Way to connect DAZ Studios without it auto...
john_97a982ce
Posts: 314
Is there a way to connect DAZ Studios without it automatically downloading metadata? I did Google this question to no avail.
Post edited by john_97a982ce on
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Why would I want to do that? Because I install ONLY through DIM now and do not want to connect DAZ Studios, but rather work offline. I've found that many products do not properly bring their metadata along for the ride when installed only through DIM. If I automatically grab the metadata for everything then there are way too many conflicts. I'm hoping my solution might be to selectively re-import the metadata for individual products.
No, there isn't - if Daz Studio goes online it will download all metadata (which should be the same as in DIM, if you have checked for updates to your products).
Hm. Bummer. So those products that do not have thumbnails for the base display, before clicking "Explore," cannot individually be re-imported from the DAZ server. But you say the off-line metadata is the same as the offline. There was an image of the product when I bought them. How do I retrieve those images?
As you know, I cannot leave things in the Lost and Found folder. I must compare them and sort them. I have found that the entries in the L&F folder always seem to have less items in them than the ones already sorted. At least in the way I'm trying it now I know the items in the L&F are not anywhere else and they need thumbnails. I could try using the DB Maintenance option to re-download from the server for the thumbnails, but what you said means that there won't be a difference. How about manually editing them? Do the thumbnails exist (I suspect so)? If so, can they be retrieved manually?
Are you saying that when the products with no thumbnails are explored all the files are uncategorised (or categorised as Lost and found, they look the same)?
Yes, they look the same in any category. If I find it in a real category they lack thumbnails and the same with their duplicate in the L&F. I wish simply doing a clean install would fix everything but it doesn't, because I had a mixed install before now, both DIM and Connect.
Yes, this is the way I work (using DIM for downloads and not using DAZ Connect or any of other internet necessary DAZ Studio .exe stuff.) Do this:
After doing this on subsequent launchs you won't get asked to log in and you won't be logged in, so nothing can be downloaded from the internet (by this instance of DAZ Studio). You can see this is happening by examining the "Smart Content" tab, which is normally displayed somewhere obvious in the main window. This will have a blue "Login..." button at the top right. DO NOT PRESS THE BUTTON, or when you do, click "Cancel" :-) Problem solved.
Right. I've done that several days ago. What I have now is what you suggest for install, however, because I used to log in AND install through DIM I now have loads of products without thumbnails-- although they used to have them when Connect was always engaged. So, the question NOW is how to fix those dead thumbnails. There are WAY too many of them.
Is it possible that these thumbnail issues happened as a result of my loading the User Data I exported before this last round of re-installs-- back when I had Connect and DIM installs?
Yeah. I just live with those; that's a DAZ feature isn't it? Big exclamation marks and lots of stuff in lots'n'found that you've never heard of?
There are loads of options; right click on the "Content Library" tab, select "Content Database Mangement". Only the Content Database Management knows what any of those options are for, but the Mdgt doesn't actually know what they do, so experiment.
My personal favorite approach, which is totally harmless, is to make a complete new CMS database by going to "Edit/Preferences/CMS Settings" and changing the path of the Cluster; it just creates a new cluster! Then you can see what happens if you rebuild the whole shebang; most likely it won't be any worse that what you have.
TAKE CARE: if you use DIM and DAZ together they have to be sharing, if they don't go forth with the same Cluster they will be; DAZ and DIM have seperate Cluster settings.
Expdel
That is interesting and new to me. What is the DAZ Cluster for? How might that help with the dead thumbnail issue?
User data and products are not the same - userdata is the stuff that isn't part of a product. The thumbnails start off in the /Rutnime/Support/ folder, alongside the .dsx file with the emtadata, but I don't think they are directly referenced once the emtadata is imported (I just tried deleting one for a product isntalled solely through DIM and thens tarted DS - the thumbnail was still there, but I do use Connect so it may have been using the image from the /data/cloud/meta/ folder). As a check, do you still have - for each product - a .dsx files, a .dsa file, and a .jpg file in /Runtime/Support/?
