Content Manager freezes upon startup (TS12)

OldCoach

New member
Hello! New user here, and I was wondering about something. Every time my Content Manager fires up, it logs me in automatically and promptly freezes when trying to run through some kind of search. When I am not logged in, the search does not occur and Content Manager does not give any trouble.
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Enclosed is a screenshot at the time of the freeze; does anybody have any insight? I believe it's trying to download missing assets from the JointedRail F-units, which are giving my no end of trouble, but I am not sure.
 
Hello! New user here, and I was wondering about something. Every time my Content Manager fires up, it logs me in automatically and promptly freezes when trying to run through some kind of search. When I am not logged in, the search does not occur and Content Manager does not give any trouble.

CM will not attempt to automatically download missing assets. It does try to download some update information for the DLS asset list, but if your internet connection is working well enough to log you on, that background automatic update should not cause a problem.

You could try reverting those opened assets, or perhaps even deleting them. See: http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/TrainzUtil
Be alert to the note at the bottom of that page.
 
My guess is Content Manager is validating content. TS12 used to do this quite often which would freeze things up for quite sometime. To see if CM is validating content you need to enable the database processes console windows.

When you start up TS12, click on options at the launcher.
Go to the developer tab and check show database process windows.

When you start up Content Manager, small command prompts will appear on the taskbar. Click on these and you'll see stuff in there, usually a bunch of numbers and log in information. What will stand out is validating content. This will say something like validating asset (some kuid number) xxxx, where xxxx= some number. As each and every installed asset is checked, this number will decrease. When the number reaches around 33 or so, it won't go further and you'll be done validating.

This explains why it you have the freeze ups while online only. The program is checking your install against the master database.

Now there are sometimes other issues which can cause this such as that stuff in the queue. When and if CM stops and unfreezes, see if you can clear the queue. At this point, I highly recommend running a quick database repair.

Click on File menu.
Click on Quick Database repair.

Note: A "Quick" database repair can and will take a lot of time, depending upon the amount of content you have installed. This is a quick, or cursory, check of the data and not a quick pass on the database to do the job quickly.

When the process is complete, check for faulty assets. This process can and will produce false errors. Clear the errors by write-clicking and viewing errors and warnings. If there are any remaining errors, you need to repair or replace that content.

One additional thing which needs mentioning. We do highly recommend submitting that content you have there which is open for edit. Having lots of open for edit content like that can cause performance problems as well, which maybe contributing to the problem you are having now.
 
After said quick database repair, it still crashes upon login. Where do I check for faulty assets?

Click on the Search pane.
Change the little window on the left that says Location.
Change that to Faulty.

You can even press Clear, then click the + to setup a filter. Do the same, scroll the window until you see Faulty.

If your CM is still crashing on login, you might need to check elsewhere.

Has anything changed with your antivirus?

What program are you running? Kaspersky and Norton can be particularly troublesome for us.

Antivirus programs can be notorious for stuff like this as they can block access to the network at the most inopportune times. Your antivirus too can prevent CM from doing its job properly by interfering with file access.

We recommend disabling the scanning of your Trainz Content (User Data) folders in your antivirus program, and ensure that Content Manager has access through the firewall.

Sometimes Windows updates will reset previous settings too so if you are using the Windows firewall, instead of the one in your antivirus program, you should check that as well.
 
<kuid:-2:360647727> and <kuid:-2:360647726> have proven faulty, and have been removed for the time being. The Content Manager still freezes.
I have neither Norton or Kaspersky; in fact, I believe I don't have any aftermarket antivirus. This problem is getting really annoying.
 
Sorry for not getting back last night - it got a bit late and my brain shutdown!

I've been thinking about your problem actually, and there's one thing which I think "might help". (Note the important quotes here!)

I think your problem, since it's not the antivirus doing weird things or other problems, and it could be something which used to plague me off and on with TS12. You have what I think is something corrupted in the downloads folder. This is a cache folder which TS12 downloads to then extracts the CDP files to install into your Trainz installation.

So anyway try this and see if it works:

1) Shutdown TS12 if it's running and wait a few minutes to ensure it's no longer running - it takes a few minutes to shutdown background files.

2) Open up the folder where you installed your TS12. For most installations, it's located in C:\Program Files (x86)\N3V Games\TS12.

3) From there, open up User Data.

4) Then open up Cache and Internet.

In there you'll see a bunch of files - some .gz files and some .cdp files. NOTE: If you don't see this stuff, then you've got the wrong folder!

5) Ensure you're in the right place.... and then delete everything in that folder.

6) Close the folder you can empty the recycle bin later.

Start up Content Manager and see what happens.

Hope this helps.

I fully understand you're frustration with this and I only wish I was less brain dead last night to think of it. This is the pains of getting old...
 
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