Are assets overwritten when downloaded twice?

[DDedicos]

I'm wondering if assets are overwritten when downloaded more than once or do I end up with multiple installations of the same asset? Early on in my brief Trainz experience, I would d'ld individual items from packs offered by third party sources instead of installing the entire group in order to save a little HD space. However, I'm finding I need several of these same packs in their entirety for other routes, therefore, my question previously stated. I have Trainz 22PE. Thanks for any input on this!!

 

[Lewiscc65]

Yes, an asset that is downloaded twice they are overwritten and remain in "open for edit" till you "submit" the edit.

 

[oknotsen]

Don't submit. Revert to original. Else you will not be able to use that asset for multiplayer sessions.

 

[pware]

The above answers are correct with qualifications but no, you will not end up with multiple copies of exactly the same asset if you are downloading from the DLS. If you are downloading assets from an independent 3rd party site then it is possible but Content Manager will label any duplicate assets as "Open for Edit".

[WARNING: This post is an essay]

As well as a name, each asset has a unique ID code called a kuid that is used by Trainz to identify it. Two totally different assets created by different authors (or even by the same author) can have identical names but not identical kuids. They will both appear in Trainz and its content manager and are different assets that happen to share the same name. For example, my Content Manager shows that I have two identically named signal assets but with different kuids, each by a different author:-

<kuid2:45324:24010:5> Invisible Signal by @norfolksouthern37, and
<kuid2:68236:1013:4> Invisible Signal by @Magandy

Likewise you can have identically named installed assets created by a single author:-

<kuid:368725:20617> country town residence 1, NSW
<kuid2:368725:20617:1> country town residence 1, NSW
<kuid2:368725:20617:2> country town residence 1, NSW
<kuid2:368725:20617:3> country town residence 1, NSW

..all by creator @ElStoko.

The first, without the "kuid2" at the front and the trailing ":n" (the version number) in the kuid, is the original version. The other three are updates (or "up versions"). All 4 are listed in my Content Manager but the first 3, not installed, are labelled "Available for download, Obsolete" and the last, the latest version which is indicated by the highest version number (":3"), is labelled "Installed from DLS".

Any assets labelled "Installed from DLS, Obsolete" can be safely deleted as the "Obsolete" message means that a later version of that asset is already installed.

The DLS will keep "Obsolete" versions available for users to download and use for a variety of reasons. For example you may be using an older version of Trainz and the latest version of an asset may not work in your version of Trainz.

When downloading assets from the DLS, Content Manager will skip over any identical assets that you already have installed. Unless you tell it otherwise, it will always download and install the latest version of a selected asset.

When posting about a particular asset in these forums it is always a good idea to quote the kuid as well as the name to avoid any confusion.

[End of essay post]

 

[DDedicos]

Thanks guys for all the information!