need help reinstalling Daz

woody2

Ok guys and gals I need some advise on reinstalling Daz4.6 . Thru the years of installing and uninstalling stuff my runtimes have really gotten corrupt and I thing the only way forward is to reinstall Daz and maybe not put everything back in so it will run better and faster. not sure on that but makes sense to me if there is not so much stuff to look at it may run faster and it will help me not to have to look and try and fine something that I want to use. if there is something that I need later on I can try and find it in my back up folder and install it then. hopefully anyway. the problem is that I don't have my Daz program installed were everyone else has and not sure were all the files are at that I need to delete before I reinstall daz, My DAZinstall is on drive J: but other things are in my Documents and in program files. seems that they are every were. so if some one can tell me a better way to install Daz I sure will but I don't like to put things on C: drive because that is the drive that seems to crash more then any other on a system. doing a new install I would like to keep my "Daz install manager" and just point it to the new install drive so I can get all of the things that I have paid for back into the program Does anyone have any thoughts on this and how to make it the lease painful in doing it.
please help if you can so I can get this thing back up and working again. let me know how you all have yours installed with out being on the default drive if you have a setup like I do. and how does yours work.

I am on a windows 7 64 bit with 16 gig of memory and a 9800 video card with 1 gig on the card.

thanks for any help

woody2

Gusf1

I have a similar setup. Studio is installed in program files on the C drive and my runtime is setup on my J drive. I split my runtime into DAZ content and NON DAZ content. This way I let DIM install to the DAZ runtime and I install everything else in the NON DAZ runtime. If you installed all your DAZ content with DIM, It should be able to uninstall it. Though, I did this once and had to re-download a lot of my content. I do not delete the installers after installation. So, beware. One of the things I am doing to make this process less painfull in the future is, to unzip a lot of related content into a directory, make sure everything is in the correct folders and, zipping the whole thing back up before installing it in my runtime. I save these large zip files in case I have a repeat problem.
Gus

kyoto kid

...so what would happen to scene/scene subset files and saved character files if one rebuilds their runtimes? The DIM has made a mess of my original nicely set up runtime structure. I am afraid though that reorganising/renaming/moving things will break bunch of paths to the Content/Runtime/Libraries folder.

The CMS has just become a pain in the bum, even with the new DB format, and I have gone back to using the "classic" tree structure in the 4.6 Content Tab which became a mess again due to lack of any file naming convention (a lot of props & such still load just to the "Poser" Content/Runtime folder). The only things that are organised are content from other stores and freebies that I had to install manually (and thus could label with the actual item name and organise properly).

Novica

Whatever you folks do, remember once you have it set up the way you like it, to Export User Data so you save your changes.
Be in Smart Content>then go to little square box menu above it and click it open, then Content DB Maintenance>Export User Data.

Novica

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/39030/

Jaderail, fixmypcmike, and mcj1016 took me step by step. I really wish they would make this a sticky, so many people keep asking how to do it. :) This put most my stuff on D drive so I wouldn't fill up C drive. Hope it helps.

Richard Haseltine

As long as the content is in the same place in the content directory then saved scenes and presets will work if you move the content directory itself - paths are stored relative, just the location within the content directory. the CMS does store absolute paths so the export User Data/reimport metadata routine is needed (or if you didn't do any customising just plain reimport metadata).

kyoto kid

...so if all my scenes and subsets are still on my "runtime" ("D") drive and I don't move anything out of the Library folder (even though content files would be moved to more "logical" categories within it and renamed properly), I should be fine?

I do notice that when I am using texture tiles I DL or create and then move them from on folder to another Like form the desktop to another folder on the desktop) I get errors that the particular texture cannot be found when I reopen the scene later.

Richard Haseltine

If the texture isn't in a content directory when you apply it then DS will save the full path (C:/Users/KK/Desktop/somemap/jpg); if it is then DS will save the relative path (/Runtime/Textures/Somefolder/Somemap.jpg). If you move the files within the content directory (to /Runtime/Textures/Someotherfolder/somemap/jpg) then the reference will fail.

kyoto kid

...I usually keep individual downloaded tiles and custom textures I create in an external folder () and manually apply them to the geometry in the Surfaces Tab. Sometimes I mess up and save them to the desktop and that is when I run into issues when I later move them to the folder. I don't care for a lot of "hoop jumping" (dealing with long involved paths).

