Disappearing Work in TANE

I have been working on a very large install for months now. I lost all my work except the landscaping and painting. All track and objects were gone. After contacting tech support I received a quick response that told me they don't recommend doing the work in a session. Where they recommend this is still lost on me but I began the long process of reinstalling my work in Routes.

I am now experiencing lost work again. I first relaid double track over the entire 64 mile route as well as some branch lines. I've reinstalled a portion of the thousands of trees that were lost in the crash. I began reinstalling a small yard today. I went into edit session to add my trains and commands but when I went to quickdrive to test it I found that the track had disappeared.

After recovering from my own meltdown with the prospect of more lost work in TANE, I was able to figure out that the track was invisible though some spline points could be seen. The track was still there holding invisible trains. I was successful at deleting the invisible trains which allowed me to delete the invisible track. I next attempted a smaller install but the same thing happened.

I then tried to install just the track with no trains in a completely different section of the layout and found the track disappeared again.

I have another ticket in at the help desk but I wanted to share this experience with the group in hopes of finding others that may be having the same problems. I love the TANE product and I don't want to go back to the previous versions of Trainz (or Train Simulator) because of these issues. But the lack of stability (as well as the barren field of user created content) make large builds in TANE too risky to continue. I have lost countless hours of work and I'm afraid of revisiting this frustration again.

I continually save my work, typically when I get the 'blue wheel of death' that regularly appears after a short time. I think the wheel may be tied into the 'Auto-save' feature but will only go away when I pull down a menu so I take the opportunity to manually save my work when it appears. Even after saving, my work has disappeared.

Any thoughts or help understanding what I can do to prevent losing so much work is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Monty

Welcome to the forums.

What build are you using (5-digit number on Launcher)?

Shane

Editing route - On saving merge session with route then save. Works for me and never lost anything in TANE.

Build: 81296

Welcome to the forums.

It sounds like you did most of your work on the session layer and not the route layer.

Go into Surveyor and click on what appears to be a stack of papers. These are layers. Use this to merge the session into the route by following the screen.

Once this is merged, save and exit.

Going forward, edit route instead of session when you are putting down track, buildings, trees and other physical stuff, and use the session only for pacing consists and setting up industries.

Hope this helps.

JCitron said:

Welcome to the forums.

It sounds like you did most of your work on the session layer and not the route layer.

Go into Surveyor and click on what appears to be a stack of papers. These are layers. Use this to merge the session into the route by following the screen.

Once this is merged, save and exit.

Going forward, edit route instead of session when you are putting down track, buildings, trees and other physical stuff, and use the session only for pacing consists and setting up industries.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

As I mentioned in my original post, my first build was done mostly in the sessions. When that was corrupted I lost everything but the landscaping and painting. Tech support gave me the same advise that you just gave me. The next attempt was done entirely in Routes. I am experiencing loss of track and trains placed in routes and accessed via quickdrive.

Have you tried accessing it without using Quickdrive (saving then exiting then going into Driver from the main routes list)?

Shane

shaneturner12 said:

Have you tried accessing it without using Quickdrive (saving then exiting then going into Driver from the main routes list)?

Shane

Click to expand...

Yes

I appreciate the questions in an attempt to understand my situation better.

I just went back in to be sure I followed the suggestion carefully and for the fourth time today I laid down the same track in routes. I closed out surveyor (in Routes) and entered the default session to place the consists. Most of the new track was gone. One new portion of track was there but was obviously no longer connected to anything. further down the track splines were showing but no track. A piece of track from a functioning and tested track was also gone.

montycrafter said:

As I mentioned in my original post, my first build was done mostly in the sessions. When that was corrupted I lost everything but the landscaping and painting. Tech support gave me the same advise that you just gave me. The next attempt was done entirely in Routes. I am experiencing loss of track and trains placed in routes and accessed via quickdrive.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. But I tried to 'follow the screen' and still have no idea how Layers work. I tried to put my default session into the Route. I have no idea if I did it correctly but when I tried to use the Merge Layer function after laying down the track again it gave me an error message that said I had duplicate names. Is this really what needs to be done by anyone working on a Route? I'll try to find more info on Layers but the frustration level with the way Trainz is configured is getting worse not better.

