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Apparently the DAZ Install Manager is about ready

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  • Joe CotterJoe Cotter Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    You can also go into the \runtime\Support\ folder and delete the metadata files en masse and nothing bad will happen, as long as you are sure what you are deleting are those files and not in some other location by mistake.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,809
    edited December 1969

    If you delete the folder or its contents after installing the content and before starting DS then the new items won't be added to the queue and you won't be prompted to process them.

  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited December 1969

    Gedd said:
    You can also go into the \runtime\Support\ folder and delete the metadata files en masse and nothing bad will happen, as long as you are sure what you are deleting are those files and not in some other location by mistake.

    Thanks, thanks, thanks! :)
  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited December 1969

    Richard Haseltine said:
    If you delete the folder or its contents after installing the content and before starting DS then the new items won't be added to the queue and you won't be prompted to process them.

    Thank you :)
  • SimonJMSimonJM Posts: 5,945
    edited December 1969

    I think I may be making use of this, assuming I can find somewhere to do the downloads, as I may be getting a new computer soon-ish and with a shed-load of content I am not looking forward to a re-install at all!

    One question I do not think I have seen answered (or even asked) is - does the installer differentiate between DAZ and Poser content - i.e., can, or will it be able to, without user intervention on an installer-by-installer basis direct Poser content to a 'Poser runtime' folder and DAZ content to a 'DAZ content' folder?

    Also, with those products where there is an installer just for Poser and another just for DAZ Studio, will we be able to pick which version we want?

  • sandmanmaxsandmanmax Posts: 992
    edited December 1969

    Is there a way to NOT use this thing?

  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited December 1969

    sandman_max said:
    Is there a way to NOT use this thing?

    DIM isn't mandatory from what I read in this thread
  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    sandman_max said:
    Is there a way to NOT use this thing?

    Don't download and install it, and don't use it. You can still do things the old way, although you might find that the download abilities of DIM might suit you. No need ot use all of it's functions as I understand it. We will all know more next week when PC members get to use it.

  • GhostofMacbethGhostofMacbeth Posts: 1,545
    edited December 1969

    I tried using the content management thing for a bit but it never seemed to work so I gave up and I gave up even trying to mess with the metadata files.

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    edited December 1969

    DanaTA said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:

    You are reading into it and putting in paradigms that do not apply. Forget the word reset, that no longer applies.

    So, if I choose not to reinstall 5 to 6 years worth of content, but something gets corrupted from within the purchase period that predates the DIM, I won't be able to get it? If someone decides not to use the DIM, they will lose the ability to reset things?

    As I already stated, we are currently down to Victoria 4 and we will be adding more as fast as we can. Yes, that includes V3, V2 and V1 Content. I will not make any promises as to how fast that will be done, but speed for conversion is a bit higher than people in the forums have speculated.

    "Down" to Victoria 4...but new products continue to come out as installers rather than zip files. I'd say it will be a while before the DIM is ready to go. I mentioned this a few times quite a while ago...continuing to release new products as installers rather than zips has made extra work for DAZ3D. Now that has caught up with DAZ3D, and bitten you. Within this past week, new products were still being released as installers rather than zips.

    DanaAre you asking what happens if your purchase history gets corrupted on our servers?

    Yes new products continue to be placed into your available downloads as installers, Install Manager hasn't been released yet, that does not mean new products do not also have the new format files.

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    edited December 1969

    DanaTA said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:
    robkelk said:

    Having seen many, many non-functioning links over the years, I doubt the auditors will accept that as an answer.

    I don't care any more. I'll pass on the DIM.

    (unsubscribes from thread)

    You are making assumptions, that are wrong. Apparently you haven't looked at the docs, or the options there. Top right of any set of docs in the Doc center.

    When dealing with that ISO spec in a business, they have to make assumptions that something might not work based on past experience. They lose their certification if they just trust something before seeing it for themselves and it backfires on them.

    We were told that new products would have the ReadMe documents here, online. I've already had a few that, at the end of installation, with View Readme checked, sent me to an error page...the doc was not there. So, if it has already happened with software from this site, the assumption must be made that it might happen again.

    DanaYou didn't read what I wrote, or didn't look at any of the document center pages top right corner. (Or a combination of the two.)

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    edited December 1969

    Kerya said:
    Question (and thank you Spooky for your patience - and for being here and answering!):
    If I download everything, install to a fake runtime and then delete that fake runtime, at least the content in that folder - will the Install manager tell me then about updated products?
    Are you keeping all the zip files?
  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    edited December 1969

    Richard Haseltine said:
    If you delete the folder or its contents after installing the content and before starting DS then the new items won't be added to the queue and you won't be prompted to process them.

