DAZ Free Archive Gone Forever?
Http://free.daz3d.com now redirects to the main store page.
Is there any chance we'll be seeing these goodies again? First generation Victoria and Michael things are still sold in the store, after all.
I ask mostly because of three items: Questor's Knives, Questor's Swords and the Desert Eagle pistol. Updated with current shaders, these hold their own against current smartprops, and there's no set as big and varied as the Knives and Swords available now.
I've used the Desert Eagle as recently as the main promo for this product. I mean look at those things! Not only are they beautiful meshes and only need a touch of bump and reflection to update them, they came with hand poses that work with Genesis with minimal adjustment. I use the Questor items all the time when doing portraits of RPG characters. When I say to myself, "I need a scimitar," or "I need one of those straight Norman daggers," I know exactly where to get one. I'd love to see the constant influx of new users have access to these and other items in that archive, such a boon to the renderer with more time than money.
So I guess what I'm saying is, pretty pretty please? ;)
Comments
Don't forget the pistols and gun belts :)
There were certainly a large number of exceptionally well built items in the old free site. However, they're not free for DAZ... especially not given that there's a major installer format change going on right now. While it's OK to say "I don't care, I'll use the old installers" that might be true for some people, but OSX 10.7 users would be left in the cold, etc.
Are Lion users that different from previous generations of Mac -loving artists, that they would throw a tantrum over having to do the conversion/update dance?
I can certainly see DAZ dropping the archive as a liability for hosting etc. when their freebie system has changed, though. Especially vs. converting everything to zip files, which would cost money they can't earn back.
Still, though, there's surely a way to earn back conversion-time funds on those things, even if it means consolidating into packs and charging for them again. I know I'd have bought a "legacy weapons" pack incorporating all of the Questor blades if they were $5, and a lot of the old Gen 1-3 goodies are going for that much or less now. There's too much good content there to let it go completely to waste.
I would add a plea that we just get the old freebie archive back on an as-is basis. No updating required. It really is a shame to let those items be lost forever. I scraped it pretty thoroughly before it went down, but there are lots of great items there. Princess Akkan, The Throne of Dagobert, and several great architectural props. Don't forget the Tree Frog, and the Daz Morphing Python! These freebies have been used multiple times in new users contests, freebie contests, etc. Please just put them back online for the benefit of new users.
It is not as simple as just "put it back on line". It was held on a subdoamin of the old site, which is archived as we know.
Yes it is that simple.
its data.
If they can't get a simple download server working this site is in WAY more trouble than they're admitting.
the services for DAZ were held today at pilgrims rest cemetery all were invited but none showed due to the lack of communication provided by the son of DAZ
it was a bare service with no flowers or mourners, she left us too soon and made no plans as to a future for any level of rememberance by her beloved
all that is now left is but a shell that once existed and we are all lesser with the loss
You'd think they could've added a simple PHP redirect or two on the forum archive to avoid breaking all the image links and effectively making the archive useless... but no. The closest thing resembling documentation for DAZ and they destroy it too.
So, the freebie archive is gone too. Personally, access to the archive was originally the sole reason I subscribed to the DAZ newsletter. I guess the question now is if there's a reason not to unsubscribe.
ROFL! And we still don't have an animated ROFL....
Kind of ridiculous that a daz item -- currently half off for PC members -- references AND includes textures for a DAZ freebie that no longer exists.
I'm disappointed that DAZ removed its freebies. I'm disgusted that the Daz store STILL doesn't know what I purchased, nor does it have a searchable itemized order history. When you view an individual order, they no longer have links to the products you bought. I'm vastly inconvenienced that I need to use a third party app to check my cart for duplicate purchases, find and reset downloads, and search for items I've already bought.
How long has it been since the release of the new and "improved" site?? Don't get me wrong, I hate installers -- but if converting installers to zips could be suspended to fix these PRESSING issues, you'd have much happier customers. I'm ticked off. Have been for months. and NOBODY IS LISTENING. I'm not alone, either!!!
