Reinstall DIM and Old Content Directory
MelissaGT
Posts: 2,611
I'm sure this has been asked and answered before, but sometimes finding stuff on the forums is...not fun.
So I had to do a full reinstall of Windows. Daz was installed on its own drive, but apparently I have to reinstall as the executable no longer works. Anyways, this question is around DIM. I didn't lose any of my 1TB of content for Daz. It's always been on its own drive. But upon opening up DIM, for whatever reason it's not recognizing all that installed content. I found a page on Daz's help pages but the screenshots it goes through for DIM look a bit different so I'm assuming it's old. Any help in getting DIM to not want to redownload 1TB of content would be lovely.
It seems to be looking for something called the Manifest Archive and I'm not seeing that anywhere in the old InstallManager folder.
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So I'm assuming I'm up the poop creek given that apparently my .dsx files were stored on the C: drive that was lost. I never realized that DIM was keeping track of itself on an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT drive than it was installed on. It and Daz is installed on D: and my operating system is on C:, which is what was lost. *sigh*
Now I suppose I just hope it overwrites what's already there because my Daz drive isn't big enough to double itself.
Whelp...glad I have no cap on my download data, haha. It looks like it will just copy over what is already on the drive, so essentially just replacing what's already there with the same exact content. I haven't figured out a way to get DIM to recognize what's already there. Mind, this is only to get Smart Content working. Everything already works just fine from the Content Library. But I do like Smart Content for *some* stuff, like poses and grabbing an out-of-the-box character.
Or would anybody recommend that I use Connect instead?
Yeah, the Manifest Archive (which you can relocate in DIM Settings) holds the info for all the installed products. If you are installing to the same relative path, it should all get overwritten. The download status is a little different. If your Package Archive (downloads) is intact, it will at least see everything as Ready to Install, unless you didn't keep the archives after installing.
Seeing as you have nothing to lose at this point, there is a "Fix Installed File Registry..." option when you right-click on a "Content Path Shortcut" (i.e. Library) for which no one ever seemed to have a real answer that I ever saw. I wonder if it can re-build that kind of info based on what is physically installed and what is in your account.
Yeah, I never keep the packages after install, because I didn't want to eat up that much space...essentially doubling my Daz content size. I have no cap on my 300+ interwebz, so the thought of having to redownload things I've uninstalled if I ever needed them again, or had to reinstall one or two things was never an issue. It's just...this is 1TB worth of stuff all at once, lol. I've changed DIM to point the Manifest to the drive Daz and DIM is installed on now...but I guess that doesn't help me in this particular situation. All I see are 3,000+ items as "ready to download".
Would you recommend I reinstall with Connect instead? Or does it even make a difference.
I don't use Connect, and opinions are still mixed. It will install everything to a different location than DIM, so it would be like starting from scratch. Since your library is still intact, have you re-imported metadata? That will populate the CMS database with all the installed product info from the runtime/support folder, restoring your smart content functionality. Maybe that "Fix Installed File Registry" can do somethng with it for DIM to work with.
When you reinstalled Windows, was it a reformat or a refresh? The refresh option is supposed to keep data files, but I don't recall exactly where the default Manifest Folder would have been (maybe C:/Users/[yourusername]/Documents/Daz 3D/Install Manager/Manifest Files). Look for more .dsx files if you can. At least your library will be fully functional, and you can download the products gradually and reinstall at your own pace, if you want.
It was a total reformat...for whatever reason it wouldn't take a refresh so I just went for it. (I was literally ready to pull my hair out last night...I don't know what the @&#$ happened...it was fine and then throughout the day yesterday just got to the point where it wouldn't even boot...clearly it wasn't a hardware issue, so I don't think I'll ever know.) I keep Windows on its own 250GB SSD so I didn't think anything would have been lost, but I also didn't realize DIM keeps stuff there by default. It was in appdata I believe. Carbonite did back up some stuff for Daz there, but I didn't see that specific file...maybe it was the file type that it didn't save by default...Carbonite loves to exclude certain file types by default.
I'm replying not because I have any definitive answer (more's the pity), but because:
1. I have similar questions/issues in relation to DIM, specifically (though not as in extremis as your plight), and,
2. It was downright uncomfortably astonishing to see you have to post three posts in a row before anyone, in this aggregation of DS experts, even responded.
I'm anything but an expert; I'm a hit-and-miss tyro, but--setting aside DIM, per se, for the moment—can't you get all your Daz-brand content to appear in Smart Content by a combination of having DS scan your assigned content directories for products/files; resetting your DB; and then reimporting metadata?
After a longish hiatus from Daz, I did that with a pretty massive collection of old Daz Studio products, collected over may years, through quite a few different computer systems and operating systems, all kept on external drives. As far as I can tell, essentially all of it appears in Smart Content. There may be some odd outliers, but I was pleasantly surprised with the results.
As for DIM—pfffffft. Sorry, but I have a sort of glaring relationship with that infernal thing most of the time, and I can't help you there. I much, much prefer to install things manually. It seems to me, though, that it would be an excruciating torture to have to use it and reinstall a TB of content just to get things to show up in Smart Content! I really don't think you need to go to those extremes if you use the steps of resetting the DB, and then reimporting metadata. all from the DB Maintenance tab. Good luck with it.
I tried re-importing metadata and that fixed Smart Content...still doesn't help DIM, though...it still thinks all that stuff isn't installed.
