Help with organizing library the right way

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Comments

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Vaskania said:
    'Runtime' follows the Poser way of doing things. You essentially have a DS library and a Poser library all in one library without having to map 2 separate folders.
    What they said.
  • edited December 1969

    so then the problem is that i need to have everything in the runtime folder because DAZ won't show it?
    If i have just the 'content' folder set up, i barely have ANY of my content visible in the content tab. both DAZ and poser files are in there, because that's where they've installed to

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 101,010
    edited December 1969

    The Runtime folder is a special folder - it, and Data which is also special, should be in the folder you have selected as a Poser and a DAZ Studio content directory - MY Library, or My DAZ3D Library, or Content, or something else entirely.

  • edited December 1969

    'nameofmycontentfolder'/data and runtime folders, all my DAZ and poser files?
    ok... but what should be in runtime? because, right now, the mass majority of my DAZ and poser content is there

  • edited December 1969

    Jaderail said:
    Vaskania said:
    'Runtime' follows the Poser way of doing things. You essentially have a DS library and a Poser library all in one library without having to map 2 separate folders.
    What they said.
    what was the point in repeating that?
    it still doesn't help because if everything is in a 'runtime' folder and that won't show up, where does that leave me?
  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449
    edited June 2013

    Okay, just found your other post after writing the stuff below so. The problem you seem to be having is understanding why nested content folders in the Content Directory Manager is bad. Poser and Studio both use relative paths instead of absolute paths in files. Think of it this way, a relative path is like a treasure map, "Start at the old oak tree, face west and take 20 paces blah blah blah...". Having nested content folders is like having more than one old oak tree.


    Start over and keep it simple. Delete all your old content folders and I use the word content in the general sense. Create a new content folder anywhere on your computer except Program Files, Program Files (x86) and ProgramData (which is usually a hidden folder so you may not even see it).

    Example... c:/Users/[user name]/Documents/3D Stuff.

    When installing point the installer to 3D Stuff and only 3D Stuff. If extracting from a zip first make sure there is no unnecessary top level folder like 'Content', 'My Library', a '[I'm so vain I named this folder for me]'. If there is said folders drill down till you find a 'Runtime' or 'data' folder then extract or drag and drop those folders to 3D stuff.

    In Studio open the Content Directory Manager and 3D stuff and only 3D stuff to both DAZ Studio Formats AND Poser Formats.

    One final step you may want to do is create a folder for saving your scene files and such to. For example... c:/Users/[user name]/Documents/My DS Stuff. Add this to only the DAZ Studio Formats and move to the top.

    Post edited by jestmart on
  • edited December 1969

    yeah, i plan to shunt it all to the external hard-drive DAZ is installed on (in the event my computer coughs up a white flag...) and ignore any C-drive system stuff...
    actually, that save directory thing is one i've already implemented :D looks like I'm not too far off looking like I know what I'm doing XD

    so, just to clarify (i know I seem thick, but I suck at learning from text, i learn through trial, error, doing and messing it up but don't want to do so much of that here):
    Make my 3D stuff folder, stick all the stuff from 'runtime' in there and all my other 3d folders. set that as the directory for DAZ and poser. organise it as i want of course...
    how will that work with posers organisation system?

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited June 2013

    Jaderail said:
    Vaskania said:
    'Runtime' follows the Poser way of doing things. You essentially have a DS library and a Poser library all in one library without having to map 2 separate folders.
    What they said.

    what was the point in repeating that?
    it still doesn't help because if everything is in a 'runtime' folder and that won't show up, where does that leave me?The folder itself does not show in DS. AS I posted it shows as POSER FORMAT>My Library> And all the CONTENT. This is the POSER Runtime.
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    Post edited by Jaderail on
  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449
    edited December 1969

    I have been told I am to be nice and polite in the newbie forums so as not to scare anyone. But I think it needs to be said zededd2000 that you do not know enough about the runtime folder structure to be 'organizing' it. Lets get you up and walking first then ease in to categorizing from within Studio (this doesn't mess with the actual folders and files) then maybe we can move on to multiple libraries.

  • edited December 1969

    jestmart said:
    I have been told I am to be nice and polite in the newbie forums so as not to scare anyone. But I think it needs to be said zededd2000 that you do not know enough about the runtime folder structure to be 'organizing' it. Lets get you up and walking first then ease in to categorizing from within Studio (this doesn't mess with the actual folders and files) then maybe we can move on to multiple libraries.