I understand where you're going with this and yes I do. I did manually copy those into the Runtime/Support folder, closed DS, and then reopened it. But the thumbnail still was not there for Lake Muirne. I suppose I could try the same procedure with other products that lack thumbnails. I'll try it.
I did try it, to no avail.
I think this may be a product issue, rather than an issue at your end, so please open a ticket if you haven't.
I did. Thanks. Maybe since you're part of DAZ you might nudge them?
I had my own ticket on trying to use the product. It did eventually work, though lacking metadata, but I install through Connect so that doesn't help you.
Richard, why do you use Connect? Is that because you've connected through DAZ the company?
No, I just prefer it - it places each product in its own folder, which makes troubleshooting much easier, and I like the fact that updates need just the rlevant files, not the whole zip again.
So, why did you tell me to use the straight-up DIM process? Would you use it if you didn't work for DAZ?
Change of subject: I found that it is best NOT to load the saved User Data after the reset, re-download, and re-install. When I did use it I had tons of things in L&F. Of course, in my case, I went from a combination install that used both DIM and Connect-- which caused a problem with my User Data during these last installs. This last time I just loaded the Metadata using the DB Maintenance process, closed DS, re-opened it, and then just moved the ones in L&F to where I think they belong. Using this last process I only had to deal with 72 in L&F, not over 300. Also, I found a faster process for the L&F purge. This time I compared the Smart Content L&F to the Products list, found the items in the Product list, right-clicked on each item and chose "Create a category from;" chose the folder I want; and then deleted the items from L&F after I finished about nine of them, then moved on to another batch of 9. So, it goes much quicker. What if those items were already in those folders? It doesn't create a duplicate for me. Not sure if it would do so for anyone else, but it's worth a try if you have a gnarly list in L&F.
Because you continue to complain about certain visual cues in the library Connect provides, cues that Richard is NOT bothered about.
I don't hold an ideological position on install methods, not using Connect seemed best for you - especially given the bug with removing "vendor" categories, since you want to not just recategorise but remove any "bad" entries.
Yes, the downside is that you won't have any categorisation on files you had saved unless you manually reset that, but I don't know how many of those you have or how much their categorisation will matter to you in future.
"Because you continue to complain about certain visual cues in the library Connect provides, cues that Richard is NOT bothered about."
And that makes me a bad man? I am a consumer that does not understand DAZ. Also, he is not concerned because he has admitted to using Connect at all times! Does that make HIM a bad man? No. I need to understand all that I can understand. Complaining about the minutia is part of that process.
Richard knew I wasn't going to be satisfied by simply ignoring the white boxes, so his sage advice was to eliminate Connect, which I have now done. It was like extracting teeth to find the right answers until he gave me a step-by-step so I knew the ORDER to do them in. Thank you, Richard. As for the annoying missing thumbnails that some of you just roll over on, finally, one brave DAZ member admitted to being as annoyed as I am by DAZ not doing anything about them-- and then shared his perfect solution; that was to provide the thumbnails ourselves and how to do that.
"...especially given the bug with removing "vendor" categories, since you want to not just recategorize but remove any "bad" entries."
Perhaps it is best for me. So far so good, but ONLY because I go after what bugs me in order to fix it. I don't roll over and quit.
"Yes, the downside is that you won't have any categorization on files you had saved unless you manually reset that, but I don't know how many of those you have or how much their categorization will matter to you in the future."
Apparently, the categorization when installing through DIM does retain them to some greater extent, because most of them DO fall into pre-ordained categories. The ones that fall into the L&F deserve to be manually redistributed...at least into large categories that are not L&F.
LET ME be clear to everyone; I intend to understand as much about DAZ as I want to understand. That means a lot of questions and needed complaints.
WTF man? You asked why Richard is using Connect while recommending against it for you. I provided that he has not the same concerns that keep you turning in circles and awake at night.
How, HOW, HOW do you construe from that a claim that you are a "bad man"? Tell us, what are your thought processes that make you arrive at that particular conclusion?
WTF? How does "different concerns and different needs arrive at different solution" turn into a morality debate in your mind?
:ahem:
"WTF? How does "different concerns and different needs arrive at different solution" turn into a morality debate in your mind?"
Out of control now.
Let's end this thread, DAZ.