content manager frustration

revenger681

It seems like ever since DS3 or so I've had trouble finding my items in DAZ Studio.... I've got all kinds of folders, dozons and dozons in that folder, DAZ ones, Poser folders, etc. And every time I re-open DS I cannot find certain items, and find others.... I'm constantly going back to the manager, and chosing another circle (image attached) and finding more things I forgot I had, or something I'm looking at. A few times I know I've changed drive letters on certain materials since I ran out of space on a particular partition and moved them over to another.

Today for example, I purchased Reality 2.5 for $44.00 while it was on sale at renderocity (figured I'd grab it). I put in lights and etc that I found right where the manual said they'd be. Hours later: i've lost the folder, I've looked everywhere and cannot find them. So once more: i'm back at the content manager, flipping all over the place to find them and other items.

I'm curious: Can I simply search my computer for "runtime" and just copy all the folders I find named "Runtime" and paste them into eachother then add that 1 merged "Runtime" into say... "D:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4", Then add that one folder and check "DAZ' and poser content and get it all in 2 folders instead of going back and fourth trying to find content? Or will I lose certain paths to items and etc?

I'm concerned that certain items like Genesis or V4 items that required activation might become broke, but I'm so frustrated with trying to find out where all my stuff is I can just scream! I've began using Carrara over DS simply because there I can find everything with it's folder list... Or perhaps my UI is bugged...

A long while back my friend gave me his copy of Poser 6 and his runtime while he visited, As he makes copies of all the software he got at his college. I didn't like it and didn't like having something I didn't pay for so I uninstalled it (probably should have kept it, lol... But I liked DS better). Plus he made his own stuff, and only had the standard items which weren't appealing to me (I prefer store bought stuff like V2-V4 and genesis items I bought. They seem like they're higher quality)

So my question above is something I want to know if I could do safely or if things will get all messed up: take ALL those folders, copy the runtimes into one another and make one huge runtime then tell the manager to find DS content and POSER content into that one file and get rid of the huge list, that would be ideal, unless it breaks something.

I also keep pressing one of the circles, and hitting "apply" and accept, but the top one is always checked again when I go back to the manager, it's quite frustrating! I'm using Daz Studio 4.5 Pro (4.5.0.114).

**Edit**
So I restarted DS 4 pro and now my reality stuff reappeared along with some items I couldn't find. This always happens: it's there, then it vanishes... Sometimes this happens with other tool menu's at the top, my "save", "save as", "import" and other items will all be gone. And I'll have to hit "restore factory defaults", and restart. This always fixes it but is quite frustrating. I suspect it's because of how I have all my folders set up...

JimmyC_2009

First of all, what Operating System are you using? If it is Win 7 or Vista, you should NOT have content stored in the Program Files (x86) area, that mya well be the biggest part of your problem. Anything that DS4P tries to write into that folder, will be shoved off to a Roaming folder somewhere, because windows does not allow user data to be stored there.

Combining Runtime folders should not be a problem. DAZ Studio does not store any DS only files inside the runtime structure, it is exclusively for Poser content, so there is no Genesis stuff at all in there If you look under DAZ Studio Formats in DS4P, you wont see anything inside the Runtime folder, you have to select Poser Formats to see that.

Your Content Directory manager is a bit of a mess, and you have a poser Runtime folder declared as a DAZ Studio formats folder.

revenger681

I'm going through the poser folders now atm and correctly setting it as "poser" instead of DAZ Studio format. Sorry I forgot to mention my OS. I'm on Win 7 64-bit. I think in DS3 I had my content folders in my x86 folder back then. But now that 4.5 pro is free I am starting to move everything out of x86 and into the normal "program files" folder. I've actually found some stuff I forgot I had since shuffling through all the stuff, lol. Which brought me back to my order history so I can see what that texture/cloth or prop was made for (V4, A3, etc) and noted them in a new Evernote folder.

Hopefully I can get it all cleaned out and organized, I've just been afraid it would mess something up moving it all around. Though I did save my order #'s and etc. incase I need to go back and retrieve something for whatever reason.

