Download beware

[Coaltrain1]

I bought the Surfliner route this afternoon and it completely wiped out my installation!!! All my pay ware and free ware assets are gone. 11months working on the Big Sandy GONE !!! Everything I have bought from my initial install of 2012. I emailed Steam Support but we all know how speedy they are. I just wanted to let people know of a possible bug with steam.
Of course I have all my files backed up on another drive, so besides the aggravation of having to re install everything from scratch I really did not lose anything but someone who does not have a copy of there game tucked away for safe keeping....

[buzz456]

I'm not going to delete this but I don't beleive this has happened to anyone else and certainly not to a vast majority of us that have reported in. This is a one of a kind as far as I know.

[Coaltrain1]

Why would you delete a report of a possible problem

[buzz456]

Because it seems to be a one of a kind problem and I don't think we should be scaring people. If everyone hasn't been told enough times to back up personal or custom stuff by now...........what can I say. We all know computer stuff happens. The worst mess I have ever had was with a MicroSoft update. I am amazed that Steam functions as well as it does.

[arizonachris]

Now a bunch of us, including me, will say we had no problems with installing the Surfliner. No, it doesn't help at all, I know. Did you verify the game's files after Surfliner was installed? It's a busy sale weekend for Steam and at times downloads can get buggered up. Where are you looking for your RSC stuff? For me, the Collection screens don't show even half my stuff, I have to go to Drive, then by train or by route, to see all the things I own.

Then there's this ongoing issue with the .ap files, and also that "PONtrack.bin" file that is causing third party routes, and in some cases the entire TS2014, to not work. Verify is a touchy subject right now, you can take a look at that .ap thread which is an ongoing test and result discussion.

[Ericmopar]

I think after several weeks, we can safely say we're all having different things happen since the update.
A good example was the tunnel shaders and lofts. Some were like, what, my tunnels are fine, while others had the glowing ones.
Another good example is the Asset business with Castlerock. I had a missing scenery folder, Chris did not. Some had that missing folder and therefor a BluePrint.pak problem others did not.
It can even be different problems, depending on weather it was a clean install or updating the existing one.

Therefor I'm not quick to discount someone's claims...

[buzz456]

I don't discount anything right now. I just don't want to panic anyone either. Bad things are not happening to everyone.

[Coaltrain1]

My intention was not to scare or panic anyone just alert the community to what might be another problem, I really thought that was the purpose of the thread in the first place. There are always those who may not have there game files backed up and assuming that everyone has just because there have only been a zillion posts about it, is assuming a good bit in my opinion.
The fact that you considered deleting this only tells me that my posts and my experience with the game are really not welcome here. At least that is always the feeling I get with almost every post I make. So It is what it is.

[buzz456]

Oh come on. I don't thinkso.

[Bananarama]

Because it seems to be a one of a kind problem and I don't think we should be scaring people.

Perhaps you should pay more attention?

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=9802

It's not an isolated event - it happened to me, and others have reported similar horror stories about a previously released UK route designed to be stand-alone. The issue has been reported to RSC and they're having a look.

[buzz456]

Perhaps I should. I apologize if I offended anyone. There has been so much melodrama and "the sky is falling" on here I guess I'm just getting numb to it all. Once again I apologize to one and all.

[Importz2k1]

It appears Coaltrain1 is not alone, I regret to inform that this is not an isolated incident as it just happened to me. Everything is gone. Thank God I had made a backup of all my assets!

[artimrj]

That makes 3 of you it happened to.

[Toripony]

I'm glad you didn't delete this thread. With a title like "Download Beware", I'm going to read it. Seeing it's from someone we know well, I'm going to pay attention. Now, when I see a thread titled "TS2014 sucks" or "The sky is falling", I will usually wish that thread were deleted. Perhaps if you don't want to scare people, consider the thread title before questioning the thread content. Don't forget there are hundreds of people reading posts here but only a handful of people who post. Do we really know what trouble people are having or not? Also keep in mind that many people we have never heard from come to these forums looking for clues to their problems after RSC support has failed them.

(I do hope the mods are not becoming afraid of offending RSC here... we don't owe them anything here... RSC is a corporation with financial and legal obligations... we are just a bunch of chatty customers)

Btw, my experience may have been different than others. I installed 2014 and it wiped out all assets that weren't official RSC content; bad. But, I unzipped the USAssets .ap file and then ran Verify and it did not delete the unzipped files; good. We should continue to share experiences to help each other sort through problems. History shows that when the problems get fixed, these kind of threads dry up, evidence that the problems were first real and later are indeed resolved.

Thanks for your post, Coaltrain.

[OldProf]

... With a title like "Download Beware", I'm going to read it. ...

I feel quite the opposite way: a thread title such as "Download Beware" is much too vague to be worth reading. What download? Beware of what? Think of a thread title as the equivalent of an e-mail's subject line. Would you read or delete an e-mail titled "Download Beware"? Try for a title that specifically identifies your thread's topic in as few words as possible. It's a challenge, I know, but your post is much more likely to be read. In this case, something like "TS Installation gone after Surfliner download?", where the question mark indicates that you do not know for sure whether the download actually caused the problem.