    Not sure what you are answering here Richard.

    With Install manager the metadata is written directly to the database as part of the install process. For Carrara users this means no more opening DAZ Studio to populate your Smart Content tab. For DS users that means no more delay on open to process new content.

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    edited December 1969

    Renpatsu said:
    One thing that is apparently not mentioned in the docs nor videos, is there an option to avoid MetaData download and installation or do we all have to deal with MetaData now? At the moment I simply avoid MetaData and the "Smart Content" like a plague.
    You can still ignore the smart content tab, and it won't prompt you to process the metadata anymore. The database itself is relatively, very small. If you are really concerned about it, you can always reset the database and clear it out.
  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 2,882
    edited December 1969

    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Richard Haseltine said:
    If you delete the folder or its contents after installing the content and before starting DS then the new items won't be added to the queue and you won't be prompted to process them.

    Not sure what you are answering here Richard.

    With Install manager the metadata is written directly to the database as part of the install process. For Carrara users this means no more opening DAZ Studio to populate your Smart Content tab. For DS users that means no more delay on open to process new content.

    And how does that impact when re-installing something that we've created our own categories and metadata for?

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    edited December 1969

    DaWaterRat said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Richard Haseltine said:
    If you delete the folder or its contents after installing the content and before starting DS then the new items won't be added to the queue and you won't be prompted to process them.

    Not sure what you are answering here Richard.

    With Install manager the metadata is written directly to the database as part of the install process. For Carrara users this means no more opening DAZ Studio to populate your Smart Content tab. For DS users that means no more delay on open to process new content.

    And how does that impact when re-installing something that we've created our own categories and metadata for?I have to admit, I am not entirely sure on that one. And I won't be able to get an answer before Tomorrow.

  • Alisa Uh-LisaAlisa Uh-Lisa Posts: 1,308
    edited December 1969

    Kattey said:
    It has been said in other threads, by those supposedly in the know, that MetaData is now included in the main product installers, and thus you get it whether you use it or not.
    Those are bad news. I hate metadata and content management system with passion, and now I don't even have a choice not to download it? Will I have to install CMS to use a regular product, will it install automatically, or will I have an opportunity to delete all stupid metadata after intallation and just use my item?

    Kattey, just to let you know, it's been almost since metadata came out that it was included in the main files. Not new.


    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Kerya said:
    Question (and thank you Spooky for your patience - and for being here and answering!):
    If I download everything, install to a fake runtime and then delete that fake runtime, at least the content in that folder - will the Install manager tell me then about updated products?Are you keeping all the zip files?

    Is this a yes or a no??? What does it have to do with keeping zip files and if it does, where do you have to keep them?? I keep all my zip/exe files but not in one folder - will that be necessary?

    I want to ask one thing more...if I choose not to use the DIM as an installer, but do use it for downloading batches...will it know about product updates for items that I've downloaded with the DIM, even though I didn't use it to install them? If not, will something be done about notifying those of us who choose not to use it to install things?

    Dana

    I'd like to know this also. IF I use this the only part that seems worthwhile to me (since I never install things to the standard categories and I rename them) I'd like to know if this is my ONLY option to know about updated products.


    Is there a way to NOT use this thing?

    Don't download and install it, and don't use it. You can still do things the old way, although you might find that the download abilities of DIM might suit you. No need ot use all of it's functions as I understand it. We will all know more next week when PC members get to use it.

    Well. maybe, but if the only way to find out about updates is to find it in a thread forum members are keeping up and then going through long long lists of products to try to find it in order to redownload, they ARE in a sense forcing people into using it. I've always thought that eventually there would be emails sent out if things were updated as they are at every other store, but apparently that's not in the thoughts of Daz/

  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 2,882
    edited February 2013

    DAZ_Spooky said:
    DaWaterRat said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Richard Haseltine said:
    If you delete the folder or its contents after installing the content and before starting DS then the new items won't be added to the queue and you won't be prompted to process them.

    Not sure what you are answering here Richard.

    With Install manager the metadata is written directly to the database as part of the install process. For Carrara users this means no more opening DAZ Studio to populate your Smart Content tab. For DS users that means no more delay on open to process new content.

    And how does that impact when re-installing something that we've created our own categories and metadata for?I have to admit, I am not entirely sure on that one. And I won't be able to get an answer before Tomorrow.

    Okay. I can certainly wait. Thank you for looking into it.

    I can think of one way this is already likely to cause extra work for me. (Not complaining so much as illustrating) Especially in my largest runtime/content library - Props and Sets. I beg pardon as I get a little detailed to better explain where I'm coming from, and why I think this could cause extra work for me.

