Finding new content
Pinzelmeister
Posts: 114
I am one of those who tends to install content manually - i've noticed a series of posts about that recently. In any case:
So I install new content as usual: manually, not using DIM or whatever, Then I go into the content library and click "scan known directories for files"/"mark found files as new": etc. Currently noting is being highlighted when I do this - I have to search manually to find the new files (with decidedly mixed results). I am using the latest beta of Studio . . . perhaps I need to start using Install Manager or something? I did try doing so some time ago - the first instruction I got was to Unintall and Re-Install all my content. Seriously, this was not an option at the time and is even less so now.
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Comments
What is the full path to an item which isn't being found?
Don't let a stupid machine scan for content, tell Studio where your content is, and use DIM.
Have you set the directories for your content in DAZ Content Directory?
I will never do that. So I don't use DIM either.
You should not have to tell it to scan for content. Point DS it to the known install location and it should find everything for you.
I do in fact have to tell DAZ Studio to scan for content (going to the Content Library pane's menu and selecting "Scan known directories for files", not to be confused with "Search Hard drive for files" which I never use). It does not appear in Default > Unassigned otherwise. I wonder how you are able to get DS to see your content automatically without doing this? That would be handy to be able to eliminate this step, since it takes a long time.
EDITED TO ADD: Oh, one other thing when doing the scan: there's an option "only new items", so if you want to do a complete scan you would uncheck that.
Pinzelmeister, in addition to the full path that Fixmypcmike asked for, it might also be useful to see a screeshot showing that corresponding folder in the Content Directory Manager, and another showing the actual folder contents in Windows, we might notice if one of them didn't match the other and just got overlooked.
Install content with Studio closed....and start Studio afterwards.
That is what I normally do. Although that triggers a vague memory, I'm intentionally not installing product while studio is running because I had some problem locating it if I did that, but don't remember what that problem was, it was many years ago since I started this habit.
Is it possible it depends on the content being installed, and that automatic appearance only happens with newer DAZ content that has been written in such a way as to trigger it, and doesn't happen for older content nor non-DAZ content?
What is the purpose of this menu option, if some people don't ever need to use it? Maybe knowing that will provide a clue.
i don't use smart content, maybe that is part of it. I can install content with studio running and just right click refresh the folders with no issues. i do often move stuff around if I see stuff installed in weird places while I am working in studio. But if i installs stuff without it running I never have to tell it to find things.
I just use the old school method for content, so I guess I just forgot about smart content stuff. I think that is what you are talking about.
I don't use smart content either, so that's not the difference. I tried installing a product with DAZ Studio off, then running DAZ Studio, then tried right-clicking and selecting refresh just in case the content was there but invisible until an action refreshed it... nothing. Still have to scan known directories for files before it appears.
I should also mention I'm installing the product manually, not via DIM, just in case that matters.
Pinzelmeister, two other things I just thought of that's probably not what you are seeing, but I'll mention it just in case:
First, I have noticed that sometimes there is an issue with the blue highlighting not showing up right away. I've sometimes not seen it appear until after I navigate around through categories. However I don't recall ever having thought that my content didn't install, so possibly that issue happens elsewhere such as during categorization and might not come into play here.
Second, sometimes I've tried to install a product and it never appeared and at first I thought something wasn't working right, but I eventually tracked it down to trying to install content that I already have installed. If it's already categorized somewhere, and I install it a second time into a second folder, it of course won't appear in the Default > Unassigned category because it already IS assigned to a category somewhere. I've actually done this quite a bit to myself, so I know it is very easy to have happen and think the install didn't work. If you think this is what happened, you should be able to simply run a search for a content thumbnail within that product and hopefully find it wherever it was misplaced.
I don't use DIM, I always install manually. But I just realized you guys are using categories and I don't. So now I get why I didn't understand the issue. I assume categories are tied to meta data?
Oh, good point. I was assuming categories, but reading back I guess I don't know where the original poster was looking for content. Could be in categories, could be in DAZ Studio or Poser content views (so if it's in one format and you are looking in the other view, presumably you won't see it there, that could be the issue), or maybe you were looking in the Smart content pane, which I'm pretty unfamiliar with (if you are looking there, remember the point is to limit your content to things matching the selected item of content I think, so you won't see everything all the time.)
As for metadata, it isn't required when working with categories, not all my content has it but all my content can be used in categories.
It should scan and add as part of the start up process...but I think if 'Mark Folders Containing New...' (under Preferences > Content Library) is unchecked, it won't show the new stuff as new.
Looks like I have that option checked already, so that wasn't the issue in my case unfortunately.
New content will show up under DAZ Studio Formats/Poser Formats/Other Formats automatically if you launch DS after installing, but scanning for new content is never done automatically. DIM will import metadata and it will also create an entry under Products even if there is no metadata, but it will not put new items in Unassigned. If you manually install the zip, then nothing that uses the CMS database is done automatically (Categories, Products, Smart Content, or searching using database).
I had not been paying that much attention to my directories etc since everything was working OK. Lately though (as I say above) I'm having trouble finding content.
So here is a product called A Distant Army Approaches (First Bastion). a) Purchase and "unpack" the product (manual download). b) Install manually (to Studio/My Library etc). c) Run the search for new files; new content used to be highlighted but isn't now for some reason. So I search manually and sometimes manage to find the product (as in this case, I did find enough of Distant Army to get it working. It seems to be an excellent product so far by the way . . . ).
Are you using the old Valentina CMS or PostgreSQL CMS?
So that turned out to be an excellent point ("PostgreSQL CMS"). I did a follow-up on that including relevant upgrades. The directory now looks much more functional, I am able to find the new content I was looking for and so on. So thanks a lot for the suggestion. The downside is that my personally organized content system seems totally awol . . . perhaps there is some way to restore it since I do back things up?
Did you back it up using "Export User Data"? If so, you can just Re-Import Metadata to get it back. If you haven't, you could uninstall PostgreSQL CMS (which would cause DS to use Valentina again), Export User Data, and then reinstall PostgreSQL CMS. Depending on how much corruption there is in the Valentina database, you may be able to recover most of your customization.
Thanks so much for the suggestions! Everything seems to be working OK now - I can see both old and new content/directories much more clearly.
Sorry I spoke too soon. Some of my personal directories/content are there, a lot is missing and there are specific things that I just can't locate no matter what sort of search I do . . . a particular type of hair that I have been using for years for example. Not sure what to do next . . . I'm quite sure I did do the Export User Data, but apparently results were spotty.
Sorry never mind lol. I'm still working it though - realized I had left out an entire "runtime." Added that and things look more promising.