I WANT THE OLD DAZ BACK. The new one sucks. Badly.
Which freebie is this?
The old Platinum Club forum freebies have now been restored to availability - the free archive was a very mixed bag and I don't know when, or if the majority will be restored but if you remind us of which one(s) are called by store products we can at least pass on a reminder about those.
Converting installers to zips was actually an important thing fro Mac users, since the current versions of the Mac OS will not run the older installers at all. I'm pretty sure that the web team, who are the ones dealing with the issues you mention, are not involved in the conversion to zip or in the coding of the isntall manager so the two tasks should not directly impact each other (there may be dependencies with the update-checking part of the manager, though).
Exactly!
... which begs the question, if all installers are eventually being converted into zips, then why are new products still using installers? I know the mac compatibility issues are limited to older installers, but if things are all going to change... why make you work harder?
I'll see if I can find anything out about the pedestal.
As for the installers, that's been puzzling me slightly - however I think it's that a segment of users does want the installer-experience, so until the Install Manager is available they are sticking with actual installers where possible (where Mac compatibility isn't an issue).
I swear, I'm not looking for these, but I'm looking for a particular weapon pose, and I just found another product that references and provides poses for a freebie.
http://www.daz3d.com/shop/combat-specialist-poses-for-the-modern-warrior-pose-pack-1
"Some poses are meant to be used with the Questor Modern Gun Set found in the DAZ Free Archive"
Gah.
If anyone is honestly looking for high quality modeled guns for Poser and DS that also have full functionality, then I would HIGHLY recommend Motokamishii's store over at Rendo - http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?vendor=motokamishii - I own 10 of his guns and they are all high quality workmanship that personally, is not matched elsewhere yet.
Or there is of course always the Firearms pack here in the DAZ 3D store
http://www.daz3d.com/shop/environments-props/weapons-warfare/the-firearm-pack
But, although the different vendors may have nominally the same gun it's unlikely to be an exact match (given the uncertainties over Poser scale) and is very unlikely to be placed and oriented identically in the scene. I will point this out as well, but given that they are Questor's guns it may not be solely up to DAZ whether they will be reuploaded.
Here's a list of what Freebies I have from the archive!
ps_fr185_Pistol (Dessert Eagle)
ps_fr046_ModernFirearms (Questor Guns)
ps_fr244_CorrodedCity
ps_fr255_NightStorm
ps_fr012_Universalwings
ps_fr021_UniversalWings
ps_fr008_Priestaccess
ps_fr027_Woodpeckerprop
ps_fr030_MusicalLyre
ps_fr182_GenieBottle
ps_fr204_CargoDoors
ps_fr208_OperatingRoom
ps_fr229_LorehandCanes
ps_fr235_RogueGoggles
ps_fr243_ArmorTrain
ps_fr250_MagicCarpet
ps_fr253_Gingerbread
ps_fr258_Radiance
ps_fr261_OperaHouse
ps_fr262_ThroneDagobert
ps_fr267_UkkoThrone
ps_fr268_TreeFrog
ps_fr269_MorphingPython
ps_fr271_GiantChess
ps_fr274_BNRug
ps_fr090b_Barstool
ps_fr257_DrakkorianBattle
maybe this will help Richard asking about getting them back up!
IIRC, the Desert Eagle pistol has an external call from a pz2 for the DAZ Desert Soldiers.
As I was specifically mentioned in this thread - thank Richard - I thought it only fair to make a comment from my perspective.
First, the Desert Eagle isn't my model. As I recall it was made by the same vendor who made the Modern Desert Soldier pack, which was 3D Universe I believe.