    DS reads the name of the Runtime using the folder immediately above it. ("Props and Sets/Runtime" shows up as "Props and Sets" in the content library.) So, to avoid having 7 different "content" runtimes (back when "Content" was the default DS content library) I have my Content folders and my Runtime folders next to each other as sub folders of the same directory. At the time I decided this, this was consistent with how many DS supported products would install, assuming that you were installing to something above the "Content' folder, so the install path was "Content/blah de blah" assuming I was pointing to "Props and Sets" Other installers just had "Blah de Blah" as the install path assuming that you were already pointing the installer to the Content folder.

    I quickly found it easiest to just point both types of DS installers to "Props and Sets" and then move the Library Files ("Props" or "Environments") that ended up outside of the Content folder into the content folder. Quick, painless, and kept all my textures in "Props and Sets/Runtime/Textures" I never had a broken path caused by moving the Library files.

    Then Metadata showed up. And I had to remember to move the folders outside of Content into Content before I started up DS and installed the metadata or else the Metadata would be broken when I moved things around. The top level "Props and Sets" directory was by this time so cluttered with random folders created by assorted badly organized but very useful freebie props, and the like, that using the Props and Sets as it's own content folder was beyond not an option. Granted, all I was using the Metadata for was to quickly see what had just been installed. (Okay, that's my other use for Metadata/the content manager.)

    If the Install Manager automatically writes metadata, then it sounds like either I point DS installers to Props and Sets/Content and end up with my textures split between two runtimes (not terrible, but messy, and a strong potential for duplicate textures which will eventually eat up needed space) or I point them to Props and sets and end up with the Metadata broken (Fixable, but time consuming) after I move the library files into Content.

    Post edited by DaWaterRat on
  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited December 1969

    Alisa Uh-Lisa said:
    Kattey said:
    It has been said in other threads, by those supposedly in the know, that MetaData is now included in the main product installers, and thus you get it whether you use it or not.

    Those are bad news. I hate metadata and content management system with passion, and now I don't even have a choice not to download it? Will I have to install CMS to use a regular product, will it install automatically, or will I have an opportunity to delete all stupid metadata after intallation and just use my item?

    Kattey, just to let you know, it's been almost since metadata came out that it was included in the main files. Not new.
    It's been almost ... what?
    Confused here.

    Anyway, I became aware about it now and I wish to delete that trash out of my system.

  • Alisa Uh-LisaAlisa Uh-Lisa Posts: 1,308
    edited December 1969

    Kattey said:
    Alisa Uh-Lisa said:
    Kattey said:
    It has been said in other threads, by those supposedly in the know, that MetaData is now included in the main product installers, and thus you get it whether you use it or not.

    Those are bad news. I hate metadata and content management system with passion, and now I don't even have a choice not to download it? Will I have to install CMS to use a regular product, will it install automatically, or will I have an opportunity to delete all stupid metadata after intallation and just use my item?

    Kattey, just to let you know, it's been almost since metadata came out that it was included in the main files. Not new.
    It's been almost ... what?
    Confused here.

    Anyway, I became aware about it now and I wish to delete that trash out of my system.

    Sorry, didn't explain that well. It wasn't very long after they started having metadata, that they started to also put it in the main download. They still had the separate downloads, too. I don't know exactly when it happened, but it was long ago

  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited December 1969

    Ah, got it, thanks. Still, I didn't know, now I know, and because I hate metadata (sorry about that display of fierce emotions) I have an urge to delete it even if it is a smallest thing :-/

  • atryeuatryeu Posts: 612
    edited December 1969

    After reading through what's been listed so far, I have no interest at all in the installer part of the program. Not only would it be pretty much impossible for me to redownload my entire order history (lots of it which I had to download elsewhere because it was literally impossible on dialup to download), but I don't use the CMS at all. Never and have no plans to. I have spent a whole lot of my time moving my Library files around to how I want them setup as I install things and in Studio I use the "Tree" view so I can make use of my own setup. I'm not letting all those hours go to waste to switch to a system I don't want to use to begin with just to be updated about updates to the files -_-

    As for the downloader, I can't say yet. Right now I use Taozan's program because the Daz site is impossible for me since the "upgrade". The files are constantly cutting off from the server but that program doesn't give me those sort of problems. If the downloader will be better than his or he stops working on it I may end up giving it a try, but I'm not at all happy about zips..... I hate zips :( The installers were faster to use because I can keep a folder set to the Library window so quickly organize the locations and folder names of the product I just installed but with a Zip you have to either travel backward through the folders to drop the files in place and then travel back and figure out where your files were dropped to, or have multiple windows open and clutter up your screen and start to make it confusing which window is which -_- I find exe installers are better and faster for me (although I don't like the new installers so much, the older ones were better and faster).

