What is the Runtime/Support Folder Actually For?
Lucky13guy
Posts: 95
in The Commons
I'm curious what the files in the Runtime/Support folder are actually for. Are they required for certain products to run properly? Or is there some hidden reason why they come with every Daz asset that would mess things up if they were deleted?
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Comments
The .dsx files contain the source for the Metadata loaded into the CMS databases. If you delete them then you won't be able to rebuild Smart Content without re-installing the whole product.
The Support folder also contains the .jpg or .png files which put the images into Smart Content and Content Library in Daz Studio. If you delete them you'll get funny thumbnails with question marks in them instead.
Runtime contains files used by your library during "run time", like textures. They're the things you don't access directly during use of DS.
Do not delete them. Nothing will work without them.
Same with \data that you didn't comment on. \data is necessary too.
So, if I don't use Smart Content, I don't technically need most of the files in that folder? I never liked the way Smart Content was set up, so I've just been reorganizing my assets any time I install them. That way, I know exactly where everything is. Takes longer, but I like my filing method. Lol.
I know what most of the folders in the Runtime folder are for, and know that deleting them would be a BAD idea, but I was talking specifically about the Support folder inside the Runtime folder. But thanks for the friendly warning!
The icons are also used by the Products section of the Content Library and the metadata are used to fill the Categories section so if at one point you messed up a product's categories and want to start from the default categories, you'll need them.
The Runtime folder comes from Poser since Daz Studio was originally designed to be Poser compatible. Daz Studio sill uses the Textures folder in Runtime but it puts it's geometry files in the data directory. The Libraries and Geometries folders are only used for Poser content, you can install Poser content and Use it in Daz Studio. The Runtime/support directory is used for smart content stuff and if you export your user data it goes in there as well.
The Support folder also has the files for any exported user metadatas. That isn't just Smart Content, it is used by all content views except The Daz Studio, Poser, and other Format lists in the Content Library.
Thank you, the directory structure makes a lot more sense with that information.
For your use-case, no, you don't need them. Unless you're likely to change your mind about smart content in the future, you're good to delete them. Everything you need for the loading-from-library and using of the product itself is in other folders. The Support folder is added by Daz when they're packaging it up for release and includes, as others have mentioned, the smart content stuff, and possibly some other store-related stuff - I haven't delved too deeply into it).
I'm unsure how much one should focus on this. In my 3.3 TB Daz Library, the Runtime\Support directory is 1.5 GB. Rounding error.
If you have a space issue, selectively uninstalling stuff you just don't use is probably more effective. (And if the stuff you get rid has a lot of morphs, removing them will give a tiny speed boost to figure creation.)
Remember that Smart Content is only one of several parts of Daz Studio that use the Content Managerment System, which the files in the Support folder are related to.
But does this affect Luck13guy's use case? I admit I don't bother with that folder as it doesn't get very large (280 MB at current count and that's with a lot of content) so I leave it where it is.
I haven't installed a single support folder, manifest.dsx, or supplement.dsx since they first appeared in my downloads. I continue to organise my files the way I like them and everything works the way I want it to. I now know what the support folder is for but I'm still dark on the other two. My guess, if you don't use smart content, you don't need them.