Route too large to backup via CDP

I have a route I am working on that is automatically backed up with the entire contents file every two weeks, but while I am active on developing this specific route I tried to do a quick backup using CDP export at least daily.

I receive the following messages when I try.
Click link below to see message it is a google drive record and can be downloaded using the download icon top right of screen that comes up.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eER4B5-saAbyVrizLaz5M7cW0iN5pTEr/view?usp=sharing

How can I do a quick backup of this largish route without backup up the entire content folder?

Any help appreciated.

The contents folder (or the User Data Folder) can easily occupy hundreds of gigabytes so automated backups can quickly run out of storage space particularly if the older backups are retained.

Check your Automatic Trainz backup settings - this will save a backup copy your route at intervals set by you. See http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/How_to_Manage_Backups so Trainz may already be making backups of your route for you.

One thing you would need to check is the actual physical size of your route. In CM add an extra column to the display to show the File Size (right mouse click on one of the column headings then select Insert Column and select File Size). This will tell you the actual data size of the route - the CDP file is a compressed copy of this.

My largest route under development is 117MB and, when stored in a CDP file, reduces to 47MB.

My general rule of thumb is that you must have at least enough space on the destination drive for the uncompressed file to be stored.

When you back up the route you don't need all the content as well. In CM just export the route and any sessions. In CM open the route and sessions dependencies then installed = false. Make a CDP of all the remaining assets.

Post Deleted

Thank you pware, even after so many years using Trainz I did not know about the column feature, great.
The route is 1074.6MB big. It is the Nickel Plate route using DEM from Frankfort INDIANA to Charleston ILLINOIS with many branches between as well as Interchange yards off the main line. It is from Google Earth but with track charts from around 1959 so not all from Google Earth or DEM data as far as track config is concerned. That size is obviously a problem.

Also thanks to Stagecoach, but even without content it seems too big. I don't have any detail structures, textures yet as I have just created the base route using Transdem, Trainz importer and JOSM utilities. I will be using Basemaps to get some of the area layout as prototypical as I can.

MP242 again I have never thought about splitting it into the file format as you suggest, have to research that as I don't know how to "YET ! "

I recently finishes a two year project for the Clinchfield from Elkhorn City to Johnson City but even finished I never knew what size it was. But I never tried to back it up with CDP so that's probably why I did not have the issue nor the experience to get a backup done like that.

On top of that I am in Australia (and lived here all my life) and even tho I have travelled around USA when working for IBM in the 1970 - 1988 period I don't have a full image in my head for some of the geographic area . I rely on research online for that.

Thanks again for all your help.

Your CDP size is about 50% of the route size. If you show your route size in Content Manager, you can come up with guess how large your CDP will be. In the past we could safely handle a 500 MB CDP before Content Manager fainted and crashed. T:ANE and TRS2019 seem to be about twice that. I've never made a CDP that large, but I have gotten routes and content from Jointed Rail and other 3rd party content creators that are about 1 GB if not a bit larger. As pware mentions, you need adequate disk space in order to create the compressed file because Content Manager needs room to work with temporary files while it's compressing the contents. Not having enough space will produce an error not only during compression, but also during decompression of these files as well.

Splitting a route is difficult and there's a chance that folders will get separated from each other in a folder 1, folder 2 type situation, therefore, I wouldn't recommend that.

With your DEM based routes, I recommend trimming once you get the basic track laid and bring the terrain down to a reasonable size so the mountains and hills aren't lopped off in error as I've done in the past and ended up ruining what would have been a nice project.

render2017 said:

MP242 again I have never thought about splitting it into the file format as you suggest, have to research that as I don't know how to "YET ! "

Click to expand...

Very easy. Open the asset for edit in explorer, copy the contents and paste them into a brand new folder on your desktop. Whenever you want to install that route, just drag the folder with the contents into Content Manager and it should install. This works for any asset in the game and not just routes.

GDennish I have managed to make a copy using your suggestion. However there were a couple of strange warning messages that I am checking.
I will make a temporary content folder and restore it to that rather than risk corruption of the main content folder. I'll see how that goes. Thanks