DIM installation questions

Ron Knights

Awhile ago I thought it made sense to place all my DAZ Original files on Dropbox. That would allow me to access the same install files from different computers. I kept seeing error messages.

Apparently the ".dsx" files contain information on where the files are installed?! I had installed my DAZ content on two different Macintosh computers. The installation was on two different drives with two different drive names. I guess DIM gets confused by this arrangement?! I decided to move my DAZ Original files out of Dropbox, and place them in their own folders on each computer. The error messages stopped.

DIM appears to have a different problem now. I moved all my DAZ originals and the "Runtime" onto a different hard drive. I told DIM where to find everything. DIM had to "uninstall" the files that were no longer in the old folders. Now DIM is installing the files that already exist. I had moved the files onto the new hard drive and location.

This seems to be a needless use of resources and time?!

SpottedKitty

Ron Knights said:

Awhile ago I thought it made sense to place all my DAZ Original files on Dropbox. That would allow me to access the same install files from different computers. I kept seeing error messages.

What kind of error messages? One of the things that's discouraged me from getting involved in the whole DIM/Smart Content/Connect thing is that all the new content handling stuff added to D|S over the years has made it a bit schitzophrenic. The Content Library works the way it always has; items are installed into the content folder, but it doesn't matter where the content folder is because D|S sees every entry in the Content Directory Management dialog as one big combined folder. All the bells and whistles dependent on the content database (Smart Content etc.) work the other way round because the database ignores the old flexibility and contains links to the absolute folder location of the content files. When you change the location of your content folders (this probably includes Dropbox URLs), simply changing the DIM and D|S settings isn't enough, you have to update the database entries pointing to the new location, so it all works as if everything was installed to the new location to begin with.

It all gets horribly complicated at around that point — I'm a  3D artist, not a database admin, so it all goes <whoosh> over my head. This might be the root cause of your error messages, though. And yes, things getting installed in multiple locations sometimes happens as well.

Ron Knights

SpottedKitty, the error messages stated the items were installed in the wrong places. I think DIM got confused because it had contradictory install info in the DSX files?!  The original zip files have the content installed in the Content folder, but the content actually gets moved out of the Content folder when it gets installed!

jestmart

When DIM installs files it creates manifest files so it knows what was installed and where.  If move the content files you need to update the manifest files so they have the new content location.

Richard Haseltine

SpottedKitty said:

The Content Library works the way it always has; items are installed into the content folder, but it doesn't matter where the content folder is because D|S sees every entry in the Content Directory Management dialog as one big combined folder.

That's not right - each folder is distinct. That is important as if you have two files, in different versions, in different folders only the first will be found when loading. It is true that support assets such as morphs and UV sets can be split across multiple content directories and still be found when loading their figure/prop asset. It's also true that Connect content will be presented as a single combined Daz Connect folder, but that is not DIM of course.

SpottedKitty said:

ignores the old flexibility and contains links to the absolute folder location of the content files. When you change the location of your content folders (this probably includes Dropbox URLs), simply changing the DIM and D|S settings isn't enough, you have to update the database entries pointing to the new location, so it all works as if everything was installed to the new location to begin with.

In the new database structure used in DS 4.9+ that is no longer true, relative paths are used.