DIM vs/and/or ...?

3DScreencraft

Hi, I am very confused by having the DIM as well as the Daz Connect. I use the DIM for downloading,  but then I go into Daz Studio 4.9 and anything I want to use, it downloads and installs AGAIN! Should I just not use the DIM from now on? I hate downloading twice; it makes no sense to me. And now a new category has appeared in DS Smart Content - "Lost and Found", a huge collection, I think of older stuff from the looks of it. I can't see how to re-categories, eg Adhafera Hair - it needs moving to the HAIR category.

So: DIM or give up on DIM?

Re-categorising?

Thanks all!

Richard Haseltine

Either download and install with DIM or download and install with Connect, there's no reason to download with DIM if you are going to install via Connect. The idea is that you can install via DIM and then, if you choose, install via Connect and it will download only changed files but that isn't currently working for me. Using Connect has the advantage, if you have a data cap, that only changed files need to be download following an update (and that does seem to be working), and of course theer are some items which can be installed only via Connect.

3DScreencraft

Hi Richard,

 

Ahhh, okay, I did after this notice that some of the products I tried loaded without installing again. I shall try using just the Connect and see how I go. Thank you! :-)

namffuak

One item of note - connect does not currently support the generation 4 characters and morphs (vicky 4, michael 4, and the related -4 characters); I haven't checked but they should not even show up in connect. The clothing and props should work just fine.

3DScreencraft

Oh goodness, that's a major flaw! Thanks Kauffman - perhaps best keep using both for the moment. lol!

nicstt

I only use DIM.

3DScreencraft

Thanks nicstt, just that I always use DIM but then in DS itself, when looking at my content, often when I want to use it, DS has to download and install it. I am assuming from the above that that's because those have updated files, but I don't know why that doesn't come up  in DIM then - or perhaps it's the newly coded system. Anyway, I'll keep using DIM and then let DS download if it insists. lo!

cdpro_2831bbd990

I've been on Skype with Laslo of Headshop 9 fame.  I could not get the product to work with my Gen 2 loaded through Connect.  So, I'm re-downloading the whole Gen 2 base package through DIM just to get the figure to be discoverable by H9.  Honestly, I have had nothing but headaches with the way the Daz Connect puts content into the compressed Cloud folders.  It might be more efficient.  But, it is really difficult to add any third party content.  And, between DIM and Daz Connect, I end up with a lot of multiple folders of the same items.

Connect is a very convenient way to directly download content into Studio - but on the back end, it's a real pain.  If I had realized beforehand, I would have just stuck with the DIM all the way.

I've watched as many YouTube videos and read as many forum posts as I can find about installing third party content from sites like Renderosity and ShareCG.  But, with my main runtime folders pertaining to the base figures being installed through Connect, it has been almost impossible to get things to work. 

Ive also noticed that files often do now show up by directly looking into my Windows Explorer folder.  I have to "browse to file location" from within Daz to find many items. 

To be fair, I am decidedly a newbie at this.  But, it gets very frustrating to follow all the steps for importing content, only to not have it show up or get plugin errors because the content is not easily discoverable when loaded via Connect.

If anyone has come up with the definitive tutorial, I'd love to read / see it!

:)

SethM

I'd say to avoid Connect for non-encrypted content becuase Connect doesn't set up any Mapped Folders, which means any product that uses folders to organize its parts (many pose sets, products like Iray SkyDome, AtmoCam, IG Iray Essentials, Awesome Eyes, about a billion more...) just become an undifferentiated pile of links with no organization or guidance. They often lose all of their utility if installed with Connect. Basically, as far as I can tell, using Connect adds nothing other than being required for encrypted products.

SethM

Oh, for third party downloads, I'd suggest making two folders on your system and using them as the root of a second Daz-style content tree and a Poser-stle runtime and installing things to their. Add them via Manage Directories from the Content tab and don't ever try to mix up the DIM, Connect, and third-party content if you can avoid it. (There may be a few very specific pieces that have to be installed to your default Daz content tree, but they will hopefully have very good instructions in their download package.)