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Hide Libraries on Unplugged External Drive?

tsroemitsroemi Posts: 2,851
edited July 2022 in Daz Studio Discussion

I hope I'm putting this right - I want to install some of my content into separate libraries on an external SSD, because I'm running out of space on the internal one. Now, is there a way to install items into these so that DAZ Studio won't be giving me 'Missing file' icons all over the place when the external libraries are not connected to the PC? I know I need to set which libraries to use in the Content Directory Manager, but even if I disconnect the external libraries there, Studio still remembers those files were installed. So, can I not make Studio forget those installs as long as they're not really present?

Any help much appreciated! I'm drowning in content after the current sales ...

Post edited by tsroemi on

Comments

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,269

    No, i don't think so. You should right a ticket to DAZ support.

  • tsroemitsroemi Posts: 2,851
    edited July 2022

    nonesuch00 said:

    No, i don't think so. You should right a ticket to DAZ support.

    I might try that, thanks for the suggestion!
     

    Just thinking, maybe this is something that the Content Wizard script by @RiversoftArt can do? I've actually got it, just haven't found my way around it quite yet. It does say though that it lets one install content to different directories. But maybe they still have to be all connected to Studio all the time? 
    Edit: Have asked just that in the Content Wizard thread.

    Post edited by tsroemi on
  • stefan.humsstefan.hums Posts: 132

    tsroemi said:

    I know I need to set which libraries to use in the Content Directory Manager, but even if I disconnect the external libraries there, Studio still remembers those files were installed. So, can I not make Studio forget those installs as long as they're not really present?

    Smart Content is your 'problem'. As soon as the support files with their metadata are installed for a product, it has its entries in the Smart Content database. If the content library is not available because disconnected, Studio will always show the 'Missing File' icon for these assets in the Smart Content tab. If you delete this content library (temporary) in Content Directory Manager, it will no longer be shown in the Content Library itself, but the Smart Content data are still there and you get the 'Missing File' icon for those assets. There is only one Smart Content database where all products will get their entries.

    You would have to delete metadata by removing all references from the Products group in your Content Library for all of these products installed in those disconnected libraries. But then you would have to load the assets manually from your Content Library, they will no longer be available in Smart Content until you re-install their support files. Pretty cumbersome, but I guess there is no other solution. You will have to live with the 'Missing File' icons as long as those libraries are disconnected.

  • tsroemitsroemi Posts: 2,851

    stefan.hums said:

    tsroemi said:

    I know I need to set which libraries to use in the Content Directory Manager, but even if I disconnect the external libraries there, Studio still remembers those files were installed. So, can I not make Studio forget those installs as long as they're not really present?

    Smart Content is your 'problem'. As soon as the support files with their metadata are installed for a product, it has its entries in the Smart Content database. If the content library is not available because disconnected, Studio will always show the 'Missing File' icon for these assets in the Smart Content tab. If you delete this content library (temporary) in Content Directory Manager, it will no longer be shown in the Content Library itself, but the Smart Content data are still there and you get the 'Missing File' icon for those assets. There is only one Smart Content database where all products will get their entries.

    You would have to delete metadata by removing all references from the Products group in your Content Library for all of these products installed in those disconnected libraries. But then you would have to load the assets manually from your Content Library, they will no longer be available in Smart Content until you re-install their support files. Pretty cumbersome, but I guess there is no other solution. You will have to live with the 'Missing File' icons as long as those libraries are disconnected.

    Thanks very much for the explanation! I guess I will have to turn off metadata completely because it really keeps messing up the way I want to organize my things in Studio. It's so persistent, also with uninstalled or deleted items. Makes me having to hunt down every single reference to, say, a bunch 3dl textures and delete them by hand. But would I still have the thumbnails in the content library if I did away with all metadata?

  • stefan.humsstefan.hums Posts: 132

    tsroemi said:

    I guess I will have to turn off metadata completely because it really keeps messing up the way I want to organize my things in Studio. It's so persistent, also with uninstalled or deleted items. Makes me having to hunt down every single reference to, say, a bunch 3dl textures and delete them by hand. But would I still have the thumbnails in the content library if I did away with all metadata?

