New computer....which recent version of Daz Studio should I install
kwannie
Posts: 869
I am ever hesitant about updated DS to new versions because of the version conflicts with my assets. So I kept DS 4.10 installed on my old system because of scripts that won't work beyond that. I then stuck with DS 4.12 forever because it was so stable, then went up to DS 4.16 when I installed my RTX 3060, but 4.16 does like to crash on occasion. Now with the RTX 3090 which version does anybody suggest on a new system with all the following assets [ AMD Ryzen 9 7950x, a Pro X670-P motherboard an Nvidia 3090 GPU and using DDR5]. Ihave the DS 4.20 Beta saved and of course I could install DS 4.21 through DIM. I heard several things are broke after DS 4.16 such as ghost lights for example. So I would again appreciate any advice.
Also, I have a second M.2 NVMe which is 2TB that I am adding as a Data drive. Is it better practice to install all DAZ Componetents on the same drive i.e. placing the main DS program and then My Library on the same drice or should it be the main program on the C: drive where Windows is and MY Library on the data drive Thanks!
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Ghost lights were changed, but there are workarounds, and sticking on older versions means losing out on things like the newer volumetrics.
As far as your program and library location, DS will mostly work with whatever - one or two add-ons are (IMO poorly-)made so they will only work with a default install location, but that's fairly rare. I would recommend programs and data on different drives though, it massively smooths the process if you ever need to do an OS reinstall.
Apparently Nvidia has "fixed" ghost lights somehow, whether by just reverting to the old behavior or some other method, but I don't think that fix is in the currently available releases of DS.
My understanding was that Nvidia fixed a bug that the older ghost lights treated as a feature. You now need to set up lights differently to do the same thing. This video explains it pretty well: https://youtu.be/TARGzbeeSIk
I don't think this should be a reason not to use the newer version since it's really easy to fix. Maybe install the new version first and uninstall it if you end up not liking it? I only have the newer version so I'm not sure what the difference is, but it works well for me. :)
I'd not heard that, so I checked the change logs and the documentation and... well, dang.
It's not the old behaviour, it's something really quite different. It's a parameter that can added to anything in the scene to affect how strongly ghost light emission shows up in the glossy reflections. On an emissive mesh, it divides the strength of the glossy reflections by the ghost light factor. On a non-emissive mesh, it acts as a multiplier for the factor on any ghost lights (so you can further dull the reflection on specific objects). On a scene light... aaaaaaand that's the big thing here. Ghost lights are no longer forced to be emissive mesh, you can use spotlights and their directional parameters.
Shadows might still be an issue to work around, but I can't tell you how often I've wanted to be able to do a directional ghost light in the past.
Since I have a brand new build, I have to move everything over I was simply going to log on and download a new DIM to the new hard drive and could not find where to download the latest version of DIM all they have is DAZ Central. Has DIM gone by the wayside? I have it installed on my other system and it is stll working fine. Dhould I just use the current installation executable for DIM that I already have, or are we going to have to start using DAZ central?
https://www.daz3d.com/install-manager-info
Thanks frank0314 I could not find that on the DAZ page at all.
It should be linked from every product page in yoru library that has installed content, and can also be found in the Product Library directly by typing manager (I think) into the filter field - I usaully just click the first item in my product library that is likely to be DIMable.
I miss the old days when finding zip files on DAZ was obvious.
I have installed DAZ in the default location and also on a secondary drive and had no issues with either way. However, I prefer the zip files from DIM downloads to end up within the My Library folders so I always hesitate on where to install things.
So if I want to install an older copy of DS do I need to place the zip in the DAZ3D/MyInstallManager/Downloads path.
and be working offline - if it can see there is a different version on the servers it will not use the local zip.
I bought a new I7 12th gen laptop with 3070ti on BF sale. I Installed the latest version was really quick. I use my laptops @ work to buid and preview scenes. Render them on my 5.5 yr old 10 core i7 dekstop 64G of ram 2080ti...All my files are shared on a samsung 2T SSD external drive.
OK, I just got DS ver 4.21 installed after I copied My Library over to my new data drive. Just pointed DS to the directory on the new drive. Now I don't seem to have much of a speed increase in rendering with an Nvidia 3090. I have 32 GB of DDR5 so I don't know if that is the issue, I've heard that the more Vram you have the more system ram you need. Are there and acceleration settinf in DS or the GPU that need to be turned on or off. Display settings render settings? Any tips appreciated.
It isn't that you need more system RAM for a given scene, as I understand it, it's that you need more (two to three times VRAM) to cope with scenes that are pushing the limits on what the card will hold. Theer should not be much, if any, chnage in the resources needed to handle existing scenes that fitted on your older card.
This is why I am staying with my 2080ti desktop for now. I didin't notice any major changes with my new 3070ti laptop..
The Iray in 4.20 and 4.21 is slow. It has been proven slow in the benchmark thread. The Iray Dev team has also publicly acknowledged this problem. Sometimes it can be over 50% slower.
Iray 4.20 fixed the glitch that allowed for ghost lights. So all older ghost lights do not work. New products have released, but they look different and are prone to fireflies if the ghost light is in the camera view.
Iray 4.20 changed how thin film works, so some water looks gray under certain conditions.
Iray 4.20 can also change how certain HDRIs look.
Iray 4.20 introduced volumetrics through VDB file support.
What is this "volumetrics" that you speak of?
How do you install an earlier version? I thought the current version is the only version that is available for installation.
It is, but if you kept a copy of the applicationand plug-in packages you can drop them in the Install manager downloads folder, start Install manager in Offlien mode, and install them.
Outrider42, which previous version of DS would be the most stable and fastest for rendering. I was usin DS ver 4.16 after I got a RTX 3060, but now with a RTX 3090 which version would yeild the fastest rendering? I find the ground fog in DS ver 4.21 interesting but did not know that version was actually slower.