Clarification on new file types?
JOdel
Posts: 6,250
Okay, the Hiro 5 bundle is on pre-release special for PC Members. Rather a lot of us will take DAZ up on it.
Which means that we've now got a slew of file types to juggle. That's in addition to the Mac + Pc files, which still cannot be filtered as to one or the other.
So we now have the DSON file -- which is a standard .trx file
We have a Legacy file -- which is also a .trx, but labeled Legacy
And we have a Poser Companion File which is labened PoserrCF and is a .dpc file.
So. Who needs which files?
I'm assuming that everyone working in Poser with the DSON importer needs use the DSON files. I'm assuming that the Legacy files are for people who use only Studio.
I'm assuming that the PoserCF files are for people who are using the DSON importer in Poser as well.
However, given that some of the items in the bundle do not come with Legacy files, I am supposing that people using Studio can also use the DSON files. In which case, do they need the Legacy files for the other products?
What about the PoserCF files? Do they serve any purpose at all for the people who use only Studio?
(Heads-up to support, I'll be opening a ticket. There is no downloadable Mac PoserCF file for the Hiro 5 Base. Both links lead to the PC .exe file)
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Comments
I got told...
legacy is for Ds 4.0
DSON is for Ds 4.5
Not sure about what poser needs other than Poser companion file thing
Poser needs the DSON Core files and the companion files.
DS 4.5 needs the DSON core
DS 4 needs the Legacy
Poser needs the DSON files plus the Poser Companion Files. The Poser Companion Files are actually just reference files in a format that Poser understands. The PCF files refer Poser to the DSON files, which are the "source" files containing the actual content.
Good-oh. I don't mind downloading them all, but it would be good to know which ones I actually need to install.
I have got Daz Studio 4.5 and Poser Pro 2012
When I got the Hiro 5 bundle I installed all the files, the core file first, then the legacy file and then the Poser CF file. But does installing the legacy file overwrite any of the Poser 4.5 stuff? Should I re-install the core files?
Only daz 4.0 needs Legacy.
Poser needs DSON and Poser companion.
Probably not, but if I were you, I would do so just to be sure. Either that or you could just test to see if anything seems broken first.
hi new to daz and was having the file extension headache but found this and all is now clear
https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/entries/22890557-Understanding-Content-File-Types
hope this helps
Still a little unclear. The Legacy files will usually work in 4.5. But if you've got a choice of Legacy or the newer DSON.trx file go for the DSON version.
Useful to know that I don't really need the metadata files. I've generally installed them, but had no idea what they were good for. Won't bother downloading them from here on in.
JOdel said:
I think the Metadata files just update the so called "Smart Content" system. The newer stuff doesn't have seperate files for this, the Metadata is included with the DSON or the Legacy installer so you don't have a choice of whether you install it. But it doesn't do any harm, I just ignore it.
P.S. I don't think .trx is always DSON. I'm sure they were using this filetype before 4.5. As far as I know, older items that don't say DSON or Legacy are actually Legacy.
Thanks for the Link Maxine. Very helpful...
Ok, I thought I knew which files I should be keeping and which I should be discarding, but I have decided some of my notes are probably wrong, unless some files were accidentally mispackaged.
1) If I use the files marked with the green DIM logo, plus any texture template installer, does that mean I don't need any of the other download files at all?
2) For *_dpc.exe and *_ds.exe files, my notes indicate that I DO want these files sometimes, but DON'T want them other times, depending on what other files were available for download, and at least on one occasion it turned out I needed both. Can anybody clarify how I can identify when I need them and when I don't? (depending on the answer to question 1, question 2 may be irrelevant.)
(If it matters, for purposes of these questions, I'm using DS4.5 or higher and will not use an earlier version of DS, I'm saving but not using Poser files just in case I might someday need Poser for something, and I'm not using a Mac. I'm not yet using DIM to automatically download and install files.)
Thanks!
If you still care, "_dpc.exe" is the Poser version of the download, and "_ds.exe" is either the Daz Studio add-on to the Poser version or the entire Daz Studio version, depending on how large the file is. I believe you'll find these primarily for products older than early-2011, predating DS 4.0
Thanks!
Hope this helps...
If you download with DIM then you can filter for the software you use, and that way DIM can check if you need more than one version.
If the Product Library has both DIM and non-DIM files, you don't need both, just one or the other.
@Rob, thanks for the answer to question 1. I haven't looked closely at my downloads to see which, if any, don't have DIM files so that may be all I need right there.
However, in case it turns out I still need to look at the other files, I'm still unclear on question 2. When you say the _dpc.exe is the poser version, do you mean I will never need it when running DS and it's for use in Poser only, or do you just mean the content is in a poser format but I still want it in DAZ Studio? And exactly what should I be looking for in the _ds.exe file size to determine if it's including the contents of the _dpc.exe; just that the file size is larger than that of the _dpc.exe, or something else?
@fixmypcmike, yep, DIM will definitely eliminate this confusion. I'm not using it for everything yet primarily because I haven't figured out a good way to integrate how it stores downloads and installed files with the way I'm already storing and organizing my existing downloads and content.
Generally speaking, if the DS and DPC are of similar size, the DS is stand-alone; if the DS is much smaller it probably isn't. But that's very rough and can lead you astray. The newer convention is to use DS for stand-alone and StudioCF if you need the Poser version as well, but that only applies to the DIM zips, not the older installers.
What I do is allow DIM to download into a single folder, then move them to my categorized archive folders after installing.
Are BCF (Bryce companion files) supposed to be included in the green DIM zip file?
For example I'm looking at the Steam-Mech ( sku: 3819). Unless I'm looking at it wrong, the file "3819_SteamMechBCF_1.0_br.exe" (listed in the product library as "Steam-Mech BryceCF") which unpacks the Bryce scene seems to be separate. I'm not sure if I should be reporting this as something wrong with the DIM files, or if this is an exception to the rule of everything being included in the DIM files.
Some BryceCF's are available in DIM, but they're still converting them, I know of a couple that haven't been converted yet.
Sorry to keep coming up with questions here, but one more:
I see that at least sometimes when there are multiple DIM zips, they share some of the same folders and filenames. Am I safe in assuming they will always be exactly identical and I can allow one of the zips to overwrite the identically named files and folders of the other zip (and if this is even possible, with any files created by the texture template installer), or is there some specific order that all the files must be run/unzipped in to ensure I get the latest versions of everything?
It shouldn't matter what order you install things in -- I usually install the main zip first and then the StudioCF.
Great, thanks!