Temporarily Leaving Trainz

Hi all,

I have a bit of an announcement to say: I'm probably going to leave Trainz... for a bit.

My reasoning is this: Trainz A New Era is simply taking up too much storage on my Mac, so I decided to archive all of the content I own labelled "Modified". However, even when I delete the actual assets in Content Manager, and I delete the CDP from my desktop after uploading to Google Drive, I still seem to lose storage. So, my plan is this: to delete every last bit of content I downloaded from the DLS, and make use of whatever content I bought from N3V. (I'm still getting plenty of fun from the ECML and SnC, and those two are the routes I mostly drive, so it's not much of an issue.)

However, if I still consistently lose storage, I'll have to delete my content folder AND Trainz from my Mac, and that means I'll no longer have desktop Trainz. Hopefully, I don't have to go that far - I still have Mobile Trainz, but there simply isn't as much entertainment from it as a full-fledged desktop copy of Trainz - but God only knows. I'm sure that archiving my Modified content will help, but... now, how does that happen when, if I delete the assets from my copy of Trainz AND delete the CDP files from my desktop after I've already archived them to Google Drive (it's for the purpose of just quickly reinstalling all 2,741 assets I have into TRS22 on my new laptop - hopefully I splurge soon, because my current laptop is a piece of junk at this point, unfortunately), I am STILL losing storage? Is it because Trainz is keeping a needless archive when I'm purposefully deleting them? Is it macOS just not synching up? What is it?

(I wasn't sure, to all moderators, if this still fits here, or I'd have to put it in Parts & Labour, but it's not specifically talking about computer hardware, so...)

Any help is greatly, incredibly appreciated. Wish me luck in this venture. This is not the start to the Christmas season I was hoping for... but what are you gonna do.

Andrew - SRKing783

What model Mac do you have? (you mention only a laptop) - Explain "losing storage." If you delete items how can you be "losing storage?" I assume you know how to manage your Mac disk?

A Windows desktop is my main gaming machine but before I had that I upgraded my MacBookPro by putting in a larger capacity SSD and ran TRS19 on it on a limited basis (as well as an iMac)

My Mac model is a 2017 MacBook Pro 15", with an Intel i7-7700HK, 16 GB LPDDR3 RAM, and 256 GB SSD storage. My SSD capacity is the main reason that I'm deleting items.

When I say "losing storage", the "About This Mac" section in the Apple Menu (top left corner) states that I am losing storage, even when I am deleting items. Same with iStatistica Pro (though I assume it goes off what's in the Storage section of About This Mac). And yes, I am aware of how to manage my Mac's disk. If there's files I'm no longer using... delete 'em. I assume it's a software glitch, as when I go to shut down my computer, I get back some storage.

Don't give up so quickly...

When you delete your assets, TANE will make a backup of it, so you're not gaining any space unless you delete the backups as well.

Your backups are located in (Your local storage folder)/N3V Games/TANE/Build xxxxxxxx/Backups. If you placed your data-folder elsewhere, go to that location using Finder.

The Backups are arranged into dates in YY-MM-DD format. The backup folders are kept for 7 days by default and the oldest dates will clear themselves up. This is 7-days of backups and not just one week, and can be thought of as each time the program is used. The number of backups can be changed to fewer than 7 days by going to Trainz settings on the Launcher then the Dev tab.

All and all, I'll bet you that this is where all your space has gone in the first place and you can gain some space by deleting the backed-up assets in there.

Now, in addition to the location above, there's also the cache/internet folder. I recommend clearing that out as well since that can add up substantially. This location should clear its self, but that doesn't always happen quickly, and that can lead to other problems.

JCitron said:

Don't give up so quickly...

Click to expand...

Sorry. It's just that I really do love Trainz, but I'm a bit low on storage, and I can't do much with my computer right now.

When you delete your assets, TANE will make a backup of it, so you're not gaining any space unless you delete the backups as well.

Click to expand...

That's probably it... though I'm purposefully deleting them. I don't think the program has been coded to know that though, so I can't blame it.

Your backups are located in (Your local storage folder)/N3V Games/TANE/Build xxxxxxxx/Backups. If you placed your data-folder elsewhere, go to that location using Finder.

