Anyone still getting this error?

[William_Putnam]

Now that the ,NET problem has apparently been fixed, I still have the error, "duplicate dialog ID," and, of course, RW3 does not start.

When I do the "three finger salute" (Ctrl-Alt-Del) I get the window that allows me to shut down the offending software. And when I delete the above given error,I get another error message:

"RailworksPROC2.exe has stopped working." I get additional messages that "MIcrosoft is seeking a cure for the problem (which never comes) so I and still stuck at the splash screen of RW3. I have yet to ever play RW3!

Any one else still having this problem?

[Toripony]

See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3342

In the last few posts, you'll see the solution that worked. You could probably speed up the process by not deleting your Steamapps folder; just delete all the rest as detailed in that post/thread. Do NOT skip the reboot like we are all prone to do, lol!

[William_Putnam]

See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3342

In the last few posts, you'll see the solution that worked. You could probably speed up the process by not deleting your Steamapps folder; just delete all the rest as detailed in that post/thread. Do NOT skip the reboot like we are all prone to do, lol!

Before I was to do this routine, I waited and waited and waited for a good reply from Railworks support. Since none was to be come available on my computer, I performed your routine. But...

Horrors! Having saved the files you spoke of, I delete all files except the the Steam.exe and the "thingy" that was supposed to save your credentials for Steam. I then rebooted the computer.

But before I could do anything, Steam had already asserted itself, but did not load Railworks 2012! All attempts to go to library gave me a game file for a game I do not want, of course, and was unable to get the screen whereby you could play the game (have it load) and do the cache verification thing, etc.

I have now been left hanging out to dry!

I have a query to Steam support to help me...

[Toripony]

Try it again but disconnect yourself from Steam first. Either disconnect your Internet connection, reboot, and start over, or right-click on the tiny Steam icon in your Tray (next to your Windows Clock) and click Exit. If you have Steam set to launch automatically upon bootup (silly in my book) then your will still need to find it in your Tray, right-click it and Exit. You should always disconnect from Steam before attempting to fix it. Then reconnect to let it reinstall.

Sorry, guess I should have been more detailed the first time. (but then I don't understand why people have so much issue with Steam in the first place ). It's a really simple app to clear and reinstall. The .NET issue was a genuine problem created with TS'12 but I think these Steam issues are pc/Windows/user/registry related. If you delete or remove Steam (try using Windows Add/Remove programs) from your pc (which is essentially what you just did), then it should be gone. If it continues to give you trouble even before you reinstall it then there is something wrong with your Windows/pc. If you removed MSOffice from your pc and it still "...asserts itself", then there is something else wrong, right? There's nothing "mystical" about Steam; it could be loosely described as a customized Internet browser. It browses to a site that you login to receive your games. We all do that with banking/creditcard sites.

[William_Putnam]

Try it again but disconnect yourself from Steam first. Either disconnect your Internet connection, reboot, and start over, or right-click on the tiny Steam icon in your Tray (next to your Windows Clock) and click Exit. If you have Steam set to launch automatically upon bootup (silly in my book) then your will still need to find it in your Tray, right-click it and Exit. You should always disconnect from Steam before attempting to fix it. Then reconnect to let it reinstall.

I realized that I did not sign-off from Steam when I did that routine, so I then repeated the routine, first signing-off from Stream. The only time that a Steam icon appears on the status line below is when I have opened Steam, and only to the left, never near the clock. I do have a "Desktop" word in that tray that when I click on it, shows me all the things I have on the desktop, but never a Steam icon by itself.

Anyway, repeating the routine got the same results! After completing the rebooting, Steam signed on right away and did it thing, all over again, but never starting Railworks for me; only showing me games in the library I could set up but not Railworks! When I find Railworks, it asks if I want to buy it!