If it's recommended to only build certain things in routes and other things in sessions then why have all the buttons and functionality available in both? Doesn't make sense.

JCitron said:

Welcome to the forums.

It sounds like you did most of your work on the session layer and not the route layer.

Go into Surveyor and click on what appears to be a stack of papers. These are layers. Use this to merge the session into the route by following the screen.

Once this is merged, save and exit.

Going forward, edit route instead of session when you are putting down track, buildings, trees and other physical stuff, and use the session only for pacing consists and setting up industries.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I tried to respond to your post and ended up responding to my own. this is evidence of the level of computer skill I have. I'm disabled and have a very difficult time navigating the tech world. Thank you for your patience.

***********************************************

Thanks for the help. But I tried to 'follow the screen' and still have no idea how Layers work. I tried to put my default session into the Route. I have no idea if I did it correctly but when I tried to use the Merge Layer function after laying down the track again it gave me an error message that said I had duplicate names. Is this really what needs to be done by anyone working on a Route? I'll try to find more info on Layers but the frustration level with the way Trainz is configured is getting worse not better.

If it's recommended to only build certain things in routes and other things in sessions then why have all the buttons and functionality available in both? Doesn't make sense.

montycrafter said:

I tried to respond to your post and ended up responding to my own. this is evidence of the level of computer skill I have. I'm disabled and have a very difficult time navigating the tech world. Thank you for your patience.

***********************************************

Thanks for the help. But I tried to 'follow the screen' and still have no idea how Layers work. I tried to put my default session into the Route. I have no idea if I did it correctly but when I tried to use the Merge Layer function after laying down the track again it gave me an error message that said I had duplicate names. Is this really what needs to be done by anyone working on a Route? I'll try to find more info on Layers but the frustration level with the way Trainz is configured is getting worse not better.

If it's recommended to only build certain things in routes and other things in sessions then why have all the buttons and functionality available in both? Doesn't make sense.

Click to expand...

No worries. Take your time and we can get through this.

Layers are bit confusing to explain, sorry about being vague before.

To merge layers, like the session to the route as you want to do, you need to first highlight the session you want to merge into the other. Click merge then pick the other named layer and not the same name again.

Here's an example, which I hope helps.

I have a route with a route layer and a session layer. In error I was placing everything in the session instead of the route and need to fix that.
1) I open up the layers (The stack of papers icon on the right).
2) Ensure that both layers are visible - meaning the eyeballs are open, for lack of any other explanation on this.
3) Highlight the session layer
4) Click on the merge button

In the little display that shows both layers...

5) Click on the merger recipient - the route layer.

There will be a bit of processing time depending upon how big the route is.

6) Save.

Now for editing, click on the route once on the menu to highlight it. Click on Edit/Create Route on the bottom.

This will now open up the route in the Route layer by default instead of the session layer.

If you have a problem with this, send me a personal message and I can help you offline.

John

Don´t waste time on this cause this is a game bug. You are not the only one that is experiencing such problem. I faced the same on a route as well this week. It´s not dealing with layers or that you worked on session layer while laying track. Merging session layer into route layer does not fix it. The game simply does not save your work. Even the "beta of the patch to the patch", so called SP1 HF3 beta, didn´t solve the issue. It happens also to road splines, for instance. Are you seriously expecting us to buy DLCs?

geloxo - have you put in a bug report if you feel it's a bug?

Shane

With all my respect, no, Shane. Instead I decided not to invest any more money or time on this software until the product is reliable. Sorry, but as a customer I´m not intended to seek for bugs or testing. That´s what a dev team is supposed to do before releasing it to public. I honestly got tired of incomplete work, patch to the patch, an things like that. It´s becoming a rule on videogames, which I can understand and I don´t judge. I simply don´t support it, sorry.

Regards

I can understand that although it's bug reporting that helps to make the product more reliable given that some issues are configuration specific.

Shane

I had the exact same thing happen to me. As of last night, it has happened twice. I lost about three weeks work. I am running Tane SP2 for Mac. I have also lost two routes that I bought and paid for. Very disappointed, I have requested a download of purchases several times. Every time it says request will be performed upon next program startup, but still know return of my paid for routes! I feel your pain and dissatisfaction! Don't know wether to start over or just give up! I love Tane, but remain totally disappointed and confused!

