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How to restore my Daz3D Smart Content Library after Windows Reset?

DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391
edited November 2023 in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

Hi I unfortunately did not go well with a Windows update, and had to reset my PC. It kept all my files, but uninstalled my programs. I reinstalled Daz4.22, but My Daz Connect Library is gone, my Smart Content is there but showing as uninstalled. I know it is still on my harddrive, though.

I can see the old directory under "cloud", I believe? Documents > Daz3D > Studio > My Daz Connect Library > data > cloud or data (?) - looks to be where then all my content still is. I'd like to just plug that back in, if I can?

I'm a little rusted and I'm sure this happens often. I tried editing my content directory from preferences to go to the data folder there, but nothing had changed, not sure what I am doing wrong. Thank you.

Post edited by DefaultName on

Comments

  • DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391

    Is the directory I want to connect through the content manager to Daz Connect data under Public documents > My DAZ 3D library ?

    I'm just trying to get back the products I has previously installed through Smart Content

  • SofaCitizenSofaCitizen Posts: 1,892

    I never touch Daz Connect myself so I am not sure on the specifics, but it sounds like perhaps the path is not connected correctly. In that case you would go to the "Content Directory Manager" - either click the button in the Content Tab of the Preferences or select it from the top-corner icon menu on the Content Library tab of the workspace. If you expand the section shown as "Daz Connect Data" that is where you would want your folder of Connect data to be listed, so "Documents > Daz3D > Studio > My Daz Connect Library" as you have said above. It should be set to the folder that contains "data" I believe.

    If the path is correct then you may have to ask someone else who uses Connect. I think there was an "installed" property in the database product table which was only used by Connect so it could be that this has been lost which is why it's not acurately showing the status of what you have on the harddrive. I don't know if there is a way of refreshing/resetting that - if you were using DIM then I would suggest the re-import metadata but that probably won't work for Connect.

  • DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391
    edited November 2023

    SofaCitizen said:

    I never touch Daz Connect myself so I am not sure on the specifics, but it sounds like perhaps the path is not connected correctly. In that case you would go to the "Content Directory Manager" - either click the button in the Content Tab of the Preferences or select it from the top-corner icon menu on the Content Library tab of the workspace. If you expand the section shown as "Daz Connect Data" that is where you would want your folder of Connect data to be listed, so "Documents > Daz3D > Studio > My Daz Connect Library" as you have said above. It should be set to the folder that contains "data" I believe.

    If the path is correct then you may have to ask someone else who uses Connect. I think there was an "installed" property in the database product table which was only used by Connect so it could be that this has been lost which is why it's not acurately showing the status of what you have on the harddrive. I don't know if there is a way of refreshing/resetting that - if you were using DIM then I would suggest the re-import metadata but that probably won't work for Connect.

    Well that's confusing me. DIM shows it's all still installed and still there. For example, I have a pose set that is under C > Users > Public > Documents > My Daz3D Library, and everything is still showing as installed through DIM, but I cannot get it to show this to my Smart Content.

    My installed Daz3D content is also showing in my Content Library Pane as all there. But I was to use the Smart Content pane because it has other small features that I always use, but I do not know how to make this work.

    Post edited by DefaultName on
  • SofaCitizenSofaCitizen Posts: 1,892

    DefaultName said:

    Well that's confusing me. DIM shows it's all still installed and still there. For example, I have a pose set that is under C > Users > Public > Documents > My Daz3D Library, and everything is still showing as installed through DIM, but I cannot get it to show this to my Smart Content.

    My installed Daz3D content is also showing in my Content Library Pane as all there. But I was to use the Smart Content pane because it has other small features that I always use, but I do not know how to make this work.

    Sorry, I am confused - you were talking about Daz Connect in the first two posts?

    You shouldn't use both Daz Connect and DIM as they do not work in the same way and will most likely cause issues or at the very least they'll end up downloading two copies of everything.

  • DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391

    SofaCitizen said:

    DefaultName said:

    Well that's confusing me. DIM shows it's all still installed and still there. For example, I have a pose set that is under C > Users > Public > Documents > My Daz3D Library, and everything is still showing as installed through DIM, but I cannot get it to show this to my Smart Content.

    My installed Daz3D content is also showing in my Content Library Pane as all there. But I was to use the Smart Content pane because it has other small features that I always use, but I do not know how to make this work.

    Sorry, I am confused - you were talking about Daz Connect in the first two posts?

    You shouldn't use both Daz Connect and DIM as they do not work in the same way and will most likely cause issues or at the very least they'll end up downloading two copies of everything.

