Can not find railworks.exe

[Dan]

Tried to start Railworks last night and again today.

Got this message


Windows can not find

c:\program files(x86)\steam\steamapps\common\railworks\railworks.exe

Any ideas why and what the solution is?

The only changes I've made since the update are to re-install the NewS containers and Dick C's buckeye couplers.

But I don't seem to have a railworks.exe in my railworks folder?

[Andimax]

had the same issue here, without changing anything. Steam checked my gamefiles and found 120 files that had to be replaced ...?

[Dan]

Can you walk me through what you did to resolve the problem?

[fraserm]

I have the same problem. I thought it was a problem with the desktop I use, but I fired up the laptop and it's the same issue. I tried copying files from a recent "backup" that I did a few days ago, but that only starts the opening screen, if you press the "Start" button, nothing happens. At least I'm glad to see that it's not only my problem. There's got to be a fix, wondering what it is. In the meantime I deleted it from the desktop and I"m going to reinstall, losing my customizations. Oh, well, it's only time, right?
I'll be following this topic to see if there's any news.
Thanks,
M.

[Dan]

Ok. This is what I did:

Open up steam

Library

Right click on Trainsimulator 2012 (on the left hand side with all your steam games listed)

left click Properties

Left click Local Files

Left click 'Verify integrity of Game Cache'

Hope this helps

[fraserm]

OK, here's what I did:
Use Windows Control Panel to uninstall the game (don't worry, it'll keep your customizations), and reinstall from Steam. That worked on the desktop, and I'm doing it right now on the laptop. Now someone needs to tell us WHY it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again.

Whaddaya think?

[arizonachris]

Now someone needs to tell us WHY it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again. Whaddaya think?

Yeah, and I need the same info about my girlfriend. No ryhme or reason to either RW or gf. One day all is fine, next is poop.

[Toripony]

Yeah, and I need the same info about my girlfriend. No ryhme or reason to either RW or gf. One day all is fine, next is poop.

Now I know what you guys mean when you're always referring to machines as "her" and "she". Hmpt!

[Toonces]

Now I know what you guys mean when you're always referring to machines as "her" and "she". Hmpt!

Yes, and when you get the "Something bad has happened" from the girlfriend, you had better stop what you are doing and pay close attention .

[fraserm]

OK, now this is really getting me riled up! Came home tonight and fired up the laptop, tried to start RW3, and it told me AGAIN that it can't find RailWorks.exe (twice, mind you!)! I'm starting to think there's something else on my system(s) that is interfering, maybe thinking that the EXE file is malware of some sort. I'm going to remove a suite called "System Mechanic" and see if that helps. I've had some issues with it before, so that's one place to try. If it helps, I'll report that here.

Stay tuned.

[Machinist]

OK, now this is really getting me riled up! Came home tonight and fired up the laptop, tried to start RW3, and it told me AGAIN that it can't find RailWorks.exe (twice, mind you!)! I'm starting to think there's something else on my system(s) that is interfering, maybe thinking that the EXE file is malware of some sort. I'm going to remove a suite called "System Mechanic" and see if that helps. I've had some issues with it before, so that's one place to try. If it helps, I'll report that here.

Stay tuned.

Is due to new often updates... In Steam, instead of start TS2012 go to: properties > local files > verify integrity of cache games. That simple! hapenned to me twice with the last two update patches (yesternight and tonight ).

[arizonachris]

I'm going to remove a suite called "System Mechanic" and see if that helps. I've had some issues with it before, so that's one place to try. If it helps, I'll report that here.

Tori and I were talking about System Mechanic and how it messed up our systems. I had to do a Repair of Windows. Now I use CCleaner. I Highly recommend it: http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/ . I even use the Registry Tool, just backup the Registry first, but I've never had a problem with it.

Another thing could be your Anti Virus finding a false positive, and if you have it set for automatic scans and to remove what it's finding, it could be erasing the .exe. Verifying the files will replace it, tho.

[Hawk]

I also highly recommend CCleaner, but thought I'd give you a link to their web site so you can read about it and download it from the developers site.

http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

[fraserm]

I also highly recommend CCleaner, but thought I'd give you a link to their web site so you can read about it and download it from the developers site.

http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

Thanks to Machinist, arizonachris, and Hawk for these replies! I also use CCleaner, I have used it for many years. System Mechanic was recommended by Dell to try to fix a network connection issue I was having with a new laptop. The so-called "advantage" with System Mechanic is that it does run in the background, whereas CCleaner needs to be run manually. I also find CCleaner takes away too much stuff (like cookies that I actually WANT to keep). My normal antivirus/malware/firewall suite is Norton Security Suite and that seems to do a good job keeping me clean. I removed System Mechanic from the laptop and I don't have a problem yet today, so I believe that may be my problem. I also suspect it of deleting the executable for Google Earth once or twice. Looks like I'll be removing it from any machine that uses TS2012! Playing trains is more fun than trying to figure out why a piece of software won't do its job properly!
BTW - the network connection issue turned out to be a new wireless router, not the laptop itself. I bought a different brand of router and the probelm went away.
I've also refreshed the software using the method that Machinist recommended, but I just feel that none of this should need to be done if the game is otherwise running normally. It has to be an external cause and I think we've found it.



Thanks again! I'll report back when I'm satisfied that this is actually the solution. I think it is...

[Hawk]

I also find CCleaner takes away too much stuff (like cookies that I actually WANT to keep).

That's an easy fix. When you fire up CCleaner, in the left hand panel, click on Options, then Cookies. You'll see a split window.
Move cookies you want to keep from the left window (Cookies to delete) to the right window (Cookies to keep) by highlighting the cookie(s) (using Ctrl+click, which allows you to select more than one at a time) and using the arrow buttons in between the panes.