    Also, I also save my installers but not in a single folder either. They are organized just as well and almost in the same way as my content gets organized because no thanks to the file formats of the products being changed so many times it makes it too hard to search by the sku. It was easy when they were all the "ps_tx...." type because they all matched the same format. I have all my installers grouped together by product (base product and any add-ons in the base product's subfolders) and organized by props, generation bases, etc so I can find anything I want in seconds even without running a search. I would hate having them all grouped into a single folder making organizing and finding anything impossible -_-

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,146
    edited February 2013

    I agree with allot of what you said atryeu.... one of the main things is that, again, I like organizing my content to where it's easy for me to find it regardless if I'm using the Content manager or just browsing to the folder since I'm doing allot of conversions. If I were to take the plunge then it's this whole mess of trying to find all the data, textures and other related files to merge with this new sort of Content Runtime for DAZ Studio (I don't use Carrara or Bryce so that extra functionality is not important to me). While this seems like a really cool thing to me, the more I read about it from Spooky's information s/he is imparting to us, there are those issues and concerns. I'm not likely to want to keep my old content folder, I want it all in one place, it gets messy for how my mind works to have an old Content folder and then this new Content folder with all the DIM downloads and installs.

    Plus I am also curious as to where it stores the zips as well. I keep my downloadable files on a back up drive for safe keeping, not on the C drive since it's getting full and I don't want those files bogging down and eating up room on the main system. If I can tell the program to STORE the zips on my "L" drive then that would be ultra cool!

    Post edited by RAMWolff on
  • atryeuatryeu Posts: 612
    edited December 1969

    RAMWolff said:

    Plus I am also curious as to where it stores the zips as well. I keep my downloadable files on a back up drive for safe keeping, not on the C drive since it's getting full and I don't want those files bogging down and eating up room on the main system. If I can tell the program to STORE the zips on my "L" drive then that would be ultra cool!


    Same here. I keep my installers saved on my 1tb drive (which also contains my runtime files actually along with all sorts of other various stuff lol). This way I keep my main drive less cluttered and it's easier to run the more important scans on the hard drive (like scandisk/error checking) without it having to sort through all the extra files LoL

    I organize mine in folders on the other drive and when one of the main folders builds up 4gb of content I burn it to a dvd for backup.

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    edited February 2013

    Alisa Uh-Lisa said:


    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Kerya said:
    Question (and thank you Spooky for your patience - and for being here and answering!):
    If I download everything, install to a fake runtime and then delete that fake runtime, at least the content in that folder - will the Install manager tell me then about updated products?
    Are you keeping all the zip files?

    Is this a yes or a no??? What does it have to do with keeping zip files and if it does, where do you have to keep them?? I keep all my zip/exe files but not in one folder - will that be necessary?The answer makes a difference as to how Install Manager sees the files.

    If you don't have the files either downloaded and in the download directory or installed, by Install Manager, then it will give you a list of files that you don't have installed or downloaded, from your account in "ready to download." It won't show any as updates if you don't have the files in the first place, they are simply ready to download. If you have files downloaded but not installed it will show those in "ready to install." If you download the files but remove the zips, they are no longer ready to Install, so they go back to ready to download. If you have install manager install them, they go into "Installed."

    Install manager marks anything that it has installed, which has an update, as having an update in your ready to download list. If there is something that you have downloaded and it is ready to install but there is an update, that product will come out of the ready to install list, and go back into the ready to download list. So while it will tell you there is something new to download, it doesn't actually mark it as an update, because it isn't, as far as Install manager is concerned, an update to what you have installed.

    So the answer is yes and no. If you have the zips in the download directory and have downloaded all of them, it will let you know you have new files to download, whether Install manager installed them or not.

    Post edited by DAZ_Spooky on
  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 2,882
    edited December 1969

    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Alisa Uh-Lisa said:


    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Kerya said:
    Question (and thank you Spooky for your patience - and for being here and answering!):
    If I download everything, install to a fake runtime and then delete that fake runtime, at least the content in that folder - will the Install manager tell me then about updated products?
    Are you keeping all the zip files?

    Is this a yes or a no??? What does it have to do with keeping zip files and if it does, where do you have to keep them?? I keep all my zip/exe files but not in one folder - will that be necessary?The answer makes a difference as to how Install Manager works.

