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Alright, maybe this just adds to the mystery, but apparently a while back, I changed my DAZ Connect data installation folder to be the same as my normal content folder. Both the Connect and DAZ Studio format folders point to E:/3D, which is where all of my content has been. Does this mean like what I said before, that the two methods of installation are just overwriting each other?
No, they still write to different locations.
How? They're both pointed at the same folder. My data folder (and I only have one on this drive) is only 160 gig too, if everything was being installed twice in there in different folders, shouldn't it be much bigger? My C: drive isn't filling up as I install stuff and my secondary content structure that I'm filling with shortcuts to the actual products is only 10 meg (as expected). Maybe I'm still missing something?
Connect installs each product in its own subdirectory, so even though the base directory is the same connect products are not in the same place as your other content.
I've done the same back in 2016 & never any problems. I avoid installing anything via Connect though unless it shows up in my Connect and it won't 99% of the time after I installed via DIM & restart DAZ Studio, I don't install it via Connect. So far less than about 25 - 50 products have showed up in Connect although already installed via DIM. Why I don't know, maybe updates but DAZ 3D that didn't get also updated to DIM, but I install them to get them out of there and am done with it.
All of your DAZ Connect products are installed in E:/3D/data/cloud. Open the cloud folder and you'll see each product's files all together in one folder with the naming format "1_<SKU number>"
Unfortunately some problems will never be fixed. I've decided to reinstall all my content from scratch. I'm also trying to get ready for Knee Replacement Surgery. I'm done with this discussion.
I wish everyone all the best.
I pledge allegence to THIS program as being invaluable for searching for stuff on your HDDs, but yeah, it's pretty irritating when PAs hide the product and it's description behind vanity directories, sure, if you have clothing items from only 10-20 PAs, but most of us have hundreds strewn all over the bloody place!
I however think this is much better than clothing, characters and even hair products are crammed all under the figures tab, not to mention forever hunting down the material settings to said characters/clothing/hair in both the poses, and mat tabs that don't even match up by product name most of the time!
At least you can find the mats under the same people/clothing menu!
OK, that clears up a few things. My cloud folder is 61 gig, but I see a lot of items in there that I do not remember installing directly through Studio's Smart Content panel. I also don't have the option to uninstall them directly from the Smart Content panel either. Can these files be deleted without affecting DIM installations?
- EDIT - Never mind, this isn't even close to being worth the time and potential trouble. Smart Content is pointless, I can't even get the new Cleric textures to appear alongside the actual clothing set when typing "cleric" in the search bar. I'll reinstall everything I can using DIM, create shortcuts using Smart Content when I can, and manually place anything that shows up in DIM but not in Smart Content. Maybe I'll be done in another 20 years.
Thanks to everyone for their help, it's appreciated.
Yes, if the products are install via DIM and Daz Connect, you can delete the product.
PERSONALLY, I would go into the cloud folder and note a folder number, which is the product SKU.
On the Smart Content Product tab search box, type sku::<sku#> to display the product icon, right click and select Uninstall. That will delete the product files in the cloud folder. I don't advise just going into the cloud folder and deleting the folder/files.
Edit: If the product icons on the Smart Content tab are colored and don't have the circle with the arrow down marker on the top right corner indicating it's only been installed via DIM, you should be safe uninstalling those products from the Smart Content tab which will clear out the files in the cloud folder. If the folders are still there, the folders should be empty and can be safely manually deleted.
OK, now I am dangerously close to uninstalling EVERY FREAKIN' PRODUCT on this drive. I just tried to make shortcuts for Aery Soul's Y'Vas from the Smart Content panel and...you don't even want to see what a clusterfug it shows in there. Didn't need this on my birthday, lol.
I checked a bunch of product folders within the cloud folder that actually have files in them (which means they should be installed via Connect, correct?), yet none of them give me the option to uninstall them directly from the Smart Content panel. It shows them as being installed (which they were, through DIM), but why are there still files in those cloud folders?
A slightly different topic: if I go medieval and uninstall and clean out every bit of installed content on this drive and annihilate the cloud folder to start from scratch, will my personal scenes, saved characters, and all other work be salvageable and open properly again once all the necessary content they require is reinstalled? That is the most important thing to me; I can reinstall everything, but if I lose my custom characters and scenes, I am likely done with 3D art for good. I'm not going to rush into that, but I'd like to get a better idea of what I'm potentially dealing with.
Thanks!
Nah, I think I have a safer and better idea overall. I'm just going to install everything into my usual 3D content structure, then sort through the chaos and organize the files directly using Windows Explorer - no shortcuts, no Smart Content panel, no references - like I did for the past 20 years, and never open the Smart Content panel again. :) Work doesn't get messed up, stuff ends up where I want it, and I'll know exactly how much space files are using and where they are.
@SnowSultan Happy Birthday! I'm sorry you're having so much trouble on your birthday. Hopefully you'll be able to make some time for yourself and do something fun and/or relaxing!
Make sure you're not moving any actual files or you'll likely break the saved scenes and characters and end up with error messages when you go to use the assets.
