What are the gotchas of moving the data folder?

frogpipe

Yesterdayz Trainz Member
Goal: to have a "clean" install of TRS2019 available AND be able to revert to my original install later.

Proposed Method: change the data folder to a new folder and let the game populate it.

Then, by changing the data folder in the laucher settings, would I be able to switch back and forth between my installs, or will that overwrite the contents?

I'd like to be able to introduce my route to a vanilla install as proof positive that there won't be (or identify) dependancy issues when I'm ready to upload it to the DLS.
 
When you do a new install it will install as a complete install separate from any you have already got.
It will install the program on the drive you select and install a new data folder on your C drive. They will run as two separate installs each with its own data folder. Do a CDP of your route and session from the old program and then import it into the new one. Do a list of dependencies and download all the assets for the route and session. This will have all the latest asset versions.
 
I specifically didn't say new install because I can't do that.

Steam version won't allow seperate installs. The steam app knows where the game is supposed to be and if I launch the exe from a different folder it only takes me to the steam store page to buy TRS2022. If I remove the Steam API dll the exe crashes and complains the dll is missing.

&#!&@ Steam.

That's why I'm proposing this data folder tom foolery.
 
Your proposal will work. Each time you point your install to a new local data folder, the game will do a db repair, so there is an overhead depending on the size of your db.

The alternative in Trainz Plus is to use the Content Package palette which works out the packages required for the installed content used in a route.
 
Heres my experience.

I made a new folder (trainz_2019_test) and then started the game. From the setting in launcher, I changed the data folder to my new folder. Closed the game, restarted the game, and it behaved like a brand new install (most routes showed "download" for instance). I had to choose graphic settings and reenter my login for the DLS of course.

Once I was done I chnaged the data folder back to the original location. Closes the game, restarted the game, and it was like it always had been. All content I had previously installed was again available.

It didn't even start a database rebuild. Although I did one for good measure.

So there you have it. It works, with no problems.
 
Heres my experience.

I made a new folder (trainz_2019_test) and then started the game. From the setting in launcher, I changed the data folder to my new folder. Closed the game, restarted the game, and it behaved like a brand new install (most routes showed "download" for instance). I had to choose graphic settings and reenter my login for the DLS of course.

Once I was done I chnaged the data folder back to the original location. Closes the game, restarted the game, and it was like it always had been. All content I had previously installed was again available.

It didn't even start a database rebuild. Although I did one for good measure.

So there you have it. It works, with no problems.

We've done that for recovery when things have gone a bit awry. Recreating the database and data structure helps sometimes with this and save reinstalling everything from scratch.

The alternative is to copy or move your current data-folder to another drive or location and then re-establish a connection in the program through the launcher. Once reconnected, everything starts up as if nothing is amiss and usually there's no database repair required.

When you moved your data, and created a new folder, did you name the folder to something more obvious? This is something many of us do because it helps us find the data folders easily when we're modifying or repairing content.
 
My usual folder is named "trainz_trs2019_content" in the root of a sata3 HDD (I don't want to beat up my SSD with all the editing I do)

My reason for doing this wasn't to fix an issue, it was to have a bullet proof way to check if a little route I just uploaded would install with no dependency issues beyond needing a few things off the DLS.

This gave me 2019 NA edition FROM STEAM with NO DLC installed to test it on. Steam doesn't allow the "copy the game to another folder" method like the version from trainzportal does.

As it turned out there were a few tweaks needed.

https://www.kvrailroad.com/2022/12/a-christmas-gift/
 
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That's a smart thing to do with your data folder. I called my TRS22+ data folder TRS22_DATA and I put it on my current platter-type drive. Like yours, this folder too is at the route. This is very helpful when you need to edit content because it beats digging through the App Data folder and all that to get to the data.

Steam isn't forgiving about placing things where you like to. I have a few games I play in that environment and it's annoying when I need to find data or do something with the programs.

Your little Christmas route is similar to one my uncles had. They also had the real American Flyer trains and I still have the locomotive and the track for that. These were the S-gauge trains which are bit smaller than the Lionel O27 and the set came with a talking station. When the train passed over a relay switch, an announcement was made. The set also had crossing gates, and the rest of the switches. They also had a Lionel set with the 3-rail track and big switches with red and green panels on the knob to represent signals. Like the Lionel set, these trains are also put away safely in a box and maybe someday I'll set them up on display now that my nephews are grown up. They were not nice kids and were quite destructive as well as thieves. We lost more than a few valuable things after many visits when they were young.
 
Yikes.

I dont think I've ever seen S in person, I dont know how much O American Flyer made, but we had those.

Sadly I have zero idea what happened to it all after my grandparents had passed. Every now and then I troll the net but I never see that Marx set he had. I see similar ones, clearly produced in the same era, and all the cars as individual pieces, but never that particular set.
 
The same here with the Lionel and S-gauge pieces my uncles had. I found the talking station but not a lot of the other pieces.

S gauge is 1:64 scale versus 1:27 scale for Lionel.

It's a bit bigger than HO but much smaller than Lionel. It also ran on a two-rail system and came with a rubber-base for the track "ballast".
 
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