Why wont trainz 2012 work properly.

[JCitron]

Hjaam,

If your database keeps crashing, this is a sign that Trainz has not been closed down properly, or not allowed to initialize properly after being installed, and usually after installing a patch.

When installing the program, please allow the program to complete it's tasks such as running a database update. This will happen automatically when the program starts the first time. What it is doing is building an index of your content so it knows what you have installed.

If you've installed a patch successfully, you need to let the program complete the database repair (update), otherwise your program will never start properly, ever.

This update/repair process can take some time, so let your computer do its things without interruption, and without other programs running.

Now the other issue mentioned above that cause databases crashes, is not letting the program shutdown all the files before turning off your computer. The program may look as though it has shutdown, when you exit the program, but in reality it has not shutdown. What is happening is it is running some clean-up tasks in the background. The safest thing to do for your program is to wait at least 5 or 10 minutes before turning off your PC.

If you want to ensure the program has in fact closed down, enable database process consoles, which is found under the developer tab in the options menu.

While the program runs, there are little command prompt windows that will stay in your task bar. If you were to click on the process, you can see what is happening with different parts of the processing. If you have two monitors, like I have, you can keep these windows open on your one monitor with Trainz running on the other.

With these processes running like this, you know when it is safe to turn your computer off when these windows have closed on their own.

John

 

[HJAAM]

To Martinvk,
Yes your right, but english is a world languages. I have been truckdriver for many years thru europe. In most countrys people speaking english if you ask for it. So this is not to difficult for each of us.

I have installed TR12 as a stand alone program. Let it finished all the way.
At the first startup it was making the database, and let it finished. That did take not lang about 10 min.
Then the patch came out. Let this do his job. When this was ready, i looked into taskmanager to see if all trainz programs where finished. (and TADDaemon)
Then restarted the computer, started ts12, and then it started the database asset building again.
Because it's a new program the first time i tought it was normal but it hangs.
Could not even open taskmanager, so i had to shutdown the computer.
If i could not open a system file like taskmanager (ctrl-alt-del) and the computer is not responding on anything then i asume that there is something wrong.
To see what was going on i started first whatsrunning then tr12 and let tr12 run at the background.
This program shows all about processes, network, system etc.
With this program on and tr12 on the background it finished its job.
Then closed whatsrunning, and take tr12 to the foreground.
I made my first ride for about 10 miles and then the crashes occure.

I started tr12 again it takes about 5 min to popup the first screen.
Then i chose content. This takes about 10 min to popup.
Deleted all assets that has warnings, obselete, faulty etc.
Let content do his job and closed tr12. In taskmanager let TADDaemon finish. Takes about 5 min. This all to cleanup the database and make it ligther to work.

Started up tr12, now it takes about 2 sec when the first screen appears.
started routes, picked a route and session, now i can drive a train. Some times it looks like tr12 will stop, but then it suddenly jumps forward.
At this point sometimes tr12 crashed.
In the logs the only thing i see is that there was written to a memory adres that is not allowed. And this happens all the time.

In surveyor it's not possible to work properly. When you switch from F1 to F3 it takes 4 to 5 min to react and sometimes it will not react at all and crashed. Here i cant open taskmanager and must reset the computer.

After setting up tr12 tree times and trying to get it properly to work it seems that there are faults during setup, without any warnings.
These faults are, in my opinion, in TADDaemon.
It looks like TADDaemon is not handling the assets in the right way, or is to heavy loaded with all kind of rules or something that it will not work properly.
TADdaemon must read and write to adresses to setup and show the assets, if something goes wrong there, the program hangs.

Now this is also why i say work in english and not in your own language. Even windows has trouble when you try to install a program in a different language, with different types of letters, it will not work properly.
Thats why i say that there must be a standard language.

 

[martinvk]

Well you certainly have tried to get TS12 to work. One think occurred to me, you said before

Operating System Information

Operating System Name:Microsoft Windows XP Professional|C:\WINDOWS|\Device\Harddisk0\Partitio n1
Build:2600(Multiprocessor Free)
Service Pack:3.0
Status: OK

Memory Information

Total/Free Physical Memory (in GB):3,25/2,52

Graphics Card Information

Graphics Card 1
Graphics Card:NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
Driver Version:6.14.12.8558
Date of current driver:20111008045000.000000-000
Video Memory:0,50 GB (512,00 MB)

Processor Information

Number of Logical Processors: 4
Processor:Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66GHz
Current Clock Speed:3,33 Ghz
Maximum Clock Speed:3,33 Ghz
External Clock Speed (If present):0,33 Ghz
Processor Type:32 Bit
(In Ubuntu 64 bit and 4Gb mem)
Processor Status:OK
Processor information can be affected by power management and certain processor features.

Is your XP running natively or running as a process under Ubuntu?
Where is TS12 installed and what are the permissions of that location?

It sounds like you're having write issues.

On my Win7, I installed TS12 in a separate drive and not in the proposed "Crogram files" folder. Too many read-write permission issues to resolve.