    I think I do have two copies of a lot of things. What I'd like to do is simply get use of my Smart Content back, then I can sort out what I have copies of in DIM, which is 1,000+ things according to it's installed tab. I don't know %100 if Daz Connect is integral to me getting use of my Smart Content back 

  • SofaCitizenSofaCitizen Posts: 1,892

    Daz Connect is not needed at all for Smart Content - many people use Smart Content without touching Daz Connect at all. Daz Connect itself does use the database behind Smart Content tho in some ways.

    The problem is that the situation you find yourself in is not one that I think is easily fixed until you pick EITHER Daz Connect or DIM and then purge the installations installed by the other method.

    If you choose DIM then you should manually uninstall everything that has a Daz Connect record (check that cloud folder for the list), and then once you are sure that everything is gone click the button to logoff within Daz Studio and ensure that you never sign into your account within Daz Studio again. Then, it's probably best to restart Daz to make sure it is definitely disconnected and doesn't auto-reconnect. Finally, you can then use the Content DB Maintenance option under Smart Content corner menu to "Re-import Metadata". This will go through all the "config" files for DIM-installed products that it can find and create the relevant records in the Database (CMS) so that Smart Content will know about them.

    If you choose Daz Connect then you should probably remove everything DIM has installed - with the exception of applications and plugins (I think Daz Connect has issues with plugins and also you don't want to uninstall Daz or the CMS at all. Hopefully, if you have confirmed the path as mentioned above Daz Studio should then see the products that are installed via Connect. That may not work tho as I don't have experience with repairing Daz Connect.

    If you want to continue using both then you'll need help from someone far smarter than me.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,939

    First check that the content directory is correct (you need the folder that contains the /data/cloud folder selected) - if it is, or if correcting it doesn't help, then the issue is probably that your database was replaced - or, worst case, corrupted by the update. Generally you should have a Windows.old file with back-ups of all your old files (as long as the reset didn't include a reformat) the database will be in /users/profiles/youroldaccount/app data/daz 3d/cms/ContentCluster/ assuming you hadn't moved it. Do you have the missing database files (assuming you wish to go on using Connect at all)?

  • DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391

    Richard Haseltine said:

    First check that the content directory is correct (you need the folder that contains the /data/cloud folder selected) - if it is, or if correcting it doesn't help, then the issue is probably that your database was replaced - or, worst case, corrupted by the update. Generally you should have a Windows.old file with back-ups of all your old files (as long as the reset didn't include a reformat) the database will be in /users/profiles/youroldaccount/app data/daz 3d/cms/ContentCluster/ assuming you hadn't moved it. Do you have the missing database files (assuming you wish to go on using Connect at all)?

    Hi, thanks. I found the ContentCluster file path but do not see a Window.old files there. I'm happy to go without Daz Connect if I can still use Smart Content, I like the way Smart Content is formatted and using things like "explore add-ons" and filtering by context, if I could get Daz to recognize it again. I currently am able to use my Daz3d assets in the content library pane, so they are there, I don't want to double install any of them. 

  • DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391
    edited November 2023

    SofaCitizen said:

    Daz Connect is not needed at all for Smart Content - many people use Smart Content without touching Daz Connect at all. Daz Connect itself does use the database behind Smart Content tho in some ways.

    The problem is that the situation you find yourself in is not one that I think is easily fixed until you pick EITHER Daz Connect or DIM and then purge the installations installed by the other method.

    If you choose DIM then you should manually uninstall everything that has a Daz Connect record (check that cloud folder for the list), and then once you are sure that everything is gone click the button to logoff within Daz Studio and ensure that you never sign into your account within Daz Studio again. Then, it's probably best to restart Daz to make sure it is definitely disconnected and doesn't auto-reconnect. Finally, you can then use the Content DB Maintenance option under Smart Content corner menu to "Re-import Metadata". This will go through all the "config" files for DIM-installed products that it can find and create the relevant records in the Database (CMS) so that Smart Content will know about them.

    If you choose Daz Connect then you should probably remove everything DIM has installed - with the exception of applications and plugins (I think Daz Connect has issues with plugins and also you don't want to uninstall Daz or the CMS at all. Hopefully, if you have confirmed the path as mentioned above Daz Studio should then see the products that are installed via Connect. That may not work tho as I don't have experience with repairing Daz Connect.

    If you want to continue using both then you'll need help from someone far smarter than me.

    This, thank you this seemed to have worked for me. I have a lot of my content back, if not all of it, in the Smart Content pane.
    I have however, logged on so I can still install new products under the "products" tab of smart content, I double click to install new things, is my preferred method lately.

    Most appreciated, I hope this has solved it. 

    No so it looks like it partially solved it, importing old data from DIM, but not my recent installations...

