Manual Install, duplicate files

karl

Just for anyone who manually installs from a zip ... what do you do when the OS says there is already a file with that name? Do you keep the original, replace the file, keep both (though presumably the one renamed with (2) won't be viewable by the Daz asset, since it won't be looking for a file name with (2) in)? Do you compare the two files and keep just one - the bigges,t or the newest? Many thanks?

PerttiA

When that happens, I keep the newer one.

Catherine3678ab

Me too, I usually keep the newcomer overwrite the older file. {and I do a lot of muttering about certain PAs whose products keep overwriting their previous products because apparently all the files are not the same size! Seriously PAs, put new content in for new characters, thank you.}

karl

PerttiA said:

When that happens, I keep the newer one.

I think that's my preference, EXCEPT often the "newer" one has today's date, so it seems to be the date it was copied to my HD, not the date it was created - meaning it may be older. I find Daz installation options to be ultra confusing. :-(

Ideally I wouldn't have to manually install. My main desire is permanent installation of assets. i.e. I want to install all assets on the D:. so they 1) get backed up as part of my regular D: backup, and 2) don't fill my C:. Your answer would do that.

I know I can edit the Base Path Location in the Daz Central Settings (the gear icon in the top right corner of Central) so my purchases install on the D: drive.

However, the third reason is that I sometimes resinstall Windows. I want to store content on the D: so that if I reinstall Windows, and then reinstall Daz Studio, I DON'T have to reinstall all my content (which comes to many GB).

So, in this scenario, assuming I had used Daz Central to install assets to my D:; if I then reinstall Windows and Daz, can I point the freshly installed Daz Central to the content on the D:. to save installing it all over again? Is there some other metadata that needs backing up and restoring so that Daz Studio knows where to look for the existing smart content? I imagine this is a common scenario (not wanting to spend days having to reinstall all the Daz assets just because you reinstall Windows, or change to a newer version of Windows).

Once I know what to do it will be brilliant, because then I only ever have to install items once, but will still have access to them if I reinstall Windows (and have access to loading stuff via Smart Content).

Otherwise I get the impression that the only way to do this is to MANUALLY install content on the D: by unzipping files into a Content folder there and pointing Daz Studio (not Daz Central) to that folder (which is why I am tring to do it that way). This has downsides, such as Smart Content not working; many older items may not work properly; the file structure being determined by the asset's creator, and not being consistent; Daz refusing to support users; and also some issues where unzipping things reveals the same path and file names, but different file sizes, so it isn't clear which file to keep (as here). I'd like to avoid all that if possible, which is why I'm hoping I can install via Daz Central once, but get Daz Studio (and Daz Central) to recognise the content even after I reinstall Windows, after I point it to the correct places for content and any metadata.

Fingers crossed there is a way to do this!