.GND file has been replaced by a .TMP file - Have I lost the map?

[escafeld]

I worked on a large map last night and on closing it down it wouldn’t let me save it. It said it was a read–only file and that I should save as a separate file (back–up), which I did.

On opening up today neither are there, instead there are two .tmp files in place of the .gnd files. One is a 209,957 KB TMP File named after the original map and the other is a 30 KB TMP File, which is named after the back–up.

Please, does anyone know if the original map is recoverable from the temp file, or have I lost the lot?

 

[JCitron]

I worked on a large map last night and on closing it down it wouldn’t let me save it. It said it was a read–only file and that I should save as a separate file (back–up), which I did.

On opening up today neither are there, instead there are two .tmp files in place of the .gnd files. One is a 209,957 KB TMP File named after the original map and the other is a 30 KB TMP File, which is named after the back–up.

Please, does anyone know if the original map is recoverable from the temp file, or have I lost the lot?

Dave,

This doesn't sound Kosher.

Have you tried renaming the big tmp file to a gnd file to see if it opens up okay. I've run into the read-only message, but I've just done a regular save-as and over wrote the file anyway.

Good luck,

John

 

[escafeld]

Thanks JCitron, but that didn't work. I'm at a loss to think where the .GND file went. How could it disappear and become a .TMP file?

 

[JCitron]

Thanks JCitron, but that didn't work. I'm at a loss to think where the .GND file went. How could it disappear and become a .TMP file?

My gut feeling, which isn't good about how this works, is your .gnd file gets overwritten with a zero-byte file while the route is open. The temp file was created by the program as you work on your layout. When you save, the contents get copied back to the gnd file. In theory this is how most programs work with file handles, but for some reason there's a glitch that caused yours to go off to bit-heaven.

I've noticed that the read-only problem happens because the .gnd file placeholder may be locked. This maybe because the auto-save routine is preventing the normal save function from overiding the control of the file handles. I ran into a situation like this quite a number of years a go with a graphics program.

I'm not a programmer by any means (I barely escaped a JAVA II class on the third try with a passing grade), but what I would have done if this is case is set the autosave-function to flush the buffers and temp file when a normal save request is made and close the handles to allow the regular save function have control over the files. How this would be implemented is way beyond what my programming skills can handle.

I no longer use the autosave, and I've had better luck with saving without the read-only problem. I haven't said anything until now because I wanted to do some further testing before I contact Auran about the issue.

The problem I have is the lack of time between work, school and physical fatigue that sets in. The fatigue is the worst because I can't do anything for days until it clears and by then I play catch up on life to get back into the swing of things.

John

 

[escafeld]

Thank you fro explaining that to me, although I confess to not fully understanding it. The temp file was 209,957 KB not 0 KB. So there is something there, but how to restore it is another matter.

 

[JCitron]

Thank you fro explaining that to me, although I confess to not fully understanding it. The temp file was 209,957 KB not 0 KB. So there is something there, but how to restore it is another matter.

That's quite possible. The temp file contains the data, but not in a format that is useable outside the program and is most likely not a true copy of your grnd file. In otherwords it contains gnd file information as well as other trainz file information that will be saved when your gnd file gets closed. Something glitched somewhere to have cause your file to not save completely thus leaving you with a mess.

I hope this explains things a little better. This is a hard thing to explain in the first place.

John

 

[escafeld]

Thanks again my friend, for all your trouble. The map was very large and I had spent a lot of time on it. I have a copy of it as it was a few months back, but it's not worth all the trouble to get back to how it was last week. I have a life beyond Trainz and it looks like I'm better off living it. I'm really grieved though as it really was a cracking map, even though I say so myself. Some recent screenshots here and further back in the thread: -

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=315&page=2

Enjoy the rest of Christmas

Best wishes

Dave

 

[JCitron]

Bummer... This is a nice route to go back to some day

I hate to say it, but this proves how important backups are. We don't realize how fragile this information is. All it takes is a glitch to throw many hours and years worth of work into the bit-bucket.

