Understand Content Manager Status Labels
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− | =='''Using Packaged Assets in Routes | + | =='''Using Packaged Assets in Routes Uploaded to the DLS'''== |
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− | <td>The most important first step is to confirm that the '''Packaged''' asset you have added to your route is available | + | <td>The most important first step is to confirm that the '''Packaged''' asset you have added to your route is also available on the '''DLS'''. See the [[image:PageLink.PNG|link=]] '''[[#CheckDLS|Tips: How to Check the DLS Status of Packaged Assets]]''' above.<br> |
A '''Packaged''' asset that is '''NOT''' on the '''DLS''' will appear as an '''<unknown asset>''' or as '''Not installed, Payware (not active)''' if your route is downloaded and installed by other users.</td> | A '''Packaged''' asset that is '''NOT''' on the '''DLS''' will appear as an '''<unknown asset>''' or as '''Not installed, Payware (not active)''' if your route is downloaded and installed by other users.</td> | ||
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+ | <span style="font-weight: 700; font-size: 15px;">Using Different Versions of the Same Asset</span><br> | ||
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+ | Complications to the above can occur if a '''Packaged''' asset has been updated to a newer version but the '''DLS''' version has not been updated. That is usually a decision made by the content creator<br><br> | ||
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+ | If the updated asset is a dependency of a route you have uploaded to the '''DLS''' then anyone who downloads and installs the route and does not already have the updated asset will see the route labelled as having '''"missing dependencies"'''.<br><br> | ||
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+ | <span style="color: blue; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> Update: </span> This issue seems to has been resolved in the latest beta Trainz Plus release</span> | ||
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+ | In the examples shown below, an asset exists as a '''Packaged''' asset, <kuid2:33404:501440:4>, installed from a '''DLC''' package on one copy of Trainz (shown on the left). It also exists as an '''Installed from DLS''' asset, <kuid2:33404:501440:3>, on another installation of Trainz (shown on the right). | ||
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+ | The updated copy (shown left) is in a route created on the first installation of Trainz. If that route is then installed in a copy of Trainz without the package containing the update, then:- | ||
+ | *if an earlier version (''':3>''' in this case) is present in the second system then it will be used instead of the update and no '''missing dependency''' message will appear on the new route | ||
+ | *if an earlier version of the asset is '''NOT''' present on the second system, then the latest available version (''':3>''' in this case) can be downloaded and installed from the '''DLS'''. This will occur automatically if the route was installed from the '''DLS''' or manually if it was imported from another source and is showing the '''missing dependency''' message. In both cases the '''missing dependency''' message will not be shown | ||
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Revision as of 14:06, 30 August 2022
The information in this Wiki Page applies to TRS19, Trainz Plus and TRS22. This page is intended to provide information for understanding the different asset Status labels used by Content Manager.
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Content Manager Status
Start Content Manager by clicking Manage Content from the Trainz Launcher.
The Status column in the Content Manager display gives information about each listed assets location, availability, and its "currency" (installed, obsolete, modified, Payware, unknown, etc).
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Notes: It is important to remember that:-
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The Status labels are described in the following sections. |
Available for Download
Available for Download simply means that the asset is on the DLS and is not already installed on your system |
The Status labels that you may see would include:-
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Available for download | This IS the latest version available on the DLS and it (this version) is not already installed. If you are looking to install a new asset or update an existing one to the latest version, then this is the one you would normally select |
Available for download, Newer version available | This is NOT the latest version available on the DLS and this particular version is not already installed. There is an update to this version available on the DLS |
Available for download, Obsolete | This is NOT the latest version available on the DLS and this particular version is not already installed. You have an updated version already installed but it may not be the latest version |
You can check to see what is the latest version of an asset that is listed as Newer version available or Obsolete. This will produce a list of all the previous versions (installed or not), currently installed (if any) and later versions of the selected asset. | |||||
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In the example shown above the latest version of the selected asset is already installed (Installed from DLS) and it does not have exactly the same name as the original. If it is the latest available version and is not already installed then it will be shown as Available for download without any additional labels. |
Create an "Available for Download" Filter
This modified search filter will show all the freeware assets including their different versions that are available on the Download Station (DLS).
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Create an "Updates Available" Filter
A very useful Content Manager filter to create and save is one that will identify and display any installed assets that have updates available on the DLS. Detailed step-by-step instructions for making the filter (it is a simple process) can be found on the Wiki Page Using Content Manager to Update Assets but a summary is provided below.
