DIM only installs, without dead thumbnails & white box.

john_97a982ce

My quest for a clean install, without dead product thumbnails, began shortly after I joined DAZ. My installations were through DIM followed by a DAZ Studio install (Read on). I immediately had trouble with missing thumbnails. While I searched for an answer to my product thumbnails DAZ Tech people told me that my installs were the problem with the dead images. That communication kept going back and forth for many weeks until a front-line DAZ person told me that I actually had double installs, one from DIM and the other from “Connect.” (What is Connect? It is what is also called the "Library Content" tab).

Now I was told that the added install I’d been doing after DIM, in the Library Content tab of DAZ Studios, was the double install. What?! After a DIM install, I had little black & white thumbnails and white images (squares, etc.) in the upper right corners of those B&W thumbnails. I asked what to do about those and was told that true DIM only people just ignore those.

I received some immediate feedback while trying to troubleshoot these issues. One said, “Are you making things harder for yourself…?” No, I’m not. It’s called finding out how to resolve the issues and why are they happening in the first place. I was the guy in the classroom raising my hand too many times…I guess. Tough. I didn’t stop.

One DAZ teacher was (is) patient and understood my needs and why I wanted to know the “why.” Following his instructions, I uninstalled everything again, reset in the “DB Maintenance” tool, and then reinstalled it through DIM only. I did not succumb to the urge to install in the Library Content (Connect) tab in DAZ Studios. Grrr-- all of those missing thumbnails, Black & White thumbnails, and little white images in the upper right corners.

Here’s what to do:

DO not log in from DAZ Studios-- remain offline. After re-installing, go into your “DB Maintenance” tool in DAZ Studios, select the entire list of products that is pre-chosen and “re-import” all of those products. If you are doing this for a clean DIM only install then DO NOT select your old “User_Data;” you will have to deal with products in the L&F but you’ll have a lot less. In my case, I went from over 300 down to 72.

More feedback included one that said I should just install everything through “Connect” to get my thumbnails, etc. (That means double-install everything again). But of course, this was a path I left behind.

So, I now had a clean DIM only install but now had to deal with the thumbnails myself.

For the missing and black & White thumbnails I followed one welcome teacher who said the following, which worked beautifully:

1. In “Library Content” under the products tab right-click the bad thumbnail and choose “Edit Metadata.” Select the SKU number (fastest way to get that info, BTW) and copy it. Then go to the “Support” folder and search that number—files for that product will display. Leave that window open and then search the DAZ website for that same SKU number. When that product shows up, “save image as” and copy to your desktop.
2. Now, go back to the “Support” folder select the entire name of that product as it appears in the Support folder (make sure to copy the same name as it appears in the Products folder in the Library Content—address and all—and then paste that into the thumbnail you copied to your desktop.
3. Slide the thumbnail into your opened Photoshop (or whatever you use for image manipulation) and change the image size to 114 x 148. Save. Now slide that new thumbnail into the “Support” folder (You might want to save a copy of your new thumbnails).
4. Go back to your open DAZ Studios and refresh the alphabet you’re working in. I chose to do all of these alphabetically—easier to keep track of where I was at in the process. Your new thumbnails will appear both in Library Content and in Smart Content.
5. FYI, your new thumbnails should have titles like this: “DAZ_3D_28702_Wicked_Women_2_-_For_V4.” Mine says “DAZ_3D,” which might be different for you, depending on where you have your Support folder. Also, for older or products no longer offered by DAZ, you might need to search your DAZ Account Product Library after you log in. Then search by product name and copy that thumbnail for your installation.

** The above will clear up your thumbnail issue, but you might have some lingering white boxes or those white update images. Again, some might tell you that you just have to ignore these, in a way they are right, but DAZ does provide a passive cure for this (I’m not sure DAZ support knows about it). As long as you are patient (DON’T log in when you’re in DAZ Studio). Within a week or so DAZ will create a duplicate thumbnail that does not have those white images. Now you can delete the thumbnails with the white images because the new thumbnails are exact copies.

Finally, a word about how to set DAZ Studios to NOT LOG IN when DAZ starts up. All you have to do is to go into the DAZ Preferences/Startup and uncheck everything.

