Digital Art Zone

I am having a problem with the one and only purchase I’ve made since the site change - FirstBastion’s Cliff And Climb, which I purchased Sunday before last. I’d just like to know if this is yet another ‘new store’ problem, or if it’s a mistake made by the PA or DAZ staff who uploaded the files to the market place when it first came out.

The product should be supplied as two installers: one a Poser format one containing the props, poses, and hand and face files to be installed into a runtime; and one a DS format one just to install the DS material presets for the props into a DS Content/Library. This is stated on the product page, and is consistent with other FirstBastion products.

After purchase, My Downloadable Products did indeed show two downloads (well, 4 if you include the Mac versions ... I’m a Windows user), one labelled as ‘Cliff and Climb - exe - pc’, and the other as ‘Cliff and Climb - DS Materials - exe - pc’. So far, so good and as expected.

The first of those two links brought me a file called 11618_1_dpc_CliffandClimb_1.exe, 39.5MB, and as indicated by the _dpc_ was indeed the Poser format file installer which installed the props, poses and face and hand files into a runtime.

However, the ‘Cliff and Climb - DS Materials - exe - pc’ link gave me a file called 11618_2_dpc_CliffandClimb_2.exe, also 39.5MB, where it should have had a _ds_ name, not a _dpc_, as it’s just a DS format file installer, and should be a lot smaller as it’s only the material presets for the props. On running it, it did what i suspected it would do: it just installed all the Poser files again - exactly the same Poser files again. Indeed the contents of the FileList files is completely identical - the only difference is the one having the 1s in the filename and the other the 2s.

So, the store link that should produce the sintaller for the DS MATs is linking the wrong file (it’s just the Poser installer again with 2s for 1s in the filename), and I don’t have the DS MATs ... which is an issue for me as I bought the product for use in DS, not Poser. I did first email DAZ support as the ticket system wasn’t working, then raised a ticket when that did start working. I finally got a reply today that was completely useless, just telling me to redownload (resetting if necessary, which it was), which I did, but got the same, wrong file. My impression from the support reply was that they hadn’t actually really read what I’d written, or they hadn’t understood it, or they assumed I was some idiot whose word couldn’t be taken for the problem and its nature.

So, if anyone else who bought the FirstBastion Cliff And Climb product before the store change reads this, I would appreciate if you could check whether you actually got the proper DS MAT file installer that did install the DS MATs into a DS content or My Library folder (should be in “Environments\First_Bastion\CliffnClimb DS Mats” in your DS content or My Library folder, apparently), as I’d like to know whether the wrong file was uploaded to the store originally, or if this is a ‘new store’ issue.

And I don’t know how it works for PAs, but if FirstBastion reads this, perhaps you can do something about getting the correct DS MAT file installer linked by the store.

I must say that with all the other things wrong with the store and forums, this mess up on the one purchase I’ve made since the site change and the pathetically inadequate help given by support after nine days waiting means I won’t be buying anything from DAZ again until I have seen substantail evidence of massive improvements.

I have Cliff and Climb, got it before the store change over, but as I am a Poser user and never downloaded the DS files it doesnt do you much good. have you tried sending FB a PM?

Please follow the procedure for contacting Technical Support found here -> http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/115/

They are the only ones that can resolve the issue for you.

Hi David, I’m going to check on it now,  Cliff and climb was released in Nov. 2010,  but if I remember correctly,  there were two separate installers,  one for DS and one for Poser, approx. the same size. 

Since you mention you have already found the poser files, and you are looking in the right place for the DS files,  in either Content/Environments/First_Bastion if you install into DS3,  and MyLibrary/environments/First_Bastion as you’ve already mentioned.  But these files would be .daz scene files and they would load the cliff, hand and footholds with the ds mats already applied.  And in the same folder you would find the poses. 

I should have the original installers,  though it may take a few minutes to find them to double check.  But I will and get back to you and post here.  This is probably a new store issue,  with 20,000 products getting moved over for the store switch simple clerical errors can happen. 

adamr001 - 06 June 2012 11:03 AM

Please follow the procedure for contacting Technical Support found here -> http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/115/

They are the only ones that can resolve the issue for you.

As I wrote in the first post, I did contact support via email, and then also by support ticket when that system became available again. It’s taken 9 days to get a reply, and the reply to the ticket is frankly insulting and did not resolve the problem. i went to great pains (quite literally, as typing causes me rapidly increasing pain) in the email and the support ticket to give complete details of the problem, and the evidence of what I had done and what the results were and what that meant - that the file linked to as the DS installer is in fact just the Poser installer again with a half-altered name, leaving no access to the DS installer. The support reply that purported to ‘solve’ the problem gave no indication at all that my email or support ticket had actually been read, merely glanced at the title and/or a few words enough for the support person to go ‘oooh, download problem, let me paste the standard form response to download problems without actually checking what sort of download problem it actually is and whether the response is actually in any way relevant to this particular download problem’ - which it wasn’t. I have - of course - re-opened the ticket, trying to explain yetb again what the actual problem is and what they need to do to resolve it.

I’m posting here to try to find some additional information for my ongoing struggle with support, specifically if the correct DS installer was actually available in the old store, or whether there was a mistake in the original product upload that nobody else has ever pointed out before. Kindly allow me to do so without irrelevant hindrence. I SAID I had contatcted support in the original post, and your reply appears to show you didn’t read it any more than suipport actually read my support ticket.

