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daveso
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Check in Runtime/Support to see if a thumbnail even installed for the product. So many things install without thumbnails these days, it's maddening.
What I do when this happens is to save whatever JPG or PNG I want to use into the Runtime/Support folder, with the same filename as the other support files for the product. Usually I'll just pick whatever image is used for the thumbnail in the storefront unless there's another that I like better. You can resize it if you'd like, but I honestly never bother with the extra step unless it's egregiously large. You should end up with three files that all share the same name (I'm guessing that yours will be DAZ_3D_74521_Caramel_for_Genesis_8_Female), each with a different extension: .dsa, .dsx, and .jpg (or .png).
Refresh and it should automatically detect the thumbnail.
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Is there any chance that you may have overlooked an older installation of the product somewhere while you were doing your revamp, maybe in a preferred location for Studio (i.e. a location that it created)? Multiple copies can lead to conflicts. I've accidentally edited and saved metadata in Studio with the Auto Fill box checked, and for some products it saved new support files in a location of its making rather than editing the existing ones. It would then preferentially read those files until I deleted them, unchecked the Auto Fill box, and manually selected the .dsx file I wanted to edit. Have a look in the metadata editor. Uncheck Auto Fill, if it's checked (it is by default IIRC), and click on the ... button. See what folder it directs you to and if it's the same one where the thumbnail is saved.
Once you're certain that you only have one copy of the support files, you can also try editing the metadata and in the Files section of the Product tab, right click and choose "Add Support File(s)." Then add all three items for the product that are in the Support folder and save.
I had absolute fits trying to install some of InaneGlory's Genesis 2 Iray materials. I had copied the support files that Studio generated over to the directory where the product was actually installed, and where the thumbnail lived, but Studio continued to read the copy it had saved. The thumbnail absolutely refused to show up because as far as Studio was concerned, it didn't exist. Once I deleted the files Studio had written, unchecked Auto Fill, pointed it to the new .dsx location, and added the files as support assets, it showed up.
Apart from that, I've got nothing. I don't pretend any great knowledge of how the program works, those are just the hangups and fixes I've come across on my adventures of fixing DAZ content that arrived incomplete, installing third-party content, and trying to strongarm Studio into doing what I want it to do and not what it thinks is best for me. Maybe someone else with more program knowledge has some other ideas and possible fixes.
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One of Rob's sample scripts can be used here http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/metadata/list_product_files/start with a minor edit or two:
Change the SKU (the second argument) on the last line of the sample to that of the product you want to examine.
Inserting the following statement
oData["iconPath"] = oProduct.iconPath;
on the line below this statement
oData["name"] = oProduct.title;
(i.e. line 51), and inspect the output window of the Script IDE pane (assuming you run it in the IDE pane).
ETA: Also Richard has another idea to try, I was distractedly writing mine out when it went up and I didn't see it beforehand.
I'd comb through both directories, and every remaining directory where you had something installed, and see if there's a duplicate somewhere that got missed. It's an easy thing to overlook; I did it just today when cleaning something up. Winnowing down to a single copy of things existing, support files included, has solved a fair few problems for me with Studio reading the wrong one; usually when I've gotten rid of the extras it will automatically start referencing the remaining one provided it's in a directory that I've mapped it to use. The right copy in the right location is important since if there's only one copy then Studio can only read one copy, and it will (which is why making sure you have zero copies around when you start pinning down duplicate formula errors is so important). Multiple ones seem to make it play favorites and I'm still not sure what order it goes in.
I wish I could offer better help, but since I don't own Caramel, I can't install her and see if the problem replicates for me. Best advice from my own general experiences would be to shut down Studio completely, uninstall her through DIM, and then remove any trace of her manually from the rest of your system. Once you're certain she's completely gone, that DIM has its pathways correctly set up, and so on, then reinstall her through DIM to a single location. Check to make sure the thumbnail is in Runtime/Support, and you may even want to inspect the .dsx file to see if the thumbnail is listed as a support asset. Not all products do that but if this one does, make sure it's spelled correctly, has the correct extension, and is pointing to the correct location. That line should look something like <SupportAssets VALUE="/Runtime/Support/DAZ_3D_12345_Product_Name.jpg">.
