Quick question about installing through Smart Content vs Connect
SnowSultan
Posts: 3,643
in The Commons
Why is it that content that is installed through DAZ Connect shows as being both installed (being colored) and uninstalled (having the arrow-in-circle logo and the option to install) at the same time in Smart Content? If you install it again in Smart Content, is a second copy installed to a different location? And for Smart Content to work best at finding related MATs and such for an item, which installation method is better? Thanks.
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Comments
1. Yes
2. DIM
A quick clarification for those people who get this confused... there are a few ways to install: Daz Connect (which installs through Daz Studio and places products in folders called Cloud > product # > etc in the Content folder and also writes to the database so it shows up in Smart Content), DIM (DAZ Install Manager which installs through DIM and places folders into Content folder in the traditional way and writes to the database so it shows up in Smart Content), what I call Smart Manual Install (zip is downloaded, folders are placed in expected places, manifest files are placed in proper locations so database can access them to place in Smart Content), and Freeform Manual Install where folders and files are placed in a way that the user performs but the database can't see and all updates must be manual (i.e. no Smart Content). Smart Content is a view of the products which is context based i.e. you select a G8M and see products for G8M.
Now to answer your question... each installation is largely independent of each other... you can (but shouldn't) install a product both by Daz Connect and DIM; it will often create a conflict. The Daz Connect version has the highest priority so that the DIM version will be ignored or will cause a conflict. The manual install is simply invisible as expected. For a creator like yourself, I would recommend DIM, with the proviso that you learn how to use Categories, learn how to edit products and the database. That way, if you have a wardrobe product for G8F that you have made custom textures for, you gain the ability to select your figure, see the appropriate garments for her, and if you select the garment, you can see what textures you want for the garment. I often change the settings for G3 hair so that it also fits and appears for G8. Very often, when I install a product from another store, I will change the compatibility to include other figures.
The one thing that you absolutely have to do is choose one method since Daz Connect and DIM don't play well with each other and will install duplicates that not only easte space but conflict with each other. I was longwinded in case others see this post but I hope that answers the question?
What agravates me is something like this situation:
1) I install 100% of my content through DIM to keep it all in the same location on the Content Library and since I keep my DIM download ZIPs saved locally too.
2) Now, almost a year after purchase, the Genesis 8 Female Centaur shows up for no good reason this week as needing installed via DAZ Connect? Why? I didn't uninstall it via DIM. Now to get rid of that problem I must install it via DAZ Connect and now I have content in 2 places instead of one.
3) That's not the only time similar has happened, just the latest instance.
Thank you, that does answer my questions. I figured Central was meant to replace DIM (which I always used before), but I guess I should uninstall my content and put it back in with DIM (there's not a ton installed anyway, as I rebuilt my machine earlier this year). I don't really mess with Categories though, not because they aren't useful, but I've lost all the organization I put into them twice over the years due to weird Studio updates, so I'm not wasting time doing it again.
Central is kind of DIM with training wheels; I kind of wish it didn't exist because people who are apt to use it need the flexibility of DIM. I do want to mention that the metadata of Categories is one of the easiest things to back up so you don't ever have to loose your organization if you don't want to.
Because you are logging/signing in to DS, that is the trigger for DAZ Connect to go and check your purchases and notify you that you haven't installed them with DAZ Connect.
If you want your eye to stop hurting, stop poking it with your finger.
I must be dyslexic. For far too long I had Daz Connect and Daz Central confused with each other, and thought that they were the same thing. I saw warnings against using Daz Connect and to stick with DIM, and thought that since I wasn't using Daz Central I was doing things right. Oops.
Now I need to uninstall all of that Daz Connect stuff. So many cloudy items! Is there a quick and easy way to do that?
LOL, where do you download DIM now? I can't find it anywhere on this site.
https://www.daz3d.com/install-manager-info
Thank you, I just found it a moment before you posted. Then I followed another link from an update annoucement and it took me to the main DAZ page. Whatever. ;) Thanks.
No, I'm not poking it, poking here means to bag. It's DAZ 3D that's bagging those metadata and product files. The problem needs fixed by DAZ, not by me refusing to use DAZ Studio in way it was intended to be used.
Search in your product library for "install": Daz 3D (DIM)
The only reason to log in/sign in to DS, is to use DAZ Connect within DS to install content.
If you then notified that there is something you haven't installed with DAZ Connect, that is what it is supposed to do.
You need to choose your installation method and act accordingly, ie. if you use DAZ Central/DIM/Manual installation => Do not log in/Sign in to DS.
No, it updates some others things in CMS too, what I don't know. Anyway, that I have a conflict points to both install methods having problems with validating currently installed. They should never cause problems for each other and so DAZ 3D should fix those problems. Because, well, I have almost 7000 products in DIM but only about 25 of those over the past couple of years have not been recognized by DAZ Connect as being not installed when they were. That's a pretty good ratio for the DAZ 3D packagers, but still a mistake on their part, not on my part, by logging in. They will find out, clean it up, and then the problem goes away never time I do a clean install of my Content Library & DAZ Studio Pro.