That’s it. I now have everything I wanted in my installs.

As for the “Lost and Found,” during my “research” on installs, I found a slick way to clean out the L&F so I no longer have anything in it. Of course, some just say to ignore it, which I CANNOT. Bad housekeeping in my opinion. Many of you already have ways to deal with it, but Message me if you need a thread on that.

john_97a982ce

In case you still have white thumbnails with exclamation marks, check to see if they are things you don't need; like in my case "...PS" files. They are for Poser and I don't need them. So I tracked them down in DIM, uninstalled them, and then deleted them in DS-- problem solved. Or, if you have a "...StudioCF" file. If you do and you're working in DS then you need them for those older products. Search that SKU number in your "Support" folder and just COPY the .jpg for the BASE reference to your desktop, then go back to your "Support" folder, find the BASE file, copy the "...StudioCF" file name already in the "Support" folder and paste the entire name into the jpg you just copied to the desktop. Then slide that new image into your "Support" folder. You now have two jpg images for that SKU number in the "Support" folder. Refresh the DS alphabet folder or the Smart Content reference and problem solved.

john_97a982ce

ACKNOWLEDGMENT!  "PerttiA" was the member that gave me information about how to create thumbnails where none exist in the "Support" folder. He gave me a page of instructions he'd created. I included his ideas in my instructions. See the link below. I am very grateful for this and all the positive feedback I received during the last many months. "Richard Haseltine" gave me steps for a strict DIM-only install, the steps of which I used above. However, it wasn't the DIM-only install that was MY problem it was the mess that came after. Sorting through it was a pain-- but most of those issues were about dead thumbnails.

See the attachment, or contact PerttiA. I have received permission to use this information.

john_97a982ce

Here is a post that contains the thumbnails I created during this process:

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/531906/thumbnails-for-dim-only-installs

[This link was taken down by DAZ because although I did create the thumbnails I needed because DAZ did not, they did not like that I made those thumbnails available to all of you. So, if the thumbnail issue I had is your issue as well then you'll have to go through the steps I outlined to make the thumbnails yourself. It's a petty thing, isn't it? I think so. They don't want us to share the thumbnails we can only get by running DAZ "Connect," which creates double installations and/or greyscale thumbnails, missing thumbnails where "Connect" doesn't install the thumbnails, and those annoying white boxes or update graphics in the upper right of the thumbnail. If you want a DIM-only install to make it clean you MUST create your own thumbnails [when they are missing]-- and YES use the images they have in their catalogs! It's your right to use the same thumbnails they are supposed to give us.]

Attached are snapshots that together show the sheer volume of thumbnails that DAZ did not include in the installation packages I had. The list below was created from the folder I created for the thumbnails I made-- not DAZ. Although the images are from the DAZ catalog. Most of the packages DID have thumbnails, but there are so many that did not. Back when I reported these thumbnail holes in those installations I was told that there was nothing they could do about them. Later, I was told in the Forum that I'd just have to ignore those holes and exclamation marks. Weak.

john_97a982ce

POSTSCRIPT:  Ever since I went with this DIM-only installation process I have had no issues that aren't quickly resolved. I AM SO HAPPY about it! Happy holidays!

DavinaJo

To the Original Poster I'm having a bit of time trying to follow your instructions, as I'm  someone who's only recently started using Daz (the last couple of years off and on) , I'm not sure where to find some of the things your referenced in your post however after trying a few things i was able to find most of what you referenced in your post I've to actaully try it as i'd have to uninstall quite a bit of content. but it looks doable, looking for a  free Paint or picture manipulation program that will work with daz (not fan of Adobe's Licencing costs).

PerttiA

Install Manager is still Install Manager, DAZ Central is the 'dumbed down' version of it, but Install Manager is still valid (maybe best) way to install content.

john_97a982ce

03-25-2022: Hi. I'm still very happy that I was nudged to a DIM-only install. I've had almost no trouble at all. Occasionally, seldom, I do have to install a thumbnail but my method is fast. I never have to connect to DAZ through DS, so DS doesn't take up bandwidth. I'm sorry it seems long-winded, but maybe someone else that isn't so detail-oriented as I am can re-write it for a new version of this routine?