TS refuses to load -- drastic measure suggestions?

[OldProf]

Well, this is another new adventure (read, disaster) for me. About 3 days ago, TS failed to load, leaving one of those cute little DMP files. I hadn't had any crashes since the last file verification, but I ran one anyway. The usual number of failed files showed up (almost certainly equal to the number present in my entire TS installation), I rebooted the computer, and tried loading TS again -- second verse, same as the first. Another verification reported all files okay, but TS still won't load.

In every case, TS reaches the initial splash screen, then freezes until it dumps to the desktop, vomiting (not to use the less polite terms) out another DMP. I've now been through 4 verification procedures, each reporting all files valid. Yes, I start TS in Administrator mode.

My guess is that the next steps are: 1) copy the Assets and Content folders to another drive, 2) have Steam delete all local content, 3) have Steam reinstall TS, 4) copy the old Assets and Content folders into the new installation, instructing Windows file manager to skip files already present.

I'll put this off for a couple more days -- I have snow to shovel, among other chores -- in anticipation of sound advice from other forum members.

[Chacal]

This is very probably a problem with a workshop scenario, or a 3rd-party route or asset.
These won't get fixed by a local cache verify.

The drastic fix would be to start again with a clean installation, but first let's see if we can find the problem:

1- Any clue in the Logmate log?
2- Can you remember the last workshop scenarios you subscribed to? Try unsubscribing from them. See more in this thread.
3- Can you remember the last assets you installed or modified? Perhaps listing all files ordered by date will help. Either run a command such as "dir /b /s /o:-d", or use one of the many free listing utilities with a friendly GUI. Try deleting these assets and see if it fixes the problem.
4- Try other fixes in the "Troubleshooting Railworks" section of our RWA learning center.
5- Your scenario database might be damaged. Make a backup of Railworks/content/SDBCache.* , then delete it. Or just rename it. Start the game and it will rebuild the DB. If it succeeds, you can later add back your green ticks from the backup, using RWDBRepair. If it doesn't succeed, just restore the backup.

[trev123]

I had the DMP file problem on starting TS and unsubscribed from all my WS scenarios and problem was solved. To do this which I found the best way to do, was go into the TS2016 WS page on Steam and on the right you will see your WS files, click on Your Files and in the drop down menu select subscribed items and in the next screen just click on the Unsubscribe button of the ones you want to remove. I'm pretty certain that doing it this way gets rid of all traces of them from TS.

[OldProf]

On the Steam Workshop page of Steam, I unsubscribed from all workshop scenarios and routes.
=================================================================================
Here's the most recent logmate report--after deleting SBDCache .bin and .MD5 files:

[RunTimeError 2:58:41 PM] Trace mdump.cpp : 422 = error handlers have been set
[Content 2:58:41 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 417 = Blueprint set not found : Kuju, RailSimulatorCore
[Content 2:58:41 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 448 = Blueprint set not found for: Cameras\EditCamera001.xml
[Content 2:59:35 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 417 = Blueprint set not found : RSC, ChicagoYard
[Content 2:59:35 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 448 = Blueprint set not found for: TemplateRoutes\Chicago Yard.xml
[Content 2:59:36 PM] Trace cEntity.cpp : 1272 = Missing blueprint "Editor\Gizmo\Scenario Markers\Tutorial Scenario Marker.xml"
[Content 3:00:43 PM] Trace cEntity.cpp : 1272 = Missing blueprint "
i"
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 417 = Blueprint set not found :
[Content 3:00:47 PM] , RailSimulatorCore
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 448 = Blueprint set not found for:
rk
e rs
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 417 = Blueprint set not found :
[Content 3:00:47 PM] , RailSimulatorCore
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cEntity.cpp : 1256 = Missing blueprint set "
\RailSimulatorCore"[Content 3:00:47 PM]
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 266 = Blueprint set not found :
[Content 3:00:47 PM] , RailSimulatorCore
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 417 = Blueprint set not found :
[Content 3:00:47 PM] , RailSimulatorCore
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 448 = Blueprint set not found for:
rk
e rs
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cEntity.cpp : 1272 = Missing blueprint "
rk
e rs"
[RunTimeError 3:00:50 PM] Trace mdump.cpp : 381 = Dump taken

===============================================================================
Other than a lot of things being missing, none of this makes sense to me.

[chrisreb]

One other thought. Do you have a really big collection of routes and scenarios?

When it reaches an undisclosed limit - the sim fails to load when the splash screen shows the message Saving Scenario Database.

Should by any slim chance be your issue you need to store/remove routes/scenarios or do what I do and have 2 or more routes folders.

May not be your issue but has been for others

[OldProf]

One other thought. Do you have a really big collection of routes and scenarios?

When it reaches an undisclosed limit - the sim fails to load when the splash screen shows the message Saving Scenario Database.

Should by any slim chance be your issue you need to store/remove routes/scenarios or do what I do and have 2 or more routes folders.

May not be your issue but has been for others

That's interesting, but raises the question, how big is really big? How do you manage dealing with multiple routes folders?

[hertsbob]

On the Steam Workshop page of Steam, I unsubscribed from all workshop scenarios and routes.

Hmmm. I'm not entirely sure that makes any difference. I think I'm right in saying that unsubscribing from content effectively means that you've only unsubscribed from updates to that content, and I presume will remove it from the menu. But the scenarios and routes will still be active on your TS install, if you see what I mean. I'd have thought that if you want to remove any Workshop content from the equation then you'll really need to move it somewhere else on you PC.

But if you'd like a really drastic suggestion (and I'm only half serious with it because I don't know what will happen). Delete everything in your steamapps\common\railworks and then verify your files on Steam. In theory it will replace all your executable files and .dlls thus solving the issue if it's related to some kind of corruption here. Obviously take a backup before you even think about doing this!

