Very strange problem

J

jigawatts

Flux Capacitor
Ok, so since I bought Trainz 2010 about a month ago I've just been running it in native mode. Over the weekend, I thought I'd try out compatibility mode to see what kind of a difference it made. I was pleased to see that it made sporbust's locos available to use. Yesterday I decided to switch back to native mode, and then restarted Trainz so the change would take effect. The first thing I noticed that wasn't right was that on the initial menu screen, there were only 5 buttons instead of six. The button for Tutorials is completely gone. Then, when I launch a route in Surveyor mode, almost all of the content now shows in the list as red, and you can't place it on the map. This is all content that worked fine in native mode BEFORE I used compatibility mode. So I switched back to compatibility mode. The Tutorials button reappears and all the content works. I switch back to native mode again. Same problem, no Tutorials button and 98% of the content is red and can't be used. I've tried doing an extended database repair and that didn't have any effect. Anyone have any idea what in the heck happened? I'm really hoping I don't have to completely remove Trainz and reinstall everything from scratch. BTW, I'm running build 44088.

Thanks,
Mark
 
That is worrying. I was thinking of trying out the compatibility mode (I also have build 44088), but I think I will hold back for now. I hope someone comes up with a solution.
 
You are better off just doing a new fresh install and fresh patches while remembering to have your virus scanner off.
 
Well, I agree with Mcguirel, you need to try a fresh install. I regulairy switch from native to compatebility mode and back with that build number and have no problems at all.

Greetings from nighttime Amsterdam,

Jan
 
Jananton said:
Well, I agree with Mcguirel, you need to try a fresh install. I regulairy switch from native to compatebility mode and back with that build number and have no problems at all.

Greetings from nighttime Amsterdam,

Jan
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree and would do the same thing, Jan. Switching should not wreckthe content.

How are you doing? It's been nasty cold and snowy all winter, but spring is coming. It was 15c today!

John
 
JCitron said:
How are you doing? It's been nasty cold and snowy all winter, but spring is coming. It was 15c today!

John
Click to expand...
Well, we had about a month of really winter like weather even for dutch standards over here round christmas, but since the end of januari it's around the 10c over all. They're telling us its gonna be colder over the weekend, but I don't hold my breath. :hehe:

Greetings from sunny Amsterdam,

Jan
 
A fresh install and fresh patches sounds so easy but you don't mention the time involved with making sure you have assets backed up, installing the patches and running the database repair. Most of those patches take hours to install and need to be run overnight. To me, it is a total pain and 2010 isn't worth it because it craps out every 3 to 6 months for no apparent reason on my machine and I can't get any help from Auran to find the problem. It messed up again last month. I sent the following ticket to the help desk on Jan 29th.

System info: Windows Vista (SP2) 32 bit running on AMD Athlon 64X2 dual core processor 6000+ and 3 gigs ram. Display: Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT with latest drivers.

Yesterday I ran Trainz 2010 (version 44088) and downloaded from the DLS the following 2 items.
CAT 950G Logger Kuid2:31891:29002:1
CAT 950G (2003) Kuid2:31891:29001:1
After downloading and installing the items, I ran trainz in both surveyor and driver mode with no problem. I then closed the program. The computer stayed on overnight and this morning, Trainz will not start. I can open the CM but when I try to launch trainz, I get the following message:

Your computer hardware and or software is unable to communicate correctly with trainz.
Ensure you have:
Installed DirectX9
Installed the latest driver for your video card
Tried both OpenGL and DirectX settings
If the above does not work, please consult your manual or visit Technical Support etc etc

I made no changes to my computer. I did not install any new programs. I am running the program as administrator. I have done a database repair this morning after I found trainz would not start. I have Trainz 2009 and it starts and runs fine, no problems that I can tell.
This is the third time in a year that I have had a problem with Trainz 2010. Both other times, I had to uninstall and reinstall trainz. I do not want to have to do it again. It is a real pain to get all the patches back in and the extended data base repair. HELP!!!

Now I would think that 3 weeks should be plenty of time to send some kind of a response. I have received nothing. N3V games has had plenty of time to send me all kinds of ads etc about new products they want me to buy and offering me specials on FTC's but no reply to my help desk ticket. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I am not about to spend anymore money with N3V when they will not ever support what I have already bought.

Thanks to Tomahawk, I have managed to get 2010 going again without the fresh installed (for a 3rd time) and fresh patches. Auran might as well take their help desk and put it where the sun don't shine. It is worthless.

A nice letter to "ripoffreport.com" seems to be in order here.
 
Last edited:
Give them time - they have a lot of support requests to deal with, not just yours (I've got 2 on the go for example)

What they are probably doing is temporarily skipping over your ticket so they can spend more time on it when the simpler ones are dealt with.

As for the error message, it may be worth seeing if there are any updates to your graphics card and DirectX files.

