Install Manager - or Manual?
franontheedge
Posts: 342
What exactly does install manager do?
(just about to get DS 4.6)
And if you decide to get it, what must you do to the old DS to ensure everything you could access with that is safe?
Please direct me to the correct thread - I'm sure there must be one somewhere, but I can't find it.
Or else just tell me?
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Comments
It allows you to automaticaly download and install content instead of installing it manualy with archives. I don't use it that much because i like to do it manualy, but i guess it is good when you have more content and it have some nice options.
Here is more info:
http://www.daz3d.com/install-manager-info
https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/entries/22780699-How-to-Use-Install-Manager-to-Install-DAZ-Studio-4-6-
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/30744/
I used to manually install everything. And then I would get screwed up, and have to start over.
Now I use the DIM...it is wonderful.:-)
I use it exclusively. The links gulan provided give the most important information.
You can configure the filters to only show you the content that you care about (for example, I don't use Poser; so I don't need Poser or DSON content). You can also configure where it caches the install files when it downloads them, and where to install the content that it is installing. So the risk of it blowing up your existing content is pretty low.
If there is something that it thinks you want, but you don't (for example the DS -> Photoshop bridge), you can right-click the item and hide it so you don't have to worry you'll install it by accident sometime or something.
(edited)
About,, "what must you do to the old DS to ensure everything you could access with that is safe"
it seems difficult,, if you install contents to new directory by DIM, you may hope to delete duplicate items,,
but if you delete old installed directory ,, I do not know which setting you need for different version ds.
you may need to keep many same contents in your PC with different directory,, I think
(edited)
Anyway you must need to read official documents and check you tube tutorialls about DIM !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhI-R1RTaZc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E4ft-bsPL0 (for Windowz)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO-ClnEbOM4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlTca7F3PZ8 (for MAC)
then,, I believe without you need to keep many ds contents root directory for categorize,
Install Manager is really smart way to manage contens (install-uninstall) and up-date.
For new user,, I believe DIM is best way to manage DAZ contents which sold from daz web shop.
the difficultiy is when you hope to use DIM without making new contents directory.
and merge contents in old directories.
then,, ..... DS directory manager not work as I believed. so that I deleted my recommend way...
Using DIM:
I never use the DAZ Install Manager (DIM) it has always been my worst nightmere!!! so I just download my purchased content to my computer and I manually configure it myself by just placing all of the folders where they belong. I never have a problem doing this; and I know where every thing is. I tried using the DIM and could never find my product after it downloaded to my computer. I went crazy trying to figure out where my products were? thee DIM has a mind of its own. So don't use it. It's just my best advice.
Clay
NY
It doesn't have a mind of its own. You just need to take the time to study it. It isn't the most user friendly app, that's for sure, but once you master it you will never go back.
DIM will also keep your DAZ 3D content up-to-date. I no longer have to hear about an up-date of a product on the forums. DIM tells me when a product has been updated. I have had products in my Runtime for years that had been updated and I never knew for all those years. This doesn't happen to me anymore (with DAZ 3D bought content in DIM format).
And this constant and blatant misinformation about you not knowing where DIM installed the content is not true (this is not the first time this has been uttered). All you have to do is right click on a product in the installed products listing and click on Show installed files in the pop-up menu and you will get the Runtime and a listing of the files for that product under that Runtime, easy as pie.
My advice, if you are not willing to take the time to understand how DIM works, then don't try it, and for fairness sake don't post misinformation if you don't understand how a product works yourself.
What exactly do you mean by this?
If you mean is there a way to ensure that your content library remains the same, I'm not sure. There have been so many product updates that unless you have been keeping up with them all (I know I'm a few years behind), there will doubtless be changes that will require you to recategorize stuff. Technically that has nothing to do with DIM, but since if you adopt DIM you will presumably use it to re-download your entire product library, which means you would get these changes (if any). If you download everything at once, then you will get all these changes all at once too, which might make it hard to determine what intentionally changed while also trying to verify that nothing important was lost. Alternatively, you could download each product one at a time with DIM to see what (if anything) may have changed for each product to break it into more manageable chunks, until you are caught up, then start using DIM normally. Another tactic you could take would be to set up one more runtime for DIM, then only download NEW products with DIM, leaving your original products untouched to avoid anything unexpected. However, doing it one product at a time sort of of defeats one of the great things about DIM, which is that you can install EVERYTHING in one shot.
If you have a lot of free time and a second computer, you could just do a brute-force approach of duplicating your content in the second computer, then removing your installed product and reinstalling with DIM, then comparing every single content library folder in DAZ Studio one at a time between the two computers. Not sure how you would verify non-DAZ-Studio Content (Bryce, etc.) this way though.
Of course if you have non-DAZ products mixed in with your DAZ products in the same runtime, you may have some difficulty extracting them prior to re-downloading them with DIM.
Note that you should not have the same content installed twice, because differences to a product due to updates or anything else will cause problems. HOWEVER, it is technically possible to do, I've done it before I knew you shouldn't. In DAZ Studio, if your content is found in two places, it will show up with (2) in the content thumbnail name. One could theoretically do this, then manually look at each and every content thumbnail to search for anything that might be different (and thus not have the (2)), and once everything is verified to be ok or found and fixed, then you could remove the original duplicate, leaving you with only the DIM-installed version, then use DIM normally from that point on. But also a lot of work.
Maybe somebody else has come up with a nice automated way to verify things haven't changed that I haven't thought of. (or perhaps this wasn't even your question.) I bet most people just remove their old content installations of DAZ products, then use DIM to redownload everything, manually recategorize anything that might have changed, and don't verify anything, which makes it a lot easier, if potentially error-prone in the unlikely event that something didn't work out right.
Well, I simply enjoy installing my downloaded content to DAZ manually; because, it allows me to know where everything is. I can see how my , My Library is structured. If ever there is a problem; I know exactly what to do in order to correct it. The DIM is ok for anyone who likes it, but for me knowing the intricate details of DAZ and how to maneuver and use the software to its fullest is a far better reward than just simply using the Installment Manager (DIM).
Using DIM doesn't take this away from you. Besides, only DAZ 3D bought content (not all of it) is in DIM format (I don't know of any other seller out there using it).
I have several other Runtimes including a Poser Runtime and a DAZ Studio format Runtime. I still purchase content from other sources.
If you want to know how the Runtime structure works search Google. You will find plenty of articles on the subject. There are threads on the subject in this very forum.