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Daz Studio 4.16[.0.x] Pro, General Release! (*UPDATED*)

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  • s_j_gregorys_j_gregory Posts: 103
    edited March 2021

    s_j_gregory said:

    jbowler said:

    RayDAnt said:

    s_j_gregory said:

    With respect to your suggested way forward, have you, or anyone else perhaps, tried what you have suggested but run a 'newest' verion of DAZ Studio associated with 'cleaned DIM content/runtime' along with an older DAZ Studio poniting to older runtimes.  I am suggesting this as a temporary situation and as a modification to your step 4 above. 

    Good point. Thinking back, I'm pretty sure that when I first started doing this iI ended up using independence of the beta vs final DS releases to facilitate just that. Another way you could do it is (if you have more than one DS capable computer) to start over from scratch with DS on a different machine (with the bulk of your uninstalled content stored on a shareable network or USB drive somewhere) and build up a separate DIM-standardized install base that way.

    The beta and the general release have entirely separate content directory settings.  They are not stored in any obvious place on disk; I think they are in the Windows registry (YMMV on the Mac).

    Both versions store a list of other "Content Sets" in the file %AppData%/DAZ 3D/(Studio 4|Studio4 Public Build)/ContentDirectoryManager.dsx

    You may have as many Content Sets as you like and, because they are stored in a file, it is possible to generate them from the DIM "Content Path Shortcuts" list to be found in %AppData%/DAZ 3D/InstallManager/UserAccounts/Account.ini

    As a result it is possible to swap between different instantiations of your DAZ installation even with a single instance.  If you run instances with -instanceName your Content Directory Manager set is not stored.  So you can use -instanceName to run a new instance of DAZStudio (i.e. a new instance of exactly the same version) with a different CMS configuration (including, I believe, totally different) just by selecting a different "Content Set" in the content directory manager when you start.  (BTW I have not test this in detail, but I just ran a second instance of the beta, swapped to my "Everything" content set and all the smart-content icons showed pictures rather than my standard warning triangle expection).

    The big annoyance here is the CMS itself only knows one world; so when I de-configure my content the CMS still knows about the now missing stuff and Smart Content displays warning triangles.  @RayDAnt's suggestion of using multiple machines would avoid this, but it can be helpful (I can see instantly what isn't installed...)  I don't know what happens if you have the same content installed in two places.

    You folks are very generous with your information and time.  Thank you.  I would have to admit that while I have been playing at this for some time, I have not been under the hood to the extent you have. 

    I am trying to recall, and might be mixing up Poser time with DAZ Studio time, but I specifically recall persuing the instances thing as a way to improve concurrent activity.  I even tried different render engines until I couldn't afford it/justify the cost as a way to get 'round the 'blocking' thing.  Maybe at the time it was a hardware tlimitation or maybe an operator limitation. . . .Anyways, I was surpriised a couple of days ago when jbowler mentioned instances. . . .  Since then I have implemented the desktop icon suggestion and the script option found in a release thread for 4.12 (I believe) here.  After very limited testing, and I think you are saying this in more technical terms, I can confirm if you use the desktop shortcut option (created as suggested) your new instance will 'copy' all of the 'preferences' of your open instance.  But if you use the script and name your instance, when you use the script again you can open your named instance with the 'preferences' as per how they existed when you saved it.  Lesson One!

    I think I can likely find threads here and/or elsewhere, and honestly it could be old news, but they specifically said not to install content directly to your runtimes.  So, for years, I have been dutifully unzipping content elsewhere or installing content from DIM to 'ghost' directories and then moving it into my operational directories.  There might be strong advocates on both sides here.  I can certainly confirm, after a day of looking at (specific content names and item counts) the various tabs of DIM, the DIM Downloads folder and the ManifestFiles folder that my approach has made the functionality of the DIM almost useless to me.  I have learned how the various tabs of the DIM are populated and what a Manifest file contains (how it records the installation path of content), etc etc.  Lots more here to understand.  Lesson Two!

    I think I have three activities:

    1) Sort DIM before installing anything new or reinstalling existing

    2) Install anything new using the DIM (much of this will likely be offline. . .)

    3) (re) Install old/existing using the DIM creating packages if needed using something like Content Package Assist.  (again offline. . .)

    2 and 3 can be concurrent and ongoing but likely should not start until activity 1 is completed.  There are likely a number of steps to activity 1.  I have established, at the name and count level anyways, a relationship/coincidence between the DIM Downloads folder, ManifestFiles folder and the DIM tabs. (There were outdated application versions, name changes to content etc to resolve.)  Next, I want to confirm that what is installed via the DIM is where the DIM thinks it is.  I suspect this might take another day or two and may conclude activity 1.  Activities 2 and 3 will be a little more daunting and I have not quite decided on the directory structure I will use for it.  Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions. 

    As I work away on this I would make a couple of observations

    1)  I have learned a lot about Content Directory Manager, DIM and Content Package Assist.  There likely is lots more to learn.  There certainly are challenges with blended packages (G3F with G8F or clothing with characters or poses with characters etc) if you are planning to segregate content directories.  It can be further complicated if you do a lot of hacking or custom clothing MATs or characters and the like and you've saved them with the original content!!  (Particularly if you have saved custom MAT-related images in the product's Textures folder of the Runtime.)  While I am hoping for improvement, I am looking at about 10 minutes per product to recreate the .zip in the correct format, package it with Content Package Assist, reinstall it via DIM to a new directory, and remove it from the old.  This leads to the second observation.

