Need Help With DIM
Fae3D
Posts: 2,623
So I just had to wipe my (Mac) computer, and I've just reinstalled DIM. I am trying to get it to find my files. The My Daz 3D Library folder is on an external hard drive named Game Drive. In DIM, I went to advanced settings and changed Content Path Shortcuts to the location of the My Daz 3D Library. But even after clicking Accept, and refreshing, it still says I have over 6,000 items to download. Shouldn't it have found my products? Is there somewhere else I need to change the path as well? I'm not computer literate at all, so please explain to me as if I'm an idiot, lol!
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DIM looks in your downloads directory for a pile of .dsx files. These contain xml data that tells DIM about your downloaded products. You can set your download directory in the Downloads tab of DIM advanced settings.
The manifest directory should also have a huge pile of .dsx files that includes install info. I think you need both sets of data for DIM to understand what is really going on with your products.
Oh, crud. I didn't back anything like that up, I didn't know I needed to. Am I going to have to re-download all my purchases? Because that info is wiped completely.
I'm not sure. Maybe :(
Try turning off DIM and turning off your computer. Then turn them on and see if anything shows up.
Urgh. You might have to redownload everything. Hold off on that for now though since a lot of downloads are failing right now anyway. For future reference though, back up not only your Daz installed files drive, but also your downloads folder (I never delete the zips DIM downloads. I have the space and saves me having to download them again for cases such as this), your manifests folder and your thumbnails folder :)
Ok, I have some stuff backed up, does anybody know the file path for the .dsx files that DIM needs? Maybe it's in my backup somewhere.
When DIM installs a file it usually puts the .dsx in my Downloads folder. I usually just backup the installed files folder(s) of course, the downloads folder, manifests folder and thumbnails. Then, I usually have everything. :)
DIM includes a .dsx file for each downloaded file in the Downloads folder. When installing a file it creates a modified copy of the file's .dsx file in the ManifestFiles folder, which among others contains data for where that file has been installed, to use for uninstallation etc..
Thanks, everyone, I'll check my backup tomorrow and see if I have the ManifestFiles folder in it, otherwise I guess I'll be reinstalling. Hopefully the Daz downloads will be working alright by then.
Thank ya'll for the help!
Good luck! Hope all goes well for you :)
Be careful with the terminology. The package .dsx files that come with the downloads go in the "Package Archive" folder specified on the downloads tab of DIM's Advanced Settings dialog. This tells DIM what you have downloaded it at some point and and is at least "Ready To Install" (more on that later). When you install with DIM, it creates another .dsx file in the "Manifest Archive" folder specified on the Installation tab in Advanced Settings.
When DIM refreshes the product list, it looks for the Package manifest file (that says you have downloaded it, whether you still have it or not, like if you select "Delete Package Once Installed" on the "Ready to Install" tab). Then it scans the Manifest Archive to see if the Product items are installed by verifying the presence of the second .dsx file. (Not sure if it actually checks for every single item, or just the presence of the .dsx file. DIM does use this information to "Show Installed Files..."). If it finds the Manifest Archive file, then the product will show up in the Installed tab. If the product is uninstalled at some point, the status will either fall back to "Ready to Install" if the package is still available, or, if the package is not available, the status will fall back to "Ready to Download".
Do not, repeat, DO NOT, set the Package Archive and Manifest Archive to the same folder. The .dsx files they create have the same name, and one will overwrite the other on subsequent operations.
Well, it turned out I didn't have a backup of the ManifestFiles, so I'm currently reinstalling everything -_-
Oh well, it seems to be going pretty fast, so hopefully it will be done in a day or so. At least now I know what to back up from now on. And thanks, NorthOf45, I will take care to make sure that the files don't have anything to do with each other, I wouldn't have thought that they would use the same names, but what do I know? Apparently not much, when it comes to Daz Studio's inner workings XD
Thanks everybody!
One thing to be aware of, if you left the rpevious files on disc before usign DIM to reinstall it will make a note of those files and you won't be able to uninstall the content (because DIM doesn't want to break a "previously installed product" which is how it reads the preexisting files - avoiding this issue was one of the benefits of Daz Connect). The note is made in InstallManagerFileRegister.json in the root of the content directory you instal to, so if you are just installing DIM content over the top of old DIM content you could remove that file when done - the risk is that if you then uninstall something which does use shared files you may break any other products using the same shared files.
You can re-build that index from DIM from the Advanced Settings dialog - Installation tab. At the bottom of the tab is a list of library folders (Content Path Shortcuts). Right-click on the library(ies) you are using and select "Fix Installed File Registry". This should scan all installation manifests to find those files used by more than one product so that the uninstall works properly. I don't know if it will take into account those previously installed files, though, but isn't that what it is for?