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4.5 content installation questions

patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
edited December 1969 in New Users

4.5.0.114 downloaded [they found the speed gun, YES! - downloaded in the mb/sec WOW]

Before I install this, have a couple more questions.

1. Okay, I will let the installers choose the path to the My Library.
2. Then, can I sort the contents of the main folders [for instance, put all the clothing items under Figures into a new folder called "Clothing"] that are found under the Poser Content Runtime; without messing up the Content Manager?
I would assume the contents for My Library, DazStudio files should be left as they are. Correct?
So that the Content Manager can do its task.

3. Please tell me that all those 'updated files' I've spent nights downloading will work in 4.0?!

4. On the same computer, can one safely install both 4.0 and 4.5 - each in a different user account?
5. Is the main problem with having both on board the CM? If so, is it possible to install only one of those to have both programs working?

Thank you.

Comments

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,585
    edited December 1969

    Patience55 said:

    2. Then, can I sort the contents of the main folders [for instance, put all the clothing items under Figures into a new folder called "Clothing"] that are found under the Poser Content Runtime; without messing up the Content Manager?
    I would assume the contents for My Library, DazStudio files should be left as they are. Correct?
    So that the Content Manager can do its task.

    The simple way to do this is with Categories. I create categories outside of the Default category (I imported the ones I had in DS3). You can then categorize things any way you like, whether they are old, new, Poser format, or DS format. (I leave them categorized in the Default folders as well, so I can access them either way.)

    If you insist on moving them on disk AND you want to use metadata (Smart Content) without having to edit the metadata files, you can do so IF you move them inside DS4 -- that way the CMS knows the new locations.

    If you don't care about metadata/Smart Content, you can rearrange the files on disk -- just be aware that if you later decide you DO want to use Smart Content, you'll need to move files back to default locations or edit the metadata (I speak from experience here).

    Patience55 said:

    3. Please tell me that all those 'updated files' I've spent nights downloading will work in 4.0?!

    Yes, they will (unless they're only in .duf format, but I haven't seen any that weren't DS4.5-only originally get updated to be).


    4. On the same computer, can one safely install both 4.0 and 4.5 - each in a different user account?
    5. Is the main problem with having both on board the CM? If so, is it possible to install only one of those to have both programs working?

    No, you can't, and not just because of the CMS. The only safe way I know of is dual-boot.

  • patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
    edited December 1969

    fixmypcmike said:
    Patience55 said:

    2. Then, can I sort the contents of the main folders [for instance, put all the clothing items under Figures into a new folder called "Clothing"] that are found under the Poser Content Runtime; without messing up the Content Manager?
    I would assume the contents for My Library, DazStudio files should be left as they are. Correct?
    So that the Content Manager can do its task.

    The simple way to do this is with Categories. I create categories outside of the Default category (I imported the ones I had in DS3). You can then categorize things any way you like, whether they are old, new, Poser format, or DS format. (I leave them categorized in the Default folders as well, so I can access them either way.)

    If you insist on moving them on disk AND you want to use metadata (Smart Content) without having to edit the metadata files, you can do so IF you move them inside DS4 -- that way the CMS knows the new locations.

    If you don't care about metadata/Smart Content, you can rearrange the files on disk -- just be aware that if you later decide you DO want to use Smart Content, you'll need to move files back to default locations or edit the metadata (I speak from experience here).

    Patience55 said:

    3. Please tell me that all those 'updated files' I've spent nights downloading will work in 4.0?!

    Yes, they will (unless they're only in .duf format, but I haven't seen any that weren't DS4.5-only originally get updated to be).


    4. On the same computer, can one safely install both 4.0 and 4.5 - each in a different user account?
    5. Is the main problem with having both on board the CM? If so, is it possible to install only one of those to have both programs working?

    No, you can't, and not just because of the CMS. The only safe way I know of is dual-boot.

    Thank you for the detailed response :-)
    Very glad to hear everything should be working in DS4.0 :-)

    Reorganizing hmmm ... well that's going to be quite the task no matter how I do it. For D/S3 yes I did move folders on the disk and their positions would be correctly reflecting upon refreshing the folders in D/S3. Considering my lack of experience didn't do too badly. Only 1 major error which had to do with the inj/rem files for morphs. Yes. Those must stay where they were put!
    I look into this "Categories" method. The main idea is to find stuff. I have a few thousand files and there's no way I want lists that long!