 

[HJAAM]

My windows xp is running native. Ubuntu is setup apart from windows.
I have one disk connected as sata in 2 partitions C, D.

TR12 is setup on my D drive.

Other disk are network and usb, witch are to slow for tr12.

As i mentioned before i don't think it has nothing to do with the drives.
Even Flight simulator X from microsoft is perfectly running. screen 1280x1024 32bit.

I still think it has todo with the way TADDaemon is handling data from and to trainz.exe and trainzutil.exe.
Even when tr12 is running, and i get in surveyor it takes much to long to change from rail settings to building settings (takes about 2min to change) and it looks like tr12 is crashed. Ground textures is a total disaster because the program hangs.

In the database checkscreen i see that there are some files that couldend be opened. (.txt files)

I now have deleted for the 4 time all off tr12 and downloaded all files again.
But that takes some time to do.
In the mean time i clean-up the D drive, do a chkdsk on it, defrag it and run ccleaner on it. When finished downloading i can install it on a fresh drive.

So i let you now when finished.

 

[sniper297]

"I still think it has todo with the way TADDaemon is handling data from and to trainz.exe and trainzutil.exe.
Even when tr12 is running, and i get in surveyor it takes much to long to change from rail settings to building settings (takes about 2min to change) and it looks like tr12 is crashed. Ground textures is a total disaster because the program hangs."

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=59346

So much for the claim it's my hardware that's the problem, this guy has better than recommended specs and has the exact same trouble I do. :wave:

HJAAM, I have the exact same problems you say, I have AT&T DSL and my suspicion is that TADDaemon.exe is accessing the internet while driver or surveyor is running and that's what causes the freezing. Do you have dialup, DSL, or cable internet?

 

[JCitron]

My windows xp is running native. Ubuntu is setup apart from windows.
I have one disk connected as sata in 2 partitions C, D.

TR12 is setup on my D drive.

Other disk are network and usb, witch are to slow for tr12.

As i mentioned before i don't think it has nothing to do with the drives.
Even Flight simulator X from microsoft is perfectly running. screen 1280x1024 32bit.

I still think it has todo with the way TADDaemon is handling data from and to trainz.exe and trainzutil.exe.
Even when tr12 is running, and i get in surveyor it takes much to long to change from rail settings to building settings (takes about 2min to change) and it looks like tr12 is crashed. Ground textures is a total disaster because the program hangs.

In the database checkscreen i see that there are some files that couldend be opened. (.txt files)

I now have deleted for the 4 time all off tr12 and downloaded all files again.
But that takes some time to do.
In the mean time i clean-up the D drive, do a chkdsk on it, defrag it and run ccleaner on it. When finished downloading i can install it on a fresh drive.

So i let you now when finished.

Please let us know, Hjaam.

I think the problem this time was killing of TADDaemon. You should have let the program finish what it was doing. Did you see my post on the database operation?

Once you get past this buffer stop, you'll be off and rolling.

John

 

[martinvk]

I agree. It's really too bad the TADDaemon does its work so silently in the background. People don't realize it is still working and shut down their computer or kill the program resulting in database problems.

Be sure to show Trainz processes so that TADDaemon shows up in the windows taskbar so you can see when it has also finished after you close Trainz.

 

[JCitron]

I agree. It's really too bad the TADDaemon does its work so silently in the background. People don't realize it is still working and shut down their computer or kill the program resulting in database problems.

Be sure to show Trainz processes so that TADDaemon shows up in the windows taskbar so you can see when it has also finished after you close Trainz.

Martin,

I'm going to post something over in the suggestions boxcar. How would a progress bar that moves on the screen for the duration of the shutdown process once Trainz closes?

Something like an install bar, but instead says "Please wait until TADD shuts down before turning your computer off."

 

[HJAAM]

I have cable internet. But it is the sending server that is working slow. My opinion: a server with to much connections to the outside world that it not can handle. that's why the download speed often is so low or not even make a connection. Time out's are more often then a normal download. And that is what you see back in the game.

@JCitron
Don't make to many bars in the program, that's cpu time that the program needs. When you open taskmanager you can see that TADD is running. Oke that also is cpu time, but in windows and not in TADD.

 

[HJAAM]

Mayby dont close tr12 until TADD is finished. With a message that it is still running and organize the database.

 

[shaneturner12]

I think that's why they added the 'show database process windows' tickbox in the Trainz Options box (Developer tab)

Shane

 

[Driver_Col]

Hi Guys - I am not sure whether this will help, but I recently bought/installed TS12 on a relatively high end system and had disappointing results. The solution was to customize my Graphics program (NVIDIA GeForce GTS250) and stop TS12 from determining the graphics settings.

Regards. Colin.

