Smart Content-Content Library: Should I reinstall DazStudio?
dash2128
Posts: 736
Last night, 4.11 started 'not responding' repeatedly, and I ended up exiting the program in the middle of a...save or load process.
Then- after reopening 4.11- The Smart Content pane was no longer offering options on the left side. (...to pose or cloth a figure, for example.)
Content Library was still working, however. (I could still bring up content under All Files- in Smart Content, on the right-side of the Smart Content, at the time.)
But within an hour, blue boxes were appearing over product in the Content Library, and now- although product appears in the alphabetical list at the top of CL, nothing selected will appear below the list. And Smart Content has stopped working completely. (Also, saved files are now beginning to load up without items like 'hair', for example.)
Should I uninstall and REINSTAll 4.11? Would that fix things?
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Comments
Probably not. This sounds more like a database issue. Have you tried just restarting your computer first?
I shut down last night, and when i turned it on, this morning, it was...is getting worse. Smart Content is useless, now. So is Content Library. The product is there- int the Content Library list, but nothing will appear below it, when a product is selected.
Thank you for replying! Am I not connecting with Plstr? I wonder if a corrupted file or improper DS software exit could cause this ...?
Did you install your content with Daz Install Manager (DIM)? If so, you can try resetting the database and reimporting metadata. If you have customized categories or other metadata, you should export user data first, though.
If you installed your content with Daz Connect (from inside Daz Studio), database issues are not as easy to recover from. If you have to reset the database, you have to reinstall all of your products again. Reimporting metadata does not work in that case.
Is there any chance that your hard disk is starting to fail? Can you run diagnostics on it to eliminate that possibility?
Have you checked to Content Directory Manager to be sure that it is still looking for your content library in the correct place? Perhaps some ini file got corrupted.
Other thoughts:
Have you changed or updated security software recently? Could it be quarantining your files? If you look on disk, are the files still there, where they should be, in your content library folder, but Daz Studio just doesn't see them?
What version of Daz Studio are you running?
Thank you, regarding customized categories', ...I wasn't sure what you meant, but I do have a lot of Poser and Daz folders, in the Content Library tree.
Apart from those (Which I extract to a special folder, where I use: Edir>Preferences>Content>Content Directory Manager to use them in Daz), I use Daz Download Manager.
..and my hard-drive probably isn't in the healthiest state, although it is only a couple years old- but almost full- heavily used.
I enclosed a screenshot of my Content Directory Manager, I'm not sure if those are the correct paths, I cannot recall what they were before this happend, off hand. I wasn't sure what you meant by 'some ini file got corrupted', because I don't know what 'ini' means. But 'corruption' is a possibility.
'Quarantining files'? There have been some small updates (Norton and Anti-SpyWare), and...Norton wants me to install a toolbar on Chrome- which I haven't done yet. It's not impossible, I guess. QUOTE: 'Are the files still there, where they should be, in your content library folder, but Daz Studio just doesn't see them?'
Content Library and Smart Content sure act as if they don't 'see them'. But Content Library lists them, just won''t display them for use, anymore, below the list. ...I'm afraid that I'm not sure where certain files should be, I have so many. I am running 4.11, only because Daz automatically updated me from 4.10. 4.11 seems to have bugs, my mouse won't even operate normally in 4.11. I would not have upgraded right now, if given a choice, but I woke up one morning, and the upgrade was already done. It is a Beta version.
(Thanks again, for your time! Unless I can simply reinstall 4.11, this is liable to be a difficult issue to fix, if a simple reinstall won't work. If I reinstalled, do you think I would also have to reinstall all my third-party products again? That is...would a reinstall clear the Daz and Poser Formats that are set up by using the Content Directory Manager?)
I will also open Download manager, and see what reimporting does.
By "customized categories" I mean did you create your own "Smart Content" categories for your files? If you just use the metadata that came with the products you installed, then you don't have "customized categories".
By the way, that is a screenshot of your Content Library, not the Content Directory Manager. The Content Directory Manager is the thing you said you used to add those folders to your Content Library.
Which, by the way, is the correct way to do add folders to the library, so you are good there.
I'm asking you to look at the folders on your hard drive from the point of view of your operating system, not from within Daz Studio. Do you see the content files on your hard drive in the paths that you added to the Content Directory Manager? Pay particular attention to the drive letter. Sometimes external drives (or even internal ones) get remapped to a different drive letter.
