Download Manager Questions
Bendinggrass
Posts: 1,367
I have read about this item, but there are a few things I am unclear about.
Presently when I download an item, I save it in a secure location and back up the item.
Then I install it in DS4, and find it and organize things in the Category section so it is easier to find the item when I need it.
Does the Download Manager take the item from the DAZ website, and immediately install it?
If so, and a lot of items are downloaded, this will make a huge load of work to organize the new items in Categories.
And is the item stored in a safe place for back up?
I have not used this yet as I am unsure of what it will actually do, and how much trouble it might cause.
A really useful item would be a product that automatically organized the content for DS..... any chance of seeing something like that soon?
Thanks,
R
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Videso here on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E4ft-bsPL0&feature=em-uploademail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE5C5w4ha_M&feature=em-uploademail
You can also look at the Help file that comes with it, there is quite a lot to absorb.
DIM will install automatically if you tell it o, otherwise it will just download. Most things now have Metadata
Thanks, Jimmy.
That is a great help. And very encouraging too..... :)
R
What I have found great is that in DIM, by looking at the Installed content tab, you can quickly see what you have installed and by clicking the 'info' button (round circle with i in it) you get quick access to the readme (still a wip in some cases).
Another great thing is that you don't have to wade through all the different versions of the file on the download page of 'My Account,' you simply tell DIM what type of file to download and it filters the others out for you.
I do something very similar to you, downloading everything but installing in small batches so I can categorize them.
I have a new question, before I kick off DIM for the first time. I have installed and configured the settings of the DIM as per the tutorials & instructions. It is showing in the "available to download" list every single item I have ever purchased from DAZ.
Is it correct that the DIM is going to re-download and re-install (to the new location that is required) every single one of these items from scratch?
In other words, when all this is done, is my hard drive going to contain 2 copies of all my content? Obviously if that is true I suppose I will then be able to delete the duplicate content from my old Library location (being careful somehow not to delete content that I purchased from other stores?!?).
With so many Gigs of content already installed and working correctly, it seems a bit wasteful that it all has to be download & installed again to a new location.
Am I understanding this correctly?
Thanks!
Win7 64bit.
Not really. And you do not need to download everything at the first go.
The best way for you to do this, would be to uninstall the old content first via the uninstallers that you should/may have. Then select the items that you want to install to that library.
I had some uninstallers, and I went through them, I then gave that up, and installed to the default (new) location. I installed all of my recent stuff, Genesis, and anything fairly new, into that location. I then created another folder in the Public Documents area for all of My Gen4 content, then downloaded that. I did another for my Gen3, and really old stuff as well. It is not perhaps the recommended way, but it works for me, and no confilcts.
I copied the old My Library folder onto an external HDD, and removed it from the Content Directory manager in DS, and added the new ones. The DIM adds Metadata to the database itself, so you don;t get the screen popping up next time you rund DS. I had a lot of duplicates in my database (Smart Content) because I didn;t get rid of the files before I started, but I removed orphaned entries through DS, and it seems to be working correctly now, although I seldom use Smart Content.
It all seems like a very big job in the beginning, but I wouldn;t be without it now, it is a superb way of installing content, and updating it as well. It is simplicity itself to move content from one folder to another, it just takes seconds.
Or, if your internet connection is as bad as mine, figure out what you want to do, then download without installing, then uninstall the old version, then install the new.
I can foresee the benefits of the DIM, especially for notifying me of product updates and for functioning as a hands-off way to install new content..... but it seems like I'm a long way from getting there.
I hadn't even considered that I might need to run all my uninstallers first! Could this be done via the DIM (using the uninstall tab if I could somehow point it at my existing uninstallers)? Or do I have to run all the uninstallers manually?
Another question: Assuming I uninstall all my existing DAZ content and then let the DIM re-download and re-install everything I ever purchased from DAZ... will my saved scenes open & work correctly still (i.e. despite the content being all in a new directory relative to where that content was when the scene was last saved)?
I have a fast internet connection, so I'm not worried about downloading everything again.... I just don't want to break everything that is working so well right now.
Thanks for any further advice....
There are videos on Youtube describing how to do this as a new installation, and for using with your present Library.
If I were you, I would use DIM to install to the Public path (default), and install my content there. You cannot use the DIM to install content from other sources though, so if you have a lot of that, you will need to reinstall it again. Just remove your My Library folder from DS, and insert the new folder instead in both Poser and DAZ Studio Formats in the Content Directory manager.
I'll see if I can find the Youtube video for you.
EDIT:
Here is the Youtube video for you. It tells you what to do if you don;t want to uninstall your old content first :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E4ft-bsPL0
DIM can only install products that it has installed. That said, I've been installing on top of my existing content folders, although I check everything one at a time to make sure the old version wasn't out of date.
File locations are relative, so scenes should still open if the same files are there, even if the root folder is different. However, make sure you save your old Data folder, as .daz scenes can't go back to the Poser files to recreate them the way .duf scenes can.
I have a question about the dlm, is there no way to have it resume downloading, or pause downloading? My net connection tends to hiccup and I have tried downloading a 300 mb file now, a dozen times? No way to add resuming or continuing downloads that are interrupted?
Each time I have to start the download over from the beginning and I am going to run out of download attempts before I ever get it downloaded.