 

[sniper297]

Main problem seems to be internet connection speed and "static", if you have an internet connection that instantly loads pages and youtube videos you don't have a problem. If pages load slowly and videos or images load, stop, load some more, hesitate, load a few kilobytes quickly then slow down, you're going to have problems from whatever it is TADDaemon is doing in the background. Poor design, if it's really necessary for this to connect to the internet it would be better if it did what it had to do when the program starts - however long that takes - and get out of there leaving system resources free for driver and surveyor to do what they're supposed to be doing. Normally when using surveyor TADDaemon uses 1% to 3% of the CPU, change tabs and it jumps to 10% to 20% while surveyor freezes - how long and how much activity probably depends on how good the internet connection is that day.

Change to the terrain paint tab and TADDaemon goes spastic, jumping all over the place between 0 and 50%. No movement here, I'm not actually painting, leave it sit like that watching TADDaemon do the herky-jerky for 8 1/2 minutes and it freezes solid. Not a hardware problem, when I first got TS2010 I had XP SP2, 375 watt power supply, Pentium D 2.8ghz, ATI X550, 1 gig generic RAM, Maxtor L160. Now I have XP SP3, 550 watt power supply, Pentium D 3.4ghz, Nvidia 8500GT, 2 gigs Crucial Ballistix, Western Digital 500. Only thing still the same is the motherboard and the ISP, does it in every version from TS2009 SP4 on, does not do it in TS2009 SP3 because TS2009 SP3 is not possessed by the Daemon.

So what exactly IS the Daemon doing?!

Type "ZX" in the selection window, since there are no textures starting with ZX the list of textures is empty, TADDaemon settles down and goes back to sleep. This won't freeze, but disable all but one built in texture so only one texture is showing in the selection menu, TADDaemon goes nuts for 8 1/2 minutes then freezes the program. The reason why N3V can't duplicate this in house is because they never tried it with a bad internet connection.

 

[shaneturner12]

Sniper297,

Just out of interest, have you checked if TrainzUtil is also running during these freezes? It has been known to run to check the assets for faults and missing dependencies whilst in game.

Shane

 

[sniper297]

Which it shouldn't be, efficient programming saves all system resources for what the game needs here and now. Yes and no, occasionally when launching from content mangler I see trainzutil.exe running for a few minutes while the game menus are loading, but TADDaemon is the cause of the paint freeze. Look at the picture, the processes filter is set to show which processes are using the CPU the most. And I have tried this with the firewall and antivirus completely uninstalled with the ethernet cable unplugged and Trainz set for offline mode with the empty username and password, also making sure ichat is turned off, it does it every time. Trainzutil is not running at all when the pauses from changing tabs happen, it's only TADDaemon.exe and trainz.exe, and trainz.exe always drops to zero CPU usage while TADDaemon jerks around for a minute or two, new tab slowly lurches into the open position then TADDaemon settles down and trainz.exe starts working again. GPU usage in the Nvidia system monitor also drops to zero while this is going on. Believe me, I've been living with this for over a year, I know exactly what's doing what because I've had a long long time to set the monitors and examine it while trying full screen / windowed / openGL / DirectX / you name it.

 

[shaneturner12]

I agree it shouldn't be doing it, but it does.

Makes me wonder if it's due to a faulty texture (if it only happens on that tab).

Some textures (esp. built-in ones) are faulty but Trainz hides the errors unless you open for edit and recommit (which you probably already know)

Shane

 

[sniper297]

That was the first guess, but with nothing except built in textures it does it, disable all but one texture so there's only one little green square showing it does it, disable that texture and enable a different one it still does it. Whatever subroutine is used to display the textures is the problem, and again it does not do it in TS2009 SP3 or earlier since those don't have TADDaemon.exe - that was introduced for the first time in TS2009 SP4. Nothing wrong with the textures themselves, what I did after help desk closed down the ticket a year ago was to fire up surveyor, create a new route named "palette" and set an oven timer for 5 minutes. Open the paint tab, frantically spray a swatch of each color on the ground until the timer goes off, save and get out before it freezes. Repeat several times, until I have a swatch of each color on the ground to pick from using the pick tool. After that I start a new route from Palette, type ZX in the paintbrush window, then I can paint terrain all day selecting colors from the ground with the pick tool. Stupid workaround but the only way I could actually create a route.

 

[shaneturner12]

Sounds like a TS2009 SP4 (and possibly later) bug to me.

Might be worth checking if it's my bugs thread - I can supply a link to it if required.

Shane

 

[sniper297]

Well, I first tripped over it with TS2010, just got TS2009 last month because I assumed it would run better than 2010 or 12 on my systems because it had lower hardware requirements. It doesn't. But I have confirmed and can duplicate every time in every version of TS2010 and TS12 so far, recent testing with 2009 shows the problem exists in TS2009 SP4, does not exist in TS2009 SP3.

One thought - Silent Hunter 3 and 4? How many people having this problem have or once had a game from Ubisoft installed? Could this be a conflict with StarForce or SecuRom DRM?

 

[shaneturner12]

It may be - emulators, and some disc protection software can interfere with Trainz.

It may be, as I have TS2009 SP4 (as you may know from my other threads) and have not come across that particular issue.

Shane