TS2016 launch problem

[ValleyBoy]

For the past 6 days I have been unable to start the sim on my computer. When I click on RailWorks.exe the "Preparing to launch...." window appears momentarily and then nothing further happens. I have an 18 day old computer running Windows 10 whose specs are well above requirements. I've been running TrainSim for a long while with no problem like this until 6 days ago. Unfortunately there are no system restore points prior to the onset of the problem and as far as I can recall there were no downloads or errors during that period. I've recently discovered that Utilities.exe will not start either but other .exe files will work. I've gone through the verify files routine with Steam but no new data loads into TS2016 because it won't launch. I've tried to repurchase TS2016 but Steam won't allow it because I already own it.
Any suggestions to help me overcome this snag will be more than welcome; I really miss my daily sessions with the sim.
Brian Wilson

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

A new computer you say? Did you play the game at all since it was installed fresh?
You can play your other Steam games?

The setup routine copies a few necessary system files. Did you see that happen while installing? Visual C 2005, DirectX9 and nVidia Physix?
You can try installing these again, they are in steamapps/common/Railworks/Install

My Railworks folder contains 14 directories and 51 files, but your folder's contents might be different.

The game won't start at all, and there are no messages in the Windows system logs, it looks like a faulty install of the core game components to me.
I don't know if these are included in a game verification through Steam. It might be that the verification only checks your DLC, routes and trains etc.

When you haven't installed any mods of your own, you'd best erase the Railworks folder inside Steam/steamapps/common and let Steam deliver a fresh install.
When you have already installed stuff of your own, you can rename the Railworks folder and then still let Steam deliver a fresh install.

The setup process will execute the necessary system files installation once again. Carefully watch for errors, it might that W10 blocks the installation.

[ValleyBoy]

Kanawha:
I followed your suggestion and reinstalled all the files in the Install folder and to my great pleasure the sim once again works normally.
This incident illustrates how we often don't realize how much we depend on something until it suddenly disappears.
Thank you so much for your helpful suggestions; I never would have been able to solve this problem on my own. I really appreciate that people such as yourself are ready and able to come to the aid of innocents like me.
Brian Wilson.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Kanawha:
I followed your suggestion and reinstalled all the files in the Install folder and to my great pleasure the sim once again works normally.
This incident illustrates how we often don't realize how much we depend on something until it suddenly disappears.
Thank you so much for your helpful suggestions; I never would have been able to solve this problem on my own. I really appreciate that people such as yourself are ready and able to come to the aid of innocents like me.
Brian Wilson.

Glad to hear you can play now. My guess is that Windows 10/your anti-virus somehow blocked the installation of the (older) system components, or that you inadvertently interrupted their automatic installation.

Happy trainsimming, Brian.

Edited: there might be a snag with games installed in their default location under C:/Program Files or C:/Program Files(x32).
There could be a permissions restriction imposed by Windows 10 that prevents the automatic installation of system components.
Unless you "elevate" your User permissions to Administrator level, some games won't even play right.

It is therefor advised to install games on another drive letter or at least outside of the Program Files folders.
New computers usually come with their drive partitioned in only a C: partition and an invisible recovery partition.
It is difficult to re-partition an existing drive without special software. And when you have no physical installation media and a DVD drive you cannot re-partition and re-install the whole operating system from scratch.

[ValleyBoy]

RE your edit in your last e-mail:
Fortunately in my last three computers I have created a D:\Games partition on my hard drives where all my game related folders/files reside.
So far all continues to run smoothly.
Brian

[LandN]

I have recently purchased both Soldier Summit and Race Track. I cannot get either one to load. I recently ran a QD on Race Track with Logmate enabled and got a number of errors. I hope someone can help me solve this problem.

[Chacal]

I see two runtime errors, which MAY be the cause of your problems.
1- Duplicate Scenario GUID in SerializeDatabase
See here: http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/l ... dup_script

2- A bunch of track errors that seem to indicate a problem in tracks.bin.
Probably uninstalling then reinstalling the route should fix this problem.
Open the Steam client, Library, Right-click on Train Simulator, View downloadable content, uncheck the racetrack route, once finished check it again.