...well as I am installing from archives looks like the DIM is pretty useless since nothing shows in the Product pane since I have yet to use it for downloading anything. Not about to re-download everything I purchased over the past five years (don't have that kind of time or money to sit at hotspot). Not even sure if that will work as I need to to transfer all the files to the new system which doesn't have a permanent connection to the net. I'm certainly not going to DL from home using ,my USB modem as with my connectivity, it would take days (Weeks? Months?) to DL everything (provided there were no corruptions due to timeouts or resets during the process).
They needed to engineer this so that it could be used entirely offline. We should also be able to point it to archive folders on backup HDs USB sticks, or DVDs as well to load files for installation. Then it would also become a really useful tool for setting up new systems or reinstalling content after a system reformat due to hardware upgrade, failure or virus attack.
It needs the new platform neutral zip files. Want to use it you need to download.
It can be used entirely offline, but it needs the content in the right format, it won't work with the old installers. But you can download on one computer and move them to another to install. Still a problem if you don't have a good connection -- you might want to start just using it for new purchases and fill in the others gradually.
...that's pretty much what I thought. So for this project it's pretty moot.
Going to be a long haul as I still have around 1,000 products that were purchased/downloaded before this was released to install. Good thing I have a clean fast system with no bloatware to get in the way.
I guess I could go to my hotspot, DL enough to fill up say, a 32GB USB stick, then transfer that to the workstation to install. Would be easier if we were not effectively limited to 25 downloads per page (because the Mac Installers cannot be filtered out).
...or does the DIM not have to worry about this?
I've been downloading everything - at Starbucks, at the rate of about a gigabyte each session.
My suggestion is to install DIM on your laptop and on your big render system (I've done it). Among other things, you'll be downloading zip files and saving a bit over 6 MB per file by eliminating the bitrock installer.
Set up a download directory on the laptop and configure DIM for the product level you want. Set the sort order to 'Order Date: Most Recent' and download just the current order. Copy the files to your thumb drive.
You can now install from the zip files as you wish, or copy the files to the download directory on the render system and use DIM to do the installs.
Back on the laptop, set up an installation target directory - this is just to fake out installation so DIM will know you've downloaded these items and let you know about updates to them in the future. Go to the installation tab, select everything, select the 'delete installer after installation' box, and install everything to the install target.
When the installation finishes, delete everything from the install target.
DIM copies the file manifest and customer manifest data to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager\Manifests. On my laptop, this is taking up slightly over 59 MB for 3792 items - and DIM thinks it has installed 145 GB of product on my 121 GB drive.
You configure DIM with a simple filter selection that selects items up to the level selected - Studio 4.5, 4, 3, or prior to 3; Poser 9, 8, or 7 and earlier.
If you select studio 4.5 DIM shows everything available that will install and work in Studio version 4.5.
You can sort the result by size, order date, or alphabetically; ascending or descending sequence.
And DIM downloads zip files, so there's no PC/Mac difference.
..well when he USB stick arrives I might give it a try.
So I guess I can reset everything with Taozen's History manager then DL to the USB stick on teh notebook with the DIM then transfer that to the workstation and use the DIM there to install? Or do I have to have the DIM on the USB stick to make this work?
No need to reset anything. Your entire order history is available with DIM from the start - with the exception of plugins, Carrara and Bryce products, and executable software. Given that DIM is still beta, I'm expecting some of these to show up eventually.
DIM has three tabs - available to download, ready to install, and installed. Everything, with the exceptions above, will list in one of these three tabs. If you use the USB stick as the download directory you will want to copy the files to your main system and then put the USB stick back on the notebook and go through the fake install I outlined above. If you don't, the files will continue to show in the available to download tab.
And DIM won't run from the USB stick. It currently installs to C:\Program Files and puts config data in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager.
...so as long as I also have it installed on the workstation, it will read the files from the USB stick for installing then?
Yes, just set the downloads location in DIM to the USB stick and it will recognize them as already downloaded.
Yes, just set the downloads location in DIM to the USB stick and it will recognize them as already downloaded.
This will work. But where will you be keeping a permanent copy, like you have for all the older objects? I have two 1-TB drives on my workstation and just copy the installers to one of them. For the 3700+ items so far I've got 94 GB tied up. And backed up elsewhere. And burned to two sets of DVDs. :-)
Anyway - pull DIM down, play with it, and see what works best for you.
This will work. But where will you be keeping a permanent copy, like you have for all the older objects? I have two 1-TB drives on my workstation and just copy the installers to one of them. For the 3700+ items so far I've got 94 GB tied up. And backed up elsewhere. And burned to two sets of DVDs. :-)
Anyway - pull DIM down, play with it, and see what works best for you.
...yeah, could get another 1TB for backup (they're pretty inexpensive these days).
Have experienced corruption issues with CDs/DVDs as I live in a rather damp environment so the only solution I see is a large USB drive (like say 128MB). The large ones are slower however all I am doing is archiving not using it to read from a lot. Also considering upgrading the notebook to a 120 G SSD as I will be moving all my 3D apps off it (still going to keep the 2D stuff as I can do postwork on the notebook while a render cooks on the workstation), so I'll have the 320gb it has in it now as a backup drive.
On my main render system I installed a drive bay adapter that allows use of a standard internal drive as a hot-swap plugin drive; this is what I run my backups to. I think I got it at newegg, but frankly don't remember anymore.
And I probably should break down and at the third GB of memory to this notebook, as I tend to use it for preliminary testing of new software.