Help please!

Megarig

Okay - this is gonna sound stupid, but I need help with a manual install. I bought a bunch of stuff, but one of my items (Norse Villager Expansion for the Viking pack) is only set for a manual install, and I can't figure out where to put it. I have a "Content" folder that was downloaded, and inside is the "Runtime" folder, but I haven't been able to find the content or runtime folders on my hard drive. Where do I put this stuff?? I'm running Win8.1, if that helps.

Rayman29

Try looking at :-

Edit>Preferences>Content library>Content directory manager

For the list of your content folder locations.

sriesch

In the above-described window, note that there are multiple kinds of content. You probably have either DAZ Studio or Poser content, or both. If you use both, you will need to add your content folder twice, once for each of the two types. Note when you map your folder here, you want to map the folder that CONTAINS the Runtime folder, not the actual Runtime folder itself. Same thing for DS content. After you have have created these mappings (or verified they are correct), you also need to go back to the Content Library's menu and select the "Scan known directories for files" option to search these folders for mapped content.

When you install content, note that different products are packaged differently, and sometimes you will have to move files or folders around so the top level of folders is where you want it, and also if you manually unzip it is very easy to unzip into the wrong folder.

If you think everything is correct but you still can't find it, post a screenshot showing both your mapped content folder(s) and the actual Runtime folder with path in Windows so we can compare; maybe we'll see something you overlooked.

Also note that if you try to install a product that you already have installed, it won't show up in unassigned because of course you already have it categorized somewhere. That's probably not happening, but I suppose it's possible.

Megarig

Sean Riesch said:

In the above-described window, note that there are multiple kinds of content. You probably have either DAZ Studio or Poser content, or both. If you use both, you will need to add your content folder twice, once for each of the two types. Note when you map your folder here, you want to map the folder that CONTAINS the Runtime folder, not the actual Runtime folder itself. Same thing for DS content. After you have have created these mappings (or verified they are correct), you also need to go back to the Content Library's menu and select the "Scan known directories for files" option to search these folders for mapped content.

When you install content, note that different products are packaged differently, and sometimes you will have to move files or folders around so the top level of folders is where you want it, and also if you manually unzip it is very easy to unzip into the wrong folder.

If you think everything is correct but you still can't find it, post a screenshot showing both your mapped content folder(s) and the actual Runtime folder with path in Windows so we can compare; maybe we'll see something you overlooked.

Also note that if you try to install a product that you already have installed, it won't show up in unassigned because of course you already have it categorized somewhere. That's probably not happening, but I suppose it's possible.

I use only DS content. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "mapping" content. Can you clarify that for me? Anyway, I extracted from my zip program to the directory that is flagged in the screenshot. And as you can see, I am not seeing any of the content. What did I do wrong?

Richard Haseltine

The items in My DAZ 3D Library\Content should just be in My DAZ 3d Library, the Content folder is stopping things from working. The items will then be in Poser Formats>My DAZ 3d Library>Some library folder (though I thought Norse Village had native DAZ Studio files).

sriesch

By "mapping", I mean: In the Content Library pane's menu, select Content Directory Manager, click on "DAZ Studio Formats" (click the '+' button to expand the list and then post a screenshot of this for us), then with "DAZ Studio Formats" selected, press the Add button and browse to and select the appropriate pathname (described earlier) where your content files exist on disk if not already done. (I should probably stop using this term, I don't even recall why I started using it.)

One other thing to try if you see this later even after fixing as per Richard's suggestion: move your mouse into or click the empty bottom pane where the content thumbnails should be displayed. There either is or was a bug where this area is sometimes left blank until you do this, at which point it then gets displayed correctly.

Megarig

I probably screwed this up, but I copy/pasted (from the downloaded content folder) all the subfolders of the textures, geometries and libraries folders into the appropriate directories - but I still get nothing. For instance, in that first shot, isn't that one of the proper directories?