Second, while I do fully understand the frustration of losing the free items from the archive, the larger majority of things in there (and I include my models in this) were old. For myself, I often found them rather embarrassing as they were very early models and to be frank, somewhat on the messy side mesh-wise. I can understand why Daz decided to simply do away with that section, although items like the aforementioned Desert Eagle ideally should be linked from the product page correctly. This is something that the web guys could perhaps fix if somebody files a report with (insert assistance here please Richard) either store support or the web site bug report. I'm uncertain which would be relevant.
Meanwhile, there are pose sets here by Don Albert which contain relevant weapons for the poses from those sets. Admittedly these are more period related than modern so perhaps unsuitable for current purposes.
It is unlikely that I would agree to the guns being hosted here at Daz again simply because they are very old. The mapping on them is beneath basic and the mesh quality isn't that great either. However, and I say this very tentatively as I have huge demands on my time at the moment and probably will up until close to Christmas. I may be tempted to make new packs of both swords, knives and guns (similar but not identical) to the ones which are now lost. I don't know whether Daz would be interested in such a thing as a permanent freebie - or if they can even set such a thing up under the new store. But it is something I have been considering.
No promises, and certainly no time scale will be offered, but I confess I have an urge to make something that goes bang.
The attached image should at least give some hint of the kind of thing that "might" by offered in such a pack, this being (obviously) modern weapons.
Obviously though, as Richard pointed out earlier, there will be slight compatibility issues with any poses because of the differences in scaling, so some correction would be required.
My apologies to anybody who is disappointed by my thoughts in regards to the old weapon packs, but in all honesty they have far outlived their time.
I won't comment about the other items which inhabited the archive as their fate is up to Daz and the creators of those files.
It may need to be determined on a per item and per vendor basis but a few of those older items are arguably rather good. I think some of the scenery stuff is a serious loss to lose such as the stairwell, bridge, and fountain.
Thanks Questor.
Where a product depends on, or at least can use, a no-longer available freebie I would make a bug report to the Content tracker against the product itself.
GO, QUESTOR! GO! :)
Yes, exactly. I understand exactly what Questor explains in his post, and I think this is a completely acceptable standpoint. I don't think my frustration is with the lack of freebies so much as the fact that purchased products may not function correctly or to their fullest without the freebie. One can argue that the weapon poses can be used (with the weapons mentioned) with a little tweaking. But other items -- like the morphing column -- are disappointing. I don't know who made the column in the first place, but it might be nice to have that offered as a bonus with purchase, included in the download. And yet, there is the issue that Questor mentioned... If an artist does not WANT the freebie offered, then the product will never be usable as it was intended. In any case, I think an evaluation of all products in the marketplace referencing a freebie is warranted.
The TreeFrog and the ThroneDagobert were once the required subjects of Beginners contests. The frog wasn't the greatest animal prop either, but you could do some really amusing things with it. (contest thread) (extremely silly render) There were also free textures for the frog to make it less toony. The throne was a great fantasy prop. Yes, the archive was a mixed bag, but there were some real gems in there. For Daz to host these things for SO long, and then to simply toss them out with the dishwater is really inconsiderate of the users. The really annoying thing to me is that even though I scraped that site pretty thoroughly, I can't use any of those items in freebie contests because I can't provide working links. New users are completely denied the use of these items. They're just files. Why can't they be hosted on an as-is, where-is, you-get-what-you pay-for basis?
I made a set of textures for the tree frog...but never put them up.
Where did this go? The link is a dead end
Free Questor Guns Mod HK-PSG1 rifle.
Used by this product
http://www.daz3d.com/m4-combat
Questor's guns and swords were the shiznit. Such a shame they're gone :(
Laurie
Yes and there were also a lot of other good items in the old items in the old free archive. IIRC DAZ said something about bringing it back on a low priority basis shortly after it was lost. BUT that was many years ago.
So, I am just adding my voice to Please, please, please bring it back. I still have copies of most if not all of the items; but there are many other members who would really benefit from it's restoration. And as noted there some items still for sale in the store that used items from the free archive.