Sorry, guess I should have been more detailed the first time. (but then I don't understand why people have so much issue with Steam in the first place ). It's a really simple app to clear and reinstall. The .NET issue was a genuine problem created with TS'12 but I think these Steam issues are pc/Windows/user/registry related. If you delete or remove Steam (try using Windows Add/Remove programs) from your pc (which is essentially what you just did), then it should be gone. If it continues to give you trouble even before you reinstall it then there is something wrong with your Windows/pc. If you removed MSOffice from your pc and it still "...asserts itself", then there is something else wrong, right? There's nothing "mystical" about Steam; it could be loosely described as a customized Internet browser. It browses to a site that you login to receive your games. We all do that with banking/creditcard sites.

I no longer have the .NET problem, but I do wonder if I had the right "credential" file that tells me I own Railworks? The file I assumed it was begins with "ssn396..." so if this was the wrong file, please tell me what it is.

I really don't think there is anything wrong with my Windows or PC. I run all games I have flawlessly, including the previous RW2, and only have this problem with RW3.

I have a Glock 21SF .45ACP, wondering if a full metal jacked bullet well placed will fix it! (Just kidding!)

ON EDIT: I forgot to mention that I restored everything I deleted to the trash can, and that restored my ability to start Railworks...alas...with the same error messages!

[Toripony]

Close your Steam icon on your Taskbar (at the bottom of your screen). Now right-click on the Taskbar and bring up Task Manager. Look in processes for Steam.exe. If it's there then you are still running Steam. You can "End Process" on it there, or check again on your Tray icons; there should be one there, but perhaps you have it turned off or it went to your "hidden" Tray items (right-click in a blank area of your Tray, select Properties; see if Steam is listed there and what it's Tray settings are).

P.S. That ssfn file id's your computer to the system for the "Account Protection Guard" or whatever it's called. You know... when Steam reports that you are signing in from a different computer and sends you a validation email code? That's not your personal Steam account information which is always maintained on the Steam servers/system. Which is why I find that getting Steam completely off of my machine and reinstalling Steam from scratch always solves login problems. The system is designed to get your login and game purchase info from the Steam servers if it doesn't exist (or is corrupted) on your hard drive.

[William_Putnam]

Close your Steam icon on your Taskbar (at the bottom of your screen). Now right-click on the Taskbar and bring up Task Manager. Look in processes for Steam.exe. If it's there then you are still running Steam. You can "End Process" on it there, or check again on your Tray icons; there should be one there, but perhaps you have it turned off or it went to your "hidden" Tray items (right-click in a blank area of your Tray, select Properties; see if Steam is listed there and what it's Tray settings are).

P.S. That ssfn file id's your computer to the system for the "Account Protection Guard" or whatever it's called. You know... when Steam reports that you are signing in from a different computer and sends you a validation email code? That's not your personal Steam account information which is always maintained on the Steam servers/system. Which is why I find that getting Steam completely off of my machine and reinstalling Steam from scratch always solves login problems. The system is designed to get your login and game purchase info from the Steam servers if it doesn't exist (or is corrupted) on your hard drive.

Toripony, please be patient with me, as I am getting mighty confused.....

I have shut-down Steam from the little "hidden icon" up-tick on the task bar near my WIFI signal strength bars, speaker volume control and time/date information in the lower right hand corner.

I then clicked the task bar to get the Task Manager, and saw that the Steam icon was NOT there.

Now, please take me by the hand and tell me what files to preserve before I delete everything. (I presume I must at least retain Steam.exe and perhaps Steam.apps which you later recommended to retain.)

If this does not work, I will restore from the trash bin (so that I can at least see the splash screen) and rely on what possible reply I will get from Railworks support.

Indeed, you have been quite helpful for me...

[Chacal]

I then clicked the task bar to get the Task Manager, and saw that the Steam icon was NOT there.

Sorry for butting in, but in the task manager you need to look in the "processes" tab, not in the 'applications" tab.
Look for stem.exe in the list of processes.

[William_Putnam]

Sorry for butting in, but in the task manager you need to look in the "processes" tab, not in the 'applications" tab.
Look for stem.exe in the list of processes.

No matter now...

I completely uninstalled Steam and all of it's foibles, which also includes the Railworks folder!

I am contemplating the following moves:

Use my original install disk which installs Railworks1 (The original Railworks before the first update to RW2)

Or:

Install Steam from the web and attempt to restore that way...