    2)  I should have known this from an earlier drive failure about a year ago.  I have, so far, segregated about 20 characters (and about 30 clothing items and MAT expansion sets) from my working runtime.  Now when I open a character, (saved with a scene or as a scene subset) there are character related .dsf files missing.  I thought the point of this exercise was to stop DAZ Studio from loading unnecessary files; so, the fact that it's looking for them anyways is a bit dissappointing.  As best as I can tell, the pre-existing scenes or scene subsets are not missing the files: they load fine.  I want to say that this is the 'non-zero default thing' but I think it is different because the 100% coinidence is too much for me to believe that there are that many non-zero defaults.  I think the scene/scene subset is keeping track of every character in my content at the time it is created/saved.  (I don't actually understand why this would be the case but. . . .)  Could this be a feature, bug or something I am doing wrong or is wrong with my setup.  I don't have metrics but this cannot help load times. . .

    Any advice/comments appreciated.

    PS.  If the item is (re) loaded and saved with the segregated content directory NOT mapped, then when the scene or scene subset is loaded again, it does not look for the segregated content.  I hope that this is clear and not further complicating my story - but it reinforces the notion the file knows the footprint of what existed when it was created and more is fine but less is not.  It could be the DIM uninstall leaves something behind that I don't when I do it manually. . . ..

    Post edited by s_j_gregory on
  • jbowlerjbowler Posts: 794

    s_j_gregory said:

    2)  I should have known this from an earlier drive failure about a year ago.  I have, so far, segregated about 20 characters (and about 30 clothing items and MAT expansion sets) from my working runtime.  Now when I open a character, (saved with a scene or as a scene subset) there are character related .dsf files missing.  I thought the point of this exercise was to stop DAZ Studio from loading unnecessary files; so, the fact that it's looking for them anyways is a bit dissappointing.  As best as I can tell, the pre-existing scenes or scene subsets are not missing the files: they load fine.  I want to say that this is the 'non-zero default thing' but I think it is different because the 100% coinidence is too much for me to believe that there are that many non-zero defaults.  I think the scene/scene subset is keeping track of every character in my content at the time it is created/saved.  (I don't actually understand why this would be the case but. . . .)  Could this be a feature, bug or something I am doing wrong or is wrong with my setup.  I don't have metrics but this cannot help load times. . .

    Any advice/comments appreciated.

    PS.  If the item is (re) loaded and saved with the segregated content directory NOT mapped, then when the scene or scene subset is loaded again, it does not look for the segregated content.  I hope that this is clear and not further complicating my story - but it reinforces the notion the file knows the footprint of what existed when it was created and more is fine but less is not.  It could be the DIM uninstall leaves something behind that I don't when I do it manually. . . ..

    The saved scene has settings for morphs which were present when the scene was created and were, in some way, used.  If you have the character selected for "Node" and "Node Recursive" or with any of the character bones selected (Hip or below) and "Object" set as the creation mode and then you create a key frame everything in the parameters tab, set or not, is perma-burned into the scene.  Now every character morph that can be applied to that character is required when the scene is reloaded.  This functionality is, in fact, correct - creating a key frame declares that you want to freeze even the zero/default settings in the parameter pane.

    I create scene subsets for individual characters with the character unposed but dressed/equipped.  A lot of the problem morphs can be removed from the character by using the animation timeline, selecting the character "properties" node and deleting the keys for poses and expressions, plus the keys that are in the hidden node of properties.  I just spent time working through a few of the characters I'd saved as a scene subset and this is one of the things I did.

    The more general approach is to load the scene subset in one instance of DAZStudio which has a minimum configuration, skip installing the missing packages and watch out for missing textures; this immediately tells me if I used a skin from a different character and, obviously, I need to fix that.  So I install the *different* character from DIM, delete the previously loaded character and reload the scene subset.  Now the list of missing .duf files just  lists the missing morphs, including the pose/expression morphs if I'm loading a posed character (or scene).

    So I then complete the load, use the CMS to change DAZStudio so that it can see "everything" (I have a CMS set for that, but I've taken to just adding my three G8 "Unused" directories to the current set), delete scene and reload it.  Now it should load with no missing packages and I can step through the "currently used" pane for each character finding out what is actually used; e.g. nails from different characters, character morphs actually applied, poses, expressions.  I check the morphs by undressing the "everything" character (delete all the wardrobe), changing the skin surface shaders to flat red paint and merging the sceen back in - apart from the red eyes there shouldn't be any red showing through ;-)

    It's tedious, but I only have to do it once per "old" scene and since I tend to re-use the same poses, expressions and characters with different morphs/mixes I'm gradually building a "default" CMS set that produces relatively few missing things with different "old" scenes.

  • jbowlerjbowler Posts: 794
    edited March 2021

    s_j_gregory said:

    * * *

    Of course one thing which would make this much, much easier is to have a script that runs down the poses, expressions and actor morphs checking for things that have default values everywhere on the timeline before removing the keys for those things.  Indeed a scene can be optimized by doing this to everything, but doing it to the Hip nodes means that further modifications of the character pose in the timeline will have unexpected propagations.  Doing this substantially reduces the size of the scene file.

    I think maybe I'm getting to know enough about DAZStudio scripting to attempt this; writing code is a lot less tedious than stepping through package installations trying to get the right stuff installed.

    I'm surprised that there isn't a PA product this does this, maybe there is?

    Post edited by jbowler on
  • s_j_gregorys_j_gregory Posts: 103

    jbowler said:

    s_j_gregory said:

    * * *

    Of course one thing which would make this much, much easier is to have a script that runs down the poses, expressions and actor morphs checking for things that have default values everywhere on the timeline before removing the keys for those things.  Indeed a scene can be optimized by doing this to everything, but doing it to the Hip nodes means that further modifications of the character pose in the timeline will have unexpected propagations.  Doing this substantially reduces the size of the scene file.

    I think maybe I'm getting to know enough about DAZStudio scripting to attempt this; writing code is a lot less tedious than stepping through package installations trying to get the right stuff installed.

