CM3.3 and "Updating Trainz Asset Database" locking up

[sawyer811]

This has happened the last few times I've opened content manager. The instant it opens, "Not Responding" appears at the end of the name in the top bar. After i have to close it through task manager, though (the only way to GET it to close) TADDeamon won't shut down. that inevitably leads to a forced restart and a "Updating trainz asset database" situation.

That's all good and fine. UTAD usually does its thing and opens Content Manager, but tonight, i had it lock up as well. It's almost as if CM3.3 is getting unstable. the game itself runs perfectly fine, i have no problems with it. It's CM3.3 that has issues. apparently it doesn't like me:hehe:

I'm wondering if this is some setting i messed up, or is this some other problem. is it indicitive of a larger issue? I'm totally out of my leauge with this one. usually i can track down errors easily enough, but Content Manager has always been the one thing that's always worked. any help would be appreciated.

thanks in advance

Sawyer

 

[JCitron]

Sawyer,

There are many things that can cause this behavior including low disk space and a very fragmented drive, or worse. The problem could also be CM-only related. So having said this, you might want to clean up your hard drive first before doing anything else and then performing a defragment of the disk.

Once that is done, see how CM loads. If it's still causing problems, then you may need to perform a database repair. A quick repair should fix this problem. The database repair options are found under the file menu.

If you do perform a database repair, the process can take a lot of time even for a quick repair, so plan on going away while your machine toils away. I do things like this at night so I don't get itchy and want to touch the PC.

John

 

[sniper297]

"apparently it doesn't like me", you should hear what it says about ME! Try searching for Faulty=true, missing dependencies=true? Clean up temp files, empty the recycle bin, and defrag your hard disk lately? Run spybot and malwarebytes in addition to your regular antivirus?
Content mangler locks up on me occasionally, usually it's surveyor that does it, but TADDaemon.exe usually shuts itself down after I end task for trainz.exe within a minute or so. One chronic lockup I recently had with TS12 and CM 3.5, the metropolis-modula city route from TS2010 was my primary suspect, after deleting all the dependencies for that route TS12 hasn't had a lockup since. Funny part is there were no actual "faulty" dependencies, just a bunch with yellow warning icons.

 

[sawyer811]

okay, now i'm perplexed. according to the defrag thingie, it says i am "0% fragmented." But i do have a question; what do you mean by a disk clean-up? and i can't even get CM3 to load to do a database repair.

i think that came off pushy. it wasn't meant to be. sorry in advance.

EDIT: let's make something clear: I'm the idiot that builds the kit airplane without using the instructions and has a pile of parts left over :hehe: okay, got a disk cleanup going now, but i'm not sure it will help me, since the core problem is the Updating Trainz database thing is locking up on the "Checking for faulty assets" part and not letting me in. stupid question, but there's no way i can force CM3.3 open can i? Probably would do more harm than good, but i wondered if there was a way i could do an end-run around the UTAD thing.

 

[sniper297]

Try a crowbar?

Dunno, if it's so bad you can't get into CM at all you may be looking at a reinstall.

Disk cleanup gets rid of all the temporary files left behind by sloppy install programs that don't clean up after themselves, usually takes a long time. Find it hard to believe your disk ain't badly fragged if you don't defrag it regularly, is it possible you have some kind of automatic scheduled defrag and cleanup running?

Anyway, if you do manage to get back in, first priority is to look for faulty=true and get rid of whatever it is - you can always redownload stuff later, important thing is to make it stop crashing long enough to fix it. Once all the faulty stuff is gone run the extended database repair and see what that does. Sometimes all this computer maintenance is enough to make you take up knitting instead, hey? :'(

 

[sawyer811]

I managed to open CM3 by "installing" a CDP of a route i'm working on, but i noticed something. in addition to the usual TADDeamon, i've got 4 seperate TrainzUtil.exe programs running too. dunno if that means anything or not, but i thought i'd mention it. I have been cramming a lot of stuff into the game lately. Maybe i just need to do some clean-up.

 

[JCitron]

I managed to open CM3 by "installing" a CDP of a route i'm working on, but i noticed something. in addition to the usual TADDeamon, i've got 4 seperate TrainzUtil.exe programs running too. dunno if that means anything or not, but i thought i'd mention it. I have been cramming a lot of stuff into the game lately. Maybe i just need to do some clean-up.

I'm posting this quickly since I'm heading off to bed. But anyway yes this is a common occurrence with CM when importing stuff. Open up the windows and see what's happening. Usually it's validating the stuff being imported. The fact that the database is slow loading is telling me there are problems somewhere that need fixing. This is why I have you doing stuff like this. If I could see your system myself, I could perhaps diagnose things faster.

Sniper is correct. The disk clean-up was to clean-up junk leftover by sloppy installs and even email when you view attachments and don't close or save them elsewhere before closing the emails. The purpose of this is to ensure there's some extra disk space just in case you disk is tight on space. It doesn't hurt to run this one either periodically.

Now regarding defragmenting. Do this anyway. Windows is not accurate with their reporting on this. This won't hurt either if it's done now or later.

You don't come across pushy at all. If you were, I'd just ignore you. I do the support part all day, and don't mind helping people who get stuck on stuff like this.

Anyway, Now that you can get into CM, do a database repair. This may in fact clean up any ickies that maybe in the database.

Good luck, and I'll talk (read) with you tomorrow.

John

 

[shaneturner12]

If Content Manager still will not allow you to do the database repair, there is a command-line method available (as long as it's TS2009 or later that the problem is affecting).

Full instructions are on my tutorial website at http://shaneturner12.awardspace.co.uk/trainzdata/index.php?page=command-line-database-repair.

Also, have a look in the TADDaemon window - it may have started a database repair automatically (look for TADthread related messages - usually prep time, deletes time, adds time, mod(ified)s time (or something like that), obsoletes time, faulties time, then I think it's the stage that checks for dependencies.

Shane