Daz3d File Maintenance

kataryna_dragonweaver

Hi, I was hoping someone here could give me a clear answer on Housekeeping and Maintenance of Daz files.

I'm not talking about the content database (categories) within the program but rather files themselves.

I'm pretty sure there are things that have installed oddly, and I want to know if/where I can move them. I look at my file directory in the My Libraries folder and as a database person in real life my brain typically tries to shut down at the mess that every thing is in there.

What I'd like to know is what is the file system I should have to start with and should I be moving certian file types elsewhere so that the program can find them more easily.

If someone has a decent online tutorial for this a pointer would be great, I've tried looking but mostly I find people talking about the managing things through categories.... which is fine until something goes wrong and you need to find the bloody file.

So what are the file folders I should be seeing under my library? and what should be in them?

I currently have:
camera presets (contains one product folder with duf files and png files)
data (contains many folders with .dso and .dsv files)
DAZ content (two product lists and a folder with icons for daz - occasionally the auto extractors put readme files in here - I move them to the read me folder)
DAZ studio tutorials (I have been putting all my tutorial files in here - video and text)
Environments
Figures (three folders with templates (A3, Hiro), a folder for genesis, M4, V3,V4, Stephanie, and a couple object files (for Hiro)
Hair
Light Presets (contains three product folders with duf files and png files)
Materials
People
Props
Read Me;s (readmes, product lists, and product jpgs)
Render Library
Runtime (A ton of folders (geometries, libraries, poses, prefs, presets, python, support, textures, weblinks) - In the library folder there are tons of product folders and I'm not sure if they are all where they need to be, and I suspect there are problems with stuff that should be else where in here - there are duf files which have associated python files, which seem to show up fine in the Daz content, but there are also duf files with no associcated py files that don't seem to show)
Scenes (my personally created stuff)
Scene Subsets (more of my personally created stuff)
Scripts (utilities folder with various scripts in it)
Shaders (contains both shaders and textures - should this be in the run time folder or should the textures from the run time folder be here?)
Templates (UV maps - should these be in the runtime somewhere?)
Uninstallers

So I guess what I'm asking mostly is
1) the templates and textures should they be in the Runtime, or as a sufolder of the object in question, or does it matter?
2) can I move the folders in the runtime library folder around to make more sense of what I actually have.
3) the folders in run time that seem to only have DAZ information and no poser information - should they actually be in the runtime folder or should/can they be moved into the equivalent daz folder?

4) I'm running a 64 bit PC system and sometimes when I use older exe installers they give a warning that the file hasn't installed correctly, so I reinstall the content (because otherwise it doesn't seem to work) but that is causing me to have duplcate installations of some files, I think, because I have two of the same items for some things in my content manager which is annoying.... I'd like to clean out the duplicate files but to do that I need to organize the mess to see what I have that's duplicated... which is why I need the above information.

Thanks.

SpottedKitty

kataryna_dragonweaver said:

4) I'm running a 64 bit PC system and sometimes when I use older exe installers they give a warning that the file hasn't installed correctly

I can't speak for the rest of your queries, but this one can be safely ignored — it's a false warning. Something about the older installer programs causes hiccups on every Windows OS since Vista.

kataryna_dragonweaver

Thanks SpottedKitty, any info helps.
:)

JimmyC_2009

1) the templates and textures should they be in the Runtime, or as a sufolder of the object in question, or does it matter?

Templates are only ever required if you are going to make your own textures for the object in question. They have nothing at all to do with the running of DS or Poser, and you can store them where you choose. DAZ Studio will never look for them

2) can I move the folders in the runtime library folder around to make more sense of what I actually have.

The folder called Runtime, is for Poser Content, and it is the only folder that DOES have a rigid file structure. Unless you know what you are doing, don;t move files around in there. The important ones for you, Runtime > Libraries > Character/Props/Pose, and these three folders hold the items which appear in the Content Library in both DS and Poser. A figure, for example, will look for the OBJ file in the Geometries folder in a particular place, so leave them where they are.

3) the folders in run time that seem to only have DAZ information and no poser information - should they actually be in the runtime folder or should/can they be moved into the equivalent daz folder?
What do these folders contain. In the Pose folder, you will sometimes find DS, or DSA files, but there will also be a corresponding PZ2 with EXACTLY the same name. Although it is Poser Content, DS will load the DS file and NOT the PZ2. Don;t touch anything there either unless you are certain, or ask again.

The silly Win 7 message, SpottedKitty has answered, but you can install an item twenty times if you like, as long as you always install it to the same place, it will overwrite the original, and it will not lead to having duplicates. That is a different problem I think

I hope that has helped a bit at least. Have a look though these answers, and post again if you want any more information, we are here to help.

Richard Haseltine

2) folders and files in the Camera, Character, Face, Hair, Hand, Materials, Pose, Props and Scene folders in \Runtime\Libraries can be moved within or between folders, but doing so with the OS browser will break Smart Content for the items (if any). It's unwieldy, but you can move stuff in the Content Library pane (right-click menus) and that won't break Smart Content - though I'm not sure if it has been fixed to keep DS companion files, or now Poser companion Files, with their parent files. All other folders are likely to be data that is referred to by location and so should be left strictly alone.

3) the \Runtime\Support folder contains the metadata used by the CMS. You don't strictly need it once items are in the database, but you would need it to reset the database if that was ever necessary so I would advise against deleting it.

kataryna_dragonweaver

Thanks Richard and Jimmy, I think that tells me everything I need to know for what I can move where.