Content Library search button not working since moving DS to external hard drive
chriswongbiz
Posts: 206
HI,
I moved my Daz Studio application, and all document content to an external drive, since my computer has no space anymore. After I moved them, I started to use DS on another laptop, things work, but, when I try to use the Search button in the Content library, it doesn't show me anymore.
Also, since Daz Studio application and all the my library content is not installed inside this other laptop, only in the external hard drive, my DIM actually shows that everything I purchased from DAZ are Ready to Download ! I think it is because it doesnt detect my library content within the computer, so at the end it cannot Search anything in my Content Library.
Please tell me how I can make the Search possible again. Or even solve the problem of my DIM. While using the content library, it's frustrating that it is not responding even when I just want to see as simple as all things "red" , and it is not showing me anything.
Thank you in advance.
Chris
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Comments
I don't think the Search uses the DIM installation records, it searches the CMS database, or the file system directly (you can select one or the other).
(Edit: this totally went in the wrong direction, so I've struck out the parts to just ignore)
You would need to populate the database on the second computer by importing the metadata from the now external library. All the metadata is stored in the (Library)/Runtime/Support folder, and the Content DB Maintenance utility has a function to re-import metadata. If you have made any customization to your contents (custom categories, or metadata modifications) you should Export User Data from the same utility first, then when importing the metadata onto the second computer, be sure to include the User Data. When you start the Re-Import process, wait for the list of products to appear (could take a while) then make sure everything is selected, Accept and be prepared to wait some more.
For each DIM to see the installed products, the Manifest Archive must be accessible to both computers, that is, on the external drive (unless you always want to go through one of the computers). Its location can be found in DIM (Advanced) Settings -> Installation. You can safely move the existing folder and contents (maybe copy first, then delete the old one once functional, just in case) to any location, as long as the path is changed to match in each DIM's settings. (I keep mine in a folder next to the library.)
Keeping the two computers synchronized could be a logistical headache, though, since installation on one will not update the database on the other, but you could re-import the metadata for new additions (right-click the Product -> Re-Import Metadata...) onto the other computer from DIM (since it can see the installed status if sharing the Manifest Archive).
Note: this is all theoretical, as I have not actually tried this myself, but I have moved stuff around and reconfigured settings so often, this looks feasible.
Okay, missed the part about moving the application to the external drive. If I understand you properly, you want to basically plug in the drive and run Studio, using the included library. For it to be portable that way, you will need to also relocate the CMS cluster folder (database) to the external drive also, since it defaults to the main disk's AppData folder. You can find the location from Studio preferences (F2) -> CMS Settings. That is something I have never tried, but I have heard of other users doing it. That way, you don't have to fiddle with the database by exporting or re-importing metadata to synchronize, so forget all that.
The part about the Manifest Archive still applies, unless DIM can also be installed on the external drive (never heard of that), then you won't have to set it up twice. Just know that there are program configuration files for both Studio and DIM that are saved in the AppData folder (Users/*username*/AppData/Roaming/DAZ3D/Studio4 , and InstallManager) that I don't think can be relocated. Getting in over my head, here.
Thank you for the message. But the CMS cluster does not change at all after I pressed "accept" or "apply". Nothing happened. :(
You probably need to Stop CMS first (right-click on Content Library tab -> Stop CMS...), since it probably has open tables. Try copying the cluster folder, outside of Studio, change the path in Preferences, then start CMS again.
I right-clicked on Content Library tab, Stop CMS, and Start CMS are there, but they were not lit up like the others, so they can't be clicked on. What do I do?
Sounds like it isn't there. Is the CMS actually installed? It would be called PostgreSQL CMS, part of the DAZ Studio package. Studio will work fine without it, just no metadata (those colored flashes in the upper right of each item's icon, like Actor, Materials, Prop, etc.) In Task Manager, are there any process named "postgres.exe" present when Studio is running? Not sure if that can be installed on the external drive, and not sure if the external DAZ Studio executable will properly trigger a start. Getting into deeper water, here.
Daz Studio works.
Only 1) cannot Search items in Content Library.
2) DIM does not show my content, and ask me to re-download all my items from Daz3D store.
Here I attached some photos of how I transfer all my Daz from my old laptop to my big hard drive. I know I screwed up in setting up properly. Appreciate it if you can help.
The library and applications paths appear to be okay. You do have a very old version of DIM which does not show several settings that can be customized, which you might need to be able to use Studio and the content the way you want.