DS 4.11 Beta and DS 4.10 can coexist. 4.11 should not have overwritten 4.10. If it did, maybe you have something configured wrong in DIM. DIM would not have forced an installation of 4.11. It makes no sense to me that you woke up one day and had 4.11. You must have selected 4.11 in DIM and installed it. Maybe you put a check mark in the Products box and downloaded and installed everything available, without noticing that the 4.11 Beta was in the list. It also seems suspicious that your mouse doesn't work in 4.11. At this point, you might uninstall 4.11 Public Beta and the 4.11 Public Beta plugins, and reinstall 4.10. Both are still available in DIM. Just search for 4.11 or 4.10 in the DIM search filter box.
Oh, no I did not customize any Smart Content problems.
Yes, it IS starnge that when I woke up that morning, that 4.11 was what loaded, and that 4.10 was replaced. And the mouse problem- which never happened in 4.10, and does not happen outrside of DazStudio. After what you said, I wonder if I should uninstall 4.11 and reinstall 4.10.
I didn't know 4.10 was still available, ...I'm not even sure how to find it.
Maybe that would solve my Content Library issue, too. ...or maybe not, the only way I can use my content now, is to manually download it, and use Edit>Preferences>Content Directory Manager to set up...a clothing outfit, for example- and then place it on the figure. Content Library and Smart Content are not working at all, right now. But this temporary solution is making a bigger mess out of my Content directory (if I used the correct term.)
...But that's the way it happened, with 4.11. And like you said, maybe I inadvertantly did it. I don't know.
Now I'm really in trouble!
After clicking on a pathway in DazStudioFormats (in Content Library), and clicking on REMOVE BASE DIRECTORY, Now, NOTHING I try to load, loads up. Only grey blocks- no figures, no clothing, nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd say: 'HELP', but I dont know what good it would do.
We'll get this fixed, but let's go one step at a time.
What version of Daz Studio are you running now? Are you still running 4.11 Beta?
In the Menu, go to Edit/Preferences and click on the Content tab. Then click on the Content Directory Manager button. When the Content Directory Manager window opens, expand all the triangles to show all the paths in all of the Content Sets. Make the window bigger if necessary. Take a screenshot of this window and paste it in your reply.
Oh, Hello, I was just about to submit a help ticket, and tell them I have the time this week to let them walk me through it. ... when I noticed your reply.
(If you think I still need to do that, just let me know. Things are really messed up, and I did not get a chance to follow your directions before they fell apart, sorry. I had enough operational usage to finish what i was doing this week, until I clicked 'Remove Base Directory', and then I lost everything.)
Version: Yes, 4.11 Beta (Wondering if I should go back to 4.10, even though some of these issues are my fault, obviously.)
(I've added a lot more individual products to the list, since I first lost Smart Content and Content Library, I was using this method to get around the problem, and it was working- temporarily- until I fixed the real problem- before I clicked on 'Remove Base Directory'. It's a long mess of third-party content, I have loads of Daz Product, and more third-party files in Computer>C:>Users>Public>Public Documents>My Third-Party Library and My Daz 3D Library. 'Daz 3D Library may not be as organized as 'My Third-Party Library' is. 'Third-Party' is where most of these third-party product files are have been placed.)
If these screenshots are not what you were asking for, please let me know.
You certainly can submit a help request and get official customer service support. Let me know if you choose to go that route, because I don't want to confuse things more by sending you down one path while they have you doing something else.
If you want me to continue to try to help, let's stay with 4.11 Beta for right now. I have been running it for weeks and it is reliable. Continually changing things just makes more of a mess, I think.
Yes, you provided the screenshots I asked for, thank you. I see problems there. A properly structured Daz 3D library folder will never have subfolders for individual products as you have shown in the screenshots. The folders within a library should have names like data, Figures, People, Props, ReadMe's, Runtime, Scenes, Scripts, support, etc. NOT product names. DIM would never install content that way. I'm guessing that MY 3RD PARTY LIBRARY is not a Daz 3D "library" at all, but just a folder full of individual product downloads. I wonder if adding all those folders caused a problem. I don't know if there is a limit on the number of libraries that can be listed.