    I'm surprised that there isn't a PA product this does this, maybe there is?

    WOW!!!  Very interesting.  Thanks again for sharing what you know.  I have hundreds of saved characters (as scene subsets) and scenes that now appear to have been saved without paying attention to some important considerations.  I wish I had known. 

    There may also be some nested issues.  I don't generally use the timeline because it is such a PITA.  I only use it for simulating clothing when nothing else will work.  Moving in the timeline, even zeroing a pose, takes forever.  It could be that my characters (and scenes) are carrying tons of extra baggage.  At least that is incidentally what I am thinking based on what you have said. 

    These are my first thoughts:  For old scenes and characters I might deal with them as I go for now.  This is code for resaving them and reloading them if I find they are missing anything, when I go to use them - kind of a fix on failure approach.  As I reinstall (using DIM) characters that I particualrly like, clean up my custom characters.  I made need some help with that.  For example;  (and I have never looked at this previously) I am finding a lot of 'stuff' in the timeline.  I loaded a custom character (scene subset) into a new scene and opened the timeline.  Zerod pose and deleted all the keyframes other than zero position on timeline.   I hope you are able to see the attachment.  I am not sure what to remove.  In the Hidden Properties for example there are people: I think I am understanding that they can be removed (but those dials will no longer work on this character?).  But there are other character-related morphs (Armanas G8F, Kaitana, MegaM, Neighbor) not hidden that might also fall into this catergory.  There is a lot of other stuff there too.  I never appreciated all this was carried with the character.  

    All assistance well appreciated.  

    2021-03-15_timeline.jpg
    642 x 781 - 61K
  • jbowlerjbowler Posts: 794

    s_j_gregory said:

    WOW!!!  Very interesting.  Thanks again for sharing what you know.  I have hundreds of saved characters (as scene subsets) and scenes that now appear to have been saved without paying attention to some important considerations.  I wish I had known. 

    There may also be some nested issues.  I don't generally use the timeline because it is such a PITA.  I only use it for simulating clothing when nothing else will work.  Moving in the timeline, even zeroing a pose, takes forever.  It could be that my characters (and scenes) are carrying tons of extra baggage.  At least that is incidentally what I am thinking based on what you have said. 

    These are my first thoughts:  For old scenes and characters I might deal with them as I go for now.  This is code for resaving them and reloading them if I find they are missing anything, when I go to use them - kind of a fix on failure approach.  As I reinstall (using DIM) characters that I particualrly like, clean up my custom characters.  I made need some help with that.  For example;  (and I have never looked at this previously) I am finding a lot of 'stuff' in the timeline.  I loaded a custom character (scene subset) into a new scene and opened the timeline.  Zerod pose and deleted all the keyframes other than zero position on timeline.   I hope you are able to see the attachment.  I am not sure what to remove.  In the Hidden Properties for example there are people: I think I am understanding that they can be removed (but those dials will no longer work on this character?).  But there are other character-related morphs (Armanas G8F, Kaitana, MegaM, Neighbor) not hidden that might also fall into this catergory.  There is a lot of other stuff there too.  I never appreciated all this was carried with the character.  

    All assistance well appreciated.  

    I don't know the answer.  I do have a lot of theories, well, hypotheses.  I believe that Frame 0 is a fake; keys are reported and behave as though they are there even though the key isn't actually recorded in the scene (or scene subset) file.  I have suspicions but I haven't had time yet to prove or disprove them.

  • s_j_gregorys_j_gregory Posts: 103

    jbowler said:

    s_j_gregory said:

    WOW!!!  Very interesting.  Thanks again for sharing what you know.  .......

    All assistance well appreciated.  

    I don't know the answer.  I do have a lot of theories, well, hypotheses.  I believe that Frame 0 is a fake; keys are reported and behave as though they are there even though the key isn't actually recorded in the scene (or scene subset) file.  I have suspicions but I haven't had time yet to prove or disprove them.

    FWIW I have saved scene subsets (characters) with and without removing (almost all) of the 'keys' in the zero frame.   I only kept one which controled the shape - I guess I don't really understand key frames - I guess most everything can be animated. . . .Anyways, the file size differed - in my one case I admit - insignificantly: 1 KB.  I don't think it made any difference in loading; no surprise.  All of the zero frame 'keys' were repopulated when the character was reloaded: a bit of a surprise but consistent with your hypothesis.   

    Thanks again.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,841

    jbowler said:

    s_j_gregory said:

    WOW!!!  Very interesting.  Thanks again for sharing what you know.  I have hundreds of saved characters (as scene subsets) and scenes that now appear to have been saved without paying attention to some important considerations.  I wish I had known. 

    There may also be some nested issues.  I don't generally use the timeline because it is such a PITA.  I only use it for simulating clothing when nothing else will work.  Moving in the timeline, even zeroing a pose, takes forever.  It could be that my characters (and scenes) are carrying tons of extra baggage.  At least that is incidentally what I am thinking based on what you have said. 

    These are my first thoughts:  For old scenes and characters I might deal with them as I go for now.  This is code for resaving them and reloading them if I find they are missing anything, when I go to use them - kind of a fix on failure approach.  As I reinstall (using DIM) characters that I particualrly like, clean up my custom characters.  I made need some help with that.  For example;  (and I have never looked at this previously) I am finding a lot of 'stuff' in the timeline.  I loaded a custom character (scene subset) into a new scene and opened the timeline.  Zerod pose and deleted all the keyframes other than zero position on timeline.   I hope you are able to see the attachment.  I am not sure what to remove.  In the Hidden Properties for example there are people: I think I am understanding that they can be removed (but those dials will no longer work on this character?).  But there are other character-related morphs (Armanas G8F, Kaitana, MegaM, Neighbor) not hidden that might also fall into this catergory.  There is a lot of other stuff there too.  I never appreciated all this was carried with the character.  