    I appreciate the frustration, but i'm not too terribly new at all this... I've been organising as I go for a long time, but since my data folders have started multiplying, I've decided i'm going to stop putting it off and re-sort the whole mess.
    not to mention trying to create categories either does not work or crashes DAZ.
    All I wanted was an explanation as to what folders are vital, how they're read in DAZ and poser and what I need to keep constant so that I don't kill anything.
    a bonus would be someone actually answering why my 'data' folders are duplicating to new places all the time, moving their contents and stopping my saves from working.

    I just want to know why my data folders are changing and what folders are required for a content folder to load properly. I can handle the rest. that's why I made: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/23448/

    I hate sounding so stupid, but I don't think i've had a clear, comprehensive answer to this question yet. Everyone is very quick to tell me naming things, 'runtime is how poser does it' and that i don't need to have added sub-folders to things, but I just want a simple answer to the question: "Is there a list of folders anywhere that HAS to be there? other then content and runtime of course… and on the other thread I wanted to know why am I finding duplicates of my ‘data’ folder appearing just about everywhere?" but it seems to have been discarded for this one instead

    i'm going to keep the place all my 3d stuff is called 'content' (because i'm used to it) and I know I need a 'runtime' folder for poser... I'm going to stick it all in 'runtime', organise it to work in poser, tidy it up till it's simple (by figure, then by genre. EG content/runtime/characters/V4/clothes/sci-fi) and combine ALL my 'data' folders in the 'content' folder

    If anyone can tell my why I can't create categories, that would be good, but since they've never worked before, I'm not too fussed if that's an issue

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I just want to know why my data folders are changing and what folders are required for a content folder to load properly. I can handle the rest. that's why I made: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/23448/

    I hate sounding so stupid, but I don't think i've had a clear, comprehensive answer to this question yet. Everyone is very quick to tell me naming things, 'runtime is how poser does it' and that i don't need to have added sub-folders to things, but I just want a simple answer to the question: "Is there a list of folders anywhere that HAS to be there? other then content and runtime of course… and on the other thread I wanted to know why am I finding duplicates of my ‘data’ folder appearing just about everywhere?" but it seems to have been discarded for this one instead

    i'm going to keep the place all my 3d stuff is called 'content' (because i'm used to it) and I know I need a 'runtime' folder for poser... I'm going to stick it all in 'runtime', organise it to work in poser, tidy it up till it's simple (by figure, then by genre. EG content/runtime/characters/V4/clothes/sci-fi) and combine ALL my 'data' folders in the 'content' folder

    If anyone can tell my why I can't create categories, that would be good, but since they've never worked before, I'm not too fussed if that's an issue

    Your DATA Folder is MOVING because you have NESTED content folders, that confuses the program and it writes to which ever one it decides is the proper (top) folder in the nested list it is holding in memory. You were told nested folders could cause errors, the DATA folder/Data saves is one of the errors it can and as you now see will cause.

    Categories requires the CMS to be running and a NONE corrupted Database. Getting the CMS to run properly on some PC's can take changing AV allowances, Cleaning and creating a new CMS Database is easy. But the CMS needs to run properly first.
  • edited December 1969

    I can understand the data folder moving to match what i've set as content... but appearing on my desktop? my documents? my pictures? none of these have EVER been set as DAZ's content folders in any way :S do you think it will sort itself all out when it's combined?

    as for the CMS... yep, that's probably not working... had so much trouble installing it, I don't think it completed...
    I un and re-installed it every time I re-did DAZ 4.5 (about five times all-told... hardware issues)
    in fact... errr... I'm pretty sure I installed it to this suspiciously blank folder here... hmm...
    I hate to bother you all any more than I already have... but have you got any advice?
    I'm looking through http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/22773/ as well, so I'm no stranger to the advice of 'look it up you berk!'
    (hmm... this just does not want to be posted!)

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I can understand the data folder moving to match what i've set as content... but appearing on my desktop? my documents? my pictures? none of these have EVER been set as DAZ content folders in any way :S do you think it will sort itself all out when it's combined?If DS is totally confused it will default to the OS save location (desktop is one) and can default to the last opened folder (My Documents or My Pictures) if they are in the OS folder Stack. So that is what you have seen I believe. Once in the proper path I'm sure it will work properly. It always has for me. as for the CMS... yep, that's probably not working... had so much trouble installing it, I don't think it completed...
    I un and re-installed it every time I re-did DAZ 4.5 (about five times all-told... hardware issues)
    in fact... errr... I'm pretty sure I installed it to this suspiciously blank folder here... hmm...
    I hate to bother you all any more than I already have... but have you got any advice?
    I'm looking through http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/22773/ as well, so I'm no stranger to the advice of 'look it up you berk!'
    (hmm... this just does not want to be posted!)
    Richard H and Adam R are the best I know when it comes to the CMS and Database issues. Once you get the content setup I'm sure we (I mean all here) can get you as far as your PC and OS can go. Then you should be able to enjoy 3D more and just put all this behind as a learning experience.
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 101,010
    edited December 1969

    Actually for CMS issues you are better with Adam or FixMyPCMike - I'm pretty clueless about most aspects of the CMS.