I'm glad you got your Smart Content back. That sentence you wrote above is a classic, and is exactly why I think DIM is, well, dim. No, let me amend that: nuts.
Look—I mean, really look—at what you just said: Daz Studio can recognize all your Daz-brand installed products and their metadata, but the Daz program specifically created to install Daz-brand products can NOT recognize them and their metadata when they are already installed, even if installed by that very program.
If that doesn't explode your irony meter, nothing ever will.
OMGerd, I know, right?!? Like seriously...who would have thought it was storing some rando list of stuff on an appdata folder (which is normally hidden, btw, because the Average Joe Windows User isn't supposed to be diddling around in there). You'd think there would be a button to re-scan the installed content, just like I did in Daz to fix Smart Content.
Did you try that "Fix Installed File Registry" option from the Installation tab in DIM Settings with a right-click on the Content Path you are using for your library? Sounds like that is exactly what it is supposed to do. (Remains to be seen, though).
(ETA: Never mind. I tried that on a dummy account. Installed a couple of products, then moved the manifests. Tried that command and it doesn't do anything that I can see.)
There used to be no way to change the location of all these secret folders unless you knew where to find the secret account file to change the secret path. Now we can easily do so, probably because many users had these kinds of problems. Not that you would need to fiddle with them if you never have problems, but when you do, as you have found out, it would have been nice to know so you could have backed it up.
Yeah, before posting I had already changed the content path to where the My 3D Library has always been and sadly, nothing.
As far as I am aware the DIM manifests store additonal information that is not placed in the CMS (the absolute location of the isntalled files, for one thing - the CMS uses realtive paths which is why it copes with moved content directories).
How would it know which products installed a given file? One of the issues with DIM, which Connect addressed, was the handling of files installed from mutliple products - some of which might be from other stores. I would think any rescan would be excritiatingly slow, too, as it tried to match at least thousands of files with hundreds or more products each with multiple files.
Do you all not understand that DIM tracks what is installed via the Manifest files. The default install location is the C: drive, which is what Melissa lost. HOWEVER, you can specify not only the location of the install files (i.e. download directory), and the installation location (i.e. Content directory), but also the manifest files. Folks blame the software when they haven't looked through the available options in the software.
When I first started using DIM, I had specified the location to install to, however I hadn't realized that I neded to set up a specific location for the Manifest archives...in truth I didn't even know what they were until I needed them. Daz in general seems to want to put a lot of stuff on my C: drive and my reaction is always the same...NO! BAD DAZ! NO! *slaps rolled up newspaper on nose*
Either way, my Smart Content is back and I think my days of using DIM are DONE...LOL.
For me personally, I never used DIM to install anything other than store purchases. Rendo purchases were installed manually and I never had Smart Content for those to lose anyways, so they were never even a consideration here.
I just know you will be kind and responsible enough to direct the attention of us "folks" to the documentation on that.I feel fairly confident that you inadvertently misrouted that question. It's one for the programmers of Daz and DIM.
Which is what I was alluding to https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/5409486/#Comment_5409486 (though Rob pointed that out before I posted).
No, there is a suggestion that DIM should be able to rescan files on disc and figure out what was installed - I am pointing out one of the potential issues. A suggestion that can't (practially) be implemented can either be left hanging or some effort can be made to point out its problems.
Yeah, just wishful thinking...
DIM didn't do anything wrong, and if you don't use it anymore, you won't get any more metadata for smart content, unless you go with Connect. Now that you know what goes where and what is needed, you can be better protected against future problems. Backup, backup, backup.
I backup in triplicate, tyvm...I just didn't realize that DIM was using stuff under appdata when it was installed on a completely different drive. (...keeping in mind that appdata is, by default, a hidden folder that Windows doesn't want average users mucking about in...so there is that...) And going forward, I believe I will be using Connect. That way I don't have to look at DIM constantly wanting to download over 3,000 items that are already installed.
AppData should be backed up, though - it contains all sorts of files. And th default maifests folder is not in AppData, it's in Public Documents (alongside the default Downloads and Thumbnails folders).
And I haven't heard from you, or anyone, a single syllable of compelling reasons why it should not be able to. Your argument so far is that it isn't able to, and so that's that, and everybody should accept the problems that creates. Of course it should be able to. Obviously.
In case you might have forgotten, "DIM" stands for "DAZ Install MANAGER." It cannot effictively MANAGE installations if it cannot determine, at any moment, the existing state of INSTALLATIONS. Obviously.
I just checked Carbonite and looks like there is an InstallManager folder with a ManifestFiles folder following that path...it's downloading the backup now so we'll see. I'll let you know...Carbonite recovery downloads aren't exactly fast, lol
Hallelujah! Just put them in your new Manifest archive folder and refresh DIM. Everything should show as installed.
And, if you want to use Connect, it will not see anything as installed, either, since it uses a different location, and will want to download everything anyway. Not sure if you could take the existing library and move it to Connect's folder to avoid that.
I think that worked! Well, I was considering canning Carbonite and just updating my Acronis sub to cover an online backup (I use it for local backups) instead of subscribing to two different services but now I dunno...Carbonite really saved my bumbum. With my Acronis backups, I had to tell it what to backup from A to Z...but Carbonite backed up most of this stuff I've had to look for on its own.