    All assistance well appreciated.  

    I don't know the answer.  I do have a lot of theories, well, hypotheses.  I believe that Frame 0 is a fake; keys are reported and behave as though they are there even though the key isn't actually recorded in the scene (or scene subset) file.  I have suspicions but I haven't had time yet to prove or disprove them.

    I'm not sure what you mean here

  • jbowlerjbowler Posts: 794

    Richard Haseltine said:

    jbowler said:

    I believe that Frame 0 is a fake; keys are reported and behave as though they are there even though the key isn't actually recorded in the scene (or scene subset) file.  I have suspicions but I haven't had time yet to prove or disprove them.

    I'm not sure what you mean here

    It is as I said (i.e. I just tested it); the keys are not recorded in the scene file even though in memory (i.e. on the timeline) there are keys for every property that exists on Frame 0.  This is why simply inserting a G8F and saving the scene doesn't actually link the scene to every G8F morph, dialable pose and expression you have installed, just the ones that are set to something (the keys have to be recorded for those).

    This does not apply to any other frame (well, I only tested frame 30 ;-)  Creating a key frame there permanently links the scene file to everything G8F (etc) installed on the system, as well as blowing up the scene file size; I went from compressed 125KByte for a sceen with the default on Frame0 and a sitting pose on Frame 30 to 392KByte if I created a keyframe on 30.  The uncompressed size (for the scene subset - I have yet to find out how to write an uncompressed scene) went from 1756KByte to 6245Byte.  I verified that after creating the keyframe on frame 30 DAZStudio was writing default values for character morphs.

    Ironically Frame 0 does actual seem more like a proper keyframe as a result; everything has a default value, even deleting the properties as I suggested above doesn't stick (they come back when the scene is reloaded).  I don't think that happens with other frames; adding new properties (by installing or making visible new packages/morphs) results in a default value on frame 0 but, I think (not tested) not on any other "keyframe".  It would be really nice if DAZStudio supported keyframes properly (e.g. at the Object level or even the Scene level); then Key+ would just be a waste of time for most of us...

  • s_j_gregorys_j_gregory Posts: 103
    jbowler said:

    Richard Haseltine said:

    jbowler said:

    I believe that Frame 0 is a fake; keys are reported and behave as though they are there even though the key isn't actually recorded in the scene (or scene subset) file.  I have suspicions but I haven't had time yet to prove or disprove them.

    I'm not sure what you mean here

    It is as I said (i.e. I just tested it); the keys are not recorded in the scene file even though in memory (i.e. on the timeline) there are keys for every property that exists on Frame 0.  This is why simply inserting a G8F and saving the scene doesn't actually link the scene to every G8F morph, dialable pose and expression you have installed, just the ones that are set to something (the keys have to be recorded for those).

    This does not apply to any other frame (well, I only tested frame 30 ;-)  Creating a key frame there permanently links the scene file to everything G8F (etc) installed on the system, as well as blowing up the scene file size; I went from compressed 125KByte for a sceen with the default on Frame0 and a sitting pose on Frame 30 to 392KByte if I created a keyframe on 30.  The uncompressed size (for the scene subset - I have yet to find out how to write an uncompressed scene) went from 1756KByte to 6245Byte.  I verified that after creating the keyframe on frame 30 DAZStudio was writing default values for character morphs.

    Ironically Frame 0 does actual seem more like a proper keyframe as a result; everything has a default value, even deleting the properties as I suggested above doesn't stick (they come back when the scene is reloaded).  I don't think that happens with other frames; adding new properties (by installing or making visible new packages/morphs) results in a default value on frame 0 but, I think (not tested) not on any other "keyframe".  It would be really nice if DAZStudio supported keyframes properly (e.g. at the Object level or even the Scene level); then Key+ would just be a waste of time for most of us...

    Jbowler, I have been working away at reinstalling G8F characters. I don't have this completely nailed down yet but...There is more to the missing files than just the timeline. It could be that some developer's characters are more inclined to record morphs than others when saved as a scene subset. I have not been able to see yet which one(s), but I think that is what I am seeing. The opposite is also true. Some characters, that use a parent's head and body morphs, will load without a missing files error/warning. Ex. Audrey 8 HD will load without error whether her parent, Bridget 8, is installed or not when in reality she requires the head and body morphs from Bridget. I did not expect that.
  • jbowlerjbowler Posts: 794

    s_j_gregory said:

    jbowler, I have been working away at reinstalling G8F characters. I don't have this completely nailed down yet but...There is more to the missing files than just the timeline. It could be that some developer's characters are more inclined to record morphs than others when saved as a scene subset. I have not been able to see yet which one(s), but I think that is what I am seeing. The opposite is also true. Some characters, that use a parent's head and body morphs, will load without a missing files error/warning. Ex. Audrey 8 HD will load without error whether her parent, Bridget 8, is installed or not when in reality she requires the head and body morphs from Bridget. I did not expect that.

    I use the timeline a lot, pretty much always, for dForce handling so I've just assumed that the dependencies come in as a result of creating keyframes.  I seem to be able to remove them by deleting the keys on the timeline, but of course that doesn't mean that's why they got there.

    I've also noticed that there are dependencies there that are not always reported.  If I want to be really safe I load the scene once using my "Everything" CMS directory set then merge the same scene in over the top with my "Default" CMS directory subset; this normally makes it obvious if there is a geometry error.