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Installing the Latest or an Older Version of an Asset
To Install the Latest Version: You can select the version that is labelled Available for download with no other qualifier (Obsolete or Newer version available) or you can select ANY Available for download version (including those marked as Newer version available and Obsolete) and Content Manager will download and install only the latest version. |
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To Install a Specific Older Version: You can download and install an earlier version of an asset (one that also has the label Newer version available or Obsolete) if you don't want the latest version. |
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Installed
This built-in search filter will show all the assets that are installed in Content Manager. Set the Content Manager search filter to Installed. The Status labels that you may see would be:-
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Base, Built-in
You will often see the following label on installed assets:-
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Base and Built-in The asset was installed when Trainz was installed on your system. When you installed your current version of Trainz, or do a reinstall, the Base and Built-in assets will be the only ones installed. All the other assets have to be manually added later from the DLS, DLC or other sources. |
Installed from DLS
You will often see the following label on installed assets:-
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Installed from DLS You have downloaded and installed the asset from the DLS. You may have performed this manually by selecting and downloading the asset or it was downloaded and installed automatically as a dependency of another asset that you have manually selected and downloaded from the DLS, for example a route. |
Modified
You may often see the following label on installed assets:-
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Modified You have created, altered or cloned the asset, or not installed it directly from the DLS. |
This label will appear on all assets that you have:-
- created yourself (it will have your kuid code)
- modified from an installed asset
- cloned from an installed asset (it will have your kuid code)
- imported directly into Content Manager without using the Download command - as a result Content Manager will not know the source of the asset
Open for Edit
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Open for edit The asset is currently in use by another process such as Surveyor, Driver or Content Manager. |
This label will appear on any asset that you have:-
- currently open in Surveyor (a Route that is being edited) or Driver (a Session that is running)
- opened in Content Manager for editing - for example changing its config.txt file or image files
- imported into Content Manager from a Content File (.cdp file) or a Content Folder when the same asset is already installed
In the first case, exiting Surveyor or Driver will close the open Route and Session assets.
In the second and third cases you will need to manually close the open assets.
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Packaged, Payware
If you have installed routes or other assets from the DLC then you see the following label or labels on installed assets:-
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Packaged and Packaged, Payware The asset has been installed as part of a DLC package. |
Both labels mean that the asset was included in a DLC package that you have downloaded and installed.
- Packaged by itself means that the asset can be cloned and modified for your personal use. Many, but not all, Packaged assets will also be found on the DLS
- Packaged, Payware means that the asset is exclusive to a DLC package and will not be found on the DLS. Some Payware assets are encrypted and cannot be cloned or modified
It is up to the creator of a DLC package to decide if an asset they have created will also be available on the DLS, or if it will be encrypted.
See the Packaged and Payware section below for more information.
Third Party
You may occasionally see the following label on installed assets:-
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Third Party The assets availability is "questionable". It may be best to avoid using until its status is resolved. |
This will appear on assets that:-
- you have uploaded to the DLS but they have not yet been approved for distribution. Usually it takes 24 hours (sometimes more) before approval is given. After approval the Third Party label will be changed to Installed from DLS
- have been removed from the DLS listing, for a variety of reasons:-
- if the reason is repair work then they can still be downloaded and installed, as Third Party assets, and the repaired assets will (eventually) become available as updates that will be identified using the "Updates Available" filter as shown in the example below.
- in some circumstances a removed asset might still be downloaded as a dependency of another asset but not as an individual asset in its own right. It will receive the label Third Party once downloaded.
- if the reason was copyright violation then the assets will no longer be available on the DLS to anyone who had not already downloaded and installed them before they were removed. If you had downloaded them before their removal then they will appear as Third Party in your Content Manager.
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Disabled
You may occasionally see the following label on installed assets:-
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Disabled The asset has been manually Disabled (from the Content menu select Disable). The label will be added to an existing label on the asset (e.g. Packaged, Disabled) and the words will be "grey" not black. |
Disabling assets will "hide" them from other assets, including Routes and Sessions, so they cannot be used. It is a useful technique for deleting troublesome assets from a Route or Session without actually deleting the assets themselves.
- For an example of this see the Trainz Wiki Page at Deleting Stubborn Scenery Assets.
Normally you would restore the Disabled assets after fixing the Route or Session (from the Content menu select Enable).
Payware assets that are Disabled will have Payware (not active) as their status label.
Unknown, Incompatible, Not Installed
Set the Content Manager search filter to All Content and click the Status column heading (once or twice) to sort the very long list according to their Status labels. Scroll down the list and you may see:-
Unknown Location
The Status label Unknown location, Obsolete means that a later version of that asset is already installed in Content Manager |
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Unknown location The asset is listed as being on the DLS but it is unavailable |
The Unknown location label can sometimes appear if a later version of an asset has been uploaded to the DLS but the original version was not or had been removed for some reason, as shown in the example below.
