I'm reinstalling all my content, manually.

Ron Knights

I've been a DAZ customer since the beginning. I've gathered countless files over the years. I've had some fun. The other day I decided my single Runtime collection was just way too large. I still had a hard time finding things. I've mostly been using the various generations of Genesis characters over recent years. I'm not entirely ready to give up older characters. I created Runtimes for Generation 2, Generation 3, Generation 4 & put all the Genesis characters in their own Runtime. I hadn't used the majority of my scene files. I picked the ones I'd be most likely to use, and put them in a Favorite Scenes Runtime. Beyond that, I gave separate Runtimes to Maclean, Stonemason, IronMan13. Then I had one just for silly cowboy pictures, etc.

I just couldn't handle the way DAZ & DIM install files. I've been continually lost for a few years, since DIM took over. Things will be better now. I'm making clone backups of the hard drives I use. I have a 2TB hard drive for my Runtimes, and a 3TB hard drive for the original install files, etc.

I've uninstalled DIM. I will not use DAZ Connect either.

Maybe by Saturday, I'll be able to Make Art!

TheKD

These days, I only have 4 permanent "runtimes".  One for all my iray lights and shaders, one for g3f, one for g3m and one for animals. The rest I just load into a temporary runtime as needed, like scenes, props, weapons or whatever. I have to manually fix most things before install, make sure they are in the proper section, and make sure they got good icons. I like to see what things look like without having to load them up lol.

BeeMKay

Why not using DIM for the download management, and then manually installing the content?

i mean, the one big advantage of DIM is that it can download a queue, and it keeps tabs on updates, and keeping it from installing is just a single unchecking in the download window.

Ron Knights

I downloaded all the zip files long ago. Then I organized them so I could manually install later. I'm working from those originals. However, I am manually installing or moving files to get them organized in a way that makes sense to me. DIM's updates won't work properly once files have been moved.

BeeMKay

Well, it will download the zip file. If you uncheck the "install" you can then dissect the ZIP file like you did in your original installation. It's the same as if you'd do a manual download, and then unzip. 

Ron Knights

Yes, that's what I'm doing now. I'm getting ready to install stuff on my Macbook.

jestmart

With old and non updated (some that may be neccessary to work with later Studio versions) downloads, good luck with that.

Ron Knights

I had one Runtime that contained everything I bought in the past 16 years. I never found a single item that would not work with the latest version of DAZ Studio.  In the years since I used DIM, I found less than a dozen updated products.

nicstt

I use DIM, and have various runtimes; updates happen every week, and generally more than once. I check it if I've not bought anything for a week or so.

On the second tab > ready to install, at the bottom is an option to show details. I add the other libraries to the same folder/location as the main Daz libraries, just like Renderosity, ShareCG and others (in my case).

I'm also waiting for http://www.daz3d.com/content-package-assist to go on sale.

Ron Knights

I just finished adding DAZ Studio to my 2009 13" Macbook. I mainly wanted to see if it's possible. This time I manipulated things. I copied only Genesis originals over to an external Passport 1TB drive, and ran DIM. I wanted to make it easier to select only what I wanted. Once the content was installed, I used Smart Content to create my own categories. I didn't move the files around. 

I created my first silly picture. I really don't know how often I'd use the Macbook for DAZ Studio. The 13" screen seems rather inadequate. I applied 3Delight materials to the character, and he rendered rather quickly. Today I get to play around and see how well my custom-designed categories work for me.

Silver Dolphin

The runtimes for each generation type is a good idea. It makes things easy to find if you don't use are create smart content but DIM has its place. I have a program that I use to install non Daz ziped content for me into the proper place in the runtime and I use DIM to install manually daz dim files offline just add a email or create a falseone. DIM works great offline just set it up and let it run. It makes reinstalls easier. I just wish DIM was 64bit (32bit software is wonky and does not use full memory or multitread at all) I have to give the program higher priority becase it just freezes up with large runtimes figuring things out.

Ron Knights

I have since modified my setup. I have one Runtime for people, clothes, hair. I call it Ron's People. Then I have one Runtime for Favorite Scenes, and "Scenes Other." And for everything else, I have a Runtime called "Everything Else!" I mostly work with Ron's People and Scenes Favorite. I've also discovered RendoInstaller. It lets me do mass installs of zip files. Sometimes DIM is too limited for me. The more I work with this stuff, the more confusing DAZ's organization appears to me. I manually reorganize things so they make sense to me. Now, I can actually find things.

JQP

I install all of my content by hand. And I've been going in the opposite direction, reinstalling old stuff from the many runtimes I created when I was a Poser user (because Poser slowed down a lot if you had too much content in any one runtime) into my single DS content folder.