The Backups are arranged into dates in YY-MM-DD format. The backup folders are kept for 7 days by default and the oldest dates will clear themselves up. This is 7-days of backups and not just one week, and can be thought of as each time the program is used. The number of backups can be changed to fewer than 7 days by going to Trainz settings on the Launcher then the Dev tab.

Click to expand...

Didn't know where you'd find the folder, so thanks. I decided to change it to 1 day for a bit in the Dev tab... hopefully, that's fine.

All and all, I'll bet you that this is where all your space has gone in the first place and you can gain some space by deleting the backed-up assets in there.

Click to expand...

Most likely, yes.

Now, in addition to the location above, there's also the cache/internet folder. I recommend clearing that out as well since that can add up substantially. This location should clear its self, but that doesn't always happen quickly, and that can lead to other problems.

Click to expand...

Hoo boy... cache. I've always hated having to deal with it.

Thank you John for your help. You've always been incredibly helpful to me, and can always tolerate my nonsense as well. Thank you, truly.

EDIT: Just cleared the backup Trainz had... and my God, that cleared out 7.71 GB of space!! Wow! I'm still gonna archive my modified content... but God bless you, John. Thank you so much for helping someone who hasn't spent an awful lot of time with desktop Trainz.

Have a look at your machine, if it has a USB 3 port then you can run Trainz from a hard drive read SSD cannected to the USB 3 port. I seem to recall that Apple may use a different connector but there should be a way to connect an SSD externally.

Cheerio John

johnwhelan said:

Have a look at your machine, if it has a USB 3 port then you can run Trainz from a hard drive read SSD cannected to the USB 3 port. I seem to recall that Apple may use a different connector but there should be a way to connect an SSD externally.

Cheerio John

Click to expand...

They use USB-C, but it should still work otherwise. I was planning on buying an external drive for Christmas… dunno if I’ll buy an SSD specifically, but who knows.

SRKing783 said:

My Mac model is a 2017 MacBook Pro 15", with an Intel i7-7700HK, 16 GB LPDDR3 RAM, and 256 GB SSD storage. My SSD capacity is the main reason that I'm deleting items.

When I say "losing storage", the "About This Mac" section in the Apple Menu (top left corner) states that I am losing storage, even when I am deleting items. Same with iStatistica Pro (though I assume it goes off what's in the Storage section of About This Mac). And yes, I am aware of how to manage my Mac's disk. If there's files I'm no longer using... delete 'em. I assume it's a software glitch, as when I go to shut down my computer, I get back some storage.

Click to expand...

That makes no sense. You can select the hard drive and "Cmd I" to "get info" for the drive and it will show used/free space. I hate to ask, this is so basic, but after you delete files are you "Emptying the Trash?" I'm almost afraid to ask such a basic question.... but that is the only thing I can think of why you don't have more disk space after deleting files.

Also, you should not use more than about 75% of your SSD storage. SSD's don't like being close to capacity.

1611mac said:

That makes no sense. You can select the hard drive and "Cmd I" to "get info" for the drive and it will show used/free space.

Click to expand...

Huh. I was just going under the Apple menu and clicking About This Mac for my storage. Thanks for letting me know. Sorry for being so stupid.

I hate to ask, this is so basic, but after you delete files are you "Emptying the Trash?" I'm almost afraid to ask such a basic question.... but that is the only thing I can think of why you don't have more disk space after deleting files.

Click to expand...

Absolutely!! It was just a software issue... and a bit of one in my brain. I know how computers work, I'm not an idiot. Also, I cleared out 7.71 GB worth of backups, so that isn't a big deal anymore. John told me that the problem is most likely that the game is making a backup, and so all of the space I would theoretically get is ironed out by the fact an equal amount of storage is taken up by a backup. Sorry for acting so stupid, and for not clarifying earlier.

Also, you should not use more than about 75% of your SSD storage. SSD's don't like being close to capacity.

Click to expand...

Also did not know that. Thank you very much for telling me that.

USB-C is the connector, you'll have to check on the transfer rate supported. Samsung T5 should be fine but I don't know Mac's very well.

If it was a windows machine I'd just swop in or add another drive but I don't know enough about Macs I'm afraid.

Cheerio John

Info on USB-C interface speeds. The real ones, meaning not older technology with the new interface, operate at 10 GB/per second. A USB 3.0 will operate at half that.

USB Type C speed test: Here’s how slow your laptop’s port could be (pcworld.com)