Oldie/Newbie Question about old content

[Telly_S]

Hello

Ive just signed up to Trainz 22. I used to use be a regular user of Trainz until I defected to the Mac from my PC around 2012 and I have a lot of content backed up on old HD's.

I recently downloaded Trainz 3 for my iPad and have enjoyed using it and have caught the Trainz bug again!

I now have access to my daughters up to date gaming PC, but as my brain cells are aging it would take me a while to figure out how to access the content

If it is possible to install some of the old contents, would this be worthwhile given everything that I have will be at least a decade old?

Or would it make sense to forget about the old stuff and start again, as Im presuming many things have changed over the last ten years or so.

I'd welcome any comments on this

Best wishes

Rick (Telly_S)

 

[JCitron]

Welcome back to full Trainz, Rick!

You can install your older content. Routes and sessions you created can still be imported but you may have do some fixing. The dependencies may have been updated in the decade since you built the routes and when you download the dependencies, they should update.

I'm sure you are thinking how do I install the content?

Using Content Manager, aka Manage Content on the Launcher, you can import your assets and also download from the DLS. Before you do anything, I recommend adding in all the columns.
Right-click on a column header and add in each column one at a time. You can the rearrange them how you like and resize them to fit. By default, the columns are added on the far right.

The new Content Manager is quite powerful and a bit out of scope for this post... The quick overview is you can sort the data nearly any way you want by clicking on columns or adding in other filters to your queries.

To add your routes and sessions, you can either drag the old .cdp files on to the screen in Content Manager to import the assets. The other way is to use the File Menu and import the cdp files or import content folders. When you do that, a progress bar will appear that you can open up and view the process and close at the end if it remains on the screen.

When you do this, click on the installed filter and change that to Open for edit. This will ensure that nothing is overwritten. By default, your content will remain open for edit if you put in something that's already there. If you have anything like this, right-click on the asset and choose submit.

If you have missing dependencies, the route or session will turn red.
Right-click and choose list dependencies. This will open a new window and using the Status columns, you can sort the data so that all the missing assets are together. You can further click on those and list those in a new window and so on.

In the dependencies, highlight your missing assets and choose download. If these assets are on the DLS, they will download automatically.

Hope this helps. There's a lot to chew on here.

 

[Telly_S]

Thank you for the comprehensive reply JCitron

Thats great news regarding the old content and thanks for the pointers about how to import it with the new Content Manager. I’m sure that overview will save me a lot of time and head scratching now I know that it’s possible.

Full steam ahead

 

[JCitron]

This section might help you from the Wiki. There are some how-to steps on using Content Manager. This will get you going, hopefully, and then we can tackle other things afterwards.

Speaking of old routes, I brought in my ca early 2004 and a later 2005 routes I created. Both came in okay with some missing, meaning really unavailable content but other than that, I was able to rebuild those and use parts of them in a much newer version of the route. While my track-laying and landscaping was a bit off, I had the gist of the theme I was and still working with and the parts were quite suitable. After a bit of a lick and a promise and a lot of landscaping, these parts blended in quite nicely and there's little discernable difference between the old and the new.

 

[Telly_S]

This section might help you from the Wiki. There are some how-to steps on using Content Manager. This will get you going, hopefully, and then we can tackle other things afterwards.

Speaking of old routes, I brought in my ca early 2004 and a later 2005 routes I created. Both came in okay with some missing, meaning really unavailable content but other than that, I was able to rebuild those and use parts of them in a much newer version of the route. While my track-laying and landscaping was a bit off, I had the gist of the theme I was and still working with and the parts were quite suitable. After a bit of a lick and a promise and a lot of landscaping, these parts blended in quite nicely and there's little discernable difference between the old and the new.

Thanks again, would it be possible to post the link to the Content manager info, I saw something for Trainz New Era, but not sure if this is the most up to date?

It’s encouraging to hear you managed to get most things working, with the pace of change nowadays it’s great that Trainz still provides this legacy support.

Also got to find the correct internal HD with the content, having had 4 kids, the youngest now 21 I’ve got a few HDs hanging around extracted from old PCs. Also somewhere an interface device to plug internal drives into so I can transfer the data as I don’t think my daughter is going to let me open up her nearly new pristine pc to connect that way.

 

[JCitron]

Thanks again, would it be possible to post the link to the Content manager info, I saw something for Trainz New Era, but not sure if this is the most up to date?

It’s encouraging to hear you managed to get most things working, with the pace of change nowadays it’s great that Trainz still provides this legacy support.

Also got to find the correct internal HD with the content, having had 4 kids, the youngest now 21 I’ve got a few HDs hanging around extracted from old PCs. Also somewhere an interface device to plug internal drives into so I can transfer the data as I don’t think my daughter is going to let me open up her nearly new pristine pc to connect that way.

The info is the same. The interface started with T: ANE and hasn't changed at all as far as I can tell. I posted that page because there are multiple parts to the section on Content Manager. I wish there was a single page on Content Manager but as expected things aren't so easy.

It is amazing how the new versions still support legacy content for the most part. The issue you may run into is Speed Trees. Thanks to IDV, the developer of Speed Trees, the older Speed Trees don't work and will cause errors. The old, I mean ancient billboard trees mostly work and can do as a stand in until you replace those with new Speed Trees. Unfortunately, without TS2009 thru TS12 installed, you can't replace the trees prior to importing. The older routes, meaning those prior with the old cardboard trees work fine. Go figure!

