Why your clean install of TRS19 might not be so clean

Reference: http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/Help:Moving_Content

Warning: Be careful here in applying my fixes or you can really screw things up and read the reference instructions above before doing anything!

Recently I decided to do a clean install of build 110491 Trainz Plus on my system. I ran into a lot of problems that I had not expected during this process, and some real surprises.

Prior to this I had always assumed, incorrectly as it turns out, that when Trainz uninstalls it removes everything. That turns out not to be the case at all. The game itself is removed, but that directory where the game data is located is not removed. What this means is that when you reinstall TRS19 for whatever reason it will create a new randomly named sub-directory to store its game data in. Older game data directories with all their data contents will still remain however.

Bottom line here: The TRS19 installation process does not attempt to look for or use older installation game data directories, but always creates a new game data directory, even when a previous one exists. See this screenshot:



What you see here in the above screenshot is as number of previous game data folders from upgrades and prior installations. Some of these held over 100 Gigabytes worth of data, although they weren't being used! FYI the actual game directory I had previously been using is being pointed at by the orange arrow. The text file being pointed contains the following data:



I found that by eliminating all the previous unused game data directories I recovered well over 200 Gigabytes of space on my SSD! How did I do this? Using the instructions shown in the reference listed at the top of this post, I did the following:

1. First of all I created a new game directory called bob_01072021 at C:\Users\Robert\AppData\Local\N3V Games\trs19\bob_01072021.

2. I then copied all the data from the previous game data directory (ie; build a7gqx7kw1) to the new bob_01072021 data directory.

3. I then pointed TRS19 to this new directory as shown in the below screenshot:



4. I then deleted all the old no longer used game data sub-directories. When I was done it looked like the following screenshot:



5. I then edited the userdata-redirect-map.txt file in Notepad to eliminate all the old no longer used entries. When I was completed that text file looked like the following screenshot:



This worked for me and allowed me to recover a vast amount of space in my SSD, although I am still unable to operate TRS19 in a stable manner due to other problems.

If you have had a number of upgrades or reinstallations of TRS19 I would advise you to check things out as I did above. This might well be the explanation of why your HDD or SSD is filling up so quickly and how you can recover that space.

I am passing my experience on to you all for whatever its worth.

Bob

Good tut Bob ty !
I fear I have to go back to the original TRS19european (the 1 i paid for) , not SP1 not SP2
the many "updates" were actually downgrades for me, so this tut hopefully helps me
greetings GM

If you are after a "clean" install, then the game is doing the right thing. You have control of the installation through the install path you designate. I agree, there can be some "ghost" builds that may be of no value to you; so dump them.

pitkin said:

If you are after a "clean" install, then the game is doing the right thing. You have control of the installation through the install path you designate. I agree, there can be some "ghost" builds that may be of no value to you; so dump them.

Click to expand...

There have been a number of complaints about Trainz taking up to much HDD/SSD space. For those folks this might be one possible reason and a way to recover that lost space which can be massive. There are also pros and cons to allowing older game data folders to remain after an application has been uninstalled. The problem here is that most folks, myself included, might not have been aware of what was really happening when TRS19 when it was uninstalled. Because of the way things are done by Trainz there is no automatic elimination of older game data directories which means more and more of you valuable HDD/SSD space is going to be taken up over time iof you have reinstallations.

Bob

I should read before posting.

WARNING:

• DO NOT ever delete the C:\Users\<pc name>\AppData\Local\N3V Games\TANE folder OR the userdata-redirect-map.txt file in that folder.

• This file is required by TANE to ensure the Local Data Folder is found.
• If the redirect file does not exist, TANE will create a new one and create a new local data folder in the default location and you are back to your starting point.

Randall

Open Trainz and in settings/install make a note of the path and the build number. This is the only folder used for that installation of Trainz. If you have a second installation check the path and build number and keep that build folder as well. Any folder not shown in the install paths can be deleted. To move the folder just copy the build folder and paste it into the new location, the redirect will happen automatically. Then set the install path to the new location and do a DBR. You can then delete the old folder. Don't share build folders between two installations.

I have been using this file to switch from builds of TRS19. I only have one line in this file at any given time. I change the text of the file to switch to what ever build folder I want to use. Since I have routes in each of the builds, I may want to go to a previous build and export it to CDP and import to the other build, so it has a purpose.

When I upgraded from standard to platinum is when I figured it out a few weeks ago. I thought I lost a route, but found this file and saw it added a line when I upgraded. The Trainz program however, does not pop-up and say 'hey' you have multiple builds listed in you userdata-redirect-map.txt file, which one would you like to use.

So the fix is manually editing the file to access the builds.