product update info (or lack thereof) for manual install....
glaseye
Posts: 1,312
in The Commons
No doubt this has been a topic before, but....
Please DAZ, not everyone is a connect or Dim user. Some of us (like me) like to have full manual control over download and installment, so please do provide some sort of info when products are updated.
I don't know what is possible here with the store software, but adding (for example) a new 'sort by update date' option in the product library would already be quite helpfull....
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
I agree. I never know if there's an update on something until someone on the forum posts about it.
It would be nice.
You can use DIM to download, and so get update notices, without using it to install.
I have DIM on a very old system, only for the occasional beta download.
My downloads are on external drives that are only connected to an internet system when needed for storing/catecorising those downloads and to my render system only when installing. Install is strictly manual to my specifc content setup. I don't see any use for DIM that way. (I'guess I belong to a minority, but there are more out there that don't use / want to use DIM for whatever personal and/or practical reason...hence my remark)
DIM was explicitly created to address this issue, as well as the desire to eliminate the old bitrock installers. Like Richard says you can download with DIM and then install manually. Given the provenance on DIM. don't expect any enhancement elsewhere for update notification - they're available via DIM and Connect (which I won't use
)
The DIM download packages can be used for manual installation. Just copy everything in the Content folder to your installation folder.
You download them with DIM but don't install them. Uncheck that option. The files you need to install are in the zip file, along with direction files for DIM to do the install. Download a product and open the zip you get and you'll see it. I've never tried to install that way, but it looks pretty straight forward.
I split a product dl over multiple content folders, or combine dl's into one specific (yes, I do that: older productc that have separate installers for DS and poser, and as such (mostly the textures) duplicate content. No need for double install.... or product that have content in more then one -personal- category, so I need to split that)
I have setups for DS, Poser, Vue split into various subcategories, That's why I do manual install. I see the content, split it as desired, and install to the various conten and/or runtime folders as needed. I don't see DIM doing that. Again, it is very specialized/personalized, but I do have the feeling I'm not alone in this...
Ok, I am making a very big assumption now, but I do get the feeling that 'more experienced users' - as in looooooong time users who have build up their own routine after so many years - are left a bit in the cold. So even if it is unlikelyt to be adressed, it doesn't hurt to let DAZ know we do exist....
(And you never know, maybe someone has a very good solution I would never think of myself....)
Ouch, feeling my age now.....
I know nothing about writing website code, but I wonder if it would be possible to add a line in the product library page code that basically tells it: if something is updated bump said item to the top of the list. I don't know if that would be hard or not, but I doubt it will ever get done.
All you are using the DIM for is to download the zip file that contains all the content files. You can then install it anyway you please. I'm not sure how that would change what you are doing. Move the zip file you download to whereever you want it and install it manually whenever you please. Download one of them and take a look. All the DIM is doing with the files to install them is an automated process of what you do manually, you don't have to use that.
+1
The downloads would not be kept in the dim folder on my system, as they are transferred to various external drives. Does DIM keep track of that? Does it keep an ever growing database of files that it has dl'd but are not present on the system? If so, that might be worth checking out.
Mind you, I shiver at the thought of DIM trying to dl my past 10+ years history of content
Let me tell you my setup - I have a laptop at work I use to download my files because I have garbage for an internet connection at home. The laptop does not have the space for my library, I have over 1TB worth of content. What I do is install the content on the laptop, without deleting the files, then wipe out the library. I then cut and paste the files and take them home on a USB drive and install them with the DIM there. The DIM on my laptop knows what files it has installed despite the fact I deleted the installation and knows not to list them as needing to be downloaded. It also knows what updates are needed when they become available.
So yes, you can track it with the DIM, but you have to use it to install somewhere to do that.
OK, so it does keep a database.... so it may be useful for new installs (I'm certainly not going to try to dl the older content: 1TB?
you're just starting 
(just kidding, of course... 1+TB is quite a lot.)
Depends on your internet connection and usage terms. I have to download at a wifi hotspot on my laptop and bring it home - I started the way diogenese did -- installing to the laptop and then deleting the installed files, copying the installers to the home system. Eventually I bought a 2 TB USB drive to keep the installers on and switch it between my laptop and my main system. I think I spent about a month, several hours per day, downloading everything.
leave the .dsx file in the downloads folder and you will still get update notices, or that has been the case in the past (I haven't checked recentl;y). The .dsx files are small.
Either that or a filter that shows all content that is newer than your latest download.
Sure, you can use DIM to workaround that, but it shouldn't be to hard to implement this in the Product Library and make our lives easier.
I move the .zip files from the Downloads directory to another drive but I leave the ManifestFiles directory as it is and I get told about updates.