Have you tried OpenGL and DirectX mode as the message suggests (also, it may be worth reverting the settings to default in the Trainz Options box, then re-set your username, password, resolution etc)


Shane

EDIT: As the problem seems to have started after installing some assets, try removing them and seeing if that makes a difference - also try restarting your computer, as I am aware of an issue if you try to re-launch Trainz without shutting down/restarting your system.
 
Just try validating all your assets. Go into CMP, use the search filter to find all installed, faulty assets, select them all, and select View Errors and Warnings. This forces the Trainz database to be validated, since a lot of assets may appear faulty but are not when actually checked. Doing an Extended Database Repair before doing this might not be such a bad idea either, since the validation process is usually a follow-up to that procedure. Let us know how it goes.
 
I can understand your frustration. A reinstall is a lot of work. And N3V is blaming your machine. I'm not making excuses for N3V, but there are a lot of machines out there with differing hardware, software, and settings. I'm quite cautious, at this point to change any operating settings in Trainz 2010 for fear of screwing something up. (If it works, don't fix it!)
But curiosity got the best of me here, just what did you do to get Trainz running again. Perhaps your experience will shed some light on a problem others may run into at some future date.
Regards
 
That is true - especially on the graphics side.

Normally though, when someone uninstalls the game to reinstall, they do not always do a registry clean, which can make a difference.

Make sure the resolution, bit depth etc are set correctly.

Shane
 
@skidmark22

I had exactly the same message after TS2009 decided to rebuild my asset database for some unknown reason.

Your computer hardware and or software is unable to communicate correctly with trainz.
Ensure you have:
Installed DirectX9
Installed the latest driver for your video card
Tried both OpenGL and DirectX settings
If the above does not work, please consult your manual or visit Technical Support etc etc

I discovered it had changed some of the settings in the Launcher for no accountable reason. In particular it had checked the Disable Hardware TL box in the Advanced Options in the Launcher. I unchecked this box and everything returned to normal.

Scottish
 
Ok, I finally had enough time to get this done yesterday. Completely wiped out the old installation and reinstalled from scratch, patched to 44088 again, and reinstalled my Jointed Rail content. Everything seems to be working fine now (boy does that take a LONG time to do). Not sure what caused that problem to begin with, but just to be safe, I won't be trying compatibility mode anymore. Thanks for the replies.

Thanks,
Mark
 
jigawatts said:
Ok, I finally had enough time to get this done yesterday. Completely wiped out the old installation and reinstalled from scratch, patched to 44088 again, and reinstalled my Jointed Rail content. Everything seems to be working fine now (boy does that take a LONG time to do). Not sure what caused that problem to begin with, but just to be safe, I won't be trying compatibility mode anymore. Thanks for the replies.

Thanks,
Mark
Click to expand...

Mark,

I'm glad to hear everything is going well again.

There's a possibility that Trainz was shutdown unexpectedly while the database was still closing. This will happen if you shut off your computer right away after using Trainz instead of waiting at least 10 minutes, minimum.

To see when TADDEMON and TrainzUtil have stopped processing, can enable the developer options. It's under the Options panel when you first start the program. I think it's the 3rd or 4th tab over inthe interface. Check the boxes.

With this enabled, you'll see the processes end, and when they close, it's safe to shutdown your computer.

John
 
Just a grain of salt lost in the void... On the matter of patching: I found a website that had the patches, all of them, but I can't recall where now. If you download the required ones onto your desktop, and install from there, things go much faster. Then, you save these patches (files) for the next time you need them. It makes life easier..
 
John,

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to remember that.

Also, I did download the patch to my PC and have it saved there. It still took about 3 hours to install the patch (running on a Vista 64-bit, E7400 2.8 GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD4850 with 512MB RAM). Not a big deal, but seems like a long time (I guess it's going through all 7 gigs of content that come with TS2010).

Thanks,
Mark
 
Referring back to my earlier post in this thread, I still haven't gotten a reply from the Help desk. It has been well over a month. Thanks to the friendly souls who help me fix it or I would have already deleted it (TRS2010) and moved on to better things. It is obvious that N3V is no help what-so-ever. They have had plenty of time and resources to send me all kinds of ads about their products and newsletters. Do they really expect me to buy something else from them when they can't even support what I already have. They are either very STUPID or just don't give a damn. I suspect the latter.

They might want to put the following in their next newsletter.

"Don't depend on our helpdesk to help solve any problems you might have. It is very screwed up and besides, we only answer help request of clique members (if we can find someone who knows the answer). Don't let this stop you from buy any of our products. We need the money to send our helpdesk personnel to school.

PS: Scottish, you hit the nail on the head. The big question is "WHY" does it change.
 
Last edited:
@skidmark22

I assume from your last post that your problem has now been fixed by following my post and that, although you are complaining about the help desk response, you are OK now.

I do not know why it changed my settings without warning but I know that I did not shut down my computer too soon after running CM3 or TS2009, therefore there was no reason for tademon or trainzutil to change anything. I put it down to another unexplainable problem with SP4.

Scottish
 
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