Factories not producing

[Inquirer]

I have played 3 South Amerincan countries and 2 European countries in Victoria1.04. My factories never produce anything and run at a loss. I start playing France and a typical factory with 5 slots of about 12000 craftsmen or clerks each, produces 0.2 timber to lumber at 21% effeciency at a loss of -0.9 per day. With the economic sliders in their starting position, the country is making a loss of -135 per day. The game is not playable like this!

[beowulf]

I have played 3 South Amerincan countries and 2 European countries in Victoria1.04. My factories never produce anything and run at a loss. I start playing France and a typical factory with 5 slots of about 12000 craftsmen or clerks each, produces 0.2 timber to lumber at 21% effeciency at a loss of -0.9 per day. With the economic sliders in their starting position, the country is making a loss of -135 per day. The game is not playable like this!

The economic sliders are not in any sort of optimized position at the start of the game, it is not intended that you should play the game with them in that position if you're losing money.
While it is true that some factories will operate at a loss (and in my experience lumber is not one of them) at the start of the game it is not true that any factory will continue to do so for the entire game. Research industrial and economic technologies and upgrade your railroad network, and this should solve itself.
These are not bugs.

[Derek Pullem]

Try starting with Belgium and use Beowulf's advice - that should get you familiar with the game mechanics

[Inquirer]

I found out what the problem was: it was my bug, not the programs! I was upgrading the game from V1.04 to Revolutions and I found out that certain factory.txt files were not loaded. I had to click "yes" to install each missing file. The Vic Rev version is now working as expected. The capitalists are building factories like crazy and they are making good profit.

But why were all the files not properly installed in the first place? Why is it necessary to have a YES/NO option to install vital files?