Uninstall Trainz safely

afe_uy

Well-known member
As I said ... I want to do a fresh install of TS22. I also have TS12, Tane, TS19 and TS22PE, which I don't want to touch.
As Windows Uninstall is useless, I guess if I delete the corresponding folders in AppData and Program Files, it would be enough ...
But I'm not sure how it can affect the Windows Registry, unless a cleanup after deleting the data would be enough ...
I've never uninstalled any version of Trainz, until now.
 
I use TS19. Even if I don't do a fresh install, I back up my content using Content Manager. First, I select "My Content" then select "Open for Editing". Then I select "Installed from DLS" and open those for editing too.

Then I copy everything to an alternate drive. Once you reinstall Windows and Trainz, use File/Install Content Folder selecting all in your backup folder.
 
Sure, but I don't have any problems with the backup, I don't need it for anything else. What I want is a completely new, fresh installation.
But first I want to uninstall the current one ...
 
Take a look at a program called Bulk Crap Remover or BCR. It is an open source uninstaller that scans your programs and registry and give you much more information than the window's add / remove programs app. The most important information being the location of the installation folder which should be named something like the version of Trainz you want to uninstall. For example, Trainz Railroad Simulator 2022.

I have not use this program on any Trainz version but I have used it without problems to remove other programs and it worked very well.

 
It seems that no one has uninstalled Trainz ... :) in a normal way or the hard way. After all, that's good !
Strangely (for me) a search of the Registry found no reference to N3V. A single entry corresponds to Auran, but it only refers to the Content Manager.
No Steam (TS19 my case) or Valve either, although I did find references to CounterStrike, CSGO or Halo2 ... thanks to my kids for that 😠.
 
General Question: Can't you just sort to get a clean database. Then export it to a CDP file (or two)?
Isn't there a simple way to then delete the old version of Trains and the old database?
Load the new program copy and load the CDP.

Given the very high level of scamming, etc. I would not trust any odd chunk of software on my PC. What is safe today could be a disaster tomorrow.
 
General Question: Can't you just sort to get a clean database. Then export it to a CDP file (or two)? Isn't there a simple way to then delete the old version of Trains and the old database? Load the new program copy and load the CDP.
I don't have anything important on my TS22 that I want to keep. Just uninstall everything and reinstall it, what could be "fresh" than that ?
 
Maybe I didn't explain myself well ... or I'm a bit more clumsy than usual.
It should be very simple to uninstall Trainz, just go to Control Panel / Programs / Uninstall... like any other software. But, if there is more than one version installed, things change quite a bit.
In my case, I only want to remove one particular version ... but I don't want to affect the others(12, Tane, 19 y 22PE).
I think I remember that with Tane there were also some difficulties with this.
I posted it in General, precisely for that reason and I didn't quite understand why to move the post to the exclusive TS22 forum, when it applies to any version.
 
Oh yeah... That's exactly what it looks like here: The 11/2021 dates are correct, as that's when I started Windows.
I have 3 Tane installations (one with its icon and 2 with the generic Trainz one) ,Trainz 19 and Trainz Simulator 12 , all sharing assets.

 
The issue dates back to the release of TANE. The installer identified the program as TANE. Ever version since then no one modified the installer to report the correct name of the new version. Just lazy and sloppy programming. To compound the issue, the installer prevents Add/Remove Programs from knowing what directory the program is installed in. So if you remember the date you installed the program, you have a chance of guessing correctly but there are several threads where people guessed wrong and uninstalled the wrong program.

Given the very high level of scamming, etc. I would not trust any odd chunk of software on my PC. What is safe today could be a disaster tomorrow.
Dick, I worked for 46 in the IT industry. I think I can tell whether software is safe to install or not. But feel free to do what you think is best.
 
Univac-I same era I fixed them and later moved to programming and management.
Kept operating system listing at my bedside.

But anyhow, my point is that grabbing these small utility programs has saved a lot of people considerable trouble. BUT, their security may not be a high priority, or affordable. Granted they are not the most lucrative sources of hacker income. However, they could be a nice breeding ground for your beginning scammer/hacker's career. The utility of the web itself, may by impacted by an ever increasing hacking activity.
 
Not a programmer, so correct me if I am wrong....

But wouldn't those other programs use the same API that windows uses... to un-install programs.??
 
Not a programmer, so correct me if I am wrong....

But wouldn't those other programs use the same API that windows uses... to un-install programs.??
Not sure what you mean by using an API. Normally under windows when a program is installed a file is created in the program's folder that lists every action the installer did during the install so that the Add / Remove Program app can remove the program by using the uninstall.dat file as a guide. BCR uses this method as well when it is available and in the case of Trainz, it is available. The problem, as I pointed out in post 11 is that since TANE came out the Trainz installer identifies every install of TANE, TMR17, TRS19, TRS19 PE, TRS22, TRS22 PE, Trainz Plus and Trainz Plus beta by the same name. So how does the user know which one to pick? To make the situation even worse, the Add / Remove Program app can't list the folder that each install of Trainz is located in which would give the user a clue as to which one to pick. The BCR program I suggested at least manages to provide that information.

Now there are times when a program's uninstall.dat file is corrupt or missing. The builtin Add / Remove Programs app will fail to uninstall a program. That is when a program like BCR comes in handy.
 
Well, I opted to use the uninstaller mentioned by Wreeder in answer #4.
It worked fine, I was able to identify and select which version to delete, although the AppData folder is still intact. So, I'll have to delete it manually.
However, I might have to edit "userdata-redirect-map.txt" , since it keeps the old path, obviously ... the uninstaller has no reason to edit or delete it.
So I assume I could have done it manually - as we talked about above - by simply deleting the folders involved. Later I'll comment on how it went with the new "fresh" installation and if some things came up along the way.
Actually, I was hoping for more opinions on this, but it seems that it's not something that is talked about very often on the Forum, on Discord -Trainz Support channel- there was simply no response.
 
Ok, all run ok ... "Redirect-userdata.txt" was updated by itself when I installed.
Although I have two Builds 126273 again, it put me back to Platinum background on both (which was annoying me). So I just modified one of them a bit and it's easier to tell apart -for me-
Now, load some specific CDPs and it's ready ...

 
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