Content won't install (IM, Connect Offline, manual download tried)

Ukyuu

Hello!

I used Daz Studio in its 4.6 version at the latest and coming back, it's now 4.10, I am lost at the ways to install content now. Between Daz Connect, Daz Installer, and manual download, I'm trying all three methods, but some of my products still won't install.

Joint a picture of what goes wrong.

The same goes for those products:

• Back to class school props poser CF
• Measure Metrics
• Michael 4 genitalia
• Surface Mask Creator DS
• Victoria 4.2 Morph ++ StudioCF
• Victoria 4.2 base
• Michael 4 base puppeteer StudioCF

Could anyone tell me if there is something wrong with those products, please?

Richard Haseltine

What is the picture showing? All I can see is a missing thumbnail, which may be down to the Daz side.

Do note that the Victoria 4 and Michael 4 base figures and morphs cannot be installed via Connect as they need to end up in exactly the same folder for the ExP system (used for adding and loading morphs) to work.

Ukyuu

The missing thumbnails lead to products that haven't properly installed :/

As for the V4 and M4, I installed them through the Install Manager first, however, they didn't appear properly.

After the install, I had to spend a lot of time to get a lot of products through offline installation too.

Right now those products I mentioned are still not working (files are there, but materials aren't, files missing for some others, or when I double-click it crash the software :/

Richard Haseltine

Have you customised the paths used for content (e.g. to avoid using a limited SSD for all that data)?

Ukyuu

Hi, sorry for the delay in answering.

Yes, indeed, I have customized all of the paths, my drive just doesn't have enough space for all the content that I need in my different projects.

But if it's the path, does that mean that there is content that is more sensitive to it than others?

Richard Haseltine

No, but if the paths have been customised it's possible they don't precisely match between DS and DIM. It is probably worth downloading thiss cript (there's a link above the box with all the code) and dragging it into DS' Viewport  -that will add the path DIM is using to those DS uses.

http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/file_io/install_manager_config_import/start

Ukyuu

This problem comes with lots of others, such as the "30 poses for Ironstar" product for example, I had the problem, I did an offline install with the website's files since the Install Manager was unable to install it properly, but the "10 poses for Ironstar PS" disappeared, without leaving a trace anywhere, while it's said it's installed on DIM.

I am getting more and more confused, if the "PS" files aren't there, then some of my products that I brought over the years should disappear?

Richard Haseltine

Some older products had the actual models in the Poser (PS) installer and a Daz Studio companion product that was just 3Delight material settings. I'm not, however, understanding what you are saying  -that the package disappears from all tabs in DIM, or that you can't find the files in DS?

Ukyuu

First of all, I think I didn't say so already but thank you very much for taking the time to help me. I am currently extremely disoriented by these install methods who are multiplying and becoming more and more difficult to understand, ever since the start of Smart Content, it has been extremely confusing to me, and coming back after so long, I'm even more confused now.

What I am saying now, is that :

1) I don't know if I should install the "PS" versions, it appears I shouldn't (it's for poser) but I get the raw models without materials when I don't.

2) When I do an offline install via the "Install Offline" option the PS version disappear from "Smart Content" => "Product": "All Products"

I don't know if I'm clearer now? English is my second language, and I'm in a rather profound state of confusion due to all those things who are supposed to make our lives easier ^^".

Ukyuu

Hum, just to update you:

I uninstalled everything and cleaned my computer of all DAZ reference with Revo uninstaller, then I reinstalled everything.

I'm redownloading everything except the "PS" files, and I'm going to use the script that you told me as soon as it has finished installing to make sure that everything is alright.

I hope it will solve those pesky problems.

Richard Haseltine

1) sounds like a case where the DS installer does have the models, but not the textuers (though in that case I'd expect you to get error messages).

2) In gernal, installing via Connect has only one product - not separate DS and Poser (or male and female for Starter Essentials) as you get in Install Manager, so I'm puzzled that you'd see a separate entry for the poser version before installing.