FirstBastion - 06 June 2012 11:04 AM

Hi David, I’m going to check on it now,  Cliff and climb was released in Nov. 2010,  but if I remember correctly,  there were two separate installers,  one for DS and one for Poser, approx. the same size. 

Since you mention you have already found the poser files, and you are looking in the right place for the DS files,  in either Content/Environments/First_Bastion if you install into DS3,  and MyLibrary/environments/First_Bastion as you’ve already mentioned.  But these files would be .daz scene files and they would load the cliff, hand and footholds with the ds mats already applied.  And in the same folder you would find the poses. 

I should have the original installers,  though it may take a few minutes to find them to double check.  But I will and get back to you and post here.  This is probably a new store issue,  with 20,000 products getting moved over for the store switch simple clerical errors can happen.

Thanks for the reply.

The problem very specifically is that both installers for which I get links from the store are the same Poser installer, installing exactly the same Poser files and no DS files. The link that’s supposed to be the Poser installer is correct. The link that claims to be to the DS MAT installer is just to exactly the same Poser installer file - byte for byte identical - although with a slightly different name (though still with the _dpc_ in the filename that identifies it as a Poser installer rather than a _ds_ installer). After downloading from both the Poser and DS installer links, I therefore just have the Poser files twice and the DS files not at all.

I did, by the way, download the link that claimed to be the DS insaller for Macs as well, and in the zip it just had the same mistake as with the PC Windows downloads: the Poser installer again with the slightly changed name, not the DS file installer.

I would very much like the DS files by some means, whether the store being fixed as to what file it links to, or some other means. My order number was Order # 100011458 Date 5/27/12 if that helps.

Thanks.

I also bought Cliff and Climb recently and you are correct, the link for the DS file downloads the same DPC file.  Support (via Zendesk) needs to correct the download link—I’ve been waiting before submitting a ticket since I know they’re working through their backlog right now.

Two weeks yesterday i bought Cliff And Clmb, and I STILL haven’t got the DS Files. I am NOT happy.

Wrote an email to support that Sunday as soon as I downloaded the files and found the link to the DS files was wrong. Added a ticket to sales support as soon as I saw the Zendesk waas working again, explaining the problem completely.

First reply from sales support was a cookie cutter reply about download problems that had nothing to do with what i’d written or the actual problem in this case. Either the support person didn’t actually read my ticket, just the title, or she has zero techniccal knowledge about DS and download file types and didn’t bother to ask anyone more knolwedgeable, or she assumed I’m an idiot and couldn’t possibly know what i was talking about and so what I’d written in my ticket wasn’t worth reading. She set the issue to closed.

I reopend the ticket, set the thingy about how happy I was with the support to very unhappy, and explained AGAIN what the problem was and that i still needed the proper DS file installer file, whether by them actually fixing things so the link in My Downloadable Products linked to the right file, or they just emailed it to me.

Got a very short reply telling me to raise a technical support ticket instead of a sales support ticket, although the failure to supply me with all of what I’d paid for seems to qualify for sales support to me. Height Ho.

So raised a technical support ticket, explaining it all again.

No reply. Still no reply.

It remains very ironic that after forcing a DS/Poser divergent split, the DAZ store happily gave me the Poser file installer but refuses to give me the DS file installer.

After weighing whether to go forwards with DS or Poser, now they are significantly diverging, i had made a marginal decision to go with DS. I am now seriously reconsidering. DAZ have have always had a shambolic, amateur way of developing DS. Get wildly enthusiastic about exciting new features; release to testers; fix some bugs with new features; despite many bugs still not being fixed, very suddenly set release date ignoring wails from testers it’s not ready yet; release and leave forums to cope with users trying to find workarounds for the unfixed bugs in the new features; get wildly enthusiastic about sudden New new features and henceforth ignore the bugs still in the previous set of new features; and repeat - again, and again, and again, from DS1 through 2 and 3 and now 4. It’s like it’s the product of a group of teenagers in a basement somewhere all with ADHD. There’s no profesionalism; there’s no commitment to excellence; there’s no feeling as a user that the thigs that are wrong will be fixed, just that more theoreticallly great features will be piled on and on, all bugged, all left bugged. If I was an industry professional I’d never give any thjought at all to using DAZ software. As a hobbyist, up until now I’ve used it, but I am seriously reconsidering. And this whole website fiasco just goes along with the way DAZ have gone on developing DS. I really couldn’t concieve beforehand that any web-based company could mess up a website change so thoroughly and completely. And even after the new site appeared with all its horror, I still couldn’t conceive that they’d take so long to fix it.

Well, I’m not going to be buying anything else from here for quite awhile. If ever. Despite the 1143 items that appear to be in my Itemized Order history. Have I really bought that much? Well, no more. Certainly not until DAZ have regained my trust and appear to be a professional outfit. And it’s gpoing to take a LOT to regain my trust now. Trust is one of those things much easier and quicker to lose than to gain, adn DAZ have done a very good and thorough job of losing it.

AND I STILL WANT THE DS FILES FOR THIS PRODUCT I’VE PAID FOR A FORTNIGHT AGO - even if I am laible to ditch DS now.