When products are downloaded, a manifest of the download is saved with the package in a folder under "My Passport SSD/Macintosh HD/Shared/DAZ 3D/Install Manager/Downloads". DIM must find that folder to be able to see the products. That would be shown on the downloads tab in DIM setup. (You did not include a screen shot of that page, though)
When products are installed, DIM writes another manifest, to a different folder, to know if a product has been installed (on your system that would be a subfolder of "My Passport SSD/Macintosh HD/Shared/DAZ 3D/Install Manager/Manifest Files", maybe under your account name). DIM has to be configured to look there, since it is not the default location, and you probably have not changed it. Earlier versions of DIM did not allow you to change it directly, it had to be edited in the configuration file.
Studio cannot search the library because it probably cannot see the CMS database. The database engine, PostgresSQL, has to be running, and looking in the right place, and communicating with Studio. The database has been moved, so Studio needs to be configured to look in the right place. Again, verify if the Postgres process is running, otherwise it will never work properly.
There is a thread that might give you some better guidance than me about the details of setting up on a Mac: The Mac FAQ
I followed your instruction and it improved a little, now the Install Manager shows some Ready to Download items plus some Ready to Install items..
But still no installed items. And still struggling about the CMS database.
The "My Library" path was good before, that's where content gets installed. Studio sees the content, so don't change the installation path. Anything you install with that path will not be seen in the Content Library, and the manifests created by the installation will overwrite the download manifests (not good).
Please include a screen shot of the DIM setup Downloads tab.
You asked is the CMS actually installed. I checked in Application/Utilities/Activity Monitor, and I don't see the ContentManagementServer been working there. However, I found PostgreSQL CMS in the external drive My Passport SSD. So how or where should I move it to make things right?
There has been much discussion on that subject, and I am not familiar with the setup on a Mac. Maybe the local Mac experts can help out. @Totte ? See The Mac FAQ.
I've changed the path back.
DIM setuo Downloads tab attached.
Okay. That folder should have all your downloaded .zip files. There should be an accompanying .dsx file for each one. If not, refreshing DIM should re-create any that are missing and they should show up as either Ready to Install, or Installed. Any products that you have not yet downloaded will, of course, be in the Ready to Download tab.
For DIM to know if it has been installed, it has to see the manifest that was created at the time. It also has a .dsx extension, and the same name, but in a different folder. Confusing, I know, but that's how it is. The folder is normally in some default location, and cannot be changed with the version of DIM you have installed. The path can be set in a configuration file in DAZ 3D/InstallManager/UserAccounts which itself is under some folder I am not familiar with on a Mac (different directory structure from the PC). You will have to change the value of "OverrideManifestDir" to point to "My Passport SSD/Macintosh HD/Shared/DAZ 3D/Install Manager/Manifest Files", then maybe a folder under that with all the .dsx files. Restart DIM to get the change to take effect, and see what happens.
i'm lost. the folder that contain a lot of .dsx extension that I can think of, is the now the folder
My passport SSD>Documents>Daz 3D>Studio>My Library>Runtime>Support
But then it is just the usual Poser folder, not specific to Mac.
And then there is this as in the attached pic, which is as shown in the path of the DIM setup download tab.
I don't knwo wht do you mean to change the valuse of "OverrideManifestDir", where would you find this button or tab?
Oh and the one thing I really don't understand is, well you see in the third pic, under Daz Studio>preference>CMS settings, even though there is the "apply" abd "Accept" buttons beneath, I can never change those. Whereas on the old computor, these areas, the Cluster Directory is set at /Users/username/Library/Application Suport/DAZ 3D/cms. And, 17237.
I even created such a file on this new laptop, to see what happens, but, doesn't do a thing.
Yes, there is yet another folder with many .dsx files, but they are the metadata files, and have a different name. Yes, that is for the content, and is in the Poser runtime folder, although used by DAZ Studio. So, those two paths are good, and I can see there are product zips and their dsx files in the download folder.
Somewhere in the file system is a folder with the application configuration files for DIM. The path contains "DAZ 3D/InstallManager/UserAccounts" or something similar. There should be a configuration file (.ini, or .cfg, or whatever Macs use) with your username. Edit that file and look for a keyword "OverrideManifestDir", which has no value set by default, and change it to something like:
OverrideManifestDir=Volumes/My Passport SSD/Macintosh HD/Shared/DAZ 3D/Install Manager/Manifest Files
or whatever syntax is needed. There is no button or field to change this in the version of DIM that you are using, so it must be changed manually. Don't forget to restart DIM to get the change to take effect.
CMS is another problem, and I am hoping some Mac people join in after we get DIM sorted out.