And if this does not work...

Goodby Railworks, hello TRAINZ 2012 (which I have.)

[Toripony]

No problem, William, you're doing fine. Folks who have been doing this a long time are having the same problems as you. I'm just personally convinced that it's fixable and once we do you won't have the problem again. I might be wrong, but I appreciate you keep on trying like this. I see you found that small Steam icon; you're earlier attempts were probably thwarted because Steam was still running the whole time. Sneaky, ain't it?

At this point, if you feel comfortable, I would suggest using Control Panel (Add/Remove Programs, or Programs and Features if you're using Win7) to remove Steam completely. Reboot. Then go to the Steampowered site like a first (well, second) time user (http://store.steampowered.com/). In the upper right corner you should see a green icon "Install Steam". It should install a clean new copy of Steam and when you launch it will ask you to login. Then you should see TrainSimulator 2012 and the "Install" button (instead of the usual "Play" button).

Keep me posted!

[William_Putnam]

No problem, William, you're doing fine. Folks who have been doing this a long time are having the same problems as you. I'm just personally convinced that it's fixable and once we do you won't have the problem again. I might be wrong, but I appreciate you keep on trying like this. I see you found that small Steam icon; you're earlier attempts were probably thwarted because Steam was still running the whole time. Sneaky, ain't it?

At this point, if you feel comfortable, I would suggest using Control Panel (Add/Remove Programs, or Programs and Features if you're using Win7) to remove Steam completely. Reboot. Then go to the Steampowered site like a first (well, second) time user (http://store.steampowered.com/). In the upper right corner you should see a green icon "Install Steam". It should install a clean new copy of Steam and when you launch it will ask you to login. Then you should see TrainSimulator 2012 and the "Install" button (instead of the usual "Play" button).

Keep me posted!

Hah! I have done exactly what you tell me here, and after I reinstalled and logged back in to Steam, the Library gives me a game called ALPHA PRIME! Nowhere to be seen is Railworks 2012, unless I go to the list of games and it seemingly asks me to buy it!

So here I am, having reinstalled steam, am properly logged-in, I cannot get to the screen for Railworks 2012!

I am beginning to hate computers.....

[Toripony]

Wait.... you said you had a disk (I just realized this, sorry). If you didn't purchase RW directly through Steam the first time, it would not be listed. So now go offline (exit Steam completely) and run your disk. Then reboot, run and login to Steam and it should offer to upgrade your RW2 to TS'12. (This is based on what others have said; I bought mine direct so I never followed the disk routine). Essentially, you're reinstalling like a new user... like you just purchased it last week.

[William_Putnam]

Wait.... you said you had a disk (I just realized this, sorry). If you didn't purchase RW directly through Steam the first time, it would not be listed. So now go offline (exit Steam completely) and run your disk. Then reboot, run and login to Steam and it should offer to upgrade your RW2 to TS'12. (This is based on what others have said; I bought mine direct so I never followed the disk routine). Essentially, you're reinstalling like a new user... like you just purchased it last week.

OK, I do have the original install disk, but now I have to go off and find the product code. Now where is the booklet that has it?

I'll be looking for it, but if I cannot find it, I may have to purchase the game all over again...

This will take a while...

EDIT - Found the key, and when I entered it, I was informed that the key is already within Steam. Therefore, using the install disk does not work...

I have the problem entered with Steam support, so I will perhaps have to wait for their reply...

[William_Putnam]

Notr a thing heard from Steam.....................

[William_Putnam]

What I had to do is prove that I am the original/legal owner of the Railworks disk I was trying to install in an attempt to do a clear install.

I had to scan the "key" on the booklet that came with the game disk, as well as produce a ticket number (provided by Steams message to me) hand-written above the scanned image of the key.

Tht means that I had to print it out, do the handwriting as instructed, and rescan it to produce the final .JPEG image. I then had to crop it down to keep the picture small and below 25 MBytes (the limits of my E-mail accounts for attached files) and attach it to the reply message back to Steam.

Now, I wait for them to activate Railworks 2012 for me...