Revision as of 15:43, 14 June 2016

Trainz stores additional content and user settings separately from the Trainz installation folder. A platform-specific default path is used, which can be accessed in your platform-specific file manager as described below. This folder may grow to a substantial size over time. If required, you may specify an alternate location for storing your content.

These instructions apply to build 82340 and above.

Locating your Local Data Folder

From the launcher of any Trainz installation, you can click the "Trainz Settings" button and then switch to the "Install" tab to see the full path to that installation's local data folder. You can navigate directly to that path using your system's file manager, however please keep in mind that the parent folders of the default location may be hidden on some systems so simply starting at the top level of your computer and working your way down may not work.

In order to navigate directly to the local data folder's default location, the following steps can be used:

Windows

In Windows, the local data folder is stored by default at a subfolder of "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\N3V Games\TANE" (where "<username>" is the username of the logged-in Windows user account.)

You may access this location in Windows Explorer by entering the path "%appdata%\..\Local\N3V Games\TANE" into the Window Explorer address bar. At this location you will see one or more local data folders, corresponding with your various Trainz installations. The name of each folder here includes a random character string which has no meaning but simply allows for multiple installs to coexist without overwriting each other's data files.

You will also find a text file at this location named "userdata-redirect-map.txt" which lists the correlation between each Trainz installation and its local data folder. While it is possible to hand-edit this file using a program such as WordPad.exe, it is not recommended due to the potential for data loss.

Mac OS X

In Mac OS X, the local data folder is stored by default at a subfolder of "/Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.n3vgames.tane" (where "<username>" is the username of the logged-in Mac OS X user account.)

You may access this location in Finder by using "Go To" (command-shift-G) and then entering the address "~/Library/Containers/com.n3vgames.tane/Data". At this location you will see one or more local data folders, corresponding with your various Trainz installations. The name of each folder here includes a random character string which has no meaning but simply allows for multiple installs to coexist without overwriting each other's data files.

You will also find a file at this location named "userdata-redirect-map.txt" which lists the correlation between each Trainz installation and its local data folder. It is typically not possible to hand-edit this file due to the way that Mac OS X encodes file paths.

Moving your Local Data Folder

• Note the current location of your user content by opening the Launcher > Trainz Settings > Install tab
• Open Windows Explorer and create a new empty folder at the desired location (e.g. D:\TANE_Content)
• In the Install tab, click on the "..." button and browse to find your newly created folder
• Click Select Folder to change the path to your new location
• Exit the game and close all game windows
• In Windows Explorer, move your existing content into the new folder (see below*)
• Start TANE and check the Install tab to confirm that the path has changed and is correct and that everything is working.
• If your content is missing, or if a database repair commences, you have made a mistake and will need to re-check the setting above.
• Move all the files and folders from your original Local Data Folder (from Step 1 above) into your NEW folder created in Step 2

i.e. folders like backup, cache, etc plus assets.tdx and keystore.tdx.

This process will leave the old content folder empty, and all of your content files under the new folder. You can then delete the old empty folder.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

• DO NOT ever delete the C:\Users\<pc name>\AppData\Local\N3V Games\TANE folder OR the userdata-redirect-map.txt file in that folder. This file is required by TANE to ensure the Local Data Folder is found. If the redirect file does not exist, TANE will create a new one and create a new local data folder in the default location and you are back to your starting point.
• If a new unused /build xxxxxxxx folder is created in the default location upon restarting, you have not followed the steps correctly - please review the steps again.
• If you are asked to enter your username again, you have not followed the steps correctly - please review the steps again.

Creating a New Local Data Folder

Sometimes your Local Data Folder can end up with corrupt data. In this case, the solution is to create a new folder which contains no 3rd party content. From there, you can then IMPORT your old content and work out which items may be causing issues.

• Open the Launcher > Install tab and check the path to your Local Data Folder. The default path is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\N3V Games\TANE\build xxxxxxxx
• Highlight the full path name and use Ctrl-C to copy
• Close TANE (and check in Task Manager that it has ended - this may take a few minutes in some circumstances)
• Use Crtl-V to paste the path into Windows Explorer
• Go up one directory level and rename the folder by adding "-old" to the name (this effectively creates a backup for you)
• Open a NEW Windows Explorer window and create a Folder in the desired location (e.g. D:\TANE_data)
• Open Launcher > Trainz Settings > Install tab and browse to find your new folder (D:\TANE_data) then click Select Folder
• Close TANE (a message will appear saying the game needs a restart)
• Restart TANE and check your Install path is pointing to the new location.
• Click Start Trainz and wait for TANE to complete a database rebuild (this should only take a few minutes)

Now your TANE install points to the new Local Data Folder at the new location. NOTE: This process does not copy any of your local content across.