  • s_j_gregorys_j_gregory Posts: 103

    jbowler said:

    s_j_gregory said:

    jbowler, I have been working away at reinstalling G8F characters. I don't have this completely nailed down yet but...There is more to the missing files than just the timeline. It could be that some developer's characters are more inclined to record morphs than others when saved as a scene subset. I have not been able to see yet which one(s), but I think that is what I am seeing. The opposite is also true. Some characters, that use a parent's head and body morphs, will load without a missing files error/warning. Ex. Audrey 8 HD will load without error whether her parent, Bridget 8, is installed or not when in reality she requires the head and body morphs from Bridget. I did not expect that.

    I use the timeline a lot, pretty much always, for dForce handling so I've just assumed that the dependencies come in as a result of creating keyframes.  I seem to be able to remove them by deleting the keys on the timeline, but of course that doesn't mean that's why they got there.

    I've also noticed that there are dependencies there that are not always reported.  If I want to be really safe I load the scene once using my "Everything" CMS directory set then merge the same scene in over the top with my "Default" CMS directory subset; this normally makes it obvious if there is a geometry error.

    I've not graduated to saved scenes yet; still dealing with saved characters.  So far I have re packaged 86 G8F characters and (re) installed them using DIM.  I am working out my (Content) directory structure and Downloads and ManifestFiles folders so as to have something manageable: I was noticing DIM (and I) was having problems with too much content in one folder.  At this stage, having gotten through the 86 above, I am at the point now where I am dealing with characters I like.  So far, thirty-five of these have versions I have customized.  (about more 100 still to go!!)  Sometimes my customized versions load without problems; sometimes they load missing files because I have shared a MAT or something.  Those I understand.   I'll try to explain what I don't understand.  When I load one of my custom characters and it missing morphs, I zero pose and clean the timeline as suggested, resave - it reloads without missing anything.    But after I have done a bunch, if I go back, reinstall one that was not missing files and reload it, it will be missing files again, from the more recently uninstalled content.  It might be too early to say but I think the upside of all of this is that when I am complete I will have much lower system load.  For instance reduced RAM consumption - so far a G8F character is using about 500 MB less RAM than when I started.  I am not sure I can say load times are improving.  The down side looks like, when I am all done uninstalling content, that I will have to reload all of my custom characters (and scenes) one at a time to be sure to eliminate the missing (morph) file annoyance - or just get used to it. 

  • jbowlerjbowler Posts: 794

    s_j_gregory said:

    I've not graduated to saved scenes yet; still dealing with saved characters.  So far I have re packaged 86 G8F characters and (re) installed them using DIM.  I am working out my (Content) directory structure and Downloads and ManifestFiles folders so as to have something manageable: I was noticing DIM (and I) was having problems with too much content in one folder.  At this stage, having gotten through the 86 above, I am at the point now where I am dealing with characters I like.  So far, thirty-five of these have versions I have customized.  (about more 100 still to go!!)  Sometimes my customized versions load without problems; sometimes they load missing files because I have shared a MAT or something.  Those I understand.   I'll try to explain what I don't understand.  When I load one of my custom characters and it missing morphs, I zero pose and clean the timeline as suggested, resave - it reloads without missing anything.    But after I have done a bunch, if I go back, reinstall one that was not missing files and reload it, it will be missing files again, from the more recently uninstalled content.  It might be too early to say but I think the upside of all of this is that when I am complete I will have much lower system load.  For instance reduced RAM consumption - so far a G8F character is using about 500 MB less RAM than when I started.  I am not sure I can say load times are improving.  The down side looks like, when I am all done uninstalling content, that I will have to reload all of my custom characters (and scenes) one at a time to be sure to eliminate the missing (morph) file annoyance - or just get used to it. 

    I find the whole thing completely weird.  I've loaded recent scenes where characters turned into blocks; Christy Turlingon converted into Marvin the Android sort-of-thing.  I just loaded a scence I'd saved on 12/4/2017, the only character was Akame.  DAZStudio warned me about all the missing textures, I went to DIM, de-installed Akame from "G8Figures-Unused" and reinstalled to "G8Figures-Core" (the latteer being in the set that DAZStudio can see) and everything, but everything, was hunky dory.  Then I loaded a more advanced version of the scene from 2/5/2018 and I got four missing .dsfs, a few Victorias and some nails; I ignored those and everything looks fine (I guess I may have lost Akame her nails).  I also guess I didn't have that much content in 2017, but I'm not sure; it's all weird.

  • kaislispkaislisp Posts: 24

    Hey everyone I'm having an issue. Ive been working on daz all day and closed it to start painting in photoshop. When I tried opening it again, it wouldn't open full stop. I shut down my desktop (windows), rebooted it, and the image attached came up when I tried to open Daz. All of my windows are gone and it won't let me open anything. I tried uninstalling the program and reinstalling and this happened again. I'm thinking of doing a full reinstall, but I don't really know how to do that and if I don't have to, I really don't want to since I have a lot of content from renderosity and I really don't feel like redownloading it. Any help? 

    Screenshot 2021-03-19 220734.png
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  • kaislispkaislisp Posts: 24

    kaislisp said:

    Hey everyone I'm having an issue. Ive been working on daz all day and closed it to start painting in photoshop. When I tried opening it again, it wouldn't open full stop. I shut down my desktop (windows), rebooted it, and the image attached came up when I tried to open Daz. All of my windows are gone and it won't let me open anything. I tried uninstalling the program and reinstalling and this happened again. I'm thinking of doing a full reinstall, but I don't really know how to do that and if I don't have to, I really don't want to since I have a lot of content from renderosity and I really don't feel like redownloading it. Any help? 

    i fixed it =-= im just dumb =-= 

  • s_j_gregorys_j_gregory Posts: 103
    edited March 2021

    jbowler said:

    s_j_gregory said:

