DAZ Studio loses track of Smart Content

Bitstream

I looked for a forum topic that dealt with this issue, but didn't see anything, so will post a new question.

Sometimes (often, actually) DAZ "forgets" what is in my Smart Content. When that happens, I can't even search in the Content Library, as it will give the result of "none" for any search.

If I close DAZ, then start it again, the problem remains. But if I reboot my computer, then start DAZ again, it has fixed itself.

Does anyone know why it does this? And does anyone know how I can fix the problem from within DAZ itself without having to exit, reboot, and start the program again?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me with this.

Jaderail

Something on your PC is shutting down the CMS while you use DAZ Studio. This can be caused by Firewalls, Anti Virus software and the OS itself. I'm not sure of your issue as most often it is shut down at the PC start and not during the use in DAZ Studio.

Bitstream

Thanks, Jaderail. Your comments gave me some ideas to try.

I found that I can restart the CMS by bringing up the Windows Task Manager and doing it from there. However, after restarting it, the content didn't show up in DAZ Studio. I still ended up rebooting the program to get the content to appear again. This is better than having to reboot my computer, but it would be nice if I could restore the content without exiting DAZ Studio.

Is there a way to do that?

Jaderail

I'm not sure. I'll ask the big brains about that and get back to you.

Amethyst25

I'd like to know the answer as well. I'm having the same issues.

Jaderail

Asked but not answered as of yet.

adamr001

Okay, I'll try to help. :)

If DAZ Studio "loses" the CMS, it's lost until DAZ Studio is restarted. There's not really a way around this I'm afraid.

The real issue is what's causing your CMS to crash. Most often this is a corrupt index. Fortunately the index is pretty easy to fix. Unfortunately, it could also be a corrupt database, which is much harder to fix. So let's start with trying to fix the index and see how it goes from there.

First make sure DAZ Studio is close.
Next make sure the CMS Service is STOPPED.
- In Task manager go to the Services Tab, select "DAZContentManagementService", right click and select "Stop Service".
- Wait for the DAZContentManagementService to stop.
Next open Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer)
Browse to C:\ProgramData\DAZ 3D\Content Management Service\databases (assuming a default install)
Find the "ContentDB.ind" file (you may have to turn on file extensions via Tools > Folder Options > View > Uncheck "Hide file extensions for known types")
Right click on this file and select "rename".
Change the name to "ContentDB.ind.bad".
Click YES on changing the file type.
Start the DAZContentManagementService by the task manager.
Wait 30 seconds.
Start ONE instance of DAZ Studio. NOTE it will take MUCH longer to start than normal. This is expected. It's rebuilding the index.
See if the CMS is more stable.

Good luck!

Angjel

Did all that didn't work either :(

Jaderail

If after fixing the two above and the CMS is still getting shut down the next thing to check is any Anti Virus software you run and or Firewalls. The CMS is often FLAGGED by both as not Allowed. That shuts the Service down. You will need to set the CMS to Allowed by your program before it will function.

3dLux

Actually did have this problem. It started when I updated my Anti-virus (avast!); for some reason the update wasn't completed but I thought nothing of it at the time.

Then I wasn't able to use the search function nor was the smart content appearing. After looking at the CMS log I realized that the last entry coincided with the day before the update. So I updated manually and rebooted.

Search and smart content were founctional once again :)

Would have had this sorted out earlier but it was a crazy week at work and at school with my screenwriting students rushing to finish work they should have completed a week ago :shut:

Angjel

I found answer was step 8 in another post.. I had to delete the entire directory inside ProgramData/Daz 3D/Content Management Services/Databases . Once I deleted all inside databases poof it worked again.
Now I can't find the post I went by . It should be a sticky I think. Perhaps there shoud be a button in Daz that automatically does it since it stops working or gets corrupted so often

Ok found it. by fixmypcmike Admin.
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.