The only time I leave them in the associated Textures folder is when it is a modification of an existing map (like a colour change). I still have to apply them manually though, as I do not know how to can create an icon (or the path) for them in the poses/materials folders as I don't know the first thing about scripting.

BTW a couple of OT questions (though remotely related) how does one get all folders in Win7 to display in the same format? I'll get some that open in "Details" format (my preferred one) and others that when I open them are in Icons format. I'll change them but when I go back they revert to the "Icons" display again. I know in XP there was a global command to get all folders to display the same way but cannot seem to find it in WIn7. Also there must be a way to get thumbs of a .jpg/.tif/.png image file to show in Sidebar Details pane but all I get is a "generic" Windows icon (usually just the PSPX4 icon) instead.

jestmart

Your textures MUST be in a mapped library folder for relative addressing to work. Everyone should have a personal library folder mapped in addition to there purchased / downloaded content library(s) folder(s). The personal library is where you would save all your created DS files and where you would keep your textures (in Runtime / Textures / [whatever] sub-folder structure).

kyoto kid

...but as they still need to be manually loaded though the Surfaces Tab it is more of a pain to go <[drive]:/Daz/3D/Library/Content/Runtime/Textures/Tiles> instead of simply . Unless one has a way of getting them to actually show up in the individual content Materials (and/or the Poser runtime ) folders so you can just select the item and double click on them.

As I am not a content creator, I have no idea how to do that.

jestmart

If they are placed in a mapped library folder references to them in presets or scene files will be something like... /Runtime/Textures/Tiles/weave.jpg ...a relative address/path. Not in a mapped library and the reference would be something like... /c:/Users/Public/Documents/Textures/Tiles/weave.jpg ...an absolute address/path. If you were to move your content to say... /d:/3D Content/My HappyFunTime Library ...and your textures to... /d:/3D Content/Textures/Tiles ...the absolute references become broken.

kyoto kid

...yeah, but how do I apply them up within the progamme other than manually in the Surfaces Tab?

Let's say I have created a new texture for Petipet's Bus Maximus. I save the new file in <"blah/blah"/runtime/textures/Petitpet/Bus Maximus>. Next, I go back to the "blah/blah"/Vehicles/Bus Maximus> folder in the Content tab and open the associated folder, will I be able to apply the texture from there without having to write/script a link to it first?

jestmart

Perhaps a quick step through making a prop to demonstrate relative and absolute.

(1) Import crude toonish SwordAxe.
(2) Go to Surface pane and apply the one texture image file to all the surfaces. The image is in a mapped DS library.
(3) Save as Figure/Prop Asset.

Repeat (2) except this time the texture image is taken from a non mapped general purpose image folder.
Repeat (3)

This is snippet of the first prop .duf file. The reference is relative, if I zipped this up as a package it would work flawlessly on other peoples computers despite where their libraries are located.
"id" : "guard-1",
"url" : "#guard",
"geometry" : "#JSM_SwordAxe-1",
"groups" : [ "guard" ],
"diffuse" : {
"channel" : {
"id" : "diffuse",
"type" : "color",
"name" : "Diffuse Color",
"current_value" : [ 1, 1, 1 ],
"default_image_gamma" : 0,
"image_file" : "/Runtime/Textures/JSM Productions/JSM_SwordAxe/SwordAxe.jpg"
},

This is snippet from the second .duf, its references are absolute and would not work on other peoples computers nor would it work if I where to move the texture at a later date.
"id" : "guard-1",
"url" : "#guard",
"geometry" : "#JSM_SwordAxe-1",
"groups" : [ "guard" ],
"diffuse" : {
"channel" : {
"id" : "diffuse",
"type" : "color",
"name" : "Diffuse Color",
"current_value" : [ 1, 1, 1 ],
"default_image_gamma" : 0,
"image_file" : "/C:/2D/Texture Assets/JSM_SwordAxe/SwordAxe.jpg"
},

kyoto kid

...schade, nicht verstehen das Skript Sprache und Struktur.

jestmart

You don't really need to understand the scripting, the important part of those snippets is the last bit after "image file". The paths after "image file" is the only thing that has changed because the first is a relative path the second is absolute. With a relative path the whole 'Runtime/Textures/...." structure can be placed anywhere user data can be stored and as long as it is mapped in Content Directory Manager the files will be found. Absolute paths are absolute, if the files are moved the reference is broken.