Trouble with the paths for the MAT files I'm creating
alexaana
Posts: 0
I made some new textures for a cloth, in jpg format, I applied them manually inside Daz Studio 4.5 and used the following options to save the texture: File>Save As>Deprecated>Materials preset(.ds*..)
After that I used a script (Dsa2Pz2) to convert the created file to .Pz2
I verified the new .Pz2 file in wordpad to check and see if the paths are relative and they were not, so I modified them and hit Save.
I installed the Runtime after I did all that work for each MAT file I created and they worked perfectly fine on my computer.
However i asked a friend to try it, and when she tried applying the texture she got an error that she Daz couln't locate any of the .jpg images I used.
The Runtime folder contains as well the textures created and I thought it would work..but I cannot seem to make it work.
What am I doing wrong?
Can someone help me fix this or guide me in the right direction with maybe some links to some discussion about the same issue or some tutorials?
Thank you!
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
are you both in DS4?
pz2 is poser format.
the new DS presets are .duf files.
Do the relative paths start with Runtime, and do they use colons to separate folders? Has your tester placed the files in a folder set as an external library in Poser (I'm assuming she is using Poser - there would be no point in converting to pz2 for use in DS as you'd be likely to lose settings).?
When this happens, it suggests either the textures or the original materials preset (before you converted to .pz2) might not have been saved to an existing content folder location. Preset scripts will only have proper relative paths if the preset is saved into a content location D|S already knows about.
Saving directly into a folder in the Content Library tab is the best way to ensure this is done right. Saving from the File menu can very easily go wrong in unobvious ways. Where did you load the textures from, and where did you save the materials preset? Did you look at the preset before converting it to see if the fixed texture paths were there as well?
Hi again,
I'm an expert at complicating things...I use windows 7, which is installed on drive C. When I installed Daz, I chose to install it on Drive D, but somehow it created a DAZ3D folder in C/program files and also in C/Users/My Documents. My installed content is located on Drive D. However after I finished working in Photoshop I saved the images on Drive E and also the materials presets and the converted files on Drive E as well...When I was done I zipped them and installed them on Drive D where I have the rest of the installed content. When I try to apply the texture, it works fine. But if I move the initial folder from Drive E where I created them and saved them to a different location, when I applying the textures I get the 'cannot locate file' error.
The reason why I want my MATS converted to pz2 is because I want them to work in Poser as well.
When I first edited the pz2 file, the paths in the coding where absolute, indicating the location from where I applied manually the images to texture the cloth,
E/folder/folder/folder/runtime/etc.
After I edited the pz2 file in notepad, the paths were relative.
What would be the exact Path I need to create for the Runtime folder with my textures (from where I apply manually the images and where to save the MATS) cause I'm pretty sure I messed them up having them spread all over in my computer?
Thank you
When I try to edit the materials preset file, the paths are absolute, but I do not know if they should be modified like the ones from the pz2 file...
The paths should be as in the sample, and you should have E:\Clothes\Testing\_Mats\Style_01\Storyteller selected as a content directory. Once done, and once you have merged the Runtime with the textures into your main content directory, you can remove it - right-click on Poser Formats in the Content Library pane to add a folder, right-click on the folder under Poser Formats to remove it.
I would suggest having both the Poser material files and the original DAZ Studio scripts in the same folder, with the same name, once you have them working - that way DS will get the native presets and Poser will get its files, which should give the best results for both.
This is happening because you're using a work-in-progress folder to store your working files, but you haven't told D|S it can look there for content.
It's a bit complicated to explain, but once you get the idea it all falls into place. The reason all these relative paths for textures and /data/ or Poser files are set up the way they are is because it doesn't matter where the content folder is — the same goes for the Poser Runtime folder that's inside the content folder. The important thing about these paths is that the location inside and relative to the content folder is correct.
The place where you do need to define the content folder location is the Content Directory Manager in D|S — this is completely separate and nothing to do with the folder paths set out in your preset files. You can have more than one content location, and as far as D|S is concerned they aren't separate, they're combined into All Of Your Content. These locations are used to populate the Content Library tab and the database used by Smart Content and the Products/Categories content views. As long as you save into the Content Library tab, by definition you're using a location D|S recognises as a place for content and all is well with your files and texture paths.
(I hope that all makes sense, when I'm a bit overdue for an evening nap I tend to ramble a bit.)
Thank you, that information helped a lot. that is what I was doing wrong. I sent the runtime to my friend to test it and she did not get any errors... I'm so happy I finally have it all cleared.
Thank you all for your help!