Help Tony - Obsolete files

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Obsolete means you have a newer version installed, if they are not builtin payware or packaged they can be deleted, if they are we are stuck with them.

In CM select installed then the little arrow to add a new line and select obsolete = true. Select All and delete.

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Highlight 1 in the list of Obsoletes, Edit, Select All, then Delete or Right Click Delete if you prefer.

It does beg the question though, for what technical reason is it necessary to retain such files. We moan about the amount of junk installed with the likes of Windows and similar and are encouraged to delete what we have no need for to speed up searches and so forth and to free up drive space. Surely the same arguments are as valid for Trainz. Peter

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Built in, packaged, base and maybe some others can not be deleted even if obsolete. Full stop.

It's how the game is made. Probably to prevent users "bricking" their install.

Mildly irritating? Yes. But it is what it is.

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Now run a database repair and check you have not created a mess and bricked your install.

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If they are built-in or payware you will find they are coded into the basic Trainz program which you have no access to.

If the obsolete files are Packaged (i.e. Payware) then they can still be deleted if you know the name of the package that installed them. But this may also delete other assets that are not obsolete that you may want to keep.

1. From the Trainz Launcher window select Content Store
2. Then click the Purchased icon
3. Then either scroll down the list OR type the name (or part name) into the Search box to the left of the Store icon

Once you have located the "offending" package, click Uninstall - but you can still re-install it later with no cost if you change your mind.

Looking at my CM stats, I have 655 assets labelled "Obsolete" of which only 11 are "Base" or "Built-in" and cannot be deleted. 121 are "Installed from DLS" and can be deleted. The remainder are "Packaged" and came with various DLC packages I installed.

Out of curiosity how much space are these file using? Size is probably more critical than number of annoying obsolete entries.

If running out of space delete the contents in your localdata folder of the cache/internet folder and thin out the contents of the backups folder which if left at default setting of 7 days can accumulate a few GB of files.

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Smoke, Mirrors, and Filters

Look at the problem from a repairer's point of view. I assume you are viewing from a window in Content Manager (CM).

First off what is 'obsolete', and what is not, cannot be truely discerned without considering where you are viewing from in the Trainz Continuum.

If you view from say TB 3.7 (TRS12) you will see considerably less asset records than I wiil in TB 5.0. (TS22 Trainz+). And thus less 'obsoletes'. Down in the Legacy trainz-builds these assets are still active and not yet 'obsolete'.

CM doesn't know what's what until it does a Data Base Re-build (DBR).

Let me illustrate by building a CM custom filter at TB 5.0:

If you are playing a Trainz game, Creating a new asset, or repairing faulty assets you aren't interested in Obsolete assets.
Firstly, the latest version of an asset is the one used by the game, so you can discard all obsoletes that are editable.
I prefer to use AND NOT logic rather than True/False. It just seems easier to understand.

Filter 1

Obsolete True
AND NOT
Installed True

You should now see that most of the obsolete assets are no longer displayed by CM.
You now have OBS_DLS, an exclusion custom filter, the count of obsolete assets on the DLS (NOT on your computer)
I have 181,789 DLS obsoletes out of the total Trainz Asset Database (TAD) 647,343 assets.

Filter 2

Obsolete True
AND
Installed True

This filter displays OBS_LOCAL, (1358) out of the same TAD as above.

There are two sub-parts of OBS_LOCAL that you can select.These are:

a. Built-in/Base (5) - Not deleteable; OBS_BI
b. Packaged (925)- Partially editable but not recommended as these are the foundation of the DLC (Payware).

And then there is the remainder usually marked as 'Unknown Location' (928) Not deleteable.
These are assets that could not be found on the DLS or DLC.
So far I have identified ~428 of these as being Code of Conduct violations (_COC), or 'Removed at author's request'. If you watch the assets in the download window you will see messages against some advising you of their status.

Filter 3

Obsolete True
AND
Installed True
AND NOT
Builtin True
AND NOT
Packaged True
AND NOT
Name or Keywords _COC

All the blue ones are standard CM filters.
The mauve one is a custom filter equivalent to Name in filter 3.

The key to the obsoletion protocol is that anything greyed out cannot be deleted, but it can be hidden by using filters. From a repairer's point of view filters are your friend. If it's not on your computer you can't modify it or repair it.

The other issue you're going to run into is you're not saving any disk space unless you delete your backup files because every time you modify an asset in Content Manager or in Trainz while editing, a backup is made.