How Do I Transfer DAZ Projects To A New PC?

Superdog

I've built a new PC. How do I transfer my projects started on the old PC to the new PC? I have a few questions:

1. Does the 'Contents' folder on the new PC have to be set up exactly the same way as on the old PC?

2. Do I need to copy over anything more than the project DUF file I saved on the old PC?

The reason I am asking this is because I've installed DAZ Studio on the new PC and used the download manager to install all my content. The content is set up on the new PC differently to my old PC where I've never used the download manager to install my content. I've copied over all the DUF files of the projects I was working on but when I open them on the new PC the project does not load up.

What am I doing wrong?

Richard Haseltine

Do you not even get errors relating to missing files? That suggests a problem before the content set-up stage.

Superdog

Richard Haseltine said:

Do you not even get errors relating to missing files? That suggests a problem before the content set-up stage.

Thanks for your reply. No, I'm not receiving any errors when I open the DUF file. I click on the DUF file and DS opens but doesn't load anything. Maybe I haven't copied over all the files associated with a scene?

I thought all I needed to do was install DS, install all my content and then open the project using the DUF file copied over from the old PC. Are any other files associated with a scene apart from the DUF file? I thought the DUF file was a record of and link to all the content and settings of a scene. When I save a scene is anything else saved apart from the DUF file?

Richard Haseltine

The .duf file, if it's a scene, should be able to load the scene as long as the content is installed. However, if you aren't getting a scene or an error I suspect that the .duf isn't a scene file at all but some kind of preset - though it may be worth opening DS and then dragging the .duf file in, or opening it with File>Open from inside the running DS, a a check - I seem to recall there was at one time a bug, at least on the Mac side, that stopped DS from loading the scene file if it was launched by double-clicking the file in a folder or on the desktop..

Superdog

Thanks for your help. When I opened the file from inside DAZ it loaded. Unfortunately it reported that certain files were missing. It didn't offer to find them. In case they have been installed by the DAZ manager but in a different part of the content folder how do I make DS locate them when I load the file? Is there any way to search for the missing content in case it has been installed?

The only other alternative is to use the content folder from my old PC. Is it possible to have two content folders in DS? Or should I delete the content folder created by the DAZ Manager and somehow direct DS to my old content folder which I've transfered to the new PC?

Superdog

Honestly, this is ridiculous! Apparently the folder set up on my old PC is slightly different to my new PC because I had DS 3 installed on the old PC and then updated to DS4. On the new PC I've just installed DS 4. My old PC has Win 7 Pro x64 and the new one has Win 8 Pro x64 so the OS folder set up is the same on both PCs.

Firstly, DS is reporting missing content files but they are in the correct folders! And the PITA is that there seems to be no way for DS to find some of the base files in the AppData/Roaming folder because they are in different folders on each PC.

This is a disaster! Is there any way I can edit a duf file or make DS search and locate these file? How are we ever going to be able to upgrade our computers or work on group projects if it's not possible to share or open project files started on another computer?

Jaderail

Quck fix for blown scene files. Load each item that does not load in a Clean scene file. No set up needed just load a big pile of mixed up stuff. Save that scene file as A NEW scene. Now load the Bad scene file. All content should now be found. You can even delete the Pile Scene.

Superdog

Jaderail said:

Quck fix for blown scene files. Load each item that does not load in a Clean scene file. No set up needed just load a big pile of mixed up stuff. Save that scene file as A NEW scene. Now load the Bad scene file. All content should now be found. You can even delete the Pile Scene.

Thanks for that advice. I'll try it later today.

Richard Haseltine

Superdog said:

Jaderail said:

Quck fix for blown scene files. Load each item that does not load in a Clean scene file. No set up needed just load a big pile of mixed up stuff. Save that scene file as A NEW scene. Now load the Bad scene file. All content should now be found. You can even delete the Pile Scene.

Thanks for that advice. I'll try it later today.

That's a fix for missing \data folder files for Poser and other imported content in DS3 - the missing files are generated on saving. But DS4 won't geenrate the .dso files, if that's the issue, so it won't help - if that's the issue you either need to install DS3 and use the load and save routine, or you need the \data folder folder from your own machine.

If, on the other hand, the problem is missing .dsf or texture files one thing that may cause the issue is having had a content directory inside another content directory on the old system - if there were files DS needed to reference in the inner folder then the extra folder name may have been inserted into the path and that may be causing the error, as that location won't be on your new system. One fix there is to load, load a copy of the base files on the current system, and copy-and-paste the posing across from the "block figure" to the newly loaded figure.

Superdog

I worked out why the project wouldn't load. When I copied my content library some of the files were corrupted. I really don't know why or when in the copying and transfer process this happened. Is there any copying software available that checks the copy bit for bit to verify its authenticity? Similar to how a DVD burner verifies a DVD copy it makes. I used ExamDiff Pro to check that the copy was exactly the same as the original but it doesn't verify the copy to check if any of the files have corrupted.

Richard Haseltine

I'm not sure what the difference between verification and examining to look fo changes is. In the command prompt both copy and xcopy have /v switches for verification, though reading the help file it appears that the xcopy version just checks size while the copy version does something unspecified to check that the file has copied correctly.

Jaderail

OPP's Richard is correct. I did use this before but it No longer Works it seems. Well so much for EASY fixes in the Newer Versions of DS4+.

guy_2a97dd80cb

Jaderail said:

Quck fix for blown scene files. Load each item that does not load in a Clean scene file. No set up needed just load a big pile of mixed up stuff. Save that scene file as A NEW scene. Now load the Bad scene file. All content should now be found. You can even delete the Pile Scene.

I'm working on a project at the moment where I work from home and my office. I have to go through the above process each time I set up a new scene and transfer the duf file to the other computer.
Works a treat for me.