Content Management System - Smart Content GONE
SileneUK
Posts: 1,975
OK, I don't know what to do about this. See attached image message.
If I go to DS Pro 4.6, there is NO content there at all. It was there yesterday. All gone now. I went to the file directory in My Library and all my items are there, they are just not showing in DS or in the Smart Content tab in Cararra Beta.
Don't know if this could be a problem...but ever since I have had DS, whenever I buy anything new, which I did this morning, and it is there in the file directory, the DIM seems to ALWAYS show I have 80+ items (all my purchase history) ready to download and install. It's like it doesn't recognise that they've been downloaded and installed ages ago. This happens whether I click on the DIM button after the sale, or wait and go into the Product Library or click on the icon on desktop when I have time to get around to downloading new content. After I start to download the new stuff, usually the 80+ listing disappears. This time it did not. So I can't access anything in DS or via Smart Content. I was able to get to the DAZ stuff via the Content tab in Cararra.
Am also in the middle of completely downloading all of the 80+ items in the DIM queue... to see if this will re-establish the connection with CMS. Am worried that things might end up in the wrong places, though.
Anyone else ever have this? Did I do something to cause it? If so how can I make it stop!
Thanks for much for any help on this...am in the middle of some course work for class starting Monday. EEEEK!
Cheers, Silene
ETA Finished re-downloading all content. It now shows in Content Library in DS but not in the Smart Content (menu on the leff?) And I still do not have any Smart Content under the Cararra Beta tab. Are the two Smart Content formats connected? I do have the files, they are just not in Smart Content in either Cararra or DAZ.
Apologies if my explanation is crapola, but I am really confused!
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Norhing improved after re-downloading all the products I'd bought. So just carried on working with my Cararra project modelling. Closeing C-beta, then reopening....nothing. Then I thought to look for a CMS file to see if there way any activity there today that might tell something..
Did find the file where the CMS lives in DAZ on C drive. Not much to do with just three files in it....but clicked on the Start icon and got a blip of a command screen that disappeared as fast as it came. The dates on the files, Start, Stop and Uninstall are still on the same date I installed DS. Nothing changed with those files. I clicked it again...same thing. Just for fun, I opened DS and wah-lah.... the Smart Conent appeared! Closed C beta then reopened it and wah-lah...the Smart Content was there as well.
All very spooky....and I wish I knew what caused it because it was just dumb luck I found a way for sort it. But am not confident that it will stay that way.
Oh well.... fingers crossed.
:) Silene
Okay, I'm new to this thread, so just bear with me as I attempt to wade my way in, to an understanding of what's going on, k?
I have a feeling that these 80+ items are things that were installed 'before' using DIM for anything, right? DIM only recognized that something is installed if 'it' is the thing that installed it. With that in mind, let's do some quick troubleshooting:
Do you have a new folder in public documents called "My DAZ 3D Library"? To find it, you may have to go to 'Local Drive C: > Users > Public:'
Now, if so (or not) do you also have the following:
My Documents > DAZ 3D > Studio > My Library ?
The first one I've mentioned, "My DAZ 3D Library", is the default Daz Studio DIM installation location. They made that new location so that first time users would start installations to a fresh location, because installing to areas that have been installed to 'without using DIM' just creates a big mess! DIM doesn't know what it 'didn't' download and install, it only knows what it 'did'. On top of that, some products do not work right if they're not uninstalled before installing a new version - hence was born: DIM. When we use DIM to maintain ALL of our DAZ 3D files, it will keep everything beautifully up to date and installed properly. I was in the middle of a ton of work (still am) so I haven't officially implemented DIM on my workstation yet - so my experiences with it are limited to tests performed on my older workstation that is now my music studio - so it never really sees any DAZ action, except to test out the DIM, back when I did that.
Something to know about Smart Content: It is meant to be used when something is selected. Whatever is selected, Smart Content should go through the database and show you all of the installed products you have that work with what is selected. That's my understanding of it, anyways.
Armed with all of that, talk to me some more, Silene... Forgive me if it takes a bit for me to respond... I'll be checking back shortly ;)
Dartan,
Will try to explain my setup. Yes, I first started with DS and bought and downloaded maybe a dozen things manually in Apri/May. I sent them to a DAZ Library in My Documents.
Then I got to using DIM. Not a problem...kept on buying stuff and used DIM but accessed it from my list of purchased items. It wasn't called Product Library yet I don't think . Right from the beginning I specified the My DAZ Library path in My Documents vs the Public file. I have a My Docs on this machine from an old migration from a previous XP machine (before I got DS, Cararra, etc). Everything behaved fine.
Then starting about a month ago, anytime I bought a DAZ product, I was prompted to and started accessing DIM right from the Thank You For Your Purchase Screen and not going to the Product Library. So at the purchase screen.... I'd click on DIM there and it brings up the Login Screen. Once I started doing THAT I started getting ALL my previously purchased/downloaded/running products show up in the Ready to Download list !!!! I double-checked the paths...and they are still the same as before. DIM hasn't reset them or anything.
So I'd have to trawl through THAT to find what I just purchased and tick those boxes and carry on to Ready To Install for just the relevant ones. By the time it had gone through all the steps, the 80+ products would then magically disappear from the Ready To Download list! The stuff I did download went to their proper places in My Library folder.
I just got used to dealing with this for my last several purchases. But today...for the first time though, the Ready To Download big list didn't go away. And so when I went to C-8 Beta Smart Content...I saw now't but the message in the screenshot. That's when I went to look at DS and saw the Smart Content in there was empty. The products were on the machine... in the directories, and in the regular content library in DAZ.They were under the C-8 Content tab, but were't easy to navigate. EG, the icons/thumbnails were not showing.
