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Not a problem Spooky. I have all versions of DS saved too. LOL I can install, point to my files and be up and running in short order.
And runtimes/libraries and zips haven't changed that much in those years. The programs and companies have though.
As an aside Spooky, I've upgraded to every version of DS since it came out (alpha .09 if I recall?), and every beta and jumped on Iray. I've never had an issue. The same as Windows, signing up for betas and learning and using them with no problems. Until Windows 8 and DS Connect. 4.9 is great too without signing in by the way. I have modern cell phones and tablets. I'm not a technophile.
No disrespect intended, but with some of your posts I can see your nose up in the air scoffing at us "dinosaurs" and "1995-ers". We're not stupid, behind the times, or against technology or anything else you may think. We just want to keep working with a system we've developed over many years and is comfortable and works for us. And still use the updated features.
So to bring it back around, thanks for the link system but that won't work for me. I'll keep using DIM til you pull it and then we'll go from there.
When the heck did they say THAT? If DIM goes, I stop buying. I'm not mixing Connect downloading with DIM stuff I have downloaded and trying to keep track of that as I am using 4.8 as 4.9 BUTCHERED my custom catalog. DIM shows me what I have installed in one easy to read list. No DIM then no buy. Even if manual were around, why should I have to do that? It's a pain in the butt. If they remove DIM, it shows they really do not want my business and I'm happy to oblige.
This was back in what? November? when this whole Connect thing started. I believe it was Daz_Rawb that said it but I can't be sure right now. As more and more people switch to DC and less and less use DIM they will phase it out.
It could be years but then again it could be next month. Encryption was "no plans for the near future" and turned out to be 2 months. Maybe next month there will be an update to 4.9 that allows scripts and whatever else. Yes yes I know.. speculation. However, stranger things have happened. And then it's a small leap to "hardly anyone is using DIM anymore" and we'll never know if thats true or not but at that point it won't matter.
I'm with you Novica, the more I think about it and the hoops we'd have to jump through, I'll be out. I have enough content to last a lifetime and others stores to shop at.
This is supposed to be a fun relaxing hobby (that costs me a bundle lol) but Daz forcing me into a box to work the way they want me to isn't fun or relaxing.
What was said was that if the number of DIM users got very small they might drop it - but the impression I got was that it would have to be a really large percentage fall.
Let's hope so Richard. I really do hope. But frankly, after all these years being a "DAZ cheerleader" my faith and trust are at an all time low.
In defence of being a 1995er, DAZ' content system isn't smart enough to acknowledge pre-existing content which it could be if you had done things differently. So, if we abandon the approach that we started on years ago to use the "modern" approach, we have to literally start over with all new installs and either have duplicates or reinstall all of the non-DAZ stuff that we've purchased. It's not just because we are stuck in our ways. It's because we've been doing it for a long time, it works, and switching is painful for more reasons than just simply learning new tricks. Yes, we could play in both worlds, but, at least for me, that's a pain and will start getting confusing as older content is updated.
Also, I'm not convinced your category approach is the way to go. I would have thought a tagging system like the old iPhoto app would be good. You click on tags, adding them to the filter until you got as specific as you want. Each click reducing the number of products listed. Maybe that's the way smart content works, but I can't use it without reinstalling stuff, so I may never know.
You don't need to reinstall stuff to use the tags, they've been around since DS4.0.
What tags? Seriously. There's no database. Nothing. Unless a database is magically there or regenerated from my file system... its toast.
I use the file system.. as per Daz instructions from the get go using daz 4... from the get go.
Bookmarked, thanks for the write-up. I will not be installing 4.9 until February, I'll take the time to try it out then.
I am with you 100%
I took the time to learn how everything worked. I adapted a system for it. I learned to fix vendor screw ups manually, rather then requesting updates and fixes. Because there was a bunch of people that cried to support all the time about not being able to find anything, we are supposed to accept and adapt to a dumbed down system where we have zero manual control over anything. No thanks. I will not use smart content, or connect. It's like windows all over again. Microsoft has been locking down and dumbing down windows the same way, and I am not happy about that either lol.
Yes, it worked fine for me, though of course the Smart Content information is not leading you to the proper item after that. But with unencrypted content, it works just fine, like DIM Zips unzipped with manual install. The DC folder would serve as your "temporary download folder". That's why I don't think DAZ Connect - in itself - is as problematic as many make it out to be. The problem lies in hearsay rather than first hand experience, which is why I treasure the Beta experience.
To me, this is also a sort of backup in case DIM is canned, because it becomes more and more obvious that (despite the improvements) Smart Content and I will never be friends...
Understood, and no objection. Like I said in my initial post, if you do that, then you don't mind/care for CMS and the single files updates (which, quite obviously, will go to the fritz, as the real content is stored elsewhere).
But when you throw a barriage in the river and create a dam, the water will seek other ways to reach the ocean. :-)
wasnt it said that products do not update anymore through dim ?
connect only feature then ?
Products will still be updated through DIM if there are sizable changes. If it's just metadata being updated then it likely won't be updated in DIM imediately.
Good info BeeMKay and it's an ace in the hole for sure if DIM disappears. I don't use smart either and most little updates are metadata ones which doesnt matter if you don't use smart content. :) Copied your post to save.
I realize I'm coming into this conversation almost 4 years after the fact, but I understand what RAMWolff is saying. Yes "Local User" is a "product" as far as DAZ is concerned. But any reasonable person would not see it that way. The problem is, multiple unconnected products—each containing multiple files—are all being grouped together under one umbrella term of "Local User". Say, for instance, you have a dozen different Exterior Architecture products (each one made up of many individual parts which are considered seperate FILES) You want to search by product so you are sorting through 12 icons rather 98. But when you go to Environments/Architecture/Exterior, you only see 8 product icons and a "Local User" icon. If you click on the local user icon what you get is not the other four products, but every single file from all four of those products. Local User is not just a sub-category containing other products, it has combined all the other products into one, catch-all "product". This is a big failure in the organization of files and products in Daz. There should be no "Local User" product.
So how should they be handled? DS has no way, in the absence of metadata, to know that they are separate products. You could, of course, define new products yourself - it doesn't take long.