I'm just as guilty with my backups as well and I should know better being a Network Administrator by day. Shame on me and shame on anyone else for not backing up more frequently.

Anyway, step away for awhile. I've done that too and it's amazing how much you can recover of your route and even make it better when you have that little holiday from route building.

Good luck,

John

 

[StorkNest]

Have you tried posting about this on TrainzDev? Auran employees usually post there and this sounds like a development issue plus a content one that TranizDev Forums handle.

 

[escafeld]

JCitron, StorkNest

Hello my friends - Well I kept the faith that all things would come right in the end and they did.

I copied the .GND file from another route, renamed it to that of the map and dropped it into the folder and opened Trainz and guess what? It was actually there!

I now have the map as it was before the final save, which all went wrong. I don't know how this is possible, but the map is there again and here is the latest screenshot

The map that went wrong, went wrong after texturing around this station. As a test I just dropped in a little texture and did a save, which has worked of course.

NOTE - Before I did all this I backed-up and deleted some of the big maps out of the Map folder. I recall a problem with having too many maps in the map folder some time ago and thought that this could again be a part of the problem.

StorkNest - Thanks, I will post this on TrainzDev

JCitron - There will be a PM for you.

Thanks for your help

Dave

 

[j_maybury]

Totaly Ace:clap: :clap: :clap:
Im so glad you got it back
I was gutterd to read that you might have lost it for good.
and that you didn't whant to go through all that again, after seeing all the photographs of it, it looks totaly amaizing.
I hope to see the fininsd version someday! It looks good enough to star on TRS X !!! (for want of a better title)

 

[escafeld]

Thanks j_maybury, but having had a further look around the map, I've noticed that while most (if not all) of the content is still there and the roads and rail, the contouring and texturing has reverted back to how it was many weeks ago. I guess I've got lots to do, but it's better than no map at all. It's going to have to wait until I stick another 2GB of RAM in though. I suspect 1GB isn't enough for maps the size it's grown to.

 

[escafeld]

...oh, I meant to add. I have got 2GB on order.

 

[j_maybury]

Hi Dave,
Sad to hear that you'v lost a lot of rail, contouring and texturing from the map. But glad to hear that there's enough of it to keep you going.

I lost a rout in pritty much the same way, It was no where near as good as yours and a lot of it was merged from other people work though most of it was re-worked and modifyed, so I could never call it my own and I would never want to, but it was massive and great fun to run just getting from one side of the map to the other took hour's. So I know what a shock it was when you lost all that hard work.
Here's hope'in it never happen's again.

All the best!

Jonathan

 

[escafeld]

I think the extra RAM may make things run better, but I'm no expert.

I started a map of Nottinghamshire, which merged well with Captain Scarlet's cracking 'Sheffield'. I need to get working on that again, but need a mean machine to cope with it.

It is possible to run from the Leicestershire border to Doncaster on it. Quite spectacular running.

 

[StorkNest]

Extra RAM always helps, how much depends on system and which Trainz you run. Going from 512MB to 1GB was enough to improve TRS2004 for me on a previous sytem, 1GB on this was enough for Classics, 2GB does TS09 well.

 

[JCitron]

Have you tried posting about this on TrainzDev? Auran employees usually post there and this sounds like a development issue plus a content one that TranizDev Forums handle.

I may report my AutoSave findings to the TrainzDev forum. I hope that this issue didn't get carried over to the new version. I had wanted to confirm the problem before I said anything, but now that I've mentioned it, I'll send it along.

John

 

[ldowns]

Consider saving your work after each session under a new name (I just add an incrementing number after the name of the route, such as EastOhio045, EastOhio046, etc.; am currently up to EastOhio461!). I periodically delete all but the last 8 or 10 versions to save space. It may seem wasteful but there have been more than a few times when I've been soooooo grateful to have that safety net.

--Lamont