Deleted my route - what an idiot!

[TheFlyingElf]

Hi all,

A few days ago, when over-tired and distracted, I stupidly deleted a route I've been working on!

Luckily (maybe) I backed up my hard drive a few days before using Norton Ghost (so I have an image of the drive at that time), BUT, unlike TRS2004 which (I think) put custom content into sensibly named folders, using the route name as the file name, TRS2006 (which I am using now) uses a silly system of random characters (or encrypted names?) for folder names in \local...I am assuming that is where my route would have been stored.

So...can (a) someone tell me if I'm correct, or if not where in the folder structure my route would have been stored, and (b), having located where it is in my backup can I restore it within TRS (using Ghost I can restore any file or folder from the backup image to it's original location.

Thanks...finger's crossed!

Nige

 

[HiBaller]

Did you do a Commit after deleting the route? If not, then it may still be available in the Edit folder. Even if you did do a Commit, it may still be there as sometimes it isn't always cleared out after closing 2006.

Bill

 

[TheFlyingElf]

Nope...edit folder's empty!

 

[HiBaller]

The only other thing I can suggest would be to do a Search of your saved \local folder and look for the text "<your route name>" inside all the config.txt files there. The naming conventions of TRS2006 \local folders makes no sense, as you say. If you have a lot of content, that's a lot of searching.

I don't use Ghost but is it possible to restore just a portion of the saved data - say, the \local folder to a TEMP area? Then, you could just use the OS's Search function and look for text INSIDE *.txt files.

Bill

 

[nwhitney]

Why not just restore the entire local folder? Delete assets.tdx and let CMP rebuild the database. Yes, you'll lose the last couple of days, but it's a lot less work.
Norm

 

[Mick_Berg]

I know it's a bit late to be giving smarty-pants advice, but you should archive your route each time you make substantial changes to it. Tick the box to also archive all its dependencies.
Mick Berg.

 

[TheFlyingElf]

I know it's a bit late to be giving smarty-pants advice, but you should archive your route each time you make substantial changes to it. Tick the box to also archive all its dependencies.
Mick Berg.

Now why couldn't you have said that last week!!!

...and the silly thing is that I've seen the archive thingy in CMP every time I've used it (CMP), but never used it (archive)!

I couldn't find a folder or file within \local with the same name as my route...I think that's another part of the daft naming system...to use non-sensical names instead of the perfectly sensible one you gave your route...so I'm in the process of trying Norm's suggestion of restoring the last back up I have of the entire \local folder. It's a slow job as the folder is about 1.5gb, so I'm going to leave it running overnight...I'll report tomorrow if it worked.

Cheers,

Nige

 

[HiBaller]

A folder or file will not have your route's name. Only INSIDE the config.txt file will you find your route name.

I definitely agree that the naming convention is pretty weird. Norm has the right idea if you haven't done a lot since the backup.

Bill

 

[Zwabberaar]

I know it's a bit late to be giving smarty-pants advice, but you should archive your route each time you make substantial changes to it. Tick the box to also archive all its dependencies.
Mick Berg.

This is good advice but how do I convince CMP to archive the dependencies when part of the list ( 600 items ) are build-in items. CMP simply refuses to make an archive and I really do not know by heart which item is custom and which one is build-in content.

 

[Mike10]

You don't need to archive built-ins, they'll be there every time you install TRS. Stuff you've downloaded though will not be.

Mike.

 

[rweber95]

1. The local folder is is the repository of the Trainz Asset Database and asset.tdx is its index. It is this structure that makes TRS2006 faster to load and run as compared to TRS2004. If you want to examine the content of the database (local folder) use CMP which is what it is for.

2. No need to archive buildin assets since they are not going to disappear. You only need to archive that which you've made or downloaded, that which could be lost.

3. If you have a backed up data set you could always move your local folder and asset.tdx file to a safe place, copy in your saved local folder and asset.tdx and run CMP to view what is there. Using CMP to archive what you need to a safe place then restore everything and get your route back.

Bob

 

[Zwabberaar]

You don't need to archive built-ins, they'll be there every time you install TRS. Stuff you've downloaded though will not be.

Mike.