    Post edited by DefaultName on
  • DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391

    Richard Haseltine said:

    First check that the content directory is correct (you need the folder that contains the /data/cloud folder selected) - if it is, or if correcting it doesn't help, then the issue is probably that your database was replaced - or, worst case, corrupted by the update. Generally you should have a Windows.old file with back-ups of all your old files (as long as the reset didn't include a reformat) the database will be in /users/profiles/youroldaccount/app data/daz 3d/cms/ContentCluster/ assuming you hadn't moved it. Do you have the missing database files (assuming you wish to go on using Connect at all)?

    I think I do have two directories, and I did find windows.old

    So I have Public documents > MyDaz3D Library, which I believe I just imported. But several recent things are missing. I have found those things under windows.old > users > me > AppData > Roaming > Daz3d > dson > cache > data - has all the recent products I installed

    However, this group simply has all it's folders as vendor names, then the product. They are not grouped by environment, or figure, like MyDaz3D Library

    So I think now the question is how to reconcile them? Or combine them? 

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,939
    edited November 2023

    The old database would be in windows.old > users > me > AppData > Roaming > Daz3d > cms > ContentCluster, but if you have already isntalled stuff anew (and, more to the point, saved your own stuff) it may not be worth trying to get it back (if it is just DIM installs you have added you could sacrifice them and then reimport the metadata). Befroe trying to replace the new database with the old make absolutely certain that all applications that use it (Daz Studio, Install manager, Daz Central, carrara) have closed down and are not still running in the background - there are a lot of separate files invovled and you don't want one of them being updated mid way through while others are the older versions. Also, make a copy of the new database first, then delete the actual files, then copy (don't drag, or cut) the old database across - databases are delicate creatures.

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391

    Richard Haseltine said:

    The old database would be in windows.old > users > me > AppData > Roaming > Daz3d > cms > ContentCluster

    I have that file path and can get to it. Is there a specific file I'm looking to copy? Or do you mean I should copy the ContentCluster folder entirely, over to the current ContentCluster?
    Would that restore everything?

  • DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391
    edited November 2023

    Richard Haseltine said:

    The old database would be in windows.old > users > me > AppData > Roaming > Daz3d > cms > ContentCluster, but if you have already isntalled stuff anew (and, more to the point, saved your own stuff) it may not be worth trying to get it back (if it is just DIM installs you have added you could sacrifice them and then reimport the metadata). Befroe trying to replace the new database with the old make absolutely certain that all applications that use it (Daz Studio, Install manager, Daz Central, carrara) have closed down and are not still running in the background - there are a lot of separate files invovled and you don't want one of them being updated mid way through while others are the older versions. Also, make a copy of the new database first, then delete the actual files, then copy (don't drag, or cut) the old database across - databases are delicate creatures.

    I found a CMS option in the edit > preferences tab, and under CMS, I connected that directory to this CMS, the windows.old directory.  That appears to have brought everything, including my recent installations, back.

    Is there a risk for me to keep it this way? Will Windows.old be overwritten?

    Edit - I read that Windows.old will be overwritten if I update or install Windows again as it's only the most recent past iteration and no more. So I may try to copy the file contents to where it made the previous directory?

    Post edited by DefaultName on
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,939

    DefaultName said:

    Richard Haseltine said:

    The old database would be in windows.old > users > me > AppData > Roaming > Daz3d > cms > ContentCluster, but if you have already isntalled stuff anew (and, more to the point, saved your own stuff) it may not be worth trying to get it back (if it is just DIM installs you have added you could sacrifice them and then reimport the metadata). Befroe trying to replace the new database with the old make absolutely certain that all applications that use it (Daz Studio, Install manager, Daz Central, carrara) have closed down and are not still running in the background - there are a lot of separate files invovled and you don't want one of them being updated mid way through while others are the older versions. Also, make a copy of the new database first, then delete the actual files, then copy (don't drag, or cut) the old database across - databases are delicate creatures.

    I found a CMS option in the edit > preferences tab, and under CMS, I connected that directory to this CMS, the windows.old directory.  That appears to have brought everything, including my recent installations, back.

    Is there a risk for me to keep it this way? Will Windows.old be overwritten?

    Edit - I read that Windows.old will be overwritten if I update or install Windows again as it's only the most recent past iteration and no more. So I may try to copy the file contents to where it made the previous directory?

    It's the whole folder, that constitutes the database, hence my saying it is a lot of files. And yes, I would make back-ups of both versions, new and old, before trying anything else.

  • DefaultNameDefaultName Posts: 391

    Richard Haseltine said:

    It's the whole folder, that constitutes the database, hence my saying it is a lot of files. And yes, I would make back-ups of both versions, new and old, before trying anything else.

    Okay thanks. I did as mentioned earlier and copied out the default Content Cluster folder, then I copied in the Content folder from Windows.old and put the CMS directory into that, and everything seems good and well. I %100 need backups after this 

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