yeah, if you thought DTG has any QA, you know for certain they don't! But obviously Steam is to blame?
Hello. The bad thing is that even ALL the third party DLCs have disappeared. All addons from Armstrong Powerhouse, Christrains, RSSLO, Just Trains, virtualRailroads, etc, etc, have gone down the drain. In short, the update deletes practically the entire game, because even the executable is gone.
Steam should allow us to have a update choice. Today someone at DTG is at serious risk of losing their job which is a 'real' problem. Serious harm has been done to DTGs reputation today and I guarantee that there will be a stressed office this evening. It shouldn't be the end of TSC it should be a warning to all to Back Up Your Data, that message is as old as pc's themselves. I wouldn't risk trying to run offline or any other 'tip' just spend the next 24 hours backing up what you have (and will probably never be able to replace).
Thanks for the warning - managed to switch Steam to offline mode and switch off auto updates before the update hit. With regards to backing up - is it just the case to copy and paste the railworks folder onto an external drive. or are other TSC files need backing up?
Wise advice. For some time I've been backing up any 3rd-party DLC I download to my cloud storage BEFORE I install it to TSC. It may be a bit tedious, but at least I should never lose it, which is important as DLC providers can go bust or otherwise stop operating.
Thanks to the experience of Steam File verification, I always have a backup anyway. Also had to go to the office today so the PC hasn’t been switched on. Lucky escape for me today.
Anyway, how is DTG's current owner, Focus Entertainment, finally going to clean house and imply some drastic changes to DTG's higher staff? Their incompetence in applying even basic Quality Assurance has unmistakably been proven.
Talk about melodrama, annoying? Absolutely, inconvenient? Sure thing, but to call it the death of TSC is hilariously over the top.
To answer my own question, 1 run the steam app and clink on "Steam" on the menu bar , then select "go offline"
not for those who have lots of 3rd party DLC that got wiped, their game has been killed by DTG's incompetence.
Careful what you ask for... At this point this may well end up with "dump TSC altogether and focus solely on TSW"....
Holy LOVE. Good thing is, I don't play during weekdays anymore. Another good thing is, my save games are not deleted. Bad thing is, it will be a major reinstall and Steam will buckle, and so will ISPs.* Another bad thing is, workshop is a big question. I have 714 MB in my Routes folder so that might be it. However if anyone resets their folders, DTG either fixed the old error or everyone must unsubscribe from the entire workshop. In which case I'll commit sudoku. * No, but seriously. 250 GB in one go is a bit serious, I'm assuming once the DLC list comes back, everything will be ticked. Kinda fine. And-but-also, last time I tried installing TSC, it simply refused. ps.: Looks like I have to make good use of my backup made a couple months ago. It was a major failure but it might work on this PC.
From what I'm reading a new update is available on steam. Also to note it looks like the third party stuff hasn't been 'deleted' just that TSC doesn't know it's there. to quote the post as follows- What is removed: All files downloaded via Steam are removed. All trains, routes, scenarios, manuals that have been installed by Steam have been removed. This includes the game itself and all of the things needed to make it run. What is not removed: As long as it doesn't directly overwrite files installed by Steam, downloaded mods (including those from the Workshop) will not be removed. That means that when the update is rolled back or there's a new update, most things won't need to be reinstalled if they're bought from other websites. If the update has already been installed: My best advice is to rename the RailWorks folder to something like RailWorks1. Then create a new folder called RailWorks and leave it empty for now. As long as it's not the same it will work. When the next update is available, it will install into the new folder you created. Then, you can copy the contents of the RailWorks1 folder into the new folder and you'll avoid any potential file verification issues. If the update has not been installed yet: Rename RailWorks to RailWorks1, as I explained before. You may also want to create the new RailWorks folder as well, but I don't think that'll be necessary. You will be able to play the game normally until a fix comes out, at which point you may want to rename RailWorks1 back to RailWorks if you didn't create the latter, or if you already have created the new RailWorks folder you can copy one into the other and it should work fine. To note this is a quoted post and not my own workaround but it may help those who are rightly angry at possibly losing some valuable assets.
IMPORTANT On my PC the game is currently reinstalling. Probably it will do for all of you. Lucky ones won't even notice. RISK It is downloading into the ...\SteamLibrary\steamapps\downloading and ideally just moves the files, however there might be hiccups if the game fills the entire disk. So. GOOD NEWS.
My update was scheduled for 5 December along with a few other (not sure why Steam chooses dates so far in the future when the setting for update isn't set to high priority). Good I didn't move it to "update next" section, as I usually do. Now it still says it's scheduled to update on 5 December, but if it's safe to update now, I'll do the "update".
I'd leave it be. There is a slim chance it queued the empty version. In an ideal world when starting the update, Steam fetches the latest update metadata and acts accordingly.
I can't stress the importance of a local backup. An external 1TB SSD via USB is relatively cheap. It would be nice to have one in your Christmas stocking. At least they found and fixed the error. In TSC circles it will always be "The day TSC died" Apologies to American Pie
I'm not going to argue on that, my point was that if the new owners would decide to replace most/all of the top management because of this, we might well end up with the hypothetical new management not seeing the point in maintaining two sims - especially as the one uses a graphics engine outdated by several years - and just dump TSC altogether to focus on TSW....
And so has DTG up until this week. Let’s see how good Simrails rep stays when they have been out as long as TsC. Will you be quick to praise them then.
