Install/Folder issues and questions

morrisonmp

I have been using DAZ for a while now and some things are still very confusing.

1. Installation and the SmartContent Tab

1a. When I install items using the DAZ Install Manager, those items do not show up in my SmartContent tab. The only workaround that I have found is that I have to right click on the SmartContent tab and select "Content Database Management." From there I have to check Process Metadata Queue & Re-Import Metadata. Once I do that, the items will show in SmartContent (usually). This doesn't seem to be a normal problem. I have asked this question before but I hoped maybe someone might have some new thoughts/advice for me.

1b. Related to 1a, above, my SmartContent tab is a mess now. Several items are duplicated, several have missing images, and some just seem broken. I have previously done a full system wipe and re-loaded everything and this did not clear up this issue.

 

2. Does anyone know if it's possible to get items to move items from "Lost and Found" into the established categories? I have so many items that are entirely only found in my Lost and Found at this point, that it's become unmanageable.

 

The Content Library tab is so un-intuitive that I don't use it unless I have to (for 3rd party products I've installed). I know that some users create their own libraries/folder structures, but every tutorial I've watched on that process seems to say that it's not only complex but also very easy to break and make things even worse than they are now. 

Please, if you do have some advice for me, explain it like I'm a 5 year old. 

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

SofaCitizen

DAZ Install Manger SHOULD add the metadata which populates the Smart Content tab. I usually install stuff while Daz Studio is not running so perhaps there is some issue if that is not the case for you. You could try right-clicking and hitting refresh to see if that makes them show up.

Then there a separate issue where products contain uncategorised items (which get put in lost+found) or do not show up at all (tends to be the ones that were migrated from other stores in bulk). Items that are in lost+found will likely need to be manually categorised by yourself since that was not done by Daz when the product was submitted (pretty sure PAs have stated that Daz handles the Metadata not the PAs themselves).

If you login to your account with Daz Studio (either because you use the Premier features and/or Daz Connect) that can replace the paths where product icons are stored from within the /Runtime/Support folder(s) to the cloud folder. This can break some images sometimes and I don't think you can fix it easily without explictly removing the Daz Connect stuff and then re-installing with DIM.

A while back I did do some testing/QA for a potential product which would have helped users to fill in the gaps and fix issues with metadata but unfortunately it never made it to release :(

morrisonmp

I appreciate the information. Unfortunately, "Refresh" doesn't seem to do anything when I click it. I still have to do that weird database refresh every time. As you said, I do not install while DAZ is open. 

And I figured I was just out of luck with the Lost and Found items. I understand the basics of setting up install folders and getting 3rd party items into the content library, but I do not feel technically skilled enough to monkey around too much with the "under the hood" parts of DAZ.

SofaCitizen

Yeah, the refresh that I mentioned is just little thing to tell Daz to go and fetch the data from the CMS again as apposed to using the cache (what it remembers from the last time it fetched it). Worth trying tho since it would not have had any negative effect.

One other thing to look into is that maybe DIM has been unable to connect to the CMS, or has somehow been configured to use a different installation. That could explain the issue altho it's not likely to have happened outside of something deliberate or weird. To check this, when you have DIM open, check the little icon in the top-right, between "Help" and the cog - make sure that is bright and when hovering over it the popup says that clicking it will stop the CMS - but don't click it. You just want to make sure that when running DIM that it can launch the CMS and connect to it.

Then to make sure you are using the correct settings: In DIM, click the Cog -> Advanced Settings -> Installation tab.  Then in Daz Studio, go to Edit -> Preferences -> CMS Settings.

The "Cluster" in Daz Studio should point to the same path as the "Content Database Base" in DIM and the two port values should be the same.

If they are different it sounds like you should change the DIM ones to match the ones from Daz Studio.

Also, I am assuming that you do not have any popup errors about failing to connect to the CMS/Database in either application.

morrisonmp

No, no pop up errors. I will try investigating the other idea you mentioned. Thanks!

nemesis10

morrisonmp said:

I appreciate the information. Unfortunately, "Refresh" doesn't seem to do anything when I click it. I still have to do that weird database refresh every time. As you said, I do not install while DAZ is open. 