Although it does, I think, have beenfits you are under no obligation to use Smart Content - you can use the Content Library pane with its Daz Studio Formats and Poser Formats lists just as you used the content pane in older versions of DS. Even products installed via Connect will appear there, in the Daz Connect virtual folder at the top of each list.

Ukyuu

There's a problem with the Daz Connect, definitely.

There is no way to "add" a path to this branch, you have to modify the branch that's already there to move the whole thing...

What's annoying is that for Aiko 4 base, for example, I get a: "IMXXXXX.Zip" file instead of a standalone installer. So I'm stuck with DIM that doesn't work. As a result, I don't think that I can solve my problem. The install manager and Daz Connect were supposed to make our lives easier, why the heck is that so complicated now to have the content working? T-T

Richard Haseltine

Yes, there can be only one Connect directory - but if you set a previous connect diectory as a regular Daz studio content diectory the content will still load. The Connect diectory is the oen isntalled to, and that does need to be unique at any given time.

The fourth generation daz figuers, and others using the ExP system, cannot at this tiem be isntalled via Connect. You need to isntall the base figure (Victoria 4 or Michael 4 as the case may be) and all ExP add-ons (such as Aiko 4 or the Victoria 4 head and body moprhs) to the same content directory, and if you don't use the PowerLoader script (which gives a dialogue on loading) you need to run the /Runtime/Libraries/!DAZ/CreateExPFiles-v4 file for your system to add the new morphs. Clothing, hair and so on isn't subject to this requirement (unless it includes a morph for the base figure too).

Ukyuu

I see. Well, I made sure to have both mapped now. Didn't change much, but at least it might prevent other problems from appearing.

As for the fourth generation figure, I have never understood what the PowerLoader is for, and what it adds actually?

Then there are some few things I'm really unsure of, in the attachment below, as you see, there is a big difference between the download for the install manager and the download for the X64, does that mean that both need to be installed?

Damn, I think that once my installation is proper, I'll make a blog post with all the solutions I used to troubleshoot my installation so that I can remember it all, and help people who might be as lost / as much in trouble as me.

Richard Haseltine

Power Pose gives you a dialogue which allows you to choose which morph sets to load, and reads the morphs in. Without it you have to run the Create ExP files to set up the files that load the morph slots, and then you have to inject the actual morph data for each set you wish to use with the supplied poses.

I think those are executable installers, hence the different OS specifications - they are bigger because they need the isntaller code as well as the data while the DIM version is just the data.

Ukyuu

Thanks for the clarification, that really helps!

I'm not really understanding the Power Pose thing, I don't know what ExP actually refer to actually. Aren't the moft slots all in parameter and shape when you load the figure? Or am I missing something there?

 

Richard Haseltine

Probably way TMI, but:

The problem with previous gernations was that they rapidly ran out of free slots, and that different sets used the same slot which limited mix-and-matching. Several big morph expansions for Victoria 3 and Michael 3 each came with their own figure file (CR2) which supported the base morphs plus that expansion set, but of course that made it very difficult to mix morphs from two different sets.

The solution found for Victoria 4 and Michael 4 was ExP - essentially, when you loaded a figure (from the base file) it read in a series of pose files which themselves contained a list of pose files for each morph expansion, and those files in turn created the channels, grouped them, and set up the links. The CreateExPFiles utility read through the folders with all the pose files for the different morph sets installed and built the index files read in by the base figure (which is why all the expansions have to be in the same content directory).

PowerLoader does much the same, but it does it live (allowing switchign morph sets in and out), it can give a more desciptive name and icon than the bare product code, and doesn't require a separate step to actually inject the morphs into the figure. it's also possible to rerun the tool to add new morph sets to a loaded figure, unlike the plain version which has no way of updating a figure that has been loaded.

Ukyuu

So... I completely reinstalled my PC, this way everything DAZ was removed, and I could start fresh new (cleaned a bit of all the things that are generally bloating a PC after you've used and tried everything you had, can't be a bad thing...) and now I'm preparing to install everything again.

Can I ask you in the picture below, if the CF files are needed, please?

Richard Haseltine

Yes, by the look of it the Poser version has the models and the StudioCF has materials.