Payware disabled?!

Reading about all the various software issues in this thread brings a fear that I might stumble across one of these. Complex restoration processes only serve to expose the customer to more problems since an error here will bring another string of inputs needed to fix the new problem before returning to the original problem.

There are two costs that emerge: The people time to help the customer with arcane remedial procedures and the other is customers leaving or new customers being put-off by the complexity and frequency of problems.

As I mentioned, I really dread the day I have to go through one of these process, make an error, and dig my hole deeper and deeper. I also fear as the product becomes more intertwined with commercial packages used to implement new features that their issues will bleed into Trainz and impact customers.

Right now I just ignore "free" stuff available for Silver download. I feel for those who who spent money only to become entwined in things unique to their purchase and financial support.
 
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Easiest solution- create a new local data folder and start again. There are no problems when starting from scratch.

More complex - delete the problem items and rebuild the db. This works so if it doesn’t work for you you’ve most likely got modified content installed. helpdesk should be able to assist.

Longer term solution- we’ve been working on a new content downloader. This will be released first to Trainz Plus users.
 
Easiest solution- create a new local data folder and start again. There are no problems when starting from scratch.

More complex - delete the problem items and rebuild the db. This works so if it doesn’t work for you you’ve most likely got modified content installed. helpdesk should be able to assist.

Longer term solution- we’ve been working on a new content downloader. This will be released first to Trainz Plus users.

What a freaking clown car. No wonder no one buys this stupid game.

Failure at the most basic level.

This will be released first to Trainz Plus users.

So the "mud" people have to sit around begging.

Harold
 
Staring from scratch is indeed a solution to many problems. However, if your database has items from the past they may be gone forever requiring the customer to either accept the resulting blank area or try to find sites that have the old items or substitutions. It may be prudent to periodically save some items sorted by date and/or kuid. If they are saved in a folder you should be able to put it in the cloud or use your backup program to protect the folder. You never know when there will be a "revision number" purge or the need to install from scratch. I have 19,000 items that date from 2002 thru 2017. Some were never used while others are throughout several routes. You could skip builtin assets since they are protected (for now).

I use Carbonite. They have been around for a long time. Ain't cheap, but their reputation is good, and that is worth money to protect your files. I also, use Microsoft One-Drive as well. I would steer away from some services due to their age and size. New, and you may awaken to find they disappeared. Financially unsound, which may lead them to sell your data as a "going out of business sale".
 
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Hi Jordan412
You say you have deleted these packages from the 'packages' folder, but they still show as 'installed' in-game.

Please try running an extended database repair by clicking on 'developer' at the top of the launcher window, then hold the CTRL key and left click on 'rebuild database'. This should then ensure that the DLC packs are removed from the asset database, so that you can download them again.

If they still show as 'installed', then this indicates that you have deleted the DLC packs from the wrong LocalData folder. You can find the location of your LocalData folder in the 'install' tab of the Trainz Settings.

Please keep in mind that our team are not active on the forums 24/7, and as such we will reply to posts when we are able to. This may mean it may be a couple of days before we reply, depending on when we are able to participate on the forums. We may log in from time to time to look for information on a task we are currently working on, however may not be able to reply at that time.

We do recommend using the helpdesk directly, as this is monitored, and replied to, every day.

Regards

No, the Payware that was in the SC folders I deleted no longer appear in my CM. However, the files are not appearing to download in game, even though they're in my Content Vault.
 
Thanks & interesting point. I'd assumed that an asset appearing on DLS at all meant that it had become available (to folks with the rights to that asset anyways). Figured the Coal Country issue was a bug since it has shown up for a fairly long time now.

Diego

Hi Diego
This indicates that there is an updated version of the asset that is currently either being prepared for internal testing, or is in internal testing.

The DLC system, during the packaging process, will 'register' the asset to the DLS. However it appearing in the DLS listing does not indicate that it is currently available; when the update becomes available it will be downloaded via the in-game 'asset download' tool as an update for the entire DLC pack.

