Content library question ... am I making my life harder?

JonnyRay

Right now I have a "DAZ 3D Content Library" that I only manage using the DAZ Install Manager (DIM) and a separate "My Content Library" where I install content from other providers by hand.

The system is working, but it is a pain when I need to find something that isn't categorized yet. I have to remember which format it is in (Poser or DAZ Studio) and then whether it was installed via DIM or by hand.

Is there any reason not to merge my 3rd party content into the DIM managed library?

JimmyC_2009

I use the search function in the Content Library pane, and you can set it to search by File name, or Database.

If your items do not have Metadata, then they will not be in the database anyway, but they should show up in a File name search.

Merging both library folders wont make any difference in that regard.

JonnyRay

The discussion in the Commons about DIM and Content Libraries reminded me of this thread. :)

I use the search too, Jimmy, when I know what I'm looking for. But sometimes I'm thinking "I wonder what shirt would look good for this?" So I want to browse my content for inspiration. With over 3000 install packages (which means many times that many individual items), I have a LOT of stuff. Hoping to remember the name of something to find it in a search really isn't an option. ;)

As I understand it, the main reason for the recommendation that DIM have it's own Content Library is because it doesn't check to see if it is about to overwrite files when it installs things. So I unless my 3rd party content replaced some native DAZ file, the risk of using a single library for everything should be fairly minimal.

I'm also considering going back to my old ways of content management before the library / database tool was available. Simply moving the folders in the Runtime\Libraries into the places where they make the most sense to me. :) Only risk to that is a DIM uninstall wouldn't work well. But I can live with that. I think I've only uninstalled 1 or 2 bits of content ever.

fixmypcmike

JonnyRay said:

As I understand it, the main reason for the recommendation that DIM have it's own Content Library is because it doesn't check to see if it is about to overwrite files when it installs things. So I unless my 3rd party content replaced some native DAZ file, the risk of using a single library for everything should be fairly minimal.

Not exactly. The reasons for the advice to use a different content folder for DIM are:
1) If the files are all in the same places, overwriting the older version is no big deal, but DIM won't remove the files if you try to uninstall since it saw they were already there and doesn't know if it was from the same product or a different one. However, there is a feature to fix the registers to get around that problem.
2) If the files are differently named or in different places (either now or in a future update) you risk having obsolete files hanging around, which can sometimes cause problems. I get around this by being OCD and being compelled to compare the old and new versions. However, I do know Adamr001 just let DIM install them and the number of items that needed to be fixed was very small, and he has lots more content than I do, so chances are if you didn't move files and folders around in the past the problems of just letting DIM install on top of existing content folders are relatively small. You just need to be willing to dig into it if something isn't working right.

JonnyRay

Thanks for some clarification on this, Mike.

In an "ideal world", I'd split my DIM and 3rd part libraries and pretty much "live" in the category view of things. It's just the road to getting there is so painful, that I may never do it.

To be honest, about a year ago I tried getting back into DS, and it was exactly the pain of rebuilding my content library (I'd lost my runtime in a hard drive crash) that made me give up.