Thanks for the tips, I'll take a closer look at my folders and move my runtimes out of the x86 folders!

adamr001

Yup yup, what Jimmy has started you on is the beginning of fixing the mess. Once you get past that, you can also take a look at the Categories functionality of DS. I made a short video waaay back when DS4.0 was brand new. It might help. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nnPf8nCcc4

I personally cannot live without Categories. They allow you to quickly and easily organize content in ways that make sense TO YOU. You can put geometry and materials in the same folder or same hierarchy or any other way that helps you.

revenger681

adamr001 said:

Yup yup, what Jimmy has started you on is the beginning of fixing the mess. Once you get past that, you can also take a look at the Categories functionality of DS. I made a short video waaay back when DS4.0 was brand new. It might help. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nnPf8nCcc4

I personally cannot live without Categories. They allow you to quickly and easily organize content in ways that make sense TO YOU. You can put geometry and materials in the same folder or same hierarchy or any other way that helps you.

Going by what Jimmy said: if DAZ content is not installed in Runtime folders, then what/where is it installed? I searched my computer for "genesis" as I'm now getting an error when trying to load my figures (which was my initial concern). I watched your youtube vid, and I noticed I saw Genesis for a second while you were in the "poser" cat. I thought Genesis was a DAZ product, not created by/for poser? This is what confuses me the most about where my stuff is at.

I'm thinking of taking a major risk:

Uninstall all DS installations, delete and remove all Runtime folders (as in delete the folders, empty recycling bin). Go back to my itemized order history and hit 'reset' on every item and re-download everything from scratch and start new all over again.

That wouldn't be as painful for me if I knew I hadn't gotten other content from sites like Renderocity and MostDigitalCreations (my favorite daz store, though I think it's poser? I'm really confused as to whether it's a poser store, or daz store (and therefore more confused as whether to tell daz that content there is "poser" or "daz" content)). Some of their content tells me to just drop the folder anywhere then point DS to it. Which seems simpler.

adamr001

Okay, here goes...

The parent folder of the folder actually named "runtime" is actually what is considered "a runtime."

E.g. If the physical path was e:/program files (x86)/DAZ/Studio/Content/Runtime

Then

E:/program files (x86)/DAZ/Studio/Content/ is "a runtime". It also happens to be a DAZ Native Content directory. All those other folders that aren't called "Runtime" are the DAZ Native Content folders.

Typically, for DAZ Studio, every "runtime" will be a Poser Format and a DAZ Studio Format pairing of the EXACT SAME physical path. E.g. "E:/program files (x86)/DAZ/Studio/Content/"

Unfortunately, the "program files" and "program files (x86)" folders are "protected" as of Windows Vista and newer. This is part of the User Access Control (UAC) model, specifically, the "VirtualStore" portion. This is designed to protect the original content of a program from being maliciously manipulated by malware and viruses. It does this by redirecting file changes and creations by non-application installers to an area of the user's home directory call the "VirtualStore". If the change was supposed to be allowed this redirection confuses the hell out of most programs, DAZ Studio included. This is why in more recent editions of DAZ Studio the Content directory was moved to the user's Home Directory instead of the program files hierarchy.

To find the VirtualStore go to Start and in the search bar type "%LOCALAPPDATA%" (no quotes). From there you will see the VirtualStore directory and under there you will find your redirected content. You need to move this content someplace appropriate and then appropriately define that new location as both a DAZ Studio Format and a Poser Format content set. Making sure to remove all the spurious entries to it in the Content Directory Manager.

adamr001

Ultimately, I strongly suggest that you make a single place to install all of your content too. Make it really, really easy. Like E:\Content\ and just make sure that everything whether from DAZ or Rendo or RDNA lands in the right folders inside of E:\Content (which will contain a runtime folder once you start installing stuff).

revenger681

Hey Adamr001, and Jimmy:

Sorry for the slow response, I recently bought Reality 2.5, and that got me curious about making my own Normal maps (I found a program called Xnormal for free to do it), Soooo. after taking your advice, and getting my directories finally in order I got distracted with new toys to play with... lol. You guys have helped a lot, I can actually find stuff now! Also: Admr: Your categories video is awesome! I've added all my favorite skins, chars, hair, and props into convenient little categories with all my stuff in them. :)))