    If you want to get rid off the metadata all at once and completely: right-click on the Content Library tab, from the context menu choose Content DB Maintenance, in the dialogue select Reset Database. This will delete everything in Smart Content and your CMS database is then completely empty. But bear in mind: with that, also all references in Products and Categories are gone, also your own categorizitions if you made those.

    But do NOT switch off the CMS itself! There are functions in Daz Studio which require the CMS running in background. Otherwise it may slow down things drastically or may lead to unforseeable behaviour and things do no longer work like expected or do no longer work at all.

    Emptying the CMS database will not affect your thumbnails in the content library, these are loaded from the location where the physical files for the assets are.

  • tsroemitsroemi Posts: 2,851

    stefan.hums said:

    tsroemi said:

    I guess I will have to turn off metadata completely because it really keeps messing up the way I want to organize my things in Studio. It's so persistent, also with uninstalled or deleted items. Makes me having to hunt down every single reference to, say, a bunch 3dl textures and delete them by hand. But would I still have the thumbnails in the content library if I did away with all metadata?

    If you want to get rid off the metadata all at once and completely: right-click on the Content Library tab, from the context menu choose Content DB Maintenance, in the dialogue select Reset Database. This will delete everything in Smart Content and your CMS database is then completely empty. But bear in mind: with that, also all references in Products and Categories are gone, also your own categorizitions if you made those.

    But do NOT switch off the CMS itself! There are functions in Daz Studio which require the CMS running in background. Otherwise it may slow down things drastically or may lead to unforseeable behaviour and things do no longer work like expected or do no longer work at all.

    Emptying the CMS database will not affect your thumbnails in the content library, these are loaded from the location where the physical files for the assets are.

    Thanks again, I'll rather just reset, then. I felt a bit cautious about switching the whole thing off myself ... 

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,159

    stefan.hums said:

    tsroemi said:

    I guess I will have to turn off metadata completely because it really keeps messing up the way I want to organize my things in Studio. It's so persistent, also with uninstalled or deleted items. Makes me having to hunt down every single reference to, say, a bunch 3dl textures and delete them by hand. But would I still have the thumbnails in the content library if I did away with all metadata?

    If you want to get rid off the metadata all at once and completely: right-click on the Content Library tab, from the context menu choose Content DB Maintenance, in the dialogue select Reset Database. This will delete everything in Smart Content and your CMS database is then completely empty. But bear in mind: with that, also all references in Products and Categories are gone, also your own categorizitions if you made those.

    But do NOT switch off the CMS itself! There are functions in Daz Studio which require the CMS running in background. Otherwise it may slow down things drastically or may lead to unforseeable behaviour and things do no longer work like expected or do no longer work at all.

    Emptying the CMS database will not affect your thumbnails in the content library, these are loaded from the location where the physical files for the assets are.

    Clearing the database and not reimporting metadata will also block those features which rely on the metadata provided by the CMS.

  • stefan.humsstefan.hums Posts: 132

    Richard Haseltine said:

    Clearing the database and not reimporting metadata will also block those features which rely on the metadata provided by the CMS.

    I have metadata installed only for the Default Resources, all Genesis Starter Essentials and the dForce Essentials. This stuff has its own content directory where nothing else will be installed.

    Anything else has different content directories, the products are installed solely manually - no DIM, no Daz Central and no Daz Connect. And the /Runtime/Support folders of my content directories are empty, I don't have any use for all this rather stupid than 'smart' content that only breaks things and causes a terrible mess in the content organization. I even delete references for my saved files and support assets, I organize my content otherwise, and since .djl links were introduced, I use those and put them in a (for me) senseful structure inside an own 'link library', so I find what I am looking for.

    Well, I do this since more than 8 years and never had any problems that things didn't work - unless things I have ruined myself lol.

  • tsroemitsroemi Posts: 2,851

    I've just found out something, maybe it's of interest to some others as well: If you install things manually, like stefan.hums described, and then have them in extra libraries, you can connect and disconnect these libraries to your heart's content, without DS giving a hoot about it. I guess it's because they don't bring those IM manifests with them this way, and of course you can't copy over the metadata files if they have them. 
    This is such a great help to me, finally I can install things I might use sometime without having them clutter up my library! The missing metadata doesn't bother me all that much, I can organize the files in a way that makes sense and then will probably find everything just as well.

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