    I've not graduated to saved scenes yet; still dealing with saved characters.  So far I have re packaged 86 G8F characters and (re) installed them using DIM.  I am working out my (Content) directory structure and Downloads and ManifestFiles folders so as to have something manageable: I was noticing DIM (and I) was having problems with too much content in one folder.  At this stage, having gotten through the 86 above, I am at the point now where I am dealing with characters I like.  So far, thirty-five of these have versions I have customized.  (about more 100 still to go!!)  Sometimes my customized versions load without problems; sometimes they load missing files because I have shared a MAT or something.  Those I understand.   I'll try to explain what I don't understand.  When I load one of my custom characters and it missing morphs, I zero pose and clean the timeline as suggested, resave - it reloads without missing anything.    But after I have done a bunch, if I go back, reinstall one that was not missing files and reload it, it will be missing files again, from the more recently uninstalled content.  It might be too early to say but I think the upside of all of this is that when I am complete I will have much lower system load.  For instance reduced RAM consumption - so far a G8F character is using about 500 MB less RAM than when I started.  I am not sure I can say load times are improving.  The down side looks like, when I am all done uninstalling content, that I will have to reload all of my custom characters (and scenes) one at a time to be sure to eliminate the missing (morph) file annoyance - or just get used to it. 

    I find the whole thing completely weird.  I've loaded recent scenes where characters turned into blocks; Christy Turlingon converted into Marvin the Android sort-of-thing.  I just loaded a scence I'd saved on 12/4/2017, the only character was Akame.  DAZStudio warned me about all the missing textures, I went to DIM, de-installed Akame from "G8Figures-Unused" and reinstalled to "G8Figures-Core" (the latteer being in the set that DAZStudio can see) and everything, but everything, was hunky dory.  Then I loaded a more advanced version of the scene from 2/5/2018 and I got four missing .dsfs, a few Victorias and some nails; I ignored those and everything looks fine (I guess I may have lost Akame her nails).  I also guess I didn't have that much content in 2017, but I'm not sure; it's all weird.

    Well.  This might be a blinding glimpse of the obvious.  I am seeing a pattern of finger nail morph issues - I suspect I had a favourite for a while but oddly as you have suggested the character scene subset does not appear to be missing the nails.  I have had the occasional brow issue resulting from using a mesh brow and brow remover - if I am not careful my folder with the generated images heads off to parts unknown leaving me with white face.  You are likely familier with these situations.  Oddly, I have had an instance where Content Package Assist would NOT package the content for DIM but surprisingly the CGShare free tool came through.  I have also had instances (more than one so it is not just an odd coincidence or misappreciation) where characters have warned of many/all MAT images missing only to load perfectly - less the warning.  But this is my new news.  It perhaps goes without saying, as I am in this situation, that I am perhaps not as disciplined as I should be.  While making a scene or playing with a new clothing item or pose set, I might decide that I particularly like how a character looks - AND DECIDE TO SAVE IT AS A SCENE SUBSET.  I am thinking that, at times, DAZ Studio is saving the morphs (and maybe MATs in some cases) of not just the selected character from the scene in the scene subset.  Then, when I reload that character, it reports some (sometimes a lot) missing content when, in all honesty, the majority of cases, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with my loaded character.   Talk about things that make you go, Hmmm.    

    Point of clarification.  I don't think it has anything to do with other characters in the scene but rather how I originally created the character(s) I am saving as scene subset(s).  My theory is -
    I have character Anna, Betty, Claira and Doris;  all are installed separately via DIM; over years and hundresds of characters My Betty (custom based on Betty) was built but on top of Anna, My Claira (based on Claira) was built but on top of My Betty and My Doris (based on Doris) was built but on top Claira.  When my characters are saved, even though they have nothing evident related to their lineage,  e_ctrl morphs associated with their origins are being saved with the scene subset.  So when I remove Anna, Betty and Claira from my content, Doris loads missing those files and when ignored loads just fine without them.    
    Post edited by s_j_gregory on
  • TheRetiredSailorTheRetiredSailor Posts: 260
    edited March 2021

    jbowler said:

    s_j_gregory said:

    I've not graduated to saved scenes yet; still dealing with saved characters.  So far I have re packaged 86 G8F characters and (re) installed them using DIM.  I am working out my (Content) directory structure and Downloads and ManifestFiles folders so as to have something manageable: I was noticing DIM (and I) was having problems with too much content in one folder.  At this stage, having gotten through the 86 above, I am at the point now where I am dealing with characters I like.  So far, thirty-five of these have versions I have customized.  (about more 100 still to go!!)  Sometimes my customized versions load without problems; sometimes they load missing files because I have shared a MAT or something.  Those I understand.   I'll try to explain what I don't understand.  When I load one of my custom characters and it missing morphs, I zero pose and clean the timeline as suggested, resave - it reloads without missing anything.    But after I have done a bunch, if I go back, reinstall one that was not missing files and reload it, it will be missing files again, from the more recently uninstalled content.  It might be too early to say but I think the upside of all of this is that when I am complete I will have much lower system load.  For instance reduced RAM consumption - so far a G8F character is using about 500 MB less RAM than when I started.  I am not sure I can say load times are improving.  The down side looks like, when I am all done uninstalling content, that I will have to reload all of my custom characters (and scenes) one at a time to be sure to eliminate the missing (morph) file annoyance - or just get used to it. 

    I find the whole thing completely weird.  I've loaded recent scenes where characters turned into blocks; Christy Turlingon converted into Marvin the Android sort-of-thing.  I just loaded a scence I'd saved on 12/4/2017, the only character was Akame.  DAZStudio warned me about all the missing textures, I went to DIM, de-installed Akame from "G8Figures-Unused" and reinstalled to "G8Figures-Core" (the latteer being in the set that DAZStudio can see) and everything, but everything, was hunky dory.  Then I loaded a more advanced version of the scene from 2/5/2018 and I got four missing .dsfs, a few Victorias and some nails; I ignored those and everything looks fine (I guess I may have lost Akame her nails).  I also guess I didn't have that much content in 2017, but I'm not sure; it's all weird.

