Unknown Assets
- Thread starter NWHY6
- Start date
PhilChorusch01
Well-known member
If they are unknown, generally means 2 things!
1) Payware asset
2) Asset not available on the DLS, hosted elsewhere
Trying search https://trainzland.ru/
If you can't find the asset on Trainzland, it's payware for certain!
1) Payware asset
2) Asset not available on the DLS, hosted elsewhere
Trying search https://trainzland.ru/
If you can't find the asset on Trainzland, it's payware for certain!
Not true. There are DOZENS of third-party sites around the world that host Trainz content, and a relatively small sample is at Trainzland, mostly older assets. There is a thread in the General forum for posting missing asset KUIDs, where some of the rest of us may be able to help you find them, although these days it seems to be about a 50-50 shot.
You CAN sort by KUID number in CM and DLS. In your CM, right-click on the column labels at the top and select "Insert Column". You will find several columns you can add to help your searches. One of them is "Asset ID" Once you have this column added, you can click on it to sort by KUID. I do it a lot to help folks that post in the missing KUIDs thread in order to see if I have it and maybe where I got it.
At any rate, you can't delete unknown assets, because you don't have them anyway. What you want to delete are the REFERENCES to unknown assets.
If you want to delete (references to) a missing asset, there are two ways. If it is a dependency for a route, load the route in Surveyor and then locate "Delete Missing Assets" in the menu. Note that when you do this you will have to save a copy of the route under your own ID. If there are sessions, you will then have to point them at your map instead of the original (NOTE: you may also want to check the description of the route to see if it contains links for dependencies, or if it names the site or contact info for the route creator, and if it is a freeware route, see if there is a thread for the route under the Freeware forum, as this may have links to dependencies, or you can post asking about them).
If the dependency is for a regular asset, like a hornsound or an enginespec for a loco, you can replace it in the config.txt file with a suitable substitute. Sometimes by editing the config.txt file you can determine what the missing KUID is by finding it in the file and seeing what kind of tag it is. (If you try to use this method on routes, be aware that it will work temporarily, but if you ever do a DBR Trainz will notice it still has an asset missing from the route and will again report the route as missing dependencies.)
You CAN sort by KUID number in CM and DLS. In your CM, right-click on the column labels at the top and select "Insert Column". You will find several columns you can add to help your searches. One of them is "Asset ID" Once you have this column added, you can click on it to sort by KUID. I do it a lot to help folks that post in the missing KUIDs thread in order to see if I have it and maybe where I got it.
At any rate, you can't delete unknown assets, because you don't have them anyway. What you want to delete are the REFERENCES to unknown assets.
If you want to delete (references to) a missing asset, there are two ways. If it is a dependency for a route, load the route in Surveyor and then locate "Delete Missing Assets" in the menu. Note that when you do this you will have to save a copy of the route under your own ID. If there are sessions, you will then have to point them at your map instead of the original (NOTE: you may also want to check the description of the route to see if it contains links for dependencies, or if it names the site or contact info for the route creator, and if it is a freeware route, see if there is a thread for the route under the Freeware forum, as this may have links to dependencies, or you can post asking about them).
If the dependency is for a regular asset, like a hornsound or an enginespec for a loco, you can replace it in the config.txt file with a suitable substitute. Sometimes by editing the config.txt file you can determine what the missing KUID is by finding it in the file and seeing what kind of tag it is. (If you try to use this method on routes, be aware that it will work temporarily, but if you ever do a DBR Trainz will notice it still has an asset missing from the route and will again report the route as missing dependencies.)
What is the solution then for replacing unknown assets if you can't get them? You can't do a kuid swap in the config, because later on the kuid's will still come up missing. There is no way to do bulk and replace in surveyor, and how do you know where the missing assets are supposed to be on the route? For missing splines the white dashes will show, but what about missing buildings, signs, trees, etc.? Are they just invisible or is there a way to show where they are supposed to go?