I understand what you're going through with hard drives. I've been recovering and copying old hard disks for a late friend of mine's widow. She wants to dispose of his machines but wants the data backed up. The PCs don't power up at all but using a special USB device, I was able to plug the drive into my computer and read the disk okay. Amazon has really inexpensive cables that plug into the USB ports with the other plugging into the drive to allow you to read and copy the drives anywhere.

Assuming you are talking about desktop hard drives, you'll need something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/SATA-Drive-A...d89-8c17-6f633116abd8&pd_rd_i=B07PVX682Q&th=1

For about $20 it's a worthy investment that can be used over and over. For laptops, they have smaller version also.

There's a gazillion of these things on Amazon. This is one of the better ones because it has the power supply to power up the desktop drive. This isn't necessary for laptop drives, so it's less expensive.

 

[Telly_S]

Yers thats the type of interface device, I did have an old fashioned one which did work with Sata drives, Im going to search for that first….meanwhile Im going to enjoy some of the new stuff and thanks for the heads up about the trees!

 

[trainmaster1414]

is it ok if i reupload old trs2004 and 06 rrmods content just wanted to get that out there

 

[JCitron]

is it ok if i reupload old trs2004 and 06 rrmods content just wanted to get that out there

No, you cannot just upload content to the DLS. You need to get permission to upload old content that does not belong to you, or any derivative works such as modified assets from a content-creator. You also can't upload other people's works under their ID in case you were wondering; the system doesn't work that way.

 

[trainmaster1414]

well how do i contact them and i was also talking about my own site i will give credit to them as well

 

[JCitron]

well how do i contact them and i was also talking about my own site i will give credit to them as well

The config.txt files for the assets may contain contact information such as email addresses and possibly website links. The problem is not all assets have that information included in the config.txt files since these aren't mandatory fields.

With luck, maybe the authors will get back to you one way or another. If you receive no answer, take that as a no, and if the authors say definitely not, don't do it. This also applies to putting the assets on your own website. Uploading to the DLS won't work anyway because only the original author can do that with one exception being the Content Repair Group who work with N3V to repair older assets and bring them up-to-date.

 

[blueodessey]

Thanks again, would it be possible to post the link to the Content manager info, I saw something for Trainz New Era, but not sure if this is the most up to date?

It’s encouraging to hear you managed to get most things working, with the pace of change nowadays it’s great that Trainz still provides this legacy support.

Also got to find the correct internal HD with the content, having had 4 kids, the youngest now 21 I’ve got a few HDs hanging around extracted from old PCs. Also somewhere an interface device to plug internal drives into so I can transfer the data as I don’t think my daughter is going to let me open up her nearly new pristine pc to connect that way.

Storage is extremely cheap, Physical Size reduced from Shoe Box HDs 40 yrs ago.

You might consider this:

Best External SSDs 2024

Out of the dozens of external SSDs and hard drives we've tested, these are the best.

www.tomshardware.com

SSD's terrific, however on the Dark Side, there is virtually no warning when they go Dark.

The best balance for backing up old Files in Old Drives, Cloud, SSD and longevity wise with respect MTF, Mean Time Failure, Platter Hard Drives with 256 RAM on Cash Drives will serve you well over time.

Granted SSD's are Rockets, Platter is much slower, however, only so many Rewrites on SSD Cells, and they go bad. Platter Drives along with SSD provides 2 distinct backups, Cloud of Course is nice. But I never rely on just one item for Electronic Files.


Hope this will help you with your dated Content.

 

[johnwhelan]

Thanks again, would it be possible to post the link to the Content manager info, I saw something for Trainz New Era, but not sure if this is the most up to date?

It’s encouraging to hear you managed to get most things working, with the pace of change nowadays it’s great that Trainz still provides this legacy support.

Also got to find the correct internal HD with the content, having had 4 kids, the youngest now 21 I’ve got a few HDs hanging around extracted from old PCs. Also somewhere an interface device to plug internal drives into so I can transfer the data as I don’t think my daughter is going to let me open up her nearly new pristine pc to connect that way.

Ugreen do external enclosures for hard drives. Look it up on amazon.

UGREEN External Hard Drive Enclosure for 3.5 2.5 Inch SATA SSD HDD USB 3.0 to SATA III Hard Drive Case with UASP 12V Power Adapter Compatible with WD Seagate Toshiba Samsung Hitachi PS5 Xbox

Cheerio John

 

[johnwhelan]

Storage is extremely cheap, Physical Size reduced from Shoe Box HDs 40 yrs ago.

You might consider this:

Best External SSDs 2024

Out of the dozens of external SSDs and hard drives we've tested, these are the best.

www.tomshardware.com

SSD's terrific, however on the Dark Side, there is virtually no warning when they go Dark.

The best balance for backing up old Files in Old Drives, Cloud, SSD and longevity wise with respect MTF, Mean Time Failure, Platter Hard Drives with 256 RAM on Cash Drives will serve you well over time.

Granted SSD's are Rockets, Platter is much slower, however, only so many Rewrites on SSD Cells, and they go bad. Platter Drives along with SSD provides 2 distinct backups, Cloud of Course is nice. But I never rely on just one item for Electronic Files.


Hope this will help you with your dated Content.

All SSDs come with a specification on how much data you can write to them. They also keep track of how much data has been written to them. If it's a Samsung retail drive then Samsung Magician software works well for showing how healthy the drive is. For other drives Crystaldiskinfo can be used. Not quite so pretty but the information is there. SSDs are probably good for at least three years, after that I might check them every six months or so.

Cheerio John