A Huge Regret
daveso
Posts: 7,150
in The Commons
buying so much DAZ studio content its hard to throw a program to the curb when you'rve invested so much into it.
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So you regret ever spending on Daz? Well that makes one of us. I mean there are items I regret buying (Dforce hair), but I'm happy Daz opened this whole new world to me. I didn't even know what the word render meant a few years ago.
@daveso, why do you want to give up DAZ studio altogether?
if it is because of content and database issues, just wipe everything on your intended Library drive and start with a clean slate, redownload it all if you didn't keep the zips otherwise delete all the manifests and start over
C:\Users\Public\Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager\ManifestFiles
I would avoid connect, just use DIM
just grab your saved scenes first if they don't have dependencies outside of your bought content, they should still open
I have two computers and send duf scenes from one to the other all the time, autoadapted files mostly rebuild, just stuff saved as a support asset can be an issue.
DAZ will ask about missing files too and you actually can use the search function in the window for browsing to them
and note, you don't have to buy more
use what you have and get creative with it
THAT is where it becomes a problem, content collecting, the aim should be creating art not adding to your library
I could not agree with this more. I remember holidays 2020 I ended up spending over $300. I usually spend on average $25 a month. Even to this day there are things I purchased during that period I have yet to use.
partly that. spent too much plus constant problems with the program. This is at least the 4th time the database fell to pieces in the last 3 years...total reinstalls each time plus days of headaches to go with it. I will say the crashes seemed to have stopped, but. My overall enjoyment just isn;t there anymore. I won;t renew my DAZ+ this time either. I think much is the overall way this site works, problems constantly, the forums upset me quite a bit, search is non-existent in the store. The total of it has left me gasping for breath. I used to like it here a lot, not so much anymore.
I think if I redo and not instal so much, things might work better and faster. I cannot afford to buy a new system, and mine should be able to handle this decently, but the newer content not as easilty. Yeah ..backwards I think might be a help. Coming to the store daily has become one of my tasks ... its very tempting. That has to stop as well.
DAZ burnout.
My rigs don't cope with a lot of the new stuff either.
I am learning to stop buying it, not being in DAZ+ helps a lot.
That said I have being using Aiko3 etc a lot more lately and most of the clothing Dforces well too
(and VWD in Carrara)
Filament is great for animations too if one avoids ovelapping cut out opacity, and the great thing about toony stuff is you can forgo transparency maps altogether.
my product list in my content is full of those triangles with question marks BTW, I give up on the metadata crap and just search for stuff with Voidtools Everthing now
I doubt that many will follow your drift here but I think I might. I know that my time would have been much better spent learning how to create my own content - mostly because the things I buy rarely live up to the promo hype and I end up actually using a small fraction of my purchases with any frequency. Yet I come back every day looking for something new to add to my collection. Thank goodness I have a small income so can't afford the kind of huge content library that most here seem to have amassed.
Secondly, DAZ Studio itself has not lived up to my hopes. It has definitely improved a lot since I started way back in 2005 or so but I had visions of it becoming so much more. It is still lacking a decent physics engine, a quality fast render option and animation tools fit for purpose. Nevertheless, it is still my hobby and I still produce scenes and renders almost every day. I just can't help but imagine how much better it could be.
What database fell apart? DAZ Studio has a database? Where is it? What's it for?
Redacted
CMS is the database system.
How could it fall apart? What do you have to do to it to make it fall apart? Or does it spontaneously just fall apart?
Funny, reading this and threads from others in the past, i feel a big part of the problem is expectations. We come to the store and see these great products/plugins/scripts/etc that are touted as the cure all for any problem you have with your scenes in DS only to find that isn't the case and that most of these products are just ready packaged ways of using what is already in DS. It seems that some DS users want magic tools to take their art to the next level instead of working on their skills and doing it themselves. I start a new folder for all my saved projects each year to help me gauge what, if anything I have learned to better my skills and it helps.
My spending as been limited over the past two years, mostly due to real world expenses, but also due to finding the workflow that works for me. using models from other places, creating more of my own content, and using my content for others uses (Virtual Reality).
I still think highly of Daz Studio and get excited when new features are added, even if they don't target me and my workflow.
..I never bother with the database as it can be flaky as well (even brand new items sometimes do not show up in the database). .I just use the old "tried and true" content tree as I have for the last 14 or so years (albeit these days with a customised setup)
I still know how to use a library card catalogue and an actual map as well as also used to do management and programming flow charts so it's not really all that difficult.
A simple answer is that any program that handles loads of assets uses a database to keep track of them, their loacations, and their interactions. Databases are prone to falling apart; anyone who handles them knows the mantra of backup, backup, backup.... This is why you backup regularly even if you are writing a simple MS word document. Daz Studio has the unenviable combination of having to deal with tens to hundreds of thousands of assets created over the course of a decade on a very wide range of computers and not having very good error correction for its database. You can make it break by force-quiting thus not allowing the database to finish up, and spontaneous hard disk errors can break it. Something that confuses me are the people who somehow get a break in the database and don't just recover an undamaged one from their backups but instead redownload everything. I have been around since Daz3d started and have redownloaded everything twice due to major hard disk/motherboard failures.