Regards
 
Thanks for your ongoing support Harold - we really appreciate it.

Sarcasm aside, I have a genuine question Tony (and believe me I've been doing my damndest to do away with the cynicism in recent years):

You have positioned Trainz Plus and Gold Class as a way to beta new features that could be included in the next version of Trainz. All well and good, I don't think it's a half bad idea.

TS12, you paid for a product (with new features over TS2010 and new content). You got HF and SP updates that were required to make the game operate as expected (there were quite a few of them).

The intention is that there isn't and difference. SP1 will bring the exact same CORE updates to TRS19 and Trainz Plus users. Once that SP version is released, we will be sticking closely to the "patch one, patch all" approach. i.e. any bug fixes in Trainz Plus will go into an SP for TRS19.

So the real difference is in the NEW FEATURE updates that Trainz Plus users get, and that is no different to TS12 vs TANE vs TRS19. People who pay for the features get the new features.

So can we just get a straight up answer, a clarification once and for all please; are fixes for longstanding problems like this payware issue a TRS19 bugfix or TS20xx's new features?

Longer term solution- we’ve been working on a new content downloader. This will be released first to Trainz Plus users.

Or, to distill it further into a yes/no question: are bugfixes now a paid, "optional membership", "additional feature"?

No. There is an optional membership fee for those who choose it to access additional features.

Thank you.
 
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1a6d6a.jpg
 
Hi Jordan412
You say you have deleted these packages from the 'packages' folder, but they still show as 'installed' in-game.

Please try running an extended database repair by clicking on 'developer' at the top of the launcher window, then hold the CTRL key and left click on 'rebuild database'. This should then ensure that the DLC packs are removed from the asset database, so that you can download them again.

If they still show as 'installed', then this indicates that you have deleted the DLC packs from the wrong LocalData folder. You can find the location of your LocalData folder in the 'install' tab of the Trainz Settings.

Please keep in mind that our team are not active on the forums 24/7, and as such we will reply to posts when we are able to. This may mean it may be a couple of days before we reply, depending on when we are able to participate on the forums. We may log in from time to time to look for information on a task we are currently working on, however may not be able to reply at that time.

We do recommend using the helpdesk directly, as this is monitored, and replied to, every day.

Regards

Well, I've deleted several more SC packages whose content was flagged as 'installed, payware (not active)', they are: sc388, sc471, sc467, sc4501 and sc470. However, only sc388 appeared for downloading when I started TRS19, even after I selected 'Download Purchased items' under 'File' in the Launcher.
 
For some clarity, the new Content Downloader is not a "bug fix". It provides a better mechanism for downloading and installing DLC. It also adds the ability to uninstall the DLC without having to use Windows Explorer. So there are definitely not "bug fixes".

With relation to the issues found by some people in this thread, there are a number of solutions.
1. Is to correctly uninstall the items (which works for 99% of cases).
2. Where there is a payware and non-payware version of an asset, or various updated revisions, we've been working through this to sort things out. It isn't an easy task as the goal posts continually move (new items released for example).
3. We've also been working on a .tzarc format for installing DLC so that there are no "partial" installs.
All these fixes and improvements are either server side or will be part of a TRS19 Service Pack.

It is quite likely that the Downloader will also make it into a Service Pack at some point when the DLC file formats are updated.

So to answer the question again, "bug fixes will not need to be paid for".

Gordon, if DLC items are not showing to download in-game, then either the featured asset is already installed, or you don't have authorisation for it.

I would suggest starting with a fresh userdata folder and everything should work just fine.
 
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I have the same problem as Jordan412, in my case I believe it is everything I downloaded when the content vault opened an in-game download window. I elected to download everything and all of that now shows as Payware (not active) and 3 of which show Modified Payware (not active) - those have been opened for edit and reverted to original with no success. I then went into the content vault and selected everything again which was available ran a DBR but still no joy. Maybe a switch needs a flickin'.
cheers
Graeme
 
Gordon, if DLC items are not showing to download in-game, then either the featured asset is already installed, or you don't have authorisation for it.

