Package Manager Freezes

[fraserm]

Hi, all. I've just experienced a problem using Package Manager in TS2012. I've been downloading a lot of free- and pay ware from a bunch of sources and this is the first time I've had this happen. I usually start Steam alone before starting TS, just to check the latest news. I start TS, it seems to start normally. I go to the Package Manager tab and press "Refresh" as I always do and this seems OK. I press "Install" and it hangs up at this screen:

Frozen Package Manager Screen.jpg

My list of file locations and folders in the left sidebar is incomplete and the TS window in the background shows "Not Responding". The only way I can get out of it is to ungracefully exit. This started yesterday. Here's what I've done up to now:

- restarted TS, no effect
- restarted Steam and TS, no effect
- verified cache several times, no effect
- ran Norton Antivirus full scan, nothing found, no effect
- ran scandisk, no effect
- ran defrag, no effect
- removed unnecessary files using CCleaner, no effect
- shut down and restarted the laptop, no effect
Has anyone experienced anything similar and found an answer? I'm getting really frustrated at this point!

All suggestions gratefully accepted.

Best,
Marc

[Samwolf]

Mine has been doing the "Not Responding" for 2 to 3 minutes, runs for about 1 minute and then goes to "Not Responding" again for 2 to 3 minutes. It repeats this until the package install/unistall is complete. It happens more often than not, and has been doing this since RW2 but it has never locked up where I had to cancel and reboot.

I'd like to know why this happens also, it gets real frustrating when I have multiple tasks to do.

[fraserm]

Hi, Samwolf. Mine just locks up and never recovers. Just checked the desktop and it's OK. I'm running Norton in Safe Mode now to see if that helps. Other than that I'm open to suggestions.

Best,
Marc

[arizonachris]

Marc, that's Windows Explorer popping up, I have not seen that in this game doing that. I am afraid, you may need to do a repair of Windows.

Also, you do not need to do a refresh of Package Manager if you are installing a new something. Just browse to the item and click install. No need for that long wait to "refresh" unless you want to uninstall something.

[Hawk]

Also, you do not need to do a refresh of Package Manager if you are installing a new something. Just browse to the item and click install. No need for that long wait to "refresh" unless you want to uninstall something.

Yea! What he said.

I've seen it mentioned numerous times that you should do the Refresh of that screen before you install something.
Back in the day, when I had RW installed, I never did do the Refresh thing before installing. It isn't necessary.

If you're just refreshing that screen 'just for the heck of it', I would recommend that you avoid doing that, since it's causing problems.
It may be a memory issue.

I go to the Package Manager tab and press "Refresh" as I always do and this seems OK. I press "Install" and it hangs up at this screen

That's probably because you hit Refresh first, which can be a bit problematic for some.

[Machinist]

I never liked Package Manager, is too much slow and not always works when you are installing 2 or more rwp files at same time, so this is why since a long time I don't use it anymore. If you hit "Install" to install another asset whilst the green bar is refreshing the list, you usually get game frozen. The same if you try to start TS2012 whilst the refreshing thingy is not completed yet.

The same Marc is reporting happened a lot with me using Win XP, but not that much now with Win 7 (Ultimate). To run around the problem just wait until the "Explorer" screen loads completly and shows the box to enter the name of file (area filled by me in red collor in the pic below), before click on Explorer screen to change or highlight directories/files. Sometimes, when the first time Explorer screen fails to load completely, you have to try again. Hope this helps.

Doc.

Clipboard01.jpg

[PapaXpress]

This may have to do with how .Net 4.0 runs on XP. I would recommend that you run windows update and see if there are any recomended downloads just for .Net 4.0.

And to side track.... Also be aware that Microsoft is committed to stop supporting XP (April 8, 2014). Many of the new APIs they are writing will only work in Vista and greater (we are not talking about WinRT which is used for Win 8 Metro and Phone.). At the same time I am not sure I would recommend Win 8 until they push out SP1. They changed the whole experience and it will take some time to get use to not having a start button, and seeing (unless you disable it) the start screen.

more info here if you are interested:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... /lifecycle

[Chacal]

What they said. I never use the "Refresh" button and never have problems.
You only need to hit "Refresh" if you want to UNINSTALL a package.

Then it takes a very long time to scan your files, so the "not responding" message is normal.

[fraserm]

Marc, that's Windows Explorer popping up, I have not seen that in this game doing that. I am afraid, you may need to do a repair of Windows.

