Are Poser companion files absolutely necessary in Daz Studio?
The Brig
Posts: 83
Kind of a spoiler question, I guess, but I'm wondering if I really need them since I don't have Poser. Are there shader or texture files in there that a Studio product needs? I'm still trying to figure out the relation between Poser and Studio files because I'd like to delete whatever I don't need and save up some space on my hard drive, but even after a couple years, I'm still a noob.
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Poser "companion" files are solely of value for use in Poser.
Not to be confused with "poser files" though as Poser content can be used in both programs.
Almost everything I have in Poser files ("Poser Formats / My Daz 3D Library") that can be used with Daz I have copied into other folders, so as I assume The Brig wants to know, can the Poser files be deleted, because if so it would be a major space saver? However, a couple of months ago when I was copying files from "Products" which weren't in ideal folders in "My Daz 3D Library" I accidentally placed the copies in an incorrect folder so assumed that as with any other file on my PC or LT I could just delete the wrongly placed copies, that having no effect on the originals, but when I did I was surprised to find that the original files in "Products" also deleted! I had to go back to the IM and reinstall the product. So my guess would be that if I deleted the latter part of "Poser Formats / My Daz 3D Library" then all of my copies would also vanish as it appears the copies are always connected to the originals.
Thanks, that's understood, but I have a lot Poser files copied into "My Daz 3D Library" folders, so the question is: if I delete all the parallel files in "Poser Formats" will the ones in "My Daz 3D Library" folders also delete? Or if they were deleted from "Products" would they vanish everywhere else they were copied to, too? As I wrote above, "a couple of months ago when I was copying files from "Products" which weren't in ideal folders in "My Daz 3D Library" I accidentally placed the copies in an incorrect folder so assumed that as with any other file on my PC or LT I could just delete the wrongly placed copies, that having no effect on the originals, but when I did I was surprised to find that the original files in "Products" also deleted! I had to go back to the IM and reinstall the product." IE: if I copy a Word file I can delete the original and still have the copy, or if I delete the copy I still have the original, but when I assumed the same applied to the Daz files I found that when the copies are deleted the originals delete too.
3rd thoughts: it actually makes sense that copied files are always linked to the originals as the programme requires linked paths to other files, etc, so when one makes a copy of anything and later deletes it, it would auotmatically delete the originals. Re the OP, you can delete any product you absolutely have no use for - it will always be available on site for re-downoad anyway - but you can't copy files to more practical locations and delete the originals as the two are always linked.
I think the question was more along the lines of "Do I need to install them for the content to work in DAZ Studio", to which the answer is "No".
The rule of thumb that I always use relates to the file size: if it is small, they are probably Poser companion files that contain such things as material settings for use in Poser. If the Poser files are large, they probably contain the texture maps which are stored in the Runtime\Textures folder, and should be installed whether using Poser or DAZ Studio. The latter case is usually only encountered with older products. Worse case scenario is not installing them, then finding that you need them, in which case you simply install them.
A easy way to dump unneeded Poser files is to Open the Install Manager go to the "Installed Tab" in the "Search Filter" type "PoserCF". Then you can unistall those files with the Install Manager.
Once uninstalled you can "Hide" those and future "PoserCF" files from download/install in the Install Manger.