Then fire up Studio and see if things show up like they should. If they don't, try adding all three support files as support assets in metadata, making certain the editor is updating the existing .dsx file and not writing a new one to some other place.
If none of that works, and the thumbnail is correctly named and present... then I'm not sure what to do apart from open a ticket and wait, and hope someone more knowledgeable has a solution in the meantime. :\
I've got a 500GB boot drive as well, and didn't pay attention when I first started using DIM. I just let it install to default locations and I'm still paying for that mistake today, both in lack of drive space and having stuff spread all over multiple drives. I plan to do a complete overhaul myself in the near future, and what I'm dreading the most is having to manage all of the custom installations of third party content, etc.
As for DIM, I wish I had an answer. You've installed other things more or less successfully with it, it sounds like.
incredible that we need to fix data from bought products when is the least thing I want to do, I've detected recent products with missing thumbnails like Skin Filament, Servant Animations for Khemsit 8 and Pharaoh Animations for Twosret 8 and they are not cheap products!!
the insert png or jpeg image does not always work, I fixed (not being my job to do) dForce Blue Nile Outfit for Genesis 8 Females with that method, the others two don't detect my thumbnails inserted (again, and not being my job fiddling to do and wasting my time looking the forums for a solution.
Is like fiddling inside System32 folder from Windows and looking something with zero knowledge but with the dream to make windows faster...gimme a break!
Do you have any other items that don't detect you adding a thumbnail image? I'm curious whether we have any products in common that do that. If so, I'd like to go have a look at them and see if I can figure out why they're misbehaving and how to make them behave, so that I know how to make things work in the future. I don't have anywhere near all of my purchased content installed and haven't finished repairing the disaster that what is installed ended up as, so I'm sure there must be something buried in there doing it.
You're right, it's absolutely ridiculous that we (as paying customers) have to do this.
all those and are the recent products, I've stopped when I saw G7 products because there's more!
I have copied in the thumbnails for any number of products! The only one that has consistently thwarted me is the dForce Tepes Outfit for G8M(s) (also in Zilvergrafix's list) - I have no idea why. I've tried several times but that one just refuses to display.
Aha, I have the Lion Clan outfit! Just installed it and sure enough, I also get that ugly placeholder-looking thumbnail:
Taking a look into Runtime/Support, I see that for reasons that are completely beyond me, that DAZ logo is the thumbnail that was actually packaged with the product. Studio is in fact doing what it's supposed to and is reading the thumbnail that's there -- it's just a completely useless one that was included in lieu of a picture of the actual product:
Crap QA, but the good news is that it should make this one an easy fix. Same as you would for a cooperative missing thumbnail, just download an image from an item's product page and give it the same name as the thumbnail. Overwrite it if you save a JPG and if you have to save it as a PNG (as I did because WebP is a royal pain), make sure to delete the JPG that's already there. Studio should then automatically detect the new thumbnail so long as it's in Runtime/Support and has the correct filename:
If you've got some Genesis 3 products that you can't get to show a thumbnail in spite of trying, particularly ones for males (I don't own a huge amount of female content, although I do have a decent number of things), let me know what they are and I'll see if I have those. Unfortunately I don't own any of the recent products you have that aren't showing a thumbnail at all, as opposed to the garbage one, so that I can have a go at them.
It gets so annoying after a while, doesn't it? Especially now that DAZ has forced WebP on us, which means we either need extensions to save as PNG or to spend time converting WebP images after saving them. Better for their bandwidth, so much more annoying for us when we have to clean up their constant messes.
Unfortunately I don't have the Tepes outfit. I wish I did, because I'm terribly curious now!
If you use DIM to install, just downoad the thumbnails using that - they come down as jpg - but recently they are far too big and you will need to downsize them a lot. Luckily for me I have always downloaded the thumbs in DIM so it's only my newly bought products that I need to tweak to size. I have a perfectly good thumbnail for Tepes sitting in Runtime/Support but it gets completely ignored.
Well dang, that does make it a lot simpler! I didn't even know that setting was there, about the only thing I use from that menu is the option to hide all the various PoserCF packages and the like that I don't need. But oh my god, you're not kidding about them being massive. I'm going to have to download them, move them, and then delete them from DIM's thumbnails folder because they completely push all of the information I regularly look at (product ID, file size, etc.) off my screen.
