Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
..so if I say moved the DIM Downlaods folder to D:Root, I would simply have to use:
OverrideManifestDir=D:/DIM/Manifests
OverrideThumbnailDir=D:/DIM/Thumbnails
Correct?
(...and how do I change line spacing here?)
Set the downloads folder inside DIM, and move the folders that are currently on C: to the new locations.
...but what do I do with the existing downloads folder, do I physically move that in Windows first?
I may be able to build systems, but when it comes to this kind of stuff, I'm wary of breaking things.
Copy it...then when you are sure everything in it is all copied, recognized and still works, delete it (directly...do not go to the Recycle bin, just delete).
...can't i just move it?
Yes...but if something goes wonky during the move, then it's download it all, again..but at least the new will be downloaded to the new location.
I may be a bit 'paranoid' when it comes to moving stuff from one drive to another...but I've been bitten one too many times when doing so (rural WV...even a ups isn't enough to ensure you won't lose data if the power blinks...and it does so with some measure of regularity around here).
...I already have a backup made that I can always reload.
So to recap:
1. Move existing DIM download folder to D:[root]
2. Change path in DIM to "D:[root]/Downloads"
3. Change .ini for thumbs and manifests as specified by Richard.
I just leave the stuff in the original location until I can verify the move was successful. After I know it's all working...the old goes.
I finally got a stable installation of 4.9 (albeit the Beta), just so I could download -- and use -- those encrypted freebies DAZ keeps throwing at us. (Yeah, I know: the first hit is always free; once they get you hooked, though..., watch out!) It still has a problem recognizing content that has already been installed, and DAZ really needs to address that, because 're-installing' it is costing me bandwidth that I have to pay real money for, and frankly, this should never have been an issue to begin with. Didn't DAZ promise that my existing content libraries would not be affected in any way? The problem, as I see it, lies in the method DAZ chose to implement its encrypted-content scheme. (And you don't even want to get me started on that new 'Lost and Found' category!)
In other words, DRM.
Personally, I have no problem with DRM in principle. After all, I write software for a living, so I'm particularly sensitive, and extremely sympathetic, to the concept of intellectual property, and the need to protect it from theft. My issue with it is how DAZ chose to implement it. If I understand this correctly as I've read about it (and it's entirely possible that I don't), the encrypted content is tied to the machine onto which it was downloaded and installed. (And by all means, DAZ moderators, correct me if I am mistaken.)
Not even Microsoft does that anymore; they tie their licenses to the Microsoft account under which they were registered. (At least, that was the case with my more recent acquisitions of Office 2013, Visual Studio, and SQL Server.) This means that I can have those products installed on all of the three computers that I own, and use for application development. I honestly feel that DAZ should have taken that approach to licensing, and especially to decryption keys.
I maintain two copies of my content libraries: one on my "primary" system, and a mirror of those libraries on an external drive, that I share between the other two machines. (There's also an archive on one of my NAS devices, but we'll leave that one out of the conversation for now.)
Tying the decryption to a specific computer really screws me in that respect. It means that I would have to download and install copies of my content onto each computer that runs Studio, and on which I do work. Which basically means, whichever computer I'm toting around with me on any given day. I'm sorry (actually, no, I'm not), but that simply is not an acceptable option for me.
(And right about now, you're all probably thinking, "But apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?")
Did you add your mapped content folders to the beta, if you aren't using the defaults? The beta and general release do not share settings.
The content is NOT tied to the machine, it is tied to your Daz account.
I got some of those connect-only freebies but I have yet to discover where the heck they went on my runtim. If at all.
I'm not going to use this functionality, I have more than enough trying to get my mind around Iray and trying to find/create those male clothes I need for a project I'm working on.
Whilst the content is connected to the account, my understanding is that the file downloaded by DAZ Connect at the very beginning in order to decrypt the content is tied to the machine. Thus if anyone touches their machine in such a way that this decryption file is not happy with, they need to reconnect and get a new decryption file that works with the machine's changed set up. This has been stated a number of times, and I do not recall anyone at DAZ denying it.
So yes, the content is connected to the account, but the means of decrypting that content is machine tied.
Connect installed products do not appear in your Content Library (other than in the Products and Categories sections that are below your DAZ and Poser libraries).
This is because Connect keeps everything in its own content file structure which is not user-facing (My Daz Connect Library). The only shortcuts, links, icons, etc., that are user-facing are those that appear in or work with Smart Content: Smart Content itself, and in Content Library, Products (0-Z) and Categories.
E.g. you will not find "Dragon Queen" under People/Genesis 3 Female/Clothing.
You can create shortcuts from Smart Content into folders you have created in Content Library by dragging and dropping them there from SC (only one at a time, it seems, currently).
I don't see any reason why the smart links couldn't be made automagicly during install.
Just have the install script make the same folders in the Content Library that a DIM install would. Then the user could shuffle those around the content library if they wanted.
The whole process of manually renaming and shuffling files could be done right in the Content Library pane with no need to leave DS or move the files from the original install location.
A seperate script to make them after install would be nice as well in the event that I decided to just wipe the whole Content Library pane and start over.
A few options to make compressed backups would be usefull. That be handy for pros that want to keep projects seperated.
It would make it easy to have more than one catalog system.
They are just file links after all, so the compressed backups shouldn't be all that big.
I can see a few useful things for this new system :)
On the DIM matter, I do customize my directories and such in the settings, but it still takes up a lot of space, even if you delete all the unneeded ZIP files...