    I have experienced similar weirdness, provided I correctly understand the character turning into blocks.  I have created relatively simply objects in Lightwave which were exported as an obj and then imported into Studio. The initial import looks great. If I then save the imported object as a scene subset or as a support asset it loads up the next time as a block with beveled edges. One object I had trouble with was a door with hinges and a door knob. Simple, right. Looking at the original mesh in Lightwave I found a couple of ngons that I had missed so perhaps my problem was in the geometry. The thing is, I had used these objects before without issue. 
     

    In any case, I have cleaned up some of the geometry that I use repeatedly and (knock on wood) it has been a while since I have had this issue. I'm just posting about it here as the remarks above reminded me of it. 

    Post edited by TheRetiredSailor on
  • jbowlerjbowler Posts: 794

    kaislisp said:

    kaislisp said:

    Hey everyone I'm having an issue. Ive been working on daz all day and closed it to start painting in photoshop. When I tried opening it again, it wouldn't open full stop. I shut down my desktop (windows), rebooted it, and the image attached came up when I tried to open Daz. All of my windows are gone and it won't let me open anything. I tried uninstalling the program and reinstalling and this happened again. I'm thinking of doing a full reinstall, but I don't really know how to do that and if I don't have to, I really don't want to since I have a lot of content from renderosity and I really don't feel like redownloading it. Any help? 

    i fixed it =-= im just dumb =-= 

    It can take a very long time to shut down, particularly on slower (CPU) systems (graphics card speed does not help).  Go to the task manager, look for the "DAZ Studio Application"; if it is still there (it will be among the background apps) you can't start another DAZStudio.

    IRC the grey window just means the application can't find the configuration file that controls the window layout.  The log file should say why.

  • jbowlerjbowler Posts: 794

    TheRetiredSailor said:

    I have experienced similar weirdness, provided I correctly understand the character turning into blocks.  I have created relatively simply objects in Lightwave which were exported as an obj and then imported into Studio. The initial import looks great. If I then save the imported object as a scene subset or as a support asset it loads up the next time as a block with beveled edges. One object I had trouble with was a door with hinges and a door knob. Simple, right. Looking at the original mesh in Lightwave I found a couple of ngons that I had missed so perhaps my problem was in the geometry. The thing is, I had used these objects before without issue. 

    Yes, that's it exactly; "wire bounding box" for each bone with the box actually displayed as a texture/smooth shaded cube with bevelled edges.  It makes sense that this would happen if there is something wrong with the geometry.  In my case the geometry wasn't present in the installation, I expect this to result in Basisc Genesis 8 Female geometry, but Akame isn't based on one of the body/head morph packages so maybe I should have anticipated no geometry at all...

  • TheRetiredSailorTheRetiredSailor Posts: 260

    jbowler said:

    TheRetiredSailor said:

    I have experienced similar weirdness, provided I correctly understand the character turning into blocks.  I have created relatively simply objects in Lightwave which were exported as an obj and then imported into Studio. The initial import looks great. If I then save the imported object as a scene subset or as a support asset it loads up the next time as a block with beveled edges. One object I had trouble with was a door with hinges and a door knob. Simple, right. Looking at the original mesh in Lightwave I found a couple of ngons that I had missed so perhaps my problem was in the geometry. The thing is, I had used these objects before without issue. 

    Yes, that's it exactly; "wire bounding box" for each bone with the box actually displayed as a texture/smooth shaded cube with bevelled edges.  It makes sense that this would happen if there is something wrong with the geometry.  In my case the geometry wasn't present in the installation, I expect this to result in Basisc Genesis 8 Female geometry, but Akame isn't based on one of the body/head morph packages so maybe I should have anticipated no geometry at all.

    The part I didn't understand was that the object looked fine when I imported it. I could texture it, render it, etc. once I saved it the object reloaded as a beveled block. If the geometry was off that much, why did it work before saving it?  (Rhetorical question)

  • s_j_gregorys_j_gregory Posts: 103

    TheRetiredSailor said:

    jbowler said:

    TheRetiredSailor said:

    I have experienced similar weirdness, provided I correctly understand the character turning into blocks.  I have created relatively simply objects in Lightwave which were exported as an obj and then imported into Studio. The initial import looks great. If I then save the imported object as a scene subset or as a support asset it loads up the next time as a block with beveled edges. One object I had trouble with was a door with hinges and a door knob. Simple, right. Looking at the original mesh in Lightwave I found a couple of ngons that I had missed so perhaps my problem was in the geometry. The thing is, I had used these objects before without issue. 

    Yes, that's it exactly; "wire bounding box" for each bone with the box actually displayed as a texture/smooth shaded cube with bevelled edges.  It makes sense that this would happen if there is something wrong with the geometry.  In my case the geometry wasn't present in the installation, I expect this to result in Basisc Genesis 8 Female geometry, but Akame isn't based on one of the body/head morph packages so maybe I should have anticipated no geometry at all.

    The part I didn't understand was that the object looked fine when I imported it. I could texture it, render it, etc. once I saved it the object reloaded as a beveled block. If the geometry was off that much, why did it work before saving it?  (Rhetorical question)

    I am anxious not to insult.  How did you save it.  It sounds like it might have just lost the link/path to the geometry in the saving/reloading?

  • TheRetiredSailorTheRetiredSailor Posts: 260

    s_j_gregory said:

    TheRetiredSailor said:

    jbowler said:

    TheRetiredSailor said:

    I have experienced similar weirdness, provided I correctly understand the character turning into blocks.  I have created relatively simply objects in Lightwave which were exported as an obj and then imported into Studio. The initial import looks great. If I then save the imported object as a scene subset or as a support asset it loads up the next time as a block with beveled edges. One object I had trouble with was a door with hinges and a door knob. Simple, right. Looking at the original mesh in Lightwave I found a couple of ngons that I had missed so perhaps my problem was in the geometry. The thing is, I had used these objects before without issue. 