@NWHY6 -
1.) Use google to search for the kuid numbers for each unknown asset.
2.) If you find a website hosting the missing (unknown) assets. Download them. They will often be in zipped archive files, which will contain the proprietary container file that trainz uses for import/export of assets, called a CDP file.
3.) Extract the CDP from the .zip file if needed, using WinRar.
4.) Drag and drop the cdp into a Content Manager window, wait for the files to install.
5.) You can also subscribe to https://www.trainzkuidindex.com/ @15USD per year. This site is the best Kuid finding tool available. Many Trainzers use it.
Rico
If I don't know which object is missing (buildings, signs, trees, etc) or I don't know where to get it. Take any skyscraper to quickly find it locations,
open skyscraper folder through the CM, copied it to another location, change skyscraper kuid to missing one and import it back through the CM.
Then open the route in the surveyor, you will quickly find this skyscraper and then replace it with any more suitable object in a standard way.
In this way, you can replace the missing one with what you consider more convenient for you. It is also possible to replace the missing rolling stock in sessions.
Replace all the missing ones with cars, and then evaluate the exact replacement in the surveyor.
Usually, I take as a donor one asset of bright color or easily noticeable from the intended group, the one that definitely cannot be on the route or session,
and assign to it sequentially all the missing KUIDs and then import it all through CM.
EDIT: After replacing the missing rolling stock with identical cars, click the question mark in the surveyor, and then click on each replaced car to see the real name of each missing one.
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Back before there was the bulk update/delete tool, I did this to replace some really horrible trees. I took an even more horrible tree that glowed bright orange and did what you did with it giving the clone the same kuid as the awful tree I wanted to delete.
I then navigated over the route in Surveyor to seek out and delete this tree from the route.
Once I did that, I delete that cloned bright orange tree to restore the original kuid.
What do you do when you have five unknowns that can't be found anywhere and all you have is the user IDs and kuids? I have no idea if they are a building, spline, or what. Is there a way to find out what kind of asset they are and where they were placed on the route? If you delete missing assets, does that permanently remove all references to the assets and then they will never show up if you found them in the future?
The only tried and tested remedies are:-
- read through the missing-kuids-post-them-here thread in these forums but that thread is approaching 3,500 posts so it will be a long read.
- do a Google search using the kuid. You can sometimes get lucky
- send a PM or email to the route/session creator and (politely) ask them. You may also get lucky and get a response (but the site they may give you may no longer exist
)
Welcome to that (un)popular Trainz pastime called the "Hunt the Missing Assets Game".
I am guessing that you installed a route or a session that contained these endearing mysteries. Did the creator of that route/session give any indication in their description of where to find them? Most likely not. It is also possible that they could not even tell you where they got them from. It is often the attitude that "if it is installed in my copy of Trainz then it must also be in everyone's copy of Trainz, right?"
Before I upload a route or a session to the DLS I check that every dependency I have referenced is either built-in or installed from the DLS but alas some creators do not do this simple check. I even have a DLS and built-in only (DLC and Third Party free) copy of Trainz to make the check even easier.
Few creators bother to inform users in their asset descriptions of where to find the missing assets (but if the downloaded asset is old then the site they identify may no longer exist - but that is another long story).
[Rant Mode OFF]
The answers are YES and YES.
Unfortunately, in my experience, deleting the missing assets is often the best solution. Usually if I download a route/session that has missing and unidentifiable assets then I delete the entire route/session and move on with my life. If the creator could not be bothered then neither can I. The only exceptions to this have been the (rare) occasion where I thought that the route/session was worthy and I have then simply replaced the missing assets with ones that I already have.
Hint: if the missing assets are in a forest then the chances are they are trees and pretty much any trees will do. Where this runs into problems is where the missing assets are an important part of the route infrastructure (e.g. industries, track, tunnels, bridges, etc) that may not be easily replaced. In these cases my "delete the route/session and move on" solution applies.
Hope this helps
Peter.
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