Thank you very much! I didn't really do anything at all today except take the cats to get their nails cut, get bit inside my nose by one of them (nice biting, but still hurt), and screw around with 3D content. ;) When you say "actual files", you mean files in the data directory, correct? I've moved many files before and my work still opened correctly, but I never touch anything in the data or texture directories.
Yeah, if you don't mind losing all the metadata links and only want to use the Content Library then yeah, I guess you should be ok as long as (as you said) you don't move anything from "data" or "Runtime". :)
"bit inside my nose" lol What even? I didn't even know that was possible. Ouch! *hugs*
Yeah, I'm going back to just sorting and finding stuff manually through the main Content Library.
Haha, yeah she bit me as if I was getting a piercing between my nostrils. They're happy when they come back from the vet, but I shouldn't have gotten that close. ;)
Responding without reading the other answers, because I have a lot of work and I can’t concentrate to translate (It is not easy to concentrate in another language with your boss asking for things every time in whatsapp).
Reset the database means erasing metadata, this is the information used by Smartcontent. To recover smartcontent info then re-import metadata.
Use only connect or use only DIM to install. These are two different paradigms of content management.
Working by DIM, before reset database export userdata to safe your last changes like custom categories. Then reset. Then re-import metada.
I don’t know how the connect case works because I stopped using it since the past year.
My rule of thumb: if it has Smart, AI (and similar) in its name, leave it the hell alone because it wont be close; nor will it allow for smart useage.
You couldn't pay me enough to do what you have done Snow, I download everyth9ing to a folder and then do a mass unzip and go through everything before I manually install it into my content folder. Unlike you though I don't use smart content because is a mess in my opinion. I agree with you on vanity folders and finding sets in the props folder and I have found hair textures in the character folders and just the raw number of unneeded extra folders that are present is completely unnecessary. There really needs to be a standard daz requires vendors to follow when submitting products. This to me is a serious failure of the QA department. I hope you are able to make some sense of the disaster it sounds like your runtime is growing into.
I have always used manual installation because of the lack of standard within the content folders.
For example in ...\Clothing\... In my humble opinion, the best way to navigate through your library is with a down-key, but quite often you have to go sideways (breaking the pace) because the PA has decided to put the stuff under ...\MyStuff\...
Not to mention materials that you have to go through ...\Materials\Diibadaabaa\NotHereYet\Soon\Iray\, even when the Iray materials are the only ones existing for the item.
Also the ...\Hair\... should have the same system that ...\Characters\... is using, where you can see and load all the hairs without going to any sub-folders. With manual installation I can copy the hair in the root of Hair-folder and see all the hairs at the same time when looking for one that fits my character.
I did try "Smart" content last year, but found it more trouble than worth and returned quickly to my old habits of organizing the content myself, although... I have just been fiddling with these things for only 33 years, so maybe when I get more experience, I'll get back to the "Smart" thing...
Thanks GiGi, I did know that but it's good to confirm and for anyone else who's having trouble with all of this. I didn't really think that installing both ways would be such a confusing issue though, now I do. ;)
nictt: Maybe, but I've learned to never blame the computer when problems are virtually always due to human error. The issues with DAZ's Smart Content aren't because the search is faulty or the tags don't work, it's because, like Shadowhawk says, there's not a lot of consistency on the human side of this.
Shadowhawk: Yeah, I wouldn't wish this headache on too many people, but at least it's been pretty easy to fix so far. Now I'm just going through the main installation structure and rounding up stray files, renaming a few, and deleting vanity folders and 3Delight materials and it's going quickly. I agree, there either needs to be standards for content organization or it needs better enforcing. Shouldn't be hard to put G8F clothing in People/Genesis 8 Female/Clothing or a sword prop in something like Props/Weapons, and at least give us a sensible default library.
PerttiA: You've been doing this 33 years? What did you start with, drawing wireframes with the triangular mouse on an Apple II? ;)
in an ideal world we would have two non negotiable things: strict standard rules on folder structure and only default metadata to pick from for a PA.. because someone is also creating "their own" metadata, so inside the People/male metadata for example you can see brvsn Man of The Year Actor! And this should be only for final users, IMO..
at the moment the solution I adopted is to have different folders where to install stuff: one for daz main figures and morphs, one for characters, one for cloths and so on; and then folders for renderosity hair, cloths etc etc. I started doing this because I wanted to install most useful and heavy to load stuff on ssd and the rest on usual HD.. then I start to find useful this method..
Did have an Apple II, but I was referring to starting with PC:s back in -87, when I got my first one for my engineering studies.
Still a novice in 3D modeling, since I haven't done that but 23 years
...in some ways the HDD crash I had was a blessing as I had to do the same so it gave me the incentive to take the time for setting up a proper library/runtime structure.
Best wishes on your upcoming surgery. Had a friend undergo it several years ago and he's so much the better for it.
Indeed.