I too have had problems with things disappearing in TANE - portals; all track connecting Container Station; etc. Running on a decent desktop with Win 10.

On my current layout I have been very careful to not mix Route work and Session work to the extent that I have not used Session even once.

I have two sets of tracks leading into Gallitzin, PA under Tunnel Mountain. The double track tunnel is EU Tunnel. The single track tunnel is/was Darkstone Tunnel (1 Track). After doing some work on a different part of the layout, I returned to Gallitzin to find that the Darkstone 1 track tunnel was gone. Well, partially gone! The portals at either end were gone. The track vertexes were visible and, if I zoom out to where the map shows all track as blue lines, the tunnel track show up. However, the track is immovable and cannot be deleted.

I did a slight track rerouting and put in a new Darkstone Tunnel. We'll see.

There is no scenery on this part of the layout yet - just baseboard.

ecco said:

I too have had problems with things disappearing in TANE - portals; all track connecting Container Station; etc. Running on a decent desktop with Win 10.

On my current layout I have been very careful to not mix Route work and Session work to the extent that I have not used Session even once.

I have two sets of tracks leading into Gallitzin, PA under Tunnel Mountain. The double track tunnel is EU Tunnel. The single track tunnel is/was Darkstone Tunnel (1 Track). After doing some work on a different part of the layout, I returned to Gallitzin to find that the Darkstone 1 track tunnel was gone. Well, partially gone! The portals at either end were gone. The track vertexes were visible and, if I zoom out to where the map shows all track as blue lines, the tunnel track show up. However, the track is immovable and cannot be deleted.

I did a slight track rerouting and put in a new Darkstone Tunnel. We'll see.

There is no scenery on this part of the layout yet - just baseboard.

Click to expand...

This could also have something to do with the asset you are using. Some assets are really, really polygon heavy and do not render well when zooming in and out and panning. The reason why you couldn't select the track is it really wasn't there when you attempted to select it due to the redrawing and refreshing.

A good example of this is lag when playing online multiplayer games. You shoot at someone, but the bullet goes through them. Then they shoot at you and nothing happens until a minute later.

T:ANE does a lot of caching and loading, so there's a good chance here, I'm surmising from experience, that the assets are there, but can't be touched until they've fully drawn.

Another issue that can cause this in ability to delete track is due to a consist being on that track. If you happened to have placed an a boxcar, or even a single locomotive along that track, you cannot delete the track.

JCitron said:

This could also have something to do with the asset you are using. Some assets are really, really polygon heavy and do not render well when zooming in and out and panning. The reason why you couldn't select the track is it really wasn't there when you attempted to select it due to the redrawing and refreshing.

A good example of this is lag when playing online multiplayer games. You shoot at someone, but the bullet goes through them. Then they shoot at you and nothing happens until a minute later.

T:ANE does a lot of caching and loading, so there's a good chance here, I'm surmising from experience, that the assets are there, but can't be touched until they've fully drawn.

Another issue that can cause this in ability to delete track is due to a consist being on that track. If you happened to have placed an a boxcar, or even a single locomotive along that track, you cannot delete the track.

Click to expand...

With all due respect...

It isn't a lagging problem. I looked at the section around the tunnel. I saw there was no portal. I looked at the other end of the tunnel. I saw there was no portal. Just to the "north" of the missing portals the 2 track portals were clearly there. I zoomed in on the missing portal. I stared. No portal. I selected Delete and clicked on the vertex. Nothing. I selected Move and tried to drag the vertex. Nothing.

Nevertheless, I went back to that section before composing this reply. The 2 track tunnel rendered properly immediately. The replacement 1 track tunnel, which is the same one originally used, rendered properly immediately. The phantom track is still there. Still undeletable and still immovable.

Hi guys. Have experienced the same many times. So I set auto save to every 15 minutes. Still loose stuff when the program decides to go Ni Ni. Now when I build a route, I never use layers and never put anything into session except for AI stuff. Have been burnt and lost many hours of work so many times. Have also named that content folder, you know the tgfreds one a real name like "Steves content" because Trainz decided to make a new one more than once. I empathize.