Now all is OK after doing the Start thingy in the CMS folder. By sheer bungling good luck it's OK....but don't know if it will continue to behave. Maybe I should not use that DIM access via the Thank You For Your Purchase Screen and just either go into My Product Library and access it there, or from the shortcut on my desktop.
Whew...need a pint of something now!
:) Silene
If you go to the Studio discussion, you'll see just what a shambles DIM and CMS have become - plenty of experiences like yours!
My own experience was that I tried using DIM some time ago - it listed every purchase I've ever made as "Ready to download" couldn't believe that everything had been updated, but gave it a try. Downloading everything would have eaten up several months' worth of my monthly broadband allowance, so I selected only the most important items. It started downloading something like 5 items at a time - as each got to around 90% I got "download failed" - wasting several hundred megs. Apparently this is also a common experience. Quickly killed it before it wasted more money and haven't touched it since.
As for CMS - since getting the latest Studio, nothing I can do will get anything to show under smart content in Studio - started CMS a few times, ran the thingy to refresh Metadata - no go.
So now I just load from the content library.
Seems Stan was spot-on in his paranoia:(
Thanks for your post, Roygee. OMG...and here I thought it was just me. I don't use DS much at all because I want to learn to model not just dress up dollies. Perhaps I should go back to manually installing. Sadly being a newbie I wasn't always successful.
What a bollox-up!
:( SileneUK
Well,
as I've said (above), for best results, they've urged us (in the initial instructions for downloading and using DIM), that we should use a fresh new directory, so that DIM knows exactly what's in there - because it can then manage everything from your DAZ purchases.
This was a bit too much of an undertaking for me, as I have several runtime setups that I use. Plus I'm not really a bit fan of automation for these things. However,
I've then found out that DIM is quite capable of creating and using multiple runtime installations as well - and now can install Bryce and Carrara supplemental products to where they belong, too! I have tried this on my music machine and it worked great - but since I don't use DS or Carrara on that machine, the test only went as far as checking out how the DIM works - and I love it - but with no real tests from within the software itself. But I can tell be seeing what it did - that it did put stuff away nicely.
Smart Content:
If your Smart Content is empty, perhaps try adding Genesis (or anything from your content collection that has supplements installed) to the scene and select it - now see if there's something in there.
Wow am I ever glad that I don't have to watch how much I download! Yikes!
I just purchased Carrara 8.5 Por and had to update DIM to use it for installing. Wish, I did not do that for this new version has broken everything. Before there was content in "Smart Content, both in DS and in Carrara. Now there is nothing. And download/install doesnot work either. The initial download and install worked: I downloaded All my stuff inclusive Daz Studio, the lates public Beta [Carrara] edit: Studio and Rendernode, and install all apps and content. That seemed to work, but any later install ends up in Carrara, when it should be in Studio. No smart content is shown anywhere.
Luckily my old content libraries are untouched ( I still did not recover fully from a disk brake down several years ago :·( ) So I think I go back to my own systems of organizing a "smart" runtime", unless there comes a usable version of DIM.
The Daz Content Management Service is different from the Daz Install Manager. It looks like you don't have the Daz content Management service running on your system. To check and see if it is running:
1. Start Windows Task Manager.
2. Select the Services tab.
3. Scroll down to DazContentManagementService.
If it's not running, then start it,
1. Open whatever start menu you have and go to all programs/Daz3d/Daz content Management Service.
2. Left-click on Start Daz Content Management Service.
If it isn't installed then you will need to go online and download and install it.
Boojum the brown bunny
Here is another issue. You list that you are going back and forth between Carrara 8.5 beta and the new 8.5. You need to check your paths in DIM. You can only have one path to Carrara 8.5 Pro. If you have more than one, you need to delete the path you don't want and reinstall the objects that were in it. Your carrara content is probably being installed to the incorrect place in addition to not having content management service running.
Boojum the brown bunny
One of the first things I did, when problems started, was to reinstall both Carrara 8.5 and Daz Studio Prn 4.6 / 4.6 Public, and all the content in a clean, new folder. I used the newly updated DIM to install both apps and content. Everything was installed into the paths set into DIM (new ones, since the old folders are gone).
Then the next day, when trying to install some new content, everything went into the Carrara path, rather than the Studio path, where it belonged.
It also was the next day, that all smart content tabs were empty and stayed empty, no matter what.
The new My DAZ 3D Library, that was created (without me giving permission !!!) is empty. Files are in "My new Library" in "Studio" within the "Daz 3D" folder in "Documents".
It is my luck, that I did not overwrite my old "My Library" folder, but chose to create a new one and use that for installs with DIM. I still can use Daz Studio and Carrara with the "old" content. Just moved i"My Library" back into the Studio folder.
It is also good, that I did not delete my downloads, so now that I have ensured, that CMS is started at login, I will reinstall everything, but only after having made a back-up. It will take an uninstall, setting up new paths and an install through DIM.
Just uninstalled everything, deleted the paths in DIM, reinstalled Carrara6 and Daz Studio ( both 4.6 and 4.6 public). Then redefined the install paths within DIM and tried to reinstall the content: DIM used 30 minutes on installing nothing into the defined paths.
I'll do without DIM and CMS and stay in control.
If you have your service running and Daz Studio installed, don't forget you can re-import your meta data from your studio library and it will re populate your smart content. I just learned how to do this thanks to DAZ Studio Forum folks.
Re-Import Meta Data Post