Before dealing with those "3rd Party" issues, lets concentrate on getting your main Daz content working (i.e. the content you have installed with DIM). Fixing that should be straightforward, but I don't want to make assumptions until I see your DIM configuration. It might be possible that an error in the way you configured DIM caused 4.11 Beta to get installed into the same folder as 4.10 and overwrote it. They should be installed into separate folders and remain separate applications that can be run independently.
Yes, those are individual products- most in Third-Party Library were used in an unfinished video production of some books (and associated stories) written from the late 1980's onward, that I have been preparing for possible publication. However, The last couple of dozen (in Poser Formats and...some in Daz Formats) Were recently put there when I went on an...unplanned Renderosity shopping spree
for cloths and jewelry. ...I...kind of lost control, during the sales, and started buying, sorry. (I bought a whole lot of Daz products, also. A 'Daz spree', you might call it.) I kind of... emptied my digital pocketbook this month. 
(But I have to return to the serious work next month, of completing additional pre-drafts for next year's texts and website. The associated imaging work I used to do by hand, I now do in DazStudio.) ...The recent purchaces have nothing to do with that, except that some of the product might find its way into serious use, later. ...if it is appropriate to use.
Yes, I was starting to wonder about a limit. Actually, I was tinkering with the idea of how I might set up a proper directory-tree, so-to-speak, that would permit me to clear out all those products.
I will focus on the issue, sorry: Okay, I have included the screenshots. (if I followed your directions correctly.)
This might be my last response before I turn in for the night, so thank you!, again, for your time. (I like the blue...parrot?...by the way. Nice picture. Good choice.)
There are no screenshots in your latest message.
I just stumbled over this thread you posted that says you intentionally downloaded and installed 4.11 on October 20 and "everything is working". Did you forget you did that intentionally?
Good morning, ...strange, I thought I included them. I just added them to this a reply.
I don't remember that thread, but i dio recall being concerned about 4.11 replacing 4.10 before i asked for it, ...and asking for some help abut the matter. I thinki your suggestion might be correct, perhaps I went ahead and downloaded it, after being prompted to. I know that I awakened, turned on the computer- and DazStudio- but 4.10 didn't load up normally. 4.11 was wanting to replace it. That was odd to me, at the time, because I didn't ask for- or know about 4.11. Sorry if i my memory of the event is failing.
...I do remember that Mouse issues- which still continue in DazStudio 4.11 did not take place in 4.10, and that- at first, I was experiencing Edit command problems, in 4.11, and contacted someone. Emilee? i cannot remember. But the edit issue stopped, so I told "everything seemed to be working". That is my best recollection, poor as it is. But I was not experiencing Content issues, at that time. And the 4.11 mouse issue, which I hoped at the time, was resolved, was not.
I will follow your instruction as close as i can, I need to fix this content issue, and also setup my third-party files, so i can use DS, again.
Edited to remove screen shot with email
Your DIM Configuration looks good to me.
---------------------------------- Look for 4.10
In the second screenshot, I see that DAZ Studio 4.5+ (64 bit) is installed into C:/Program Files/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4 and I see that DAZ Studio 4.x Public Build (64 bit) is installed into C:/Program Files/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4 Public Build. Those are two separate folders, which is correct configuration. DIM would not have overwritten 4.10 with 4.11. Open the Start menu on your computer and scroll through the list of installed programs until you come the the Daz 3D folder, Click to expand it and then click on the DAZ Studio 4
subfolder to expand it. You should see both Daz Studio 4.10 and Daz Studio 4.11 there.
You should be able to select either one and run that version. Try to run 4.10 and see if your content is there.
It is important to remember that 4.10 and 4.11 Public Beta have separate preferences inside Daz Studio, so things you configure for one, do not automatically apply to the other. It is possible that your settings for 4.10 are still OK and you have only messed up settings for 4.11. If 4.10 runs OK and has all your content, we can transfer the settings to 4.11 Public Beta, or you can just uninstall 4.11 if you don't want it.
---------------------------------- Fix 4.11 if 4.10 doesn't work
If you cannot find 4.10, or it doesn't run, or it doesn't have the correct content, read on:
The first screenshot shows that DIM is installing your content into C:/Users/Public/Documents/My DAZ 3D Library. I do not see that path in that big long list of folders you have added to the Content Directory Manager in 4.11 Public Beta. You have some subfolders, but not that top level folder. Here is how we fix that:
Settings > Installation > Allow Shortcuts: In the Start Menu is unchecked in the screenshot.
