Disappearing files

Paula Sanders

I know this has been answered and I tried to do a search. I have set up my own system of categories. I installed a number of files and found them and placed them. Later when I reopened the program, a number were missing. Periodically I scan and uncheck new material or whatever it is called. Usually the same files appear. Today basically a ton appeared and when I went to place them, the ones that had been there before were gone. I went through them all and added again a lot of files. Any suggestions on how to prevent or fix this and insure what I have installed remains in the categories. I know I have seen answers in the past, but couldn't find the threads.

Thank you. It is so frustrating to not only redo, but spend money and time and have them disappear.

Jaderail

Every time you ADD to your categories do a Content DB Maintenance>Export User Data. Then when you lose items you can do Reset Database and all should come back. Then add more items and Export again. That should keep everything in step.

NOTE: Items that get UPDATES may break categories.

Paula Sanders

I tried to ask a question that your answer raised last night, but after 4 tries where it didn't post, I gave up. So I will try again. How do I know when the object went missing to know that the reinporting will work? If I don't know it is missing, I could be exporting info that is not original. I can't check all my items everytime I add somne. That would be impossible.

I tried to find the posts by fixmypcmike where I thought there were alternative ways, but I couldn't find them. Any threads would help.

Thank you.

Sylvan

I have been batteling missing content as well. Here are some threads that helped me a lot.

But first, I would advise you to check if your content management service is working (you can check it in your taskwindow).
To start it, go to start=>all prgrams=>DAZ3D=> DAZ Content Management Service=>Start Content Management Service.
Close and open DAZ and see if your content is there now.
If it's still missing, try these threads:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/11936/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/22686/

Good luck, I know the content can be a handsful to handle sometimes but it's worth it in the end. The bonus you get is that with solving a problem like this, you get some insight on how the software works ;)

fixmypcmike

When most of the categories are working but some items you categorized recently aren't showing up, the problem is in the database itself rather than the CMS.

1) If you haven't exported user data recently, do that first, so you can restore the categories that are still working.
2) Close DS and uninstall CMS.
3) Reinstall CMS by running the installer in C:\Program Files (x86)\DAZ 3D\DAZ3DIM1\cms (if you have DIM installed) or by reinstalling DS. That will give you the latest CMS, which will reduce the chances of the problem recurring.
4) Search for the file ContentDB.ind -- if you let CMS install to the default locations it will probably be in Program Files (x86) or ProgramData. I would search your entire hard drive with "Hidden and System Files" visible, in case you have more than one set of databases, which could also cause problems. That file is the index for the database.
5) Stop CMS and delete ContentDB.ind, then start CMS and launch DS. Let DS rebuild the index -- it might take a minute or two.
6) Scan for new content and categorize it.
7) Close and restart DS, and see if the categorized items are staying. If they are, you should be good to go.
8) If newly-categorized items are still disappearing, close DS, stop CMS, and delete all the files in the databases folder. Restart CMS, launch DS, and re-import metadata to get your user data back. It can take a long time, so don't panic if it seems to be taking a long time and the progress bar isn't moving.

Paula Sanders

Thanks to all of you. I followed the threads shown by Estroyer and what fixmypcmike suggested and added the missing files. However I saved scene files to drive G not C and I have to try to get them since they are helpful because they show my characters. I'm not sure exactly how to do it. I am backing up my drive c now and tomorrow will scan g drive. If this isn't the way, please jump in and tell me.

Another question. I install using DIM. I, then, go to Proucts to categorize them because when installed this way they don't show up in uncatagorized files. So how would I know if some of those are missing from my categories.

Again, thanks for the help.

fixmypcmike

Add the folder containing your saved scenes as a DAZ Studio Format content folder, then they will show up when you scan for content.

Unfortunately, I don't know of an easy way to figure out if items which were installed with DIM (and which therefore have Product entries, even if they didn't come with metadata) have lost your custom categories for them. The only way I can think of is:
1) export user data so all of the latest categorization is saved,
2) reset the database
3) re-import metadata but ONLY check User Data, uncheck all of the DAZ entries
4) scan for content -- anything that wasn't in your user data will show up in unassigned, so you can categorize it
5) then re-import metadata for the DAZ entries

Paula Sanders

Fixmypcmike wrote: "Add the folder containing your saved scenes as a DAZ Studio Format content folder, then they will show up when you scan for content." I'm obviously doing something wrong because Scanning G cannot find my two folders Paulas poses and Paulas scenes no matter where I put them on drive G. They are found if they are on Drive C under "Library".

Re: Exporting/importing User data. When I imported it I checked the User data which said N/A on the side as well as all the regular data.

Again thanks for all the help. Hopefully these are the last questions.

SOLVED!!!!! I got my external runtimes setup on G so my scenes and poses that I have created are ther. And they are showing up. My data base even before this addition is larger than it has been for a while so my guess is I have been losing data for a while. Again, thanks so much. Without this help, I would never have gotten there.