[trev123]

My method above removes them from TS as they no longer show up in the Workshop window in TS.(I think).

[Chacal]

[Content 3:00:43 PM] Trace cEntity.cpp : 1272 = Missing blueprint "i"
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 417 = Blueprint set not found :
[Content 3:00:47 PM] , RailSimulatorCore
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 448 = Blueprint set not found for:
rke rs
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 417 = Blueprint set not found :
[Content 3:00:47 PM] , RailSimulatorCore
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cEntity.cpp : 1256 = Missing blueprint set "\RailSimulatorCore"
[Content 3:00:47 PM]
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 266 = Blueprint set not found :
[Content 3:00:47 PM] , RailSimulatorCore
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 417 = Blueprint set not found :
[Content 3:00:47 PM] , RailSimulatorCore
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cBlueprintLibrary.cpp : 448 = Blueprint set not found for:
rke rs
[Content 3:00:47 PM] Trace cEntity.cpp : 1272 = Missing blueprint "rke rs"
[RunTimeError 3:00:50 PM] Trace mdump.cpp : 381 = Dump taken

The above shows that some blueprint is corrupt, because it has links to blueprints that can't possibly exist, like "rke rs" , and "i".
It is possible it is causing the crash, but it is possibly not the cause, because the error occurs 3 seconds before the crash, which is an eternity in computer processes. Still, I maintain my initial idea about the cause of the problem. The hard part is finding which blueprint is corrupt.

[chrisreb]

One other thought. Do you have a really big collection of routes and scenarios?

When it reaches an undisclosed limit - the sim fails to load when the splash screen shows the message Saving Scenario Database.

Should by any slim chance be your issue you need to store/remove routes/scenarios or do what I do and have 2 or more routes folders.

May not be your issue but has been for others

That's interesting, but raises the question, how big is really big? How do you manage dealing with multiple routes folders?

They (DTG) would not commit to how large is too large.

I maintain 3 routes folders within the Contents folder, RoutesUK, RoutesUS and Routes EU together with associated SDBCache.bin files (to speed loading) and I just take off the geographical part of the name to run the sim with that selection. Work of a few seconds to rename as required and does reduce considerably the sim workload on startup.

[OldProf]

One other thought. Do you have a really big collection of routes and scenarios?

When it reaches an undisclosed limit - the sim fails to load when the splash screen shows the message Saving Scenario Database.

Should by any slim chance be your issue you need to store/remove routes/scenarios or do what I do and have 2 or more routes folders.

May not be your issue but has been for others

That's interesting, but raises the question, how big is really big? How do you manage dealing with multiple routes folders?

They (DTG) would not commit to how large is too large.

I maintain 3 routes folders within the Contents folder, RoutesUK, RoutesUS and Routes EU together with associated SDBCache.bin files (to speed loading) and I just take off the geographical part of the name to run the sim with that selection. Work of a few seconds to rename as required and does reduce considerably the sim workload on startup.

According to RWInfo, my installation includes 72 routes, including "Academy". I don't know whether that number amounts to "a lot", but your idea of separating them into several groups and only using one group at a time is interesting. Thanks.

[OldProf]

Here's another idea that I've had: late last October, I copied my entire Stream/TS installation to an SSD for the purpose of having a "mobile" copy. I tested this yesterday, and TS runs normally from it. Of course, the "mobile" lacks (fortunately or unfortunately) all of the DLC and the work-in-progress scenarios present on my "stationary" copy. So, my idea is that of replacing the "bad" files on my C disc with their "good" versions from the SSD copy -- but which files or directories should be copied?

[chrisreb]

My biggest Routes folder has 86 routes - however the number of scenarios in any given route can range from 3 or 4 to 200 so not necessarily a good guide.

Old standards like Cajon, WCMLN, of Somerset and Dorset have collected many scenarios whereas some freeware ones have got a very sparse set of half a dozen only.

[peterhayes]

Tom
I agree with Chacal on this one.
Unsubscribing WS scenarios DOES NOT ALWAYS remove them from your PC - you really need to use something like RW Tools which now removes them several files at a time - just check in RW_Tools to see if you have any WS scenarios loaded.
You may find that even with RW_Tools you cannot delete every WS scenario - that's because sometimes when you load WS scenarios they seem to get corrupted and merge several files into 1.
It is usually the first scenario in the list for a particular route and it will usually display no folder name and some letter or number for the folder name - these are corrupt and trying to get rid of them is a nightmare. RW_Tools cannot delete them usually.
Do you have any files like that on your PC?
Regards
pH

[OldProf]

Tom
I agree with Chacal on this one.
Unsubscribing WS scenarios DOES NOT ALWAYS remove them from your PC - you really need to use something like RW Tools which now removes them several files at a time - just check in RW_Tools to see if you have any WS scenarios loaded.
You may find that even with RW_Tools you cannot delete every WS scenario - that's because sometimes when you load WS scenarios they seem to get corrupted and merge several files into 1.
It is usually the first scenario in the list for a particular route and it will usually display no folder name and some letter or number for the folder name - these are corrupt and trying to get rid of them is a nightmare. RW_Tools cannot delete them usually.
Do you have any files like that on your PC?
Regards
pH

I'll take a look, but won't that involve unpacking AP files? Of course, I imagine that having unsubscribed all workshop scenarios and routes won't make the process any easier, but perhaps I've figured out a method. I remember subscribing to numerous workshop scenarios for the Weardale and Teesdale route, so I searched the Content>Routes folder for "weardale", which popped up a number of scenario folders and I am now working through them checking their ScenarioProperties.xml files for scenario names that fit the workshop items I can recall subscribing to. This is, probably, more trouble than it's worth and I'm becoming more and more convinced that deleting local files and running a cache verification is the better course of action.