[Solved] DIM doesn't recognize my installed packages

ShelLuser

Hi gang,

During the past weeks I've had some Interner connectivity issues but my DAZ environment remained working as normal. It's only last Thursday when I went over the list of installed packages using the DIM to verify some of them (I've been very busy with importing contents from the Content Library into the smart content pane).

So now my Internet connection issues have been resolved yet now I face a new problem: the DIM doesn't recognize any installed products, not even Daz Studio itself!

My question: what would be the best way to resolve all this?

I suppose I could simply re-install the entire library and then carefully install / upgrade to 4.9 but I'm not exactly looking forward to download this whole mess again. Especially because everything is already installed and working as expected, even though the DIM disagrees.

For the record: I am using customized locations for both Daz Studio and the library, but those have been properly configured in the DIM. And as hinted at above: it was only last Thursday when I had fired up DIM and it showed all products as being installed.

 

namffuak

DIM tracks installs in C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager\ManifestFiles - one file for each product installed. If you're not seeing any indication of installed items, something happened to this directory.

fastbike1

Actually DIM track installs wherever you told it to install them.

ShelLuser

namffuak said:

DIM tracks installs in C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager\ManifestFiles - one file for each product installed. If you're not seeing any indication of installed items, something happened to this directory.

Thanks a bunch, this was exactly the hint I needed. I do consider it a bit odd behavior on the part of DIM (one would expect this to reside on one's own home directory or the PSQL database), but this is what caused all this. Last Friday I did a bit of cleaning up, which included this directory because I (falsely) assumed that it only contained junk.

 

mjc1016

ShelLuser said:

namffuak said:

DIM tracks installs in C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager\ManifestFiles - one file for each product installed. If you're not seeing any indication of installed items, something happened to this directory.

Thanks a bunch, this was exactly the hint I needed. I do consider it a bit odd behavior on the part of DIM (one would expect this to reside on one's own home directory or the PSQL database), but this is what caused all this. Last Friday I did a bit of cleaning up, which included this directory because I (falsely) assumed that it only contained junk.

 

DIM's default install is the 'public' location...giving 'system wide' installs.

ShelLuser

Small update, hopefully this can be useful for some others as well...

When you use the DIM to download stuff you'll get 2 types of files: zip files which contain the actual product and DSX files which contain the (so I assume) product description. And it's those DSX files which are also used to keep track of installed products (in the above mentioned directory).

Now; I don't keep backups for the public folder (maybe I should) but I do always backup the downloaded DAZ product files (this allows you to restore your stuff even if you don't have an Internet connection). So... All I had to do was check up on my backup and merely copy all the DSX files. Problem solved. Basically, this is what I did:

• Download & re-install some packages in order to re-create the above ManifestFiles directory.
• Check backup and copy the required DSX files. I started with one to verify my theory, next will be to copy all of them.
• Profit! :-)

I'm still in the process of restoration, but here's some proof of concept:

I downloaded & re-installed the Aiko material because I don't use those very often. So even if things would go a bit haywire it wouldn't be too much of a problem. Next I copied the Wyrmworld DSX files (really cool product IMO, esp. for Dune lovers) which I kept in my backup and the result can be seen above.

Once again: thanks a bunch for the quick responses, highly appreciated!

 

 

 

fixmypcmike

Quick clarification:  the .dsx files that are downloaded alongside the zips in the Downloads folder are NOT the same as the .dsx files in the ManifestFiles folder.  When you install an item with DIM, DIM takes the info from the downloaded .dsx files and adds information on what was installed and where, and stores the result in the ManifestFiles folder.  If you look you'll see that the onces in ManifestFiles are much larger.  After DIM has installed the item it no longer needs the .dsx or .zip file from the Downloads folder.

namffuak

fastbike1 said:

Actually DIM track installs wherever you told it to install them.

No - the record of what installed, when, and where is in ManifestFiles. But you can alter DIM's .ini file to put this directory wherever you want. Given that it is only using 160 MB on my system to track 8,000+ files, I don't see any reason to do so. (But I do backup the C:\Users directory).

ShelLuser

Fixmypcmike said:

Quick clarification:  the .dsx files that are downloaded alongside the zips in the Downloads folder are NOT the same as the .dsx files in the ManifestFiles folder. 

True that, and that was also some reason for worry for me. However, the method above works perfectly for me so far and it even allowed the DIM to recognize some new contents (like Daz 4.9 and some new package updates (Genesis packages for example).