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dragotx, I know all that. But my opinion remains. If the problem is at DAZ's end, then DAZ would be the one to fix it. There is no use in having many customers go unnecessary work and stress.
I agree with you, I was responding to the one after you trying to compare this issue to fixing a bug in one of the store sales, which is like comparing apples to a submarine.
My guess is you are both correct. If this is only happening to connect users and not DIM users, the problem might be indeed a different submarine airship flying into the data cloud, which is a DAZ fix issue and if by some remote chance it is not a DAZ issue, there's always the resident genius @RichardHaseltine, who knows more than half of us have forgotten.
Edit: the links no good but the name is right.
Actually, what I'm curious about is if it's affecting users that only use Connect. I'm a DIM user, and it only occurs when I let Studio sign into Connect. If I keep it signed out after I fix the icon issue and reinstall through DIM, it doesn't seem to reoccur. But as soon as I let Studio connect to DazConnect, I start losing icons.
It seems to affect users who log in to their account through DS, regardless of how the content is installed.
Yes and the reason is that Connect is calling "home" to check for any changes in the product and/or their metadata, which apparently includes the thumbnails which disapper from "Smart" Content if Connect can't find them on the servers -> Don't let DS connect to those servers and the thumbnails don't dissapper, ie. use DS in offline mode and install the products with DIM.
OK, good to see I'm not the only one having this issue. It definitely is a recent phenomenon. Came on to find a temporary solution but it sounds to be totally on Daz's end. I'll remember not to delete any files so they don't come back as blank. Hope Daz fixes the problem soon. I rely on the thumbnails a lot to quickly slew onto a product.
I guess DAZ Content is not so "Smart" anymore,...
lol
The problem is JPG files have 0 file size.
C:\Users\Pierre\Documents\DAZ 3D\Studio\My Daz Connect Library\data\cloud\meta\1_22285.jpg
I have around 200 assets without icons and it's overkill to manually find and rename all these thumbnails.
ok, I found a solution.
Go here C:\Users\Pierre\Documents\DAZ 3D\Studio\My Daz Connect Library\data\cloud\meta
and delete all .jpg files with 0 size
then open Daz Central, go to Daz Studio Assets and click Open on any asset.
Nevermind, after Login all thumbnails are missing again. Daz overwrites them.
Honestly, using DS logged in is just asking for heartache these days, and by "these days", I mean for the foreseeable future.
I fixed the five products with missing thumbnails using one of the tricks I found here, but it did not work for a new purchase.
Better Together Poses has no Smart Content thumbnail and no method works to fix it.
I can't "update metadata" in DS or it will wipe out a bunch of thumbnails and I'll be right back to where I started.
I can't believe DAZ does not have a fix for this yet. Smart Content thumbnails are not "low priority" because they are visual cues when you are searching for a product to use.
This is grueling!
Any news when this issue will get resolved? It is really more than annoying, as it makes most of the 2.99 stuff I bought during the sale unusable.
I haven't heard anything yet.
Have you tried making them read-only? (though I don't know how DS will behave when it tries to overwrite them).
I sent in a ticket today. Maybe if everyone inundates them with tickets they’ll finally do something. They still haven’t fixed the Zilpha issue that’s been going on for several months where EVERY G8 F loads with Zilpha at 100%! I’m really getting sick of them not fixing known issues for so long!
Is everyone experiencing this problem, or is it just a poor unfortunate few? It'e driving me batty. OCD is getting twitchy. :-)
The solution may be here (can't test, I'm not using Connect), and then making the images read-only so DS can't overwrite them next time you log in:
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/6595426/#Comment_6595426
As my order process issue was finally resolved and I dowloaded the products that I purchased during MM just now. A lot, if not most icons were missing. Annoyingly some of the icons from earlier purchases are now gone too. I have too many missing to do it manually and then to lose them all over again when Daz updates the Meta-data.
May I assume that Daz is trying to fix this, which could mean meta-data could get updated a couple of times before this is resolved, and there is really no use for me even to begin to do this manually?
And in the meantime, have there been any updates for anyone on this issue?
It's becoming hard to ignore that I really start to feel like I am in a sado-masochistic relationship with Daz. Not really into that,...I hope I will enjoy it eventually,... seems the best tactic,...give it a try...
You could use one of the installers outside DS and not let DS connect for now - I'm sure when the servers are fixed it will be announced.
Ok, this worked for me:
First make sure to work offline in DS, then go to Edit>Preferences>Startup and de-select "Automatically Login With Remembered Credentials", this is to make sure DS doesn't try to update the Meta-data which will result in the loss of the thumbnails.
Then go to the Smart Content tab, click the "Display options for active pane"-menu above the pane-tabs and select "Content Database Maintenance", check the Re-Import Metadata option and click accept, and again click accept on the window that pop-us up after that. DS will then say it is Importing Meta-data, this will take a bit of time depending on the size of your content and system, after which most of the thumbnails should be back. Some were still missing for me but it's a big improvement from how it was, and I am guessing the thumbnails still missing could be due to another issue, some of you may not have this problem.
Please note if you decide to work online again with DS, you may loose the thumbnails again and have to do this over again.
This works!
It should be a sticky. Thank you!
You're welcome!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This worked for me as well. (I selected only the 77 products that had missing thumbnails. That was a bit of a bother, but I didn't want to risk running it over everything (literally thousands and thousands of files). )
And I don't understand why nobody from DAZ could come up with this temporary workaround for us.
You're very welcome, I have wondered about that myself as it was an easy solution, but no use speculating.
Good job at presenting a solution, as pointed out the solution was not presented by Daz. Daz does not want you offline. Various applications have been developed with online user interactions from installations to configuration and data processing for motion and tutorials. As you noted, once the work around is brought online there is a chance that the missing icon issue may return.
I have products dating back to Studio 1.x and some newer items are missing icon. There is a process of updating the icon files in the meta folder that works for most. If you check your folder you will see the zero size files and have an idea of which files (and how many) to replace. Duplicating, renaming and moving the icon from the runtime/support folder will allow you to continue working online. It's very quick -
1) Select icon file
2) CTL+C,
3) CTL+V,
4) F2, rename file,
5) CTL+X,
6) Go to meta folder "DAZ 3D\Studio\My Daz Connect Library\data\cloud\meta'"
7) CTL+V
8) Refresh in Studio and your worries are over (for now).
To make it easier I pin my meta folder to quickbar on the left side of explorer folder view so it's also a single click to access the folder for the final paste option
The products with the thumbnails pointing to the old location should have been updated. At least for the products that were reported, but we will be going through all of the products that were released before the store switchover to update their thumbnail locations. Expect to see a lot of product metadata updates in Daz Connect.