My Continuing Saga of CTD's

[JackDownUnder]

CTD's continue to be an issue with my own Route and Session.
Here is a summary of my actions and attempts to eliminate continuing CTD'S

These are some of my observations during the past month or so.
- Session did run for different periods of time then CTD
- Session ECML Up has run all the way through to the Leeds Consume portal, now CTD after start time has elapsed and driver commands commenced. I just resolved this as I found a command error, while writing this , which I have corrected. Consist departed siding with second one leaving on schedule. Then CTD.
- Please note that this route does not have Emit Portals, these were omitted in an attempt to eliminate any issue with them. Uses only Consume Portals
- Running session shows inconsistencies.
- Route has had all unnamed Track markers removed, these were omitted in an attempt to eliminate any issue with them.
- Session does not recognise more than one Driver Setup, this was determined when opening Drive Session and random groups of drivers appeared however not all that were installed. This was not an issue in TRS2019. It took me a couple of months to determine this.

Notes/ questions
- What does this mean "- <NULL> : Patcher availability query failed with code 2", this is in log file most times after a CTD, see below
- there appears to be a lot of forum post relations to many issues with this version, are these being addressed.
- I have already stated that my Desktop PC is the latest and up in the top 98% of similar PC's so thai is no longer an issue, I purchased this to eliminate this doubt.
- I have removed another suspected issue which may have contributed to this issue by updating my internet connection to the NBN network which has provided over their wireless service 50Mbps of download speed and over 18Mbps of upload speed, 6ms ping.
- Installed data folder content, the install which I am using was a fresh one when I purchased the new PC, yes all previous content has been imported, I do not have any missing assets or assets with errors.
- all content available for download with the purchase are installed with the exception of
- Trainz DLC Trees which refuses to load without indicating an Error
- The MPS content, which I do not believe is needed by me.

Could someone explain why there are two entries in RED also what are the consequences with Trainz Trainz build 123801.

Could someone please explain what the fourth entry from the bottom means and if there is any relationship to my recurring CTD'S
The last three lines refer of course to a restart of Trainz.

 

[pware]

- What does this mean "- <NULL> : Patcher availability query failed with code 2"

At a guess I would say that when TRS19 started up it attempted to contact N3Vs servers to find out if a new patch is available - this is something that all Trainz versions do on startup. For some reason the attempt failed. One possible explanation (i.e. "guess") would be that the out-bound request is being blocked somehow - your firewall? AV? VPN? I doubt that this would cause a CTD as Trainz is capable of operating normally without being able to check for patches.

 

[JackDownUnder]

At a guess I would say that when TRS19 started up it attempted to contact N3Vs servers to find out if a new patch is available - this is something that all Trainz versions do on startup. For some reason the attempt failed. One possible explanation (i.e. "guess") would be that the out-bound request is being blocked somehow - your firewall? AV? VPN? I doubt that this would cause a CTD as Trainz is capable of operating normally without being able to check for patches.

Thank you for a response however, this has nothing to do with TRS19 other than my mentioning that issues appeared to commence when moving to next version after TR19, I am as stated on TRS2020SE build 123801.

 

[JCitron]

Brand new computer or not, run some system diagnostics such as RAM tests. There's the built in one and also memtest86 or memtest64 that are more in depth. If you are unsure about how to do this, have a PC shop or someone who knows how to do this assist you.

Many prebuilt computers have barely adequate power supplies. Your power supply could be under powered for what you are doing. My brother ran into this recently with his brand-new computer. He kept getting black screen crashes and periodic system resets. It turns out the company put in a 250W power supply which was barely enough to support the supplied video card! The computer worked okay until it was under load then it would crash. He ended up putting in a bigger power supply and now has no issues at all.

The other thing is once you've had a CTD, you must run a DBR, otherwise a CTD will beget other CTDs. Trainz may recover from this but the crashes have left content files open and possibly cause problems with the database as well. Running a DBR will clear that up and hopefully resolve the issue.

And finally, have you tried a new fresh install with built-in content?

If that works, try adding DLC a few items at a time. You can't download it all at once anyway however try this. It may very well be that your data is corrupted to a point where DLC won't install.

If this works, then it's something wrong with your current database and I highly recommend making a backup and then exporting any custom routes and content you have and importing that into your new setup.

I did this recently in April and I will say it made a big difference, and to make things better I also got rid of a lot of old content I no longer used and haven't seen since early TRS2004 days and I had completely forgotten about.

 

[JackDownUnder]

Hi JCitron
PC has been checked and is 100% OK
I always run a BDR after a CTD
I have reinstalled the game from scratch a number of times to no avail.

However my reinstalls were always complemented with content from the previous install, where not available on the DLS, stuff from TRS2004 together with subsequent versions.

Your comment has illuminated a light in my mind regarding installing old content from previous install.
As you propose this may be a reason for the continuation of CTD's
So I will take care when I once again perform a new reinstall.

I will only install my paid for content from content designers most of which my NER era rolling stock from Paul Mace
Thank you for your continuing interest.

Any idea what this means
<NULL> : Patcher availability query failed with code 2"

I do have a ticket open however am still awaiting comments from my response.

 

[JCitron]

I'm glad your hardware is fine and good luck with your install. I have a feeling that something got munched in the old content and that's spoiling your fresh installations. There are many errors that went unreported in old content that can cause crashes. They are not always apparent due to doing something that on face value such as in scripts that pass all the syntax tests but still do something wrong enough to cause a crash.

I have never seen that error before. My fuzzy gut feelings tell me that it's some kind of internal code that says, there's no update available for your version. In the olden times, for some program or operating system, there would be a similar "An error occurred, Error code 2" with no reference to what it's referring to. The only way to know what the error number is to look through a very large ring-binder filled voluminously with hundreds of pages of non-descriptive text.

 

[JackDownUnder]

I am currently working through the route missing content on my new install making sure that I only transfer my content from the old install.
I am still awaiting a response from my ticket re the message.

 

[JackDownUnder]

Hi John
Well after much work I have finally managed to having my session run with four consists all the way through.
There have been numerous CTD's on the way probably due to route and sesion assembly errors.
I do have some content missing but am loathed to install them unless they form part of a download station asset.
So I installed the game, TRS2022SE Build 123801 with only the UK routes.
Installed my own routes.
Installed content from Paul Mace.
I have not run my original routes or sessions yet, this will be the next step, however I think that I will rebuild my new assembly.

 

[JackDownUnder]

Spoke a little too soon added some more consists without driver and CTD's again.

 

[JCitron]

This sounds like some sort of content issue causing this. You need to go through the process of elimination.

Disable all third-party content and run a route.
If it doesn't crash, enable 100 assets and repeat.
Repeat this process until you reach the culprit, usually found in the last batch you enable.
When you get there, disable other stuff except for the group where the crash occurred and then start disabling assets a few at a time until you no longer have the crash.

Once you get the asset that's causing the crash, delete it. if there are no longer any errors, you've found the culprit and you can replace it with a new one from the DLS or from backups.

 

[JackDownUnder]

I believe that is what I have already carried out, just ran session again this morning and it ran through without a CTD
I will however keep an open mind and investigate as you suggest.