I understand how to backup the content, and the scene files, but how do you backup the database, and how often do you have to back it up?
It isn't all down to lazy users though (even though I'm in no doubt that I'm one of those who could still learn a lot). An improved animation timeline or physics are not things that the user can figure out from what's available in DAZ Studio right now. They are things that many have been requesting for years though.
I totally understand where you're coming from... and believe me, as someone who literally owns three quarters of all the products in the store, I feel your pain. And yeah, the basic vibe of this store has changed dramatically from one of a fun hobby center created and run by other creators to one run with a near manic "buy this to get this to get this to get a bunch of ancient junk that we'll probably give away for free in the near future" zeal and a constant barrage of ridiculously convoluted verbiage and promotions. Which I could handle if the software itself didn't keep playing second fiddle to hamfisted attempts at big brotherish content management tools that, inexplicably, all offer less functionality than the product that they're supposed to replace (DIM), and sidetracks into ventures that seem way out of the companies established wheelhouse (but, hey avatar software is trendy... No! Wait! It's NFTs that are trendy now! Change course... oops! ICEBERG!)
Of course, as I've got more figure assets than I can really imagine ever needing, I basically called it quits on the DS merry-go-round with Genesis 8 and DS 4.12, and generally focus on buyings sets, scripts and other items that are backwards compatible. And that's actually worked out pretty well so far, as while the improvements of Genesis 8 over 7 were comparitively minor, the changes for 8.1 seemed more for the sake of change and making older products less competive than creating any significant visual improvements. Honestly, I don't care for how the PBR skins look, I already have TWO face conversion programs that were both sold by DAZ vendors, and I saw little need at all for Filament (and boy, did interest in that one burn out quick, to take an aside to use the obvious pun) or most of the other knick knacks in the newest versions of DS. Maybe I'd be more enticed if DAZ ever actually wrote a users manual that covers even half of the existing features that have come out and been buried since they last bothered updating the thing... which was when they changed some parts to add references to Genesis 2, for crying out loud.
As for slimming down... YES! DO IT! I took advantage of the purchase of a new rendering computer to radically slim down my active runtimes versus what had become a giant bloated mess, and I'm so glad that I did. Now all my old files and runtimes are on separate external storage drives, and anytime I want to use those assets, all I have to do is open that drive, click on the duf, note which files are needed when it tries to load, and then add them. It's really so much better that it's not even funny.
....yeah felt same where when G8 came out, i said "why?" I had just got everything I needed to make G3 useful for custom character design. Now I had to reinvest in all those resources and base figures again? At a higher price? Well I got a few. mostly the really unique ones and none from the "core character stable". I also picked up the G8 to G3 converter for both generations to add their shapes and characteristics to the "gene pool". I also purchased some clothing and hair ( along with the conversion scripts to G3) as finally there were styles I was looking for only to find hierarchical presets got in the way in some cases so I stopped with that and now focus primarily on vehicles props and sets (though careful to make sure they do not place a ridiculous load on resources as I still have older tech).
I still am slowly rebuilding after a drive crash (have a backup now for both the library and boot drives), basically most Poser and freebie content (save or Aiko3 content and freebies) remains to be installed and only then when I need it for a scene.
"I understand how to backup the content, and the scene files, but how do you backup the database, and how often do you have to back it up?"
I back up my entire computer so the appdata folder is automatically backed up. I can then go through my backups to a time where everything worked, restore the appdata and back in business.
I left Poser I don't know how many times because of burnout. A couple times it was for YEARS at a time. ;)
Laurie
This thread tells you how to rebuild the database - https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/2928/rebuilding-database
The back up does need to be made while PostgrteSQL is closed, otherwise there is a risk of having some files either side of a change which would not work.
DAZ 3D content is one of the better & more flexible bargains I've bought in my life so far, occasional mistakes ands all, when speaking of "non-necessity hobby" products. Sure it's a hassle to remember how to pose some of the old models, eg old 3DU models before Genesis but they are still great products.
I am thankful it's being made easier though to get the content I've bought into 3rd party software though.
Nope no regrets. Love Daz. Learned very early to have external backups of all content including previous versions of Daz. Never got the hang of metadata thingy so I only use content manager. I buy what I want even if I don't "need" it. Sometimes I regret reading some forum threads because, reasons.
its more than just a mess, its the overall vibe. I used to enjoy this as a hobby, but not much anymore. I have so much invested into it that it is nearly being a fool not to continue on - after delete everything on my system and start over, once again. Rebuilding the database is not working.for me ... soon as my C drive is cloned It is total deletion of DS and the long time consuming job of rebuild my stuff.
Same.
Also, when doing manual installations, you don't have to care about the installers or the database to be informed about what you have done with the Content Libraries.
Need to move one to another drive - Just move it and change the location in DS = Done