And I figured I was just out of luck with the Lost and Found items. I understand the basics of setting up install folders and getting 3rd party items into the content library, but I do not feel technically skilled enough to monkey around too much with the "under the hood" parts of DAZ.

DIM is probably the most straightforward of all of these.  The most important thing is to make sure that DIM is set up correctly i.e. your Daz content is going to the appropriate folders and the database is in the correct location.  Click on the gear on the upper right corner and check the configurations of the installations.  Next, go to Daz studio and Daz Studio Preferences, and Content Manager, and make sure Daz Studio can see the installation locations.  When you install via DIM, Dim retrieves a zipped file, decompresses it, ideally doles out the contents to the appropriate locations such as geometry info to data, textures to Runtime>Textures>specific texture folder, sends a file to the shared Daz 3d> Install Manager>  Manifest files where DIM looks to figure out where and if a product is installed, adds files to Runtime>Support which include the product name and image, and I think lets the CMS know that this product exists in your inventory.  When the locations are wrong, this breaks down.
 
The Lost and Found is a bit more complicated. Products generally end up there because they don't have the proper metadata or broken metadata. The repair is suprisingly simple. The first thing to try is to delete and reinstall the product because sometimes the the installation garbles the metadata.  Other products such as products from other stores may have no metadata.  I suggest learning a little familiarty with selecting the lost and found item, right click on the product, edit metadata, and setting the item to be for a prop for Genesis 8 female for example.  There are endless Youtube videos on how to do this and set up DIM if you would like some visual examples.  We can supply those.  It is all reversible and shouldn't be too scary.

jjoyner

nemesis10 said:

morrisonmp said:

I appreciate the information. Unfortunately, "Refresh" doesn't seem to do anything when I click it. I still have to do that weird database refresh every time. As you said, I do not install while DAZ is open. 

And I figured I was just out of luck with the Lost and Found items. I understand the basics of setting up install folders and getting 3rd party items into the content library, but I do not feel technically skilled enough to monkey around too much with the "under the hood" parts of DAZ.

DIM is probably the most straightforward of all of these.  The most important thing is to make sure that DIM is set up correctly i.e. your Daz content is going to the appropriate folders and the database is in the correct location.  Click on the gear on the upper right corner and check the configurations of the installations.  Next, go to Daz studio and Daz Studio Preferences, and Content Manager, and make sure Daz Studio can see the installation locations.  When you install via DIM, Dim retrieves a zipped file, decompresses it, ideally doles out the contents to the appropriate locations such as geometry info to data, textures to Runtime>Textures>specific texture folder, sends a file to the shared Daz 3d> Install Manager>  Manifest files where DIM looks to figure out where and if a product is installed, adds files to Runtime>Support which include the product name and image, and I think lets the CMS know that this product exists in your inventory.  When the locations are wrong, this breaks down.
 
The Lost and Found is a bit more complicated. Products generally end up there because they don't have the proper metadata or broken metadata. The repair is suprisingly simple. The first thing to try is to delete and reinstall the product because sometimes the the installation garbles the metadata.  Other products such as products from other stores may have no metadata.  I suggest learning a little familiarty with selecting the lost and found item, right click on the product, edit metadata, and setting the item to be for a prop for Genesis 8 female for example.  There are endless Youtube videos on how to do this and set up DIM if you would like some visual examples.  We can supply those.  It is all reversible and shouldn't be too scary.

 I bought a desktop computer last summer and eventually downloaded all of my DAZ3D assets via DIM.  I have 1,300 products in the Lost and Found folder.   I know that I can manually categorize the Lost and Found items but might there be a way to resolve this more automatically.  I tried uninstalling one of the products with DIM and reinstalling it to see if that cleared the Lost and Found items in that product.  It did not.  Any advice?  Thanks.