Auto backup restoration errors

[GaryReggae]

Hi,

I am having issues with restoring auto backups again. I have dragged the folder in question onto CM and it throw up errors:
! <NULL> : Unsupported file type for 'G:/Games/Trainz/TRS22/backups/22-11-11/kuid 228113 100412 GT Euro Adventures/drivercharacters.lst'
! <NULL> : Unsupported file type for 'G:/Games/Trainz/TRS22/backups/22-11-11/kuid 228113 100412 GT Euro Adventures/mapfile.amd'
! <NULL> : Unsupported file type for 'G:/Games/Trainz/TRS22/backups/22-11-11/kuid 228113 100412 GT Euro Adventures/mapfile.bmk'
And so on



I have tried copying the TZARC backup of the same route to the editing folder and that doesn't work either.
I have done a database rebuild after both but the asset is missing still and not committing although the TZARC file has gone so it must have done something.

Any suggestions are welcome. I have read the Wiki page on restoring TZARCs but the errors are not covered by that.
It's not the end of the world but I will lose a few day's work if I have to resort to the last manual CDP backup I created. Time to move onto a different project I think and come back to this one with a fresh mind in future. And create daily manual backups, easy to forget though.

Kind regards,

Gary

[schweitzerdude]

I have also been unable to restore from the TZARC file in Trainz 22 Plus. Here is a link to the forum post I made several weeks ago:

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...k-as-specified

Apparently from the responses (thanks to all who contributed to the discussion), no one has found a solution. I did submit a bug report to N3V but have not heard back.

Hopefully N3V will fix this issue since having an easy-to-use backup process is worthless if you can't do a restore.

[GaryReggae]

OK thanks I will raise a bug report too, it is most annoying. I will put my autosave files aside in case N3V have any suggestions for restoring them.

[JCitron]

I got it to work. The process took me two times to get it right, but I got it to work.

The first go around, I took this route here:

kuid 124863 100882.tzarc_4099020689 and copied it to the editing folder.

I knew this is a route because of the size - 133MB.

I then ran the DBR, and it failed. According to the information in the log window, the kuid 124863 100882.tzarc_4099020689 wasn't recognized, and the file was removed from the editing folder.

....

On my second attempt, I removed the underscore and the numbers, so the file looks like this.

kuid 124863 100882.tzarc

This imported fine and the file remained.

According to the logs this time, the tzarc file was imported successfully.

I checked my routes, and the route has been imported successfully.

If the route doesn't appear at this point but was imported successfully, check content manager and ensure it's not open for edit, which it was when I confirmed my steps the second time. I submitted the route, and it loads up fine.

[schweitzerdude]

I got it to work. The process took me two times to get it right, but I got it to work.

I got it to work also.

John you are our hero.

In my opinion, N3V should modify the code for CM so the process for the newer Trainz versions is as seamless as in the older versions, but until then you have provided the solution.

Thanks for what you have done for us.

[GaryReggae]

Many thanks John, you are a star as I have also restored everything - both route sad session - and not lost any work at all. Removing the letters/numbers after the .tzarc in the filename and then putting that into Editing and a database rebuild has done the trick.

Kind regards,

Gary

[JCitron]

You're welcome, guys I'm glad I got it work this kept bugging me why it was broken.

This process should be automated with a simple interface to take backup files and import them and not make backups and restores an after thought.

[Firefighterdan]

I messed up one of my routes I had many hours on and could not for the life of me get the backup to work until I found this thread. Thank you John, you are my hero for the day!!! I am going to save my routes I work on in a CDP so I don't have any problems next time I goof

[schweitzerdude]

A few days ago I experienced a route corruption, and I did not have a recent cdp file. So, I revisited this post and using JCitron's advice, I was able to restore from the automatic backups. I decided to write it down in more detail to use in the future. I thought I would share this:

How to restore Trainz 22 automatic route backups
1. Using Content Manager, determine the kuid number of the route you want to restore.
2. Using File Explorer, find the Trainz data folder. If you don't know where it is, Launcher/Train Settings/Install tab will show the local data folder. Open the folder and click on backups.
3. Click on the date you want to restore from.
4. Find a file that looks like this: kuid nnnnnn nnnnnn.tzarc_xxxxxxxxxx where nnnnnn nnnnnn is the kuid number and xxxxxxxxxx is some random number.
5. Copy that file to the editing folder.
6. Rename the file to eliminate everything after "tzarc", including the underscore.
7. In Trainz Launcher, click on Manage Content. Filter to Today. You should see a miscellaneous item with a date and time.
8. Perform a Developer/Rebuild Database.
9. When the rebuild database completes, you should see your restored route. It will have a status of Open for Edit. Right click on the route and perform a Submit Edits. You can delete the miscellaneous item with a date and time (see #7 above).
10. Close Content Management, start up Trainz, and you should see your restored route.

If someone want to put this on the wiki, go ahead. I am not experienced in finding things on the wiki or adding to it.

Now for a question: I wonder why N3V decided to create tzarc files for backups when cdp files could have been used. Presumably because tzarc files are more compressed. The route I restored was very big:

As a cdp file: 268,446KB
As a tzarc file: 239,816KB

So indeed, a tzarc file is smaller although not extremely so.