    If you don't have the files either downloaded and in the download directory or installed, by Install Manager, then it will give you a list of files that you don't have installed or downloaded, from your account in "ready to download." It won't show any as updates if you don't have the files in the first place, they are simply ready to download. If you have files downloaded but not installed it will show those in "ready to install." If you download the files but remove the zips, they are no longer ready to Install, so they go back to ready to download. If you have install manager install them, they go into "Installed."

    Install manager marks anything that it has installed, which has an update, as having an update in your ready to download list. If there is something that you have downloaded and it is ready to install but there is an update, that product will come out of the ready to install list, and go back into the ready to download list. So while it will tell you there is something new to download, it doesn't actually mark it as an update, because it isn't, as far as Install manager is concerned, an update to what you have installed.

    So the answer is yes and no. If you have the zips in the download directory and have downloaded all of them, it will let you know you have new files to download, whether Install manager installed them or not.

    So, back to Kerya's original question, if we download and install to a temporary directory (I won't worry about the potential disaster that could be with metadata. you said you couldn't find out about that until tomorrow), and then keep the Zips where the DIM is told to download to (I missed if we could have multiple download locations) but empty out the temporary directory, will that be enough to tell the DIM that the product is installed, and therefore have updates marked as such?

    If that will work, and if there are few or no metadata related problems caused by it, then this could be a viable sidestep for those of us who don't want to re-build our runtimes, or re-install over our current runtimes.

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    edited December 1969

    DaWaterRat said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Alisa Uh-Lisa said:


    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Kerya said:
    Question (and thank you Spooky for your patience - and for being here and answering!):
    If I download everything, install to a fake runtime and then delete that fake runtime, at least the content in that folder - will the Install manager tell me then about updated products?
    Are you keeping all the zip files?

    Is this a yes or a no??? What does it have to do with keeping zip files and if it does, where do you have to keep them?? I keep all my zip/exe files but not in one folder - will that be necessary?

    The answer makes a difference as to how Install Manager works.

    If you don't have the files either downloaded and in the download directory or installed, by Install Manager, then it will give you a list of files that you don't have installed or downloaded, from your account in "ready to download." It won't show any as updates if you don't have the files in the first place, they are simply ready to download. If you have files downloaded but not installed it will show those in "ready to install." If you download the files but remove the zips, they are no longer ready to Install, so they go back to ready to download. If you have install manager install them, they go into "Installed."

    Install manager marks anything that it has installed, which has an update, as having an update in your ready to download list. If there is something that you have downloaded and it is ready to install but there is an update, that product will come out of the ready to install list, and go back into the ready to download list. So while it will tell you there is something new to download, it doesn't actually mark it as an update, because it isn't, as far as Install manager is concerned, an update to what you have installed.

    So the answer is yes and no. If you have the zips in the download directory and have downloaded all of them, it will let you know you have new files to download, whether Install manager installed them or not.

    So, back to Kerya's original question, if we download and install to a temporary directory (I won't worry about the potential disaster that could be with metadata. you said you couldn't find out about that until tomorrow), and then keep the Zips where the DIM is told to download to (I missed if we could have multiple download locations) but empty out the temporary directory, will that be enough to tell the DIM that the product is installed, and therefore have updates marked as such?

    If that will work, and if there are few or no metadata related problems caused by it, then this could be a viable sidestep for those of us who don't want to re-build our Runtimes, or re-install over our current runtimes.The answer is still the same. I am pretty sure (not a scenario I can test as none of my files have an update to them pending), under that scenario, the files are no longer installed, so the files are back to "ready to install." So while it won't tell you a file has been updated, the file will still show up in ready to Download. tab and come out of Ready to Install Tab.

  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 2,882
    edited December 1969

    Well, I might end up testing the DIM after all, if only to see what that does. :)

    I actually don't mind replacing the installers I've kept on my system with zips. It's the re-installng (or more accurately the re-organizing, regardless if I'm re-organizing with Content Manager or with the File manager) the several hundred Gigs of content I've accumulated over the past six and a half years that I don't really want to do

  • atryeuatryeu Posts: 612
    edited December 1969

    I have a question still that wasn't answered. I asked the other day about it... The documentation (that doesn't technically "exist" yet because the product hasn't been released LoL) stated the Install path for the installer itself was something like C:\Users...... That is the path I think for the newer OS. Will the installer program work on Win XP and just end up creating that whole path it listed, since it does not exist on an XP system or will the program not work at all because it's an older OS?

  • digitelldigitell Posts: 558
    edited December 1969

    Gads this is all just way to complicated! wouldnt it be easier to just keep installing as always?

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