I'm tempted to buy the Tepes outfit just to see what's what. With my loyalty discount I can get it down to $4.31 and while the coat isn't my style, I do like the pants and boots. And, if I can't sort out the thumbnail issue, I can always return it -- though who knows how long that will take these days.
One other thing that occured to me this evening was that I've run into the uncallable thumbnail wall once or twice before due to file names containing characters that Studio took exception to.
The last time it happened was with the Fun With Yarn – Classic Crochet shaders. It uses a middle-length en dash ( – ) instead of a hyphen ( - ) or even an em dash ( — ), and that was enough to completely break things. Ultimately, the only way to fix it was to change the name of the thumbnail file to use a hyphen instead of the en dash, and then manually edit the .dsx file to replace the file name for the thumbnail. The thumbnail worked fine after that, but Studio wasn't having any of the en dash.
I may have actually edited all instances of the en dash out of that product, I can't recall, but I distinctly remember the thumbnail refusing to show up until it was replaced by a hyphen and the .dsx file edited accordingly. It doesn't look like any of the products people have posted should be having that particular problem, but it's a very frustrating one to run across and isn't really obvious at first, or second, or sometimes third glance. So, if you're having the problem with something that has any flavor of dash in the title, file name, etc. then it's worth checking to make sure it's a flavor that Studio likes.
Just installed this one myself (Tepes Outfit, okay, late to the party with that one), and I find the same thing. I do notice that the metadata does not pick up the Support Assets like other products. I looked in the metadata support file (DAZ_3D_58697_dForce_Tepes_Outfit_for_Genesis_8_Males.dsx), and the filename for the Support Assets is incorrect.
The line:
<SupportAssets VALUE="/Runtime/Support/dForce Tepes Outfit for Genesis 8 Male(s).dsx">
needs to be changed to
<SupportAssets VALUE="/Runtime/Support/DAZ_3D_58697_dForce_Tepes_Outfit_for_Genesis_8_Males.dsx">
and immediately after that add
<SupportAsset VALUE="/Runtime/Support/DAZ_3D_58697_dForce_Tepes_Outfit_for_Genesis_8_Males.dsa"/>
<SupportAsset VALUE="/Runtime/Support/DAZ_3D_58697_dForce_Tepes_Outfit_for_Genesis_8_Males.jpg"/>
The fun doesn't end there. I thought that re-importing the metadata at this point would be enough, but no-o-o. Replace the .dsx file in your package, then go to the Product view in Content Library and navigate to D -> dForce Tepes Outfit for Genesis 8 Male(s). Select it and leave it like that. Uninstall the product from DIM, then delete the product from Products in Content Library (right-click, Delete..., and accept). (Note that it is important to have the Product view open to the item in question before uninstalling, otherwise you will not find it after it has been uninstalled). This action should clear any data CMS had for that product, which would be messed up. Back to DIM and install again. Refresh the Product view and the icon should appear (it finally did for me).
Now, the Support Assets still do not appear in the metadata editor, but that's all the time and effort I am willing to put in at this point.
So it was an incorrect file name, among other things evidently given how much effort it took to sort things out?
Honestly, when I said to check the .dsx for correct paths and names, I assumed it would end up being something else. Does the QC department even install the items they're ostensibly testing? All it should have taken was installing the outfit and loading Studio to make someone getting a paycheck go, "Hmm..."
It was the reference used for the SupportAssets tag. The filenames in the product are all correct. Still isn't 100%, though. I have corrected almost 300 metadata files (that I bothered to), so I can spot a problem pretty quick. Wrong or missing content type, wrong or missing compatibility, wrong or missing base compatibility, wrong pathnames, wrong filenames, completely missing assets... so many ways to mess up.
Ah, yeah that's what I meant, the reference in the .dsx was for a file with a different name than the one that actually exists. I haven't come across that one yet, just the en dash issue, but a lot of the files I've looked at have been like what you found with Tepes in that they didn't have the .dsa or .jpg listed as support assets. Some do, but a lot just... don't.
I spend enough time fixing things that arrive busted these days that I'm usually too tired and fed up to try to do anything with what I've gotten sorted out. I think I spend most of that time picking things out of Lost & Found and assigning base compatibilities... and fixing thumbnails. At least it's given me the opportunity to prune my library, I suppose.
