How To Fully Uninstall Current Form of Daz (Constant Download Errors)
sjaammons
Posts: 185
So I need help with a complete squeaky clean uninstall of Daz in its current form. When my problems started it was new Gen 3 morphs and materials not downloading through the Install Manager. It would say they were downloaded, but not show up in the actual program. And then the Gen 3 Males were missing their pose controls. So I tried to uninstall and delete all traces of Daz on my computer, then reinstall everything...but now its even worse! Now BOTH Gen 3 models are missing their pose controls and almost no Gen 3 addons and morphs will show up no matter how many times I install them through the manager. This problem has made Daz utterly unusuable and attempts at gooling for uninstall help have been rather useless.
Does anyone know how to properly uninstall Daz and fix these constant download issues with Gen 3 materials?
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Comments
Have you tried using Rob's script to sync the paths from DIM to DS? it sounds very much as if mis-matched paths are the issue. http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/file_io/install_manager_config_import/start
And FWIW, if it is mismatched content paths (sounds like it, from the description) then reinstalling D|S and content is never the solution — the content paths are stored separately from the program, so they're completely unaffected by reinstalling. After you've eaten up a chunk of time and a bigger chunk of your download bandwidth, everything pops up in exactly the same places.
Ok. So how do I use this? Sorry a bit of a newbie.
Click the link just above the box with all the code, that will let you download the script.
Start DS (if it isn't).
Drag the downlaoded DS script file into DS, or use File>Merge to browse to and select it.
You will get a dialogue box asking which account to use - you probably have only the one, but if not the names shown should match the account names in DIM. Select the right one and click Accept.
Just pointing-out the more obvious parts first... Since you said you were a noob... This is for trying to "fix" the missing content and seemingly broken items. Where locations of installs is not done adequately. (I avoid using the term, "correct", or "standard", because there honestly isn't any correct or standard locations. It tries to cater to variety, for ease, but obviously that is not what it actually does.)
1: After installing items manually, you should goto the "Content Library" window and select the Dropdown menu on the top-left or top-right. (The arrow with four stacked lines. I know it isn't a standard menu icon, but that is what it is.)
2: Select, from that menu... "Scan known directories for files". This will search for anything DAZ can read, from the list of folder locations you set. This includes finding the install-manager itemized list of installed files and metadata, if it is not correctly placed in the right folders. (Eg, if it accidentally installed to "content/content/items", instead of "my daz items/items". Or if it installed to some old location that daz is not handling correctly, like when it installs items to older file locations from older versions of installer paths.)
3: Once that is done, select, from the same menu again, "Content DB Maintenance"... Only select "Process Metadata Queue". (That will add things you just installed, if the installer has failed to update the database after installing. This includes manual installs, which do not normally trigger the database refreshing.)
4: Once that is done, select, from the same menu again, "Content DB Maintenance"... Now select "Re-Import Metadata". (Depending on your setup, you may want to select "User Data Overrides Product Data", if you have personally setup custom data for items.)
Step 4 is the final step, which should now finish the inclusion of manually installed items, if they have extra metadata to read, so they should now show-up in your smart-content area, and plugins and other locations that are not so smart. (I suggest closing daz and opening it again, as daz likes to "start" by reading the database when it opens. It can be questionable if still open, and new content is added, making new items fail or not show, until it reloads. Usually seen with plugins and updates.)
If you have a special place that you install items, you should setup that folder location, so daz can find it, every time. I would say to try using the "Scan harddrives for files", however, if you are like me... with some original files that are not for use in daz, or are for use in daz, but installed already duplicates... Then you do not ever want to use that catch-all option for locating files. You will end-up with a lot of duplicates and broken items, if you leave both copies on the two locations, or eventually delete the copy. (That would include temp-folders, where windows temporarily installs things, and doesn't always "remove" the temp files. That is just a dangerous option to select, overall. Best if you have a set designated install location, and setup the path to your known location, or use DAZ's default locations and simply figure-out where those are, for manually installing content with the least issues. Where possible.)
Fully uninstall... That is not something Daz has focused on. They simply use the default uninstall, which is a blind core removal program. Manually installed items, and non-daz core items, will all remain, as will many registry settings. The reason is due to being in poor taste, to remove content that is non-daz, or non-core items. (Such as items you created or edited, or installed, which may be used for other things. Also, if uninstalling to correct a failed install, it would not harm your settings. Unfortunately, this is a complex task to acomplish, for any program. Which is why it is good practice to keep things as isolated from daz's default folders as possible, where you know exactly where the things you want to keep, can be safely kept. In the event that a situation like this needs to be done.)
I would personally suggest trying the above steps first. Then, if still having issues, try doing some "reset to defaults", within the related areas of daz. Like it was stated in a prior post. The culprit may be a file-path issue, if not a simple corupted install... (Sometimes files think they exist, so they don't reinstall, even when the file is actually just a blank place-holder from a failed install. Daz does not seem to use CRC checking for installing files, so one bad file will remain bad, if it still exists, when reinstalling.)
That was really helpful, thanks
(This is a related question, and searching for whether it's been asked before got a lot of false positives and this thread)
How do I restore a DAZ [content] installation after a clean install of Windows?
I have an computer problem unrelated to DAZ which may mean I need to do a clean install of Windows 10. If I take this step, I know I have to back up my files. I'm currently taking an inventory of which applications need to be reinstalled, where I can get them, and making sure I have serial numbers,etc. My concern now is what do I need in addition to restoring the files and their file structure to resume using my DAZ content.
In the last month, I just performed a clean (ie, from the ZIPs) install of all of my DAZ content. Most of the time involved was deciding whether to install on Installation Paths that were on SSD's versus those on spinner drives. All my DAZ content is exactly where I want it now. I don't want to go through that process (ie, using Install Manager for a couple thousand packages) again.
I want DAZDIM (DAZ Install Manager) and DAZ Studio Pro to preserve (or rebuild) the state that they have now. I don't mind manually typing my Installation Paths again.
Fortunately, I have very few tags or user-created metadata that I need to preserve. I remember classifying a few items that showed up without a classifications. It would be nice to save these if I could. Maybe others with a similar Windows situation who encounter this thread later have a greater investment.
Are the steps JD_Mortal presents above all I need to restore the structure of my DAZ content for DAZ Install Manager and DAZ Studio Pro?
The content manager database is in C:\Users\YOU\AppData\Roaming\Daz 3D\cms (settings) and the \Content Cluster subfolder (the actual database) by default.
DIM tracks its isntallations via the manifest .dsx files in (as I recall) Public Documents\Daz Install Manager\Manifests
Thanks!! Those were places I wasn't thinking of!
I found a few DSX files in the location you mentioned (like from the first few products I bought), but most of my DSX files are in the same directory as the actual zip files (ie, Public Documents\InstallManager\Downloads).
I'm not faulting your off-the-cuff recollection, but I'm just curious if I somehow have a non-standard installation (ie, I have some other setting I have to restore when I do this) or whether you just go "Yeah, that's right, that's where the manifest files are kept these days".
The .,dsx files with the zips are different, they describe the zip (and, as far as I know, are all you need for getting update notifications for the zips, if you remove the zip itself).