I would suggest starting with a fresh userdata folder and everything should work just fine.

All of these DLC items that were showing up as 'installed, payware (not active)' are showing up in my Content Vault, so wouldn't that mean I have authorisation for them? Still, after doing an extended DBR, not everything I deleted has downloaded, only sc388 downloaded and installed when I started up TRS19 yesterday.
 
All of these DLC items that were showing up as 'installed, payware (not active)' are showing up in my Content Vault, so wouldn't that mean I have authorisation for them? Still, after doing an extended DBR, not everything I deleted has downloaded, only sc388 downloaded and installed when I started up TRS19 yesterday.

When you say show up in your Content Vault. Are they listed as access granted, or "select"? If it's says select, reselect them to force a fresh download. It won't hurt and this will ensure they're available again. Once selected, they should download again, as mine did after Tony recommended doing that, and I've had no problem.
 
On further investigation there seems to be a configuration problem with certain DLC items. We're looking into the cause but I can confirm that some items selected in your Content Vault cannot currently be activated. The team will sort this out on Monday.

Sorry for the inconvenience and delay in identifying the problem being at our end.
 
When you say show up in your Content Vault. Are they listed as access granted, or "select"? If it's says select, reselect them to force a fresh download. It won't hurt and this will ensure they're available again. Once selected, they should download again, as mine did after Tony recommended doing that, and I've had no problem.

They say 'Access Granted'.
EDIT: Just started up Trainz today and only SC335 downloaded and installed.
 
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jordon412 and grazlash we have performed a resync on your accounts to make sure whatever you are seeing as Access Granted in the MyTrainz.com Content Vault is linked to your account. That said:

jordon412 there was only 4 resources added that were missing. These were:
simc:sc366 - Laaers Car Transporter
simc:sc432 - Shmmns Coil Transporter
simc:sc450 - Midwestern Branch
simc:sc471 - PRR X23 Boxcar

grazlash your account seemed to be up-to-date. Regarding your Payware (Not Active) issue, the DRM had a small outage period several days ago which might have been around the time you tried to login and authorise your content.

1. Could I ask both of you to create a new userdata folder (under TRS19 Launcher -> Trainz Settings -> Install (tab) -> Local data folder) and restart your TRS19 Trainz version. Also remember were your current userdata folder is so you can re-enter it after this test.
2. Once you have restarted Trainz with your new userdata folder, put your username and password into the Internet (tab) of the Trainz Settings and start Trainz.
3. Could you report any Payware (not active) issues you come across or any DLC resources you think are missing and I'll look into why this might be. Try and work with just one DLC package that might be showing issues for now so we can get to the bottom of it (if still required).
 
Thanks Paul. I have a Trainz Plus install with no issues now. I'll try the new data folder on my main install and see what happens.
cheers
Graeme
 
jordon412 and grazlash we have performed a resync on your accounts to make sure whatever you are seeing as Access Granted in the MyTrainz.com Content Vault is linked to your account. That said:

jordon412 there was only 4 resources added that were missing. These were:
simc:sc366 - Laaers Car Transporter
simc:sc432 - Shmmns Coil Transporter
simc:sc450 - Midwestern Branch
simc:sc471 - PRR X23 Boxcar

grazlash your account seemed to be up-to-date. Regarding your Payware (Not Active) issue, the DRM had a small outage period several days ago which might have been around the time you tried to login and authorise your content.

1. Could I ask both of you to create a new userdata folder (under TRS19 Launcher -> Trainz Settings -> Install (tab) -> Local data folder) and restart your TRS19 Trainz version. Also remember were your current userdata folder is so you can re-enter it after this test.
2. Once you have restarted Trainz with your new userdata folder, put your username and password into the Internet (tab) of the Trainz Settings and start Trainz.
3. Could you report any Payware (not active) issues you come across or any DLC resources you think are missing and I'll look into why this might be. Try and work with just one DLC package that might be showing issues for now so we can get to the bottom of it (if still required).

I've never created a new userdata folder before. How do I do that?
 
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