That's a good thought, Chris. You're right, it's Windows Explorer, not TS technically. TS is calling WE.

This may have to do with how .Net 4.0 runs on XP. I would recommend that you run windows update and see if there are any recomended downloads just for .Net 4.0.

Hi, Papa. I'm using Win7 Home Premium, not XP, but thanks for the thoughts and I will check for updates.

The same Marc is reporting happened a lot with me using Win XP, but not that much now with Win 7 (Ultimate). To run around the problem just wait until the "Explorer" screen loads completly and shows the box to enter the name of file (area filled by me in red collor in the pic below), before click on Explorer screen to change or highlight directories/files. Sometimes, when the first time Explorer screen fails to load completely, you have to try again. Hope this helps.

Thanks, Doc, but the WE screen NEVER finishes, it just freezes at the screen in the original post.

Also, you do not need to do a refresh of Package Manager if you are installing a new something. Just browse to the item and click install. No need for that long wait to "refresh" unless you want to uninstall something.

Yea! What he said.

I've seen it mentioned numerous times that you should do the Refresh of that screen before you install something.
Back in the day, when I had RW installed, I never did do the Refresh thing before installing. It isn't necessary.

If you're just refreshing that screen 'just for the heck of it', I would recommend that you avoid doing that, since it's causing problems.
It may be a memory issue.

I go to the Package Manager tab and press "Refresh" as I always do and this seems OK. I press "Install" and it hangs up at this screen

That's probably because you hit Refresh first, which can be a bit problematic for some.

Good thoughs also, Hawk, but that's the way I've always operated PM since I started using RW/TS last July. I have 37 routes and over 500 scenarios so I have to believe I've been doing something right up to now. I've also just topped 800 hours in-sim.

I'm going to see if I can "refresh" Windoze Explorer in some fashion.

For reference, here is the system I'm using:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dell XPS 15 laptop
Intel i7-2620M 2.70GHz
8GB DDR3
nVidia Geforce 540M
750GB HDD (about 25% full)
Win7 HP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd hate to have to do major rework to Windows,but I'll see what works and what doesn't.
Good suggestions, all!

Best,
Marc

[arizonachris]

Marc, if you want to do a "refresh" of Win 7, as long as you have the disk, just boot from the disk instead of from the hard drive, and choose "Repair" No files will be harmed, but it will fix and corrupted files, and fix the Registry. I do this every 6 months. It's like having a fresh install of Win 7.

OH, I have to correct myself on my first reply. That Windows Explorer window is supposed to pop up so you can browse to the files you want to install. Darn CRS kicking in again.

[fraserm]

Thanks to all the great suggestions I found a solution. In the TS launch screen I opened the "Packager" tab and pressed "Refresh" to view the assets section. I wanted to see if there was something obvious that should not be. I noticed an asset folder labeled "MISSING" in all caps as shown. Then I went to Windows Explorer and found the same folder and saw that it was empty. On a lark I deleted said folder and lo and behold, the "Install" function is now working. There must have been some corrupt file structure related to that "MISSING" folder that was hanging up the TS Install function. I've been using it for about an hour this morning (while watching Wimbledon...) without any trouble whatsoever. Unfortunately I didn't take screen shots of the Packager window before I tried the fix so I have no visual to give you.
Again, many thanks to everyone who posted their thoughts.
Happy camper!

Best,
Marc
BTW Chris, I struggle with CRS every day!

[arizonachris]

Every once in a while, I find a "zero bytes file" that will mess up a route or reskin. That's where RW Tools comes in. Find that file and get rid of it. Solves a lot of SBHH stuff. (sometimes, anyways)

[fraserm]

Hi, Chris. I've been all over RW_Tools, even upgraded to the latest, 3.1.27, and can't figure out how to detect zero-byte files. Can I buy a clue fom you?

Thanks,
Marc

[glenn68]

I have had this happen lately. I would restart windows (dump the RAM memory) and everything was fine after that. If you are computer savy, open the .rwp file with winrar and install it manualy. I have done that before also.
Glenn

[fraserm]

Hi, Glenn. Thanks for the suggestion. This is happening on a laptop that gets restarted every time I want to use it. On the gaming desktop I built everything works just fine. That's the one I leave burning 24/7 as I'm running a distributed computing app on it.

How would I use WinRAR to install the rwp files? I'm savvy enough, but I've never done that before.

Best,
Marc