That is what I do know Mike. I didn't explain clearly enough why correctly archiving the route dependencies allude me at the moment.

I build a route which contains both build-in and downloaded content.

When I want to archive the route and its dependencies I need to tell CMP to make an archive file. In the pop-up I tell it to include the dependencies.

Hers comes the problem. I have no way of telling CMP to NOT include build-in content. It just takes the whole list, sees it has build-in content and plain refuses to create an archive. That is partially okay of course.

But how do I tell CMP to do include custom content and to leave out build-in content?

Thanks in advance

 

[Mick_Berg]

There is a good reason for the cryptic sub-folder names in the local folder. You're not supposed to go in there and mess with it. And there's no need to. You are supposed to use CMP to open a folder for edit, and when you are done, put it back (commit) without disturbing anything. It's a good concept, in my opnion.
And, regarding archiving the built-in content, you'd end up with an awful lot of duplication if it was archived every time. I think that basically Auran has done the right thing.
Thanks,
Mick Berg.

 

[Zwabberaar]

I do not want to archive build-in content! I want to archive those assets of my route that are downloaded.

However, when let CMP show all the dependencies of the route in the main screen ( or select to also archive the dependencies ) it tries to archive all dependencies and I do not want that. I do not know how to let it select only the custom content and not the build-in so i can build a correct archive.

Thanks in advance.

 

[TheFlyingElf]

The Solution!

Why not just restore the entire local folder? Delete assets.tdx and let CMP rebuild the database. Yes, you'll lose the last couple of days, but it's a lot less work.
Norm

Thanks Norm...and others.

Just for info this is what I did...

1 - moved \local and all subfolders, and assets.tdx somewhere else
2 - restored the last backup of \local using Ghost
3 - ran CMP and saved my route and session as CDPs (I don't know if archive would be better?)
4 - deleted the restored \local and assets.tdx
5 - copied the original \local back to it's place (not assets.tdx)
6 - ran CMP, imported the 2 CDPs I created
7 - checked the route (all OK)
8 - backed up my PC again!

Altogether it took 15 minutes.

Cheers,

Nige

 

[Bill69]

route deleted

Hi Nige,
If you have Norton Ghost as you mention in a previous post, do you not have Norton Goback? I use Norton Goback to restore the whole system to a specified time before something like that happens. What this does is give you an option to restore the whole system to a time up to seven days earlier. A very useflull function.

Cheers,
Bill69

 

[TheFlyingElf]

I've never heard of GoBack...I'm using Ghost v9.0 that I've had for years so yours may be more up to date!

My version creates traditional base/incremental backups of selected drives...there's a backup image viewer tool that allows you to open any of these backup images, and restore any file/folder within to their original or another location. You can also restore an entire drive either whilst logged into the OS, or by using a recovery disk if you can't start your PC (apparently...touch wood I've never needed to do this!).

Fortunately, because I use my laptop for work, I have a routine to backup my C drive at least weekly and E drive (documents) daily, so I very rarely loose anything for very long!

Have a good day/night!

Nige

 

[Bill69]

Hi Nige,

Norton Goback is part of Norton System Works Premier which I have had since 2001, it's an excelent program, has Registry cleaner, Ghost, Antivirus, Worm protection, Goback and other system tools,



Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Cheers,
Bill69

 

[Mike10]

I do not want to archive build-in content! I want to archive those assets of my route that are downloaded.

However, when let CMP show all the dependencies of the route in the main screen ( or select to also archive the dependencies ) it tries to archive all dependencies and I do not want that. I do not know how to let it select only the custom content and not the build-in so i can build a correct archive.

Thanks in advance.

It tells you it can't archive the built-ins but it should then go on and archive the others.

Have a look at the CMP User Guide here: http://www.rail-sim.co.uk/content.htm It steps you through managing archives.

Mike.

 

[Zwabberaar]

It tells you it can't archive the built-ins but it should then go on and archive the others.

Have a look at the CMP User Guide here: http://www.rail-sim.co.uk/content.htm It steps you through managing archives.

Mike.

Mike, thank you. Now I have seen where I go wrong when archiving. I consistently overlooked the missing final step of actually saving the archive I must say that this CMP manual is a very nice document. Thank you for helping me out here.