    Yes, that's it exactly; "wire bounding box" for each bone with the box actually displayed as a texture/smooth shaded cube with bevelled edges.  It makes sense that this would happen if there is something wrong with the geometry.  In my case the geometry wasn't present in the installation, I expect this to result in Basisc Genesis 8 Female geometry, but Akame isn't based on one of the body/head morph packages so maybe I should have anticipated no geometry at all.

    The part I didn't understand was that the object looked fine when I imported it. I could texture it, render it, etc. once I saved it the object reloaded as a beveled block. If the geometry was off that much, why did it work before saving it?  (Rhetorical question)

    I am anxious not to insult.  How did you save it.  It sounds like it might have just lost the link/path to the geometry in the saving/reloading?

    First I saved it as a scene subset. On later tries I tried saving it as a support asset.  Both should have saved the geometry in the proper files and locations. 

  • kaislispkaislisp Posts: 24

    Is anyone else having a problem with disappearing Gen 8.1 Female sliders? My male 8.1 sliders have not disappeared. But my Gen 8.1 female ones are missing quite a few? For example, "Inner brow down" is gone. "mouth open" is gone, and a few expression sliders arent working. Help? I've tried uninstalling gen 8 essentials, but that didn't do anything. 

    Screenshot 2021-03-26 100025.png
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  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943

    kaislisp said:

    Is anyone else having a problem with disappearing Gen 8.1 Female sliders? My male 8.1 sliders have not disappeared. But my Gen 8.1 female ones are missing quite a few? For example, "Inner brow down" is gone. "mouth open" is gone, and a few expression sliders arent working. Help? I've tried uninstalling gen 8 essentials, but that didn't do anything. 

     

    When I am loading Genesis 8 Basic Female, I have sliders for Brow Inner Up-Down, Brow Inner Up-Down Left and so on and mouth Open

    If I am loading Genesis 8.1 Basic Female, the Mouth Open transformed to Jaw Open and the Brow Inner is only Up, no down.

     

  • PerttiAPerttiA Posts: 10,024

    kaislisp said:

    Is anyone else having a problem with disappearing Gen 8.1 Female sliders? My male 8.1 sliders have not disappeared. But my Gen 8.1 female ones are missing quite a few? For example, "Inner brow down" is gone. "mouth open" is gone, and a few expression sliders arent working. Help? I've tried uninstalling gen 8 essentials, but that didn't do anything. 

    - Have you ever had them on G8.1F
    - Have you removed the dummy/placeholder files from G8.1F morph folders?
    - If you removed the dummy files, have you reinstalled G8 starter essentials afterwards? (puts the dummy files back)

  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,167

    I'm getting the hulk-green overlays where the transparencies of textures go on top of another material, in Iray preview mode. I'm not in front of my computer, but if you had something like a hair cap model on your figure in preview mode anything that is a mesh will turn green over the figure, it appears to ignore transparency or just overrides it. if I render normally it goes away. it's difficult to see what the final is going to look like with this since masks out anything the mesh is above.

    I'm using 4.15.0.14 or wherever we're at the the Nvidia Studio Drivers 461.92 March 17, 2021

    do I need to rollback DS or rollback the driver or both? has anyone else seen this?

  • DoctorJellybeanDoctorJellybean Posts: 8,464

    StratDragon said:

    I'm getting the hulk-green overlays where the transparencies of textures go on top of another material, in Iray preview mode. I'm not in front of my computer, but if you had something like a hair cap model on your figure in preview mode anything that is a mesh will turn green over the figure, it appears to ignore transparency or just overrides it. if I render normally it goes away. it's difficult to see what the final is going to look like with this since masks out anything the mesh is above.

    I'm using 4.15.0.14 or wherever we're at the the Nvidia Studio Drivers 461.92 March 17, 2021

    do I need to rollback DS or rollback the driver or both? has anyone else seen this?

    A screenshot would be helpful.

  • ted-berlinted-berlin Posts: 16

    Since a couple of hours, all my renders get also those "hulk green" overlays on geoshells. Even old scenes where nothing was changed.  I'm stil on 4.15.0.2. On anatomical elements and also external bought geoshells. The mesh looks somehow mismatched. Nothing was changed (not DAZ Studio, nor Windows updates, nor Nvidia drivers=461.72). Any ideas?
     

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  • ted-berlinted-berlin Posts: 16

    After hours I got the geoshells back on the right place and the green hulk overlays disappeared. Don't know why but i just toogled some buttons on the left side of the toolbar (keyboard on/off? etc.) and instantly the preview doesn't show any distortion of the anatomical geoshell. 

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  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,167

    ted-berlin said:

    After hours I got the geoshells back on the right place and the green hulk overlays disappeared. Don't know why but i just toogled some buttons on the left side of the toolbar (keyboard on/off? etc.) and instantly the preview doesn't show any distortion of the anatomical geoshell. 

    let me know if you find the magic guitar chord that fixed it. in the meantime I'll try to get lucky reproducing this. the discoloration makes it difficult to preview finals.

  • ted-berlinted-berlin Posts: 16

    StratDragon said:

     

    let me know if you find the magic guitar chord that fixed it. in the meantime I'll try to get lucky reproducing this. the discoloration makes it difficult to preview finals.

    I have a assumption. It had happened multiple times now and before i was in the weight map editor for making non dforce hair dforce compatible. So i was focussing on the head and not on the lower body parts and couldn't see it immediately.

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