EDIT= So, I went through the directories and deleted the folders I put in with the idea that I'm gonna come back to this later and try to just copy the individual content folders into their appropriate Runtime folder spots, and see what happens.

sriesch

In your Content Directory Manager screenshot, assuming that's where you wanted to install them (looks like the defaults?) that does look correct to match the Runtime folder seen in your Windows screenshot.

If you moved files around to fix this, did you actually tell DS to search for your content again after the fix? ( Content Library’s menu and select the “Scan known directories for files” )

I'm not sure where the Content folder was that Richard mentioned relative to your files were, and I'm not sure if when you said you wanted to copy the individual content folders, if you actually meant folders with "Content" in the name or not. Currently, is there a folder actually called "Content" anywhere, or has that been eliminated to fix the issue?

Megarig

Sean Riesch said:

In your Content Directory Manager screenshot, assuming that's where you wanted to install them (looks like the defaults?) that does look correct to match the Runtime folder seen in your Windows screenshot.

If you moved files around to fix this, did you actually tell DS to search for your content again after the fix? ( Content Library’s menu and select the “Scan known directories for files” )

I'm not sure where the Content folder was that Richard mentioned relative to your files were, and I'm not sure if when you said you wanted to copy the individual content folders, if you actually meant folders with "Content" in the name or not. Currently, is there a folder actually called "Content" anywhere, or has that been eliminated to fix the issue?

I've had DS scan known directories a couple times, to no avail. But I may had had it all wrong in the first place. I think in the Readme that came with the download, it said I should put the entire content folder into the main DS directory, but I think that may be wrong. There currently is no "Content" folder for this particular content, and I am - when I get time - going to just add the individual content folders found under textures, libraries and geometries into the corresponding folders in the main Runtime directory and see if that fixes the problem.

So far, this is the only time I've run into this manual install issue. I usually just use the DS Install Manager, and I don't have any problems. So, when I made this recent purchase, I only found out at the end of the transaction that this one item was not for use with DIM. Is there a way to find out BEFORE you buy something whether it will work with DIM? I mean, at least just so I have a heads up? I just thought everything went in through DIM - but I guess not.

sriesch

In your product library, you normally see options to download with DIM or manually, so if there is no button to download and install via DIM, then it would be manual-only. However that shouldn't normally be a problem; I actually download and install everything manually, and it works fine. One thing I do have to do though is go into the Content folder, select all the files/folders at that level, then move them up ALONGSIDE the content folder, then delete the empty content folder. So I do not have a Content folder in any of my installed products after that. (alternatively one can use the installers and keep the Content folder, but then you would have to have the content folder listed, not "My DAZ 3D library", in the Content Directory Manager.)

It almost sounds like you are moving folders inside the Runtime around though, and you don't want to do that; I wonder if the order of files could have gotten shuffled around from the original download? You don't want to move anything found inside the textures, libraries, or geometries folder anywhere, leave them the way they are, only move the Runtime and other folders that were originally in the Content folder, and move them alongside the content folder, and you're done.

Megarig

What I'm trying to do is copy the individual subfolders of libraries, geometries, textures (character, poses, props, etc) into the same corresponding folders in the main Runtime folder. I think what I did originally was copy the entire downloaded content folder into the main DS directory, then after that didn't work, I started copying the individual folders into the main runtime folder itself, instead of putting them into specific directories. I didn't move or delete anything else - just the folders I'm having trouble with.

To me, this shouldn't be this hard, but it seems I've hit a wall.

jestmart

You need to have the content paths listed under DAZ Studio Formats also listed under Poser Formats as this is a very old Poser format product. It is also an expansion pack so do have the required product "Viking Pack for Michael" (still in store) and Michael 1 or 2 (neither are in store)?

Megarig

jestmart said:

You need to have the content paths listed under DAZ Studio Formats also listed under Poser Formats as this is a very old Poser format product. It is also an expansion pack so do have the required product "Viking Pack for Michael" (still in store) and Michael 1 or 2 (neither are in store)?

Well, I have "Viking Pack for Michael", but you're right - it seems the older Michael 1 and 2 are not available in the store. I have Michael 6. So maybe I won't be able to use this particular package.

jestmart

They will not work on any of the other Michael(s).