    Okay, system will have only 1 OS so that's that then. Only 1 version 4.

    Going to be a fun packed weekend!

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    Patience55 said:
    2. Then, can I sort the contents of the main folders [for instance, put all the clothing items under Figures into a new folder called "Clothing"] that are found under the Poser Content Runtime; without messing up the Content Manager?

    I'm not sure about the CMS (doesn't work on my system) but I'm fairly sure D|S itself will be unable to see the items. The base folders in the Poser runtime library are the only ones D|S can see — any added ones will be invisible. This is normally vital since most of the "extra" folders found in a runtime are ones the user should never see and should never access directly: the files in these locations, mostly morph data, are called up by other files in the Poser library (usually MAT/MOR files in Poses).

    What I do with my manual content organisation is to put e.g. clothes into a "Clothes" folder inside the Figures folder. D|S follows the Poser Runtime file structure and shows all folders inside the top-level library folders, so I now have everything pre-sorted into categories without bothering with a CMS I can't use anyway.

  • patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
    edited December 1969

    SpottedKitty said:
    Patience55 said:
    2. Then, can I sort the contents of the main folders [for instance, put all the clothing items under Figures into a new folder called "Clothing"] that are found under the Poser Content Runtime; without messing up the Content Manager?

    I'm not sure about the CMS (doesn't work on my system) but I'm fairly sure D|S itself will be unable to see the items. The base folders in the Poser runtime library are the only ones D|S can see — any added ones will be invisible. This is normally vital since most of the "extra" folders found in a runtime are ones the user should never see and should never access directly: the files in these locations, mostly morph data, are called up by other files in the Poser library (usually MAT/MOR files in Poses).

    What I do with my manual content organisation is to put e.g. clothes into a "Clothes" folder inside the Figures folder. D|S follows the Poser Runtime file structure and shows all folders inside the top-level library folders, so I now have everything pre-sorted into categories without bothering with a CMS I can't use anyway.

    Yes, that's what I was meaning by putting a new folder "Clothing" under "Figures" [which is actually called Character in the real folders]. Good to know that this can work also then with D/S4. I have a lot of older [and also freeware] files that do not have metadata anyway so I plan to sort those ones.
    The files for Genesis specifically I plan to leave alone.
    However that leaves still very many files/folders to deal with. For initial installation I'm planning to run them to a dummy folder.
    If I do not want metadata for these older files; then my understanding is that there is just one folder called 'Support' to delete? [from the dummy folder, not the programs!]

    This might seem like a strange question, but it's not. I tend to run installers on one computer, then transfer files over to the offline computer. Now, in running these installers, seems to me I've caught the occasional reference to the registry. So I'm assuming that they are all nicking in a slot in the Registry which is not required for anything for the internet computer ... and question being, is it required for the CMS or something else in the program to run correctly [can't see how but I'm not a programmer] ... I only want to run 'all' these hundreds of installers "once".

    In the old forums there was also mention of another footprint being left by each and every installer but i forget where. Question on that one is that if i find them [possibly under Apps somewhere?] can I safely delete them? Having a few isn't an issue, but lots would take up memory needlessly.

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,585
    edited December 1969

    Metadata for the product is in the Runtime:Support folder, yes. There is also an entry to tell DS4 on startup to ask you if you want to import metadata -- on WIn7 it's in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\DAZ 3D\Studio4\RunOnce\Metadata (although it is deleted after that dialog whether you import it or not, so if you just uncheck it when you start DS4 the first time after installing, it won't bother you again).

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,585
    edited December 1969

    I don't recall anything left in the registry (other than the MRU entry that all installers leave). Files in AppData aren't the same thing, and don't occupy RAM.

  • patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
    edited December 1969

    fixmypcmike said:
    I don't recall anything left in the registry (other than the MRU entry that all installers leave). Files in AppData aren't the same thing, and don't occupy RAM.

    Okay thank you. Doesn't sound like there's anything for me to be concerned about then. A run-once message isn't a problem as yes I do let them run when D/S4.a starts.

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