Had the update come down but not been on TSC. Kind of don't want to look to see what the damage is! We thought TSW was run on ineptitude and incompetence at times but this really takes the biscuit.
/ Wow do people with a large TSC collection not have backups? That is madness if not. I would rather spend 3 hours every 4 months backing up my 480GB TSC collection than spending 3 days reinstalling all my DTG and third party stuff if something went wrong.
I am glad it has been solved. Well done and thanks DTG ! And remember, the person who does not make mistakes normally makes nothing.
Got to say calling it the Death of TSC is a bit over dramatic. Yes this update was a MAJOR mess up but was fixed promptly. However of course many people were still affected and that’s no good. We should all be aware by now that it is going to be a rocky road to get this game fixed to modern standards to secure its longevity! Like many have said, due to this dangerous journey to stabilisation and improvements it is IMPERATIVE that you keep a backup of your game. Due to time zones I was asleep while all this madness happened, so thank goodness I didn’t have this happen to me. I feel bad for those affected, this issue is going to be very upsetting and tedious for them. DTG’s mess up here should definitely be addressed but what should also be addressed is their quick response in fixing this serious issue.
I don't know, I don't actually play it (And won't till Searchlight Simulations releases their route for it) But a botched update during a sale week when another rail simulator also released a major update (and hit their max player count to date) doesnt help. So we'll see if Simrail can both capitalize on this and if DTG will improve their work on TSC.
Another form of backup. I have created a "Mods" directory on my other hard drive. Everytime I add something non-core or modify ANYTHING ( being the inveterate tinker that I am ) I make a copy in my mods directory. I only make copies of the files I have modded or things that are not updated by steam that I am happy to leave updated. I create a text file in that directory with instructions /comments in it like RSC - B12 delete and then overwrite Preload directory. etc etc When there is an update all I have to do is read my instructions sheet to prepare the railworks directory by unziping .ap files as required or deleting stuff and then I simply drag the contents of my mod directories into railworks. If you have the mods on a different drive it is a simple drag and drop activity. It still takes an evening but it ensures that every cab view position tweek I like is always copied back after any update etc. Just an idea that works for me.
I wondered why Steam was trying to download a 0b in size file. It just happened to coincide with me uninstalling TSC so I could run a fresh install after I ran into a few issues and thought somethingh had happened to my licence for the game.
Simply a pun on the song titled "The Day the Music Died" by American Pie. You may not be old enough to remember this. I will say that this fopaux will go down in TSC history, right up there with the April 27th.
I am so glad I've kept my main installation out of Steam's reach, using two appmanifest_24010.acf files. No damage done here, good to be prepared. I have no idea what's going on at DTG, their TSW updates are always sure to break content, but what happened here is beyond my understanding. Is there a saboteur?
So you are comparing something over something you dont even own.............. right that makes perfect sense. Also guess what when TSW release a new version or TSC guess what happens to numbers THEY GO UP the same as simrail did today that you seem so fond of comparing to. because people are curious. come back next week and tell us about the numbers of sim rail see if they are still as high i guranteee they wont be. seems to have dropped VERY quickly over 24 hours since release.
They updated the TSC core for a simple reason - it's easy money. Update the engine and the catalogue of 13 years content will continue to be purchased without requiring a lot of developers. Death of TSC is rubbish.
Simrail appears to be doing worse player count wise over Train Simulator Classic but it is still undeniable that Simrail is currently or is going to be major competition for Train Simulator Classic, and that is a good thing as it will strive for developers to make Train Simulator Classic a better game so more people will play it, which is what has been happening with the core updates. What is fascinating to look through with statistics is that TSW 3 & 4 despite being more "popular" has a lower player statistic count than TSC from what I can tell. What is putting me off from buying games like Simrail is that compared to Train Simulator Classic, there is too little. TSC still has a huge variety of DLC rivalling Trainz and is why I continue to stay as I can really vary my playstyle with different trains in different places, and real places and trains for a matter of fact which most simulators don't even have. Simrail will start winning me over when it expands it's variety of content. However must say multiplayer is a major factor for Simrail is enticing. Aside from variety, what would also win me over is "real" trains. Yes it appears that the trains are based off real life train types but they don't appear to have real branding which sort of throws me off as I want an authentic and realistic train experience with real liveries and companies and from what I can tell Simrail does not have this which bothers me.
Because SimRail is new, and focuses on delivering consistent quality over quantity. In TSC you can never even be sure your brakes will be working...
Fair point honestly. There are a few bugs here and there and never really bother me that much. When I do suffer braking issues on the likes of recent USA DLC it is frustrating but all I have to do is a bunch of trickery with the handbrakes which is annoying but at the end of the day gets my train to finish and I can move on afterwards. Don't get me wrong, these issues do need to be fixed and addressed though. I am not wanting Simrail to go down the road of TSC quantity over quality, what I really meant is that I am just going to wait for some more variety in location and operations in the world before purchasing as variety is what I really want from train simulators. However, Simrail developers or associates, if you are reading this, if you add real Australian content especially from Queensland I will be instantly purchasing your game. I am STARVED of Australian content in rail simulators and it would be great to have quality Australian rail experiences in a simulator like Simrail!
If you are using Steam, switch to 'Offline mode' then you'll be able to run TSC offline. To go back online, switch Steam to online mode
I think they are doing the thing that's best for replayability and multiplayer - focus on building interconnected networks, not single routes.
