TS 2013 will not load

[OldProf]

I've been experiencing TS2013 withdrawal pains for nearly a week. About a week ago, when I double-clicked the Train Simulator 2013 icon on my desktop, the usual initial splash screen appeared: the one with various brand symbols against a greenish background. I also had Fraps running and immediately noticed that it froze. Pressing Alt-Tab revealed an error message box containing the following information:

Error: Badly formed XML document
File: D:Build\CoreRelease\Code\Libs\Foundation\APT\core/c Fx Exception.h
Line: 113

After rebooting the computer, I tried the same steps again with the same results and then sent a help request to support@railsimulator.com. The reply arrived fairly quickly, advising me to perform a complete re-installation, with a file containing specific instructions attached. Following those instructions, I opened Steam and used it to "Delete Local Content", which supposedly uninstalled TS2013, although when I inspected its folders nothing at all seemed to have been deleted. Still following those instructions, I again used Steam to re-install TS-2013, a process that took several days thanks, in my opinion, to the inadequacy of Steam's servers (I use the one in Atlanta, Georgia).
When the re-install finally completed, I again double-clicked the Train Simulator 2013 icon on my desktop and the same freeze occurred and the same error message appeared.

I would like to hear from anyone who has encountered this or a similar error message and is willing to tell me how to restore TS2013 to operational status. Despite my loss of confidence in RSC's support team, I do not want this thread to fill up with pointless RSC bashing. I'm seeking information, not invective.

Thanks,

[buzz456]

This is the ugliest of the messages and I have never fixed it except by blitzing the guilty entity. If you are getting it on load up I suggest saving the content folder and the asset folder and then manually deleting the whole mess, reload a clean file, see that it works and then stick the saved folders in there one at a time and see what's happening.
Good luck. Usually this only happens to me one one route or scenario.

[artimrj]

That is usually connected to a route or scenario. I have seen a few messages around about people who clone scenarios finding out that scenarios they were not working on grew very large, 60 to 90 meg. Cloning one scenario destroyed another and stopped TS from loading.

[OldProf]

Thank you, Buzz and Bob. I had been working intensively on developing a complex switching scenario for Munich-Augsburg, in the process creating a number of scenario clones and deleting some of them. That this process might have disastrous effects had not occurred to me. The suggestions from RSC support have not solved the problem, so with your advice I'm proceeding to more drastic measures. I had already made copies of my Assets and Routes folders, as well as a copy of the entire Steam directory. As I write this, I'm deleting that directory and will then enter into the "Finnegan begin-again" stage. Once TS2012 begins working again, I may just start all over with that scenario rather than trying to copy in its older versions.

What should the fresh install include? What I mean is that my old installation included standard and DLC content going back to the first version of the simulator. I've always kept my content synched with the server. Will I get all of that back or will I have to "mine" my old files for the older items? I'm pretty sure that non-RSC add-ons will require the latter treatment.

Thanks again,

[buzz456]

All the third party stuff will have to be added in manually. I have a feeling from what you described that your switching scenario might be the culprit. You might try Loading everything but that and see what happens. I suggest loading a few things at a time carefully keeping track so if you get the bad message again you will know where it's coming from. I bought a new computer a few months back so I backed up all my stuff onto a external drive, loaded a new copy of RW onto my new computer and then just started adding items back in as needed. Kind of a pain in the butt however my new 2013 is running on a Win7 64 bit now and is a heck of a lot more stable than on the old computer. I am not sure if that is a result of the new OS or the fact that I got rid of a lot of junk in the Rail Works that I accumulated. Probably both I suppose.

All of the RSC stuff should resolve itself, however as you have been reading several of the DLC's seem to have some issues at this time so to get them to work you may have to stick them back in manually from your archived stuff.

Keep us posted.

[bwfer]

FWIW... I got the exact same freeze and subsequent error message a couple days ago. That was on a fresh clean install of TS2013 and I was making some tweaks to the graphics settings. However Verifying the integrity of the cache files remedied the problem as 60 files did not validate and were re-acquired. It has been working jst fine ever since.

[artimrj]

Tom you will get everything you had before with Railworks, plus your DLC that you may have bought. You will get all of the ex default assets too.

[wackyhuman]

Quickest way to find out if a scenario is the problem is to empty out the scenario folder for Munich Augsburg and start RS. I had the same issue last week. Finished a scenario, made a change to the XML file and bang, RS crashed. Removed the scenario and voila, issue fixed.

[OldProf]

Late yesterday afternoon, after deleting the entire Steam directory from my computer, I initiated the laborious process of reinstalling everything. Putting the Steam client back took little time. Getting TS2013 back took a vvvvveeeeeerrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy long time, partly because I switched servers several times, seeking something faster, before going back to the one nearest me, Atlanta. The installer also bottomed out quite a few times and had to be kicked in the sensitive part of its anatomy. I'll admit right now to some personal fault, since at one point I decided to while away the hours watching one of my favorite shows on NetFlix before it came to me that I was taking bandwidth away from the installation. Finally, I left the process running and went to bed.

This morning, to my surprise, I found that the installation had completed. Maintaining a totally artificial calm, I made coffee, drank some with a bit of Danish and a banana, and read the morning newspaper (well, at least my favorite section: the funnies) before double-clicking the Railworks icon. The small, dark-grey box appeared and remained for quite a while before the screen went dark and stayed like that for what seemed like an hour. Then the first splash screen popped in, along with the Fraps number, and settled in for what seemed a long stay. Only when I actually heard "the jingle, the rumble and the roar" did I admit that this fix had worked.

Thanks again to those who provided advice that gave me the courage to undertake this process. Now comes the really difficult decision: whether to plug the complex Munich-Augsburg scenario I've been working on, and which may well have caused the disaster, back into the appropriate folder of just start over again. Lord knows that scenario was getting out of hand! I did already take the step of unlocking Munich-Augsburg, but that's as far as I've had the nerve to go.

Sidebar: Just out of curiosity, I checked to see which routes are locked in TS2013. In my installation, there are only four: Munich-Augsburg, London to Brighton, Horseshoe Curve, and Castle Rock. Why, I wonder, does RSC bother to lock any routes and why have they chosen these? But, that's a topic for another thread.

Thanks again,

[OldProf]

This just occurred to me: if I should decide to try re-inserting the Munich-Augsburg scenario I was working on previously, how could I tell which folder it's in within the copy I made of the routes folder? That's a bit of tinkering I haven't experimented with previously.

[artimrj]

You have to go through each scenario folder and look at the properties xml for the name in RW tools. Or you can load up the Packager and it gives English names in the left window and the goofy numbers in the right window when you send the files over to package. Write down some of the first few numbers then go look for it that way.

[Chacal]

RW Tools will tell you. It displays the folder names on every list of scenarios.
As part of your experiment, you can copy the scenario folder into your new Railworks structure, and if it causes problems just delete it.

[OldProf]

Wait a minute, guys ... I'm asking about scenario folders that now exist only in a copy of the Routes folder from my previous installation, not in my current installation, so it seems to me that neither RW_Tools nor the Packager can "see" them, right? Or am I just confused (... again ... still ...) ?

[Chacal]

You are right, but you can change the Railworks folder in the RW_Tools configuration.
So you should be able to use it for all your copies of Railworks.

[artimrj]

xml files will also load in a web browser, does for IE anyway.