My comment to folks is computers never do what you want, only what they're told; sadly you've no idea if they're doing what you tell em, or the idiot programmer messed up telling 'em; I'm one of those idiot programmers. :)
"But it's not doing what I want," is still my most detested comment; I hear it far too often.
I remember back when you had to install one or two products via DAZ Connect and I had that data/cloud/1_SKU(s) list of products too and how I rid myself of that is:
1) Closed DAZ Stuio
2) Started DIM
3) Installed Products - check the box that checked all of those products
4) Started the Queue that uninstalled all those products
5) Via Windows Explorer manually navigated to the data folder in DAZ Studio and manually deleted the "cloud" folder.
6) I would of deleted the whole mess and still might someday but because I have quite a bit of Rendo, Hivewire, & ShareCG products installed I left well enough alone. I do know all DIM products are uninstalled from there though so technically I could rename it and create a clean new one with the old name and have DIM (DAZ 3D essentially) seperated from Rendo, HiveWire, & ShareCG.
7) I confirm DIM matches the path(s) that I want to use to install to.
8) I go to the Ready to Install tab in DIM
9) I search in DIM for DAZ Studio & install manually before everything else. Same for the Public Beta. Same for all my purchased pligins. If you use Carrara, Bryce, Hexagon I forget which of those install via DIM anymore.
10) I check that the Preferences in the just reinstalled DAZ Studio / DS PB are what I want.
11) I go to the Ready to Install tab in DIM & check the box that checks all products
12) I start that Queue and let it run overnight. I have now over 5000 DIM products, so yes it takes hours.
13) After DIM finishes although technically a reboot of my PC shouldn't be needed, I reboot
14) And as I mentioned in an earlier post despite always installing things via DIM somethings for some mysterious reason products I've already installed via DIM show up in DAZ Connect. So I install them in Connect but in fact they now get installed to the Connect folder: C:\Users\Public\Documents\My Daz Connect Library (I changed my private user name it takes by default to a Public folder although I have no network or local shares. It's installed 67 products of which only about 5 are bigger than 5 megabytes and most are less than 1.5 megabytes. I had already prior installed all 67 products via DIM so go figure. I think it's mostly just updates to presets and some DSF files I should have gotten though DIM instead of via Connect.
...never bothered with Connect as it would install to the documents folder on my smaller C: drive. I don't even use the documents folder for spreadsheets or test files.
This is not the Daz "supported" way to do it, I'm sure, but I manually edit the actual support dsx metadata file that contains the smart content information. With a text editor (I use Notepad++), it is fairly quick to do search and replace changes depending on how many items there are in a product. When I get a new product, I let it install via DIM, check for issues and then clean it up (lost and found, wrong/missing content types, wrong/missing content bases, wrong default categories, etc.). I then categorize with my own category system directly in the support dsx file. Once done with the cleanup and changes, I reimport my newly changed support dsx metadata to get everything where I want it to go in smart content and categories. With this method, I don't have a separate user data file that would be massive by this time with 20,000+ products. If there is a glitch, I can just reset the smart content and reimport and have everything back the way I want it and don't have to worry about corruption/loss of my categories. Upside to this is that if there is an update to the product, it can be easily uninstalled via DIM and the update installed quickly without worrying about extraneous shortcuts/files. If necessary, and it is just a smart content update, I usually copy my support dsx file back into the support folder so lose no categorizations. With manual installs of zips (which I tried for a long time), you might have to hunt down a lot of files to delete scattered (data folder, texture folder, install folder, etc.) everywhere. I tried the user data categorization as well and a corruption issue caused me to lose a lot of work, not to mention that the user file that I would export out to save got to be massive.
One other concern is that I found that having a lot of items in the lost and found category slowed Daz Studio down significantly when it was trying to load categories or smart content. Having only "one" category reference for everything (in lieu of the default Daz category and an additional user category) also put less information in the database for it to parse through. With ~20k DIM installed products (which probably equal out to 500k-100 million items), just scrolling through categories can slow down significantly because of the sheer amount. Anything to put less burden on the database helps. I also pay attention to the Daz Studio log to clean up missing files (unfortunately there can be a lot of those as the smart content metadata isn't always updated properly when the content folders are changed by Daz) and finally I fix any missing icons for the Products as that can cause slow downs as well.
Oh, and like one of the previous posters, I also create products for all my purchases from other stores, create the smart content metadata for them, bundle them up with Content Package Assist, then install them with DIM. It makes it easier to remove them if there is an update and to find everything with the show installed files option.
Whatever the method used, unfortunately there will be time invested. After many issues with other methods, I settled on this method for now as it works for me. No one way will fit everybody, so find something that works for you and make sure you have backups that you can use to restore in case of corruption or loss.
KyotoKid, I'm still trying to see when or how I can set up a surgery date. And I'm also trying to deal with a sleep doctor to get a new BiPap machine, etc. Our apartment building will replace its one elevator in July. I hope to avoid the discomfort that might cause me. Maybe I'll get the surgery after the new elevator is installed.
I'm still working on the manual install of my DAZ Content. It feels so nice to know exactly where to find everything.