn rounds according to some threads lately. In mitigation it's a very small company and doesn't have a 24/7 staffed by hundreds help desk, think there are two guys at the most, more often than not it seems to be mainly just Zec, working during Australian office hours Monday to Friday and often there are backlogs.
Yes there are problems with email, may be due to the fact that hosting provider being is on a spam block list probably due to spammers operating from their servers, some ISP's or email providers may well be blocking all email from theplanet's servers.
Yes there are problems with servers at the moment, again probably down to the hosting provider which is in the US not Australia, other sites apparently are having problems with them as well. The server issue is probably what's messed up the password.

Hang in there, the "pain" is worth all the effort.

just to add if anyone has the digital download can they get the file sizes and post on here, may reduce the amount of re downloading if we can find out which of the bin files is short, I'm guessing the first one, as normally you get a message about corrupt JA files or similar if its a wauy through the install. Never happened to me by the way, just those unfortunates using browsers to download with.

 

[BillM2]

Should have put something like Urgent new user unable to log in or install. I think unless you specify urgent it gets a low priority, hopefully Zec will pick it up from this thread.

Yeah, I explained the problem clearly enough, in just a sentence or two. But if the recipient isn't reading the messages but just queueing them, including a few ***URGENT*** thingies would have been a good idea.

Actually as you haven't registered Trainz yet as it's not been installed, I think you could do it under the name and password you are now using on the forum,
he serial number is tied to the username you enter during the install, not the one you ordered it on, however that may cause problems later if you need to download again.

Since this username doesn't provide access to the files for download, I'm stuck either way.

Generally most of us have no problems with N3V and it's service, allow for an element of exaggeration that you get on all forums. You may have to wait for a week? emphasis on may, you may not, there have been some quick turn rounds according to some threads lately. In mitigation it's a very small company and doesn't have a 24/7 staffed by hundreds help desk, think there are two guys at the most, more often than not it seems to be mainly just Zec, working during Australian office hours Monday to Friday and often there are backlogs.
Yes there are problems with email, may be due to the fact that hosting provider being is on a spam block list probably due to spammers operating from their servers, some ISP's or email providers may well be blocking all email from theplanet's servers.
Yes there are problems with servers at the moment, again probably down to the hosting provider which is in the US not Australia, other sites apparently are having problems with them as well. The server issue is probably what's messed up the password.

Hang in there, the "pain" is worth all the effort.

Understood, that's really all I needed to hear.

AT&T once allocated me an IP address block that had gotten blacklisted on a number of anti-spam sites. It's simply not possible for a small customer to get from AT&T the letter of good standing the typical anti-spam site requires to clear a blacklist entry. Neither is it possible to get AT&T to change out the address block. The whole blacklisting concept was entirely messed up. I understand it's somewhat better today because there are fewer mom-and-pop blacklists. But I'm sure it's still not easy.

Thanks for the data!

Cheers,