  • edited December 1969

    Just wanted to offer an update as to my progress... mostly so if others have the same issues it can help or warn them haha.

    I have moved EVERYTHING from all locations to my new default location. Using the poser layout of 'camera, figures, expressions...' ETC, and moving all my daz and poser files to it...
    I think this will allow me to use the same folder structure I've customised thus far and offer compatibility between the poser files and DAZ files... not to mention moving my saves directory to the 'libraries' directory so that if DAZ wants a data folder there, it's got a data folder there :D
    in doing this, i have removed around 2.5 gb of duplicates (mostly textures) and discovered a whole load of things I had lost after one of my re-installs... total content size of 133 GB.

    going to try and get the CMS running next... but in the meantime, I have achieved what I've set out to do... not to see if it explodes when I try to load something...

    Other than textures, So far, it's working pretty well :D I might need to move the Data folder though, seems I still have three :S

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583
    edited December 1969

    I would advise against creating a DS-format content folder under Runtime -- it may work, but nested content folders generally cause problems, as well as causing tons of hidden files to show up in content folders which it is dangerous to tamper with, like the V4 morph files.

  • edited December 1969

    I would advise against creating a DS-format content folder under Runtime -- it may work, but nested content folders generally cause problems, as well as causing tons of hidden files to show up in content folders which it is dangerous to tamper with, like the V4 morph files.

    aw DAMN!
    how is it possible to have one folder set as a DS and poser format then? I thought I had finally cracked this! and because of the diversity of these files, I can't split them to two locations now...

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited June 2013

    Like this DS is ABOVE the Runtime and Runtime is read as Poser as well. I just point DS to this folder. I point Poser to the Runtime.

    This is a default DIM installed content folder.

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  • edited December 1969

    damn... but i've been setting everything up in the runtime folder ever since I got DAZ? it's been auto-installing to there... at least, the parts I've been using... I think this is why i've been so confused...

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    in doing this, i have removed around 2.5 gb of duplicates (mostly textures)
    Be very, very careful with this. Are they only duplicate file names? Or complete file paths including name from the /runtime/ folder on down? There is nothing to stop two content creators (or only one, for that matter) from using two completely different textures with the same name, stored in different /Runtime/Textures/ sub-folders.
    I might need to move the Data folder though, seems I still have three :S

    That warning I gave you above about textures? It goes double — triple — no, ten times for anything in the /data/ folder. If you don't know exactly what you're doing here, it is distressingly easy to make an object or scene totally unusable until you re-install or recreate the messed-up /data/ files. Take great care.
  • edited December 1969

    luckily, they were the exact same... same size, same name and same folder name... not the same path or i'd have known they were there.

    As for the Data folder... err... i had eight of them and things were stopping working because the contents seemed to be going on holiday to it's summer folder... they were already unusable and didn't open... but the files from two versions ago were working again... all in all it's a mess that I have to clean to use

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    not the same path or i'd have known they were there.

    Actually they might still be the same path. Remember I said "from the /Runtime/ folder on down"? Ignore everything before that, when it comes to assembling a loaded item's component pieces D|S will treat every Runtime on your system as part of the same Runtime. Virtually speaking you have One Textures Folder and One Geometries Folder, etc.

    As for the /data/ files, you might have to start considering how much stuff you might need to reinstall, it looks like you might have done Something Nasty™ that can't be easily fixed.

  • edited December 1969

    Newest update:
    EVERYTHING WORKS!
    It's just how I want it... I have a lot of sorting ahead of me (i didn't even realise I had a 'cameras' folder...) but all my saves are working, all my models are working and they're all in one place!
    Just what I set out to fix and it's all gone really smoothly!
    Thank you all for your assistance, got me through the bits I didn't get and I think this is all sorted now :)

    The only discrepancy is the Data folder is in two places because I'm not totally sure where it's meant to go now... but one of them is working so I'll see which is bigger and test-remove it in a month or so.

    Sorry to say, SpottedKitty, you're not quite right on this one... now I've combined all the runtime, data, texture... etc folders, the saves that were playing me up are working again and it's all much easier to navigate. Might be because my setup is a complete mangled mess from all the poser stuff i've integrated to these folders back when I was using DS3, but it's all better than ever and I can finally finish the renders I was planning :)
    Now... why are my reflections fuzzy... Back to the search function haha

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