For Firefox:
Search for "about:config". Click "Accept" button. Search for "image.http.accept". Change value to "/" (it empty by default). Firefox will save .webp images as .jpg. Enjoy.
Oh my, that's a lot of work! Maybe I'll try it one day... when I'm at a loose end...
I have a bunch of missing icons. What sometimes works: uninstal the content, manually download the zip file, and reinstall it using Content Wizard. My Rendo content that I install with Content Wizard never have missing icons.
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I'm not sure why you're having to reinstall the entire DIM/Content package. If I have to change the support file (*.dsx) to fix the name issue, I then go into the Content Library, Products, delete the product (right-click Delete...), then re-import the metadata through the Content Database Maintenance screen. I've never had an issue with it not working when I'm fixing the missing icon issue caused by the bad metadata. You do have to delete the product from the Content Library first for it to pick up the change to the metadata when you re-import it. Deleting the product from the product library removes it from the CMS (deletes the smart content), but doesn't delete the product from your hard drive, so re-importing the metadata picks up the changed metadata from the support file.
Also, technically, you don't have to add the "<SupportAsset VALUE="/" lines for it to pick up the icon (those are only a list of the files that the smart content doesn't look at beyond listing them). You can go back to some of the earliest metadata support *.dsx files and see that the *.dsa and *.jpg SupportAsset lines are missing and it doesn't effect anything. You only need to fix the "<SupportAssets VALUE="/" name line so it correctly reflects the .dsx support file. And, of course, make sure that the name of the *.jpg file actually is the same as the *.dsx file as I've run across some that have just been slightly off by one character or a look-alike character was inserted. Usually, I copy the name of the *.dsx file and paste it to the support .dsx file, and then rename the *.jpg file just to be sure all three are the same.
If you only need to add/rename the *.jpg file and no changes are needed to the support (.dsx) file, once you've added/renamed the *.jpg, go to the product in the content library and right-click on it and select refresh. It should then pick up the icon properly.
Daz Company please hire this fellow clients and pay well,
because they are giving answers to fix issues that you are not fixing!!
Simple corrections like changing asset type or path errors don't require a reinstall, I take that extra step when the product is being difficult (like this one) to ensure a fresh start, and that I will not lose any changes if I have to re-install at some point (until the product gets corrected). Reloading metadata from the Content DB Maintenance takes about 20-30 minutes to start up, scanning all the products, the last time I tried it, half of my Library ago. Re-importing the metadata for a single product with DIM is a two-click operation and it's done before I can blink. I did re-import the metadata at first, but it had no effect until I deleted the product from Product view. There were probably conflicting entries in CMS, and the wrong one was being used.
I am always wary of commands that say "Delete", but I have never actually tried it in Product view without uninstalling, because there is usually something else that needed correcting (like those difficult ones). Anyway, I had to convince myself, so I tried it and you are absolutely correct, the product files stay, and the metadata can easily be re-imported. In the context of Studio and CMS, "Product" refers to the logical entity, not the physical files.
Half the products have the .dsa/.jpg in SupportAssets, half don't, and it doesn't hurt. A lot of products list the Assets in SupportAssets also, so there is no consistent presentation. Generating a new .dsx from the Content DB Editor generally gives a clean file with no extraneous entries, but will also drag in Custom Categories (if you use them) and mark those folders (and the entire path above it) as read-only when you accept the changes. A real pain to undo. If you uncheck "Sync Product and Local Database" the data won't get into the database when you accept, and you can export the new metadata file and make any needed adjustments before re-importing/re-installing it.
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Okay, this one was driving me crazy, like a mosquito in the dark. The SupportAssets wouldn't show up because the filename has to include all the characters in the Product name, as defined in the metadata file, namely "dForce Tepes Outfit for Genesis 8 Male(s)". Note the parentheses around the "s". Yes, the .dsx (and by consequence the .dsa, and .jpg files) have to have those parentheses, otherwise CMS just ignores the SupportAssets data. Change the filenames in the package, change the manifest.dsx (to install the correct files), change the metadata file to refer to the new filenames. I don't know if the SupportAssets are relevant, or what they do, or how they are used, but it was broken, and I had to fix it... I compared other products that are named ...Males and ...Male(s), and the .dsx file always matches the product name with and without the parentheses. A little detail I missed at first.
Now I have a headache.