Youir screen shot shows that DIM is allowed to place shortcuts on the desktop but not in the Start menu - if you are trying to launch DS from theer that might explain why you don't have the expected entries.
See Chohole and Richard's comments above. Look for icons on the desktop instead.
Now we have two more skilled people contributing to this conversation. I was focused on the file paths and didn't notice that check box. Thanks, Chohole and Richard!
...just double-checking. after moving 'C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library to the top, you wish me to remove all the added paths below it?
I followed the others steps, I just haven't removed the rest of the files beneath the path, yet.
Product seems to have been in Content Library, all along, but nothing appears in the space below the list, when i click on the product/content. I'm not sure what the little blue boxes are that have appeared over the Content symbols, but installing doesn't seem to change anything. (Smart Content is still not showing anything at all.
BUT here's great news! After following your instruction, it seems that I I can at least load saved files again. (I haven't deleted the lists, yet, I was waiting for confirmation that I correctly understood your instruction.)
THANKS!
(also...where is that checkbox found, that Chohole mentioned?)
For now, just remove any path that starts with C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library/. I am saying to remove subfolders of that folder. For example, remove C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library/SIMPLE SOPHISTICATION FOR MARRIA, and C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library/BIKER BOOTS, and any others buried down in that list that start with C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library/. Leave the 3RD Party Stuff for now to see if we can just get the DIM working with minimal changes.
Your latest screenshot, 7Temp.jpg, doesn't show C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library in the list. Are you sure you have added it?
I thought I did- I placed them at the top- here are some screenshots, for you to check.
(By the way, if I delete all thoser paths, ...will I still be able to access that content?)
You shouldn't have the last two under Daz Studio Formats - those are nested content directories (a folder selected inside another folder that is also selected) which can cause issues. If you take the contents of those folders and merge them into the My Daz 3d Library folder DS should still find the files with the fodlers removed from the list.
When you say, 'merge' them, do you mean 'place' them into My Daz 3d Library?
I think I actually placed some things in there (some time ago), and may have made a mess of the folder.
(The screenshots only show the beginning of the list and end of the list, of the folder.)
You have the C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library in Daz Studio Formats and Poser Formats now.
As Richard described, you should never create nested content libraries. Why did you manually add those two folders (/SIMPLE SOPHISTICATION FOR MARRIA, and BIKER BOOTS) to your DIM content library path in the first place? Is that 3rd party stuff that you meant to put elsewhere?
It will probably easier for you to maintain the system if you have ONLY your DIM stuff in C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library, and manually install products from other sources in a different library. That way you won't accidently ruin your DIM content with incorrect manual installations. If you can live without access to those two products temporarily, I think you should just remove those paths from the Content Directory Manager now and move those folders out of the C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library folder on your hard drive. That will let us see if the DIM content is working in Daz Studio. Then we can deal with all the 3rd Party stuff after DIM content is working inside Daz Studio.
I didn't see this before I posted my previous message. Yes, you appear to have a big mess there. It is not just the two products that you have manually installed. You appear to have a bunch of incorrectly installed product folders there. I don't think there is a quick way to repair this.
All of those added folders- Daz and Poser- I purchaced at Renderosity (When I need a particular set or article of clothing I cannot find at Daz), but did not know how to place them properly, to get them to run in Daz. ...So I placed them there, and used them that way. I want to be able to access them whenever I need them. One time, I was told to place them in...My Daz 3d Library Folder? ...But I was unclear of exactly how to do it, and it's now dull of quite a few files that appear scattered and difficult to recognize. So I returned to placing them into Poser Formats and Daz Studio Formats, at least until I could finish last year's projects.
The two screenshots show the beginning of the My Daz 3D Library list. I was wondering if I needed to clean that folder out. I went back to making 'My Third Party' folder the main folder for holding the products I didn't download through Download Manager.
(So...what do you suggest I do about cleaning up My Daz 3D Library folder? If I knew the correct procedure, i could go through and remove everthing but what we know should be there.)
I just removed Biker Boots and Simple Sophistication, and I guess I can remove the other paths, so you can take a look at things.
Do you want me to go ahead and clear out the Poser list?- second two screenshots
And the rest of Daz Formats?- last two screenshots
Have you tried opening Daz Studio now to see whether your DIM content is visible in the Content Library and Smart Content? We need to know whether adding C:/Users/Public/Documents/My Daz 3D Library to the Content Directory Manager fixed that problem or not.