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Incompatible
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Incompatible The asset is designed for a more recent version of Trainz than you are currently using. |
For example: The SP4 versions of TRS19 and Trainz Plus will load Routes and Sessions with asset build numbers up to and including 4.9. Routes and Session with build numbers 5.0 and above will be labelled Incompatible and will need a later Trainz version (for example TRS19 SP5 for build 5.0 or TRS22/Trainz Plus for build 5.1) to be loaded.
The Build Version column will identify the minimum Trainz build that the asset needs.
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Not Installed
| Not installed, Payware (not active) The asset is in a DLC package and must be installed using the Content Store option from the Trainz Launcher |
This status label can appear if you uninstall a DLC package (e.g. a Route) that you have modified or cloned as a new asset. Most Payware assets can be modified but conditions apply. See the section Modifying and Sharing Payware below.
Unknown Asset
An <unknown asset> can appear when using the List Asset Versions or the List Dependencies commands on a selected asset.
The label "<unknown asset>" will be shown in the Name column and the Status column will be blank.
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unknown asset The asset cannot be found on your system or on the DLS. |
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Apart from the example above, unknown assets are almost always dependencies of other assets that you have downloaded and installed. The installed assets would be labelled has having Missing dependencies. See the Missing Dependencies section below.
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The unknown asset may:-
- be from an independent (3rd party) web site
- have been made by the same creator as the dependant asset but was not uploaded to the DLS
- have been removed from the DLS for some reason (a rare event but it does happen)
- simply not exist, anywhere
Fixing this may not be easy. Possible solutions are:-
- There is a very long thread in the Trainz Forum where you can find posts looking for missing/unknown assets. See Missing kuids? Post them here
- You can try contacting the creator via email (their address may be in the config.txt file) or a PM (Personal Message) through the Forum
Neither is a guaranteed solution.
If the unknown asset is in a Route or a Session then a third option is to use the Delete Missing Assets command from the Tools menu in Surveyor, but make a backup copy of the Route or Session first.
Packaged and Payware
Packaged assets are installed from DLC packages and may also be available on the DLS or elsewhere | |
Payware assets are exclusive to DLC packages or other payware sites | |
DLC packages can only be installed, updated and uninstalled using Content Store from the Trainz Launcher |
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Some of the Status labels that can appear on Packaged and Payware assets are:-
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Modifying and Sharing Payware
It is possible to modify a DLC (payware) route or session and upload it to the DLS provided the creator of the route allows this to happen. There are some conditions that apply:-
- Some DLC assets are encrypted and cannot be cloned or modified
- Your modified route or session will be saved as an alias of the original and, provided the original remains on your system (i.e. it is not deleted or disabled), then your modified copy will work
- You can upload a modified DLC route or session to the DLS (again, if the creator allows this) for others to download and use but they must also have the original unmodified route (and session) installed on their system
- It is NOT possible to merge a DLC route, or a cloned DLC route, with another route (payware or freeware) as this will remove the payware protection from the route
These restrictions are to protect the rights and intellectual property of the payware creators.
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Using Packaged Assets in Routes Uploaded to the DLS
Packaged assets can be used in routes and sessions that you upload to the DLS provided the asset is also on the DLS or is already installed as Packaged by users who have downloaded your route or session |
An asset will be labelled as Packaged if it part of a DLC package that you have installed. It may also be on the DLS or a 3rd party web site. The same asset can be in both a DLC package and on the DLS and its status will be labelled according to how it was installed.
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Using Different Versions of the Same Asset
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Missing Dependencies
This is a label to be avoided.
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Missing dependencies The asset relies on the presence of other assets (dependencies) that must be installed on your system and at least one of those assets has not been installed. |
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This situation shown in the example above can occur if you have:-
- deleted the asset without realising that it is needed in other assets, such as a Route or a Session, or
- used the Import command to install the asset from a .cdp file or a content folder - Content Manager will not search for and install missing dependencies when you import an asset.
- If you have imported an asset from a .cdp or content folder and see the Missing dependencies label then:-
- right mouse click on the asset or assets with the missing dependencies and select List Dependencies
- select all assets marked as Available for Download, right mouse click on any one of them and select Download
- If you have imported an asset from a .cdp or content folder and see the Missing dependencies label then:-
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Trainz Wiki
More Tutorials and Guides to Using Trainz |
This page was created by Trainz user pware in January 2022 and was last updated as shown below.