Your cluster directory in the screenshot says none, Does that cms Folder (should be cms with lowercase) contain the content cluster at all?
Have you set your drive to use case sensitive file system by any chance?
/ Totte
HI Totte,
Yes the screenshot says none, and it can't be changed even though I can type it won't save.
Also problem is I can't find a lower case cms folder on this computer or external drive, The attached pic showed the only CMS fold I copied from the old coputer. In fact I cannot find a cms folder by searching the old Mac neither.
No, the external drive is not set to case sensitive, I just tested it by searching something.
Did you find the configuration file to change OverrideManifestDir?
Is it possibel that this is the one? you see I attached 2 pics, first ond is the path I have in the external hard drive My Passport SSD. the other one is just in case I copie one on my laptop.
If its the one path you mentioned, what do I do now?
Here is another .ini I found.
No, that's for CMS. We're looking for a DIM application setting. I found an old thread that mentions the path as "Users/(user)/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/InstallManager/UserAccounts". In it there should be the file in question.
Edit the file and change:
OverrideManifestDir=
to (using your existing folders as shown in the screen shots):
OverrideManifestDir=Volumes/My Passport SSD/Macintosh HD/Shared/DAZ 3D/Install Manager/Manifest Files
Save it and restart DIM.
I looked in the old laptop, and the now laptop, and the external drive. Just don't see such path Users/(user)/Library/Application Supposrt/DAZ 3D/Installmanager/UserAccounts" anywhere. I don't understand how my old laptop does the job with DIM, since it seems that it has no such path. But it never had a problem with DIM before.
Using the hard drive with the new laptop, as I typed the words "Manifest Files" to seach it, the attached pic is the only path shown, which is as close it could get to what you mentioned. Is it relevant to my problem ?
That is where the manifests should/will go, we have already established that. What we are looking for is the file that tells DIM where to put them, so that we can change it from the default to the new location. Look for folders with InstallManager and/or UserAccounts in the path. If I remember, the default account name is "Account", or the account name when you start DIM (it's been a long time...)
Okay, try this: On the old DIM setup pages, there is a "Show Log..." button. Click it and the log file should open in a text editor. Try to save as something else, and you should get a folder selection dialog, initially pointing to the folder with the log file (it could be [yada, yada]/InstallManager). There should be a folder beneath that called UserAccounts. Take note of that full path and cancel the "Save as...". Now go to that folder and see what you've got. It shouldn't be too far from there.
HI, I understand your instruction only till opening up the tex editor from the "Show Log" button. So here I attached a pic which is the log. The file can be Dup;icate, Move To, Rename, etc, but there is no Save as button, only the Save button, so I cannot follow your instruction from then on.....
The first pic is at the beginning of the log, the second pic is almost towards the end of the log.
But when you look at these pics, do you find anything I should know?
Do you see this?
Application Data:
Location = Users/chriswong/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/InstallManager
Go there and look for that account file. It will be in one of the folders under that one, most likely UserAccounts. There should be only one file to look at, or at least very few. Find the one that is for your account, most likely Account.ini
Edit the file and change:
OverrideManifestDir=
to (using your existing folders as shown in the screen shots):
OverrideManifestDir=Volumes/My Passport SSD/Macintosh HD/Shared/DAZ 3D/Install Manager/Manifest Files
Save it and restart DIM.
As shown in the pic attached below, problem is, there is no "Library" following Users/chriswong/...
However, you can see in the second pic, there is a folder "Library" 3 rows above Users and it leads to something ending with .ini
Could be that Library is aliased to /Users/chriswong/Library. Anyway, in the DIM log file, there was a folder called [something]/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/InstallManager. However, it does not appear in the Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D folder (from the second image) next to "Studio4" and "cms", where it should be. Did you move it? You must locate that folder.
That dzinstall.ini is only for Studio, from what I can tell.
I do have them in the hard drive My Passport SSD. I start up DIM from My Passport SSD/Applications/DAZ 3D/DAZ3DIM1. Since both paths are located inside My Passport SSD, I thought that might work, but no it doesn't.
Now I copied the path beginning from Shared from My Passport SSD/Macintosh HD/Shared/DAZ 3D/InstallManager, simply to Macintosh HD in the computer, still, it doesn't work. What have I missed?
You can copy all the files you want, but without the configuration file, we can't change the path you want to use. I think you are asking too much of the installation. Most users who have an external drive either use it as a content library, or save the download files (or both). I do not recall anyone trying to make a portable version of Studio, DIM and CMS all at the same time.