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I was working on the CSX high line over 30th Street Station when I ran into a problem. The computer crashed when I went to save the route and when I reloaded it in the Route Editor everything on the tile was gone including the scenery. It was all blank. I have replaced the tdb and rdb files with the backup filesas well as removed them. Everytime I try to do a track database rebuild however it runs fine until I get to that tile and then it goes off into the great white void and just keeps on going forever. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get it to do a track database rebuild without it going off on it's own into the great white void forever? I would prefer not having to restore the route from my last backup since I have done alot of work since then that I will lose, especially alot of the septa tracks. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, George.
You've hit a tile with a large object count and likely got the send/don't send crash when you tried to save.Restore the tile's backup file by deleting the world file with a length of 1KB. The same file name will have .bk as the extension. Rename this file to have a .w extension, reload RE and you'll find your stuff back.Chances are your track/road databases are fine but the overly-stuffed tile is where the problem lies. RE is memory intensive. One work-around is to move to a tile at least four tiles away, place one new object then do a save....This method is successful sometimes....The GOOD news is that if you crash during a save the database files are NOT yet saved and, therefore, have NOT been updated! RE saves the world file first, then the databases, then the terrain.... The phone-home crash will give you a world file which RE is trying to write at the time but only got the file created and didn't write the object information it has stored in memory.... It's kludgy, I know....JBD
First I want to say thank you for your help. I tried what you said and I got the track back on the missing tile. Now it has created a new problem however. Now only the track north of the affected tile has the white lines for the overhead wires along the tracks and all of the platforms, signals and other track object are all now missing along the route. I tried doing a track database rebuild but it goes for a long while and then stops and says it failed because of an end:end nonvector. Has anyone seen this error before and do you know how I can get my platforms and signals back. Hopefully someone out there can help me with this problem. Thanks for any help you can give me, George.
Thank you all for your help. Following your directions, I was able to get the tracks back on my route. Unfortunately, it also removed all of the signals and sidings from the route. Because I do not want to replace all of the signals on the NECv4 route, I am going to restore the route ectension from a backup an relay all of the track that was lost when the RE crashed. Unfortunately this will push back my progress on the NEC extension. If you have any idea on how I can get the program to recover my route without erasing the signals and platforms, I would appreciate it since it would save me alot of time. If not, I will work on rebuilding the extension from my older backup. Again, thank you for all of your help, George.
I'm sorry to hear you have lost so much work on your route.This is to late to help you, but the one thing any old timer with MSTS will tell you is to backup, backup, backup. I copy my entire route to a RW CD at the end of each days work and keep a 5 set rotating backup. You now know the reason why that is done. Don't get caught again! Good luck, and the second time around is always easier.Larry
Thank you, unfortunately I know all too well how much of a pain the RE can be and how buggy it is. I do make backups, the problem was that I found my most recent backups were corrupted. I have an in home network and I often store my backups on the server. Unfortunately the server crashed and wiped them out. I do also have older backups that I save to CD once I have completed an important area of the route. What I have done is use one of the older backups to recover the route. Unfortunately this means that I lost the CSX High Line and much of the SEPTA track that I had laid, but I am able to recover the zoo interlocking up to North Philadelphia as well as the 30th Street Station yard area. So it is not a complete loss at least. I will have to find a way to reroute the CSX track around the tile with the yard since it is now apparent that the route editor cannot handle that much track on one tile. Thank you again for all of your help, George.
George, The Philly tiles are pretty crowded. 11008-14318 has 942 objects and the tile to the east, 11008-14317 has 748 objects.I wish you had e-mailed me to discuss your intentions because I probably could have saved you from going in the ditch.First off, it's VERY dangerious laying track when there are signals (or ANY interactive objects) installed on the track you are connecting to. Second, Track database rebuild will NOT work on the necv4. It works on a less complex route but on my old 512Mb RAM machine it stopped working when I got about 1/2 the route signaled, starting on the north end of the nec. If I remember it was when I got almost to Baltimore that the TDB rebuild went FUBAR, never to run again sucessfully.OK, now, what to do. I suggest you remove ALL track objects on the tiles where you will be laying track. This DID work for me as after I had finished signalling the route there were three areas that needed extra switches installed to prevent the broken coupler syndrome. (1) The Roeter Interlocking south of Wilmington named after Bob Roeterdink(sp?) who first analyzed and defined the coupler bug. (2) The crossover on the CSX at Arcaneaux Tobacco siding and (3) The crossover just south of BWI Airport station (Amtrak) Before installing even these simple track modifications I carefully removed all track objects on the affected tiles, layed in the new track, saved, tested and then added the track objects back. I should be correct here and say interactive objects, not just track objects. Leaving those car spawners in is frightfully deadly, a fact I found out when I first started modifing the route. They caused the most problems of all. Like siding and sound markers stretched for miles along the tracks. I too am now working on a new route which for now shall remain confidential but it WILL connect to the NEC. I just am thankful that being a built from scratch route, no bloody effing interactive stuff to deal with. Right now I am on the steep learning curve of X & Y tracks.Good luck George and please let me know if I can assist you.
Regards, Vince Cockeram NEC Track Team Author of the NECv4 Route
Thank you for the information Vince. Those would be the two tiles that went on my route extension. In particular 14318. Fortunately I did have a backup with the Amtrak yard completed through the zoo interlocking to North Philadelphia as well as most of the Septa track laid. So I was able to save the most complicated portion of the extension. What I lost was the Septa track north of the Broad Street station in North Philadelphia, the Amtrak line north of North Philadelphia and the CSX High Line which I had been working on at the time of the crash. I will have to figure out some way to fudge the high line or more likely simply leave it out since the tile is way too crowded with the 30th Street Station yard. I may also remove some of the sidings in the yard instead of including everything on my interlocking diagrams. The signals and car spawners are not a problem with the restored backup. The area where my current trackwork ends is above the zoo interlocking which is no longer on the crowded 14318. Since I am on a less crowded tile now, hopefully I will have fewer problems. I just need to be more careful of my backups so I don't lose the most recent ones again when the RE inevitably decides to eat my routes. There are two things that you could assist me with Vince. The first is while I am using very detailed interlocking diagrams, I noticed that there seems to be a gap in my data for the overbrook interlocking just west of the zoo interlocking heading towards Harrisburg. While I have charts I am using for the old Reading lines that SEPTA now uses for it's commuter service, I would also like to find more current charts. Do you know any online resources I might try to find this info. If not I will continue using the charts that I have as I believe SEPTA hasn't changed much of the track work. Thank you for all of your help Vince and I will post how the progress is coming once I have rebuilt what was lost. As they say, live and learn. But at least I didn't lose everything. Thank you for your help, George.
