For users of DAZ History Manager

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Comments

  • WilmapWilmap Posts: 2,917
    edited December 1969

    Looks as if the new layout on the store has messed with ALL Taozen's programs. I can't get any of them to work now.

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 9,724
    edited April 2013

    Yes, and they won't be updated anymore. First of all, practically all of the features in the programs are now implemented in the store and DIM together, second, it will take way too much work to rewrite the programs to work with the new store layout.

    I was informed about these changes by someone from DAZ a while ago however, so I'm currently experimenting with a different project based on the new layout which may include some of the features of the other programs.

    Post edited by Taoz on
  • Jeanne MJeanne M Posts: 652
    edited December 1969

    Taozen said:
    Yes, and they won't be updated anymore. First of all, practically all of the features in the programs are now implemented in the store and DIM together, second, it will take way too much work to rewrite the programs to work with the new store layout.

    I was informed about these changes by someone from DAZ a while ago however, so I'm currently experimenting with a different project based on the new layout which may include some of the features of the other programs.


    I really enjoyed using your programs and I understand why you won't update them anymore. Thank you so much for making them available for us when the store/site here didn't feature at all what I wanted. :) and I'm looking forward to the things you're up to now.

    Keep up on doing the good things and the things you like to do.(I know you wouldn't do it if you wouldn't like it. ;-) )

    Love, Jeanne

  • WilmapWilmap Posts: 2,917
    edited December 1969

    That's a shame Taozen, but I understand.

    Thank you for making it so much easier with your programs.

  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited April 2013

    DAZ3D site can't open all my items in one full list, with convenient number, search and filter options, and I can't use DIM. History Manager was the best thing done for DAZ3D site ever and I'd really miss that functionality.

    Post edited by Kattey on
  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,260
    edited December 1969

    Sorry to hear this as I preferred yours over Daz's

  • KickAir 8PKickAir 8P Posts: 1,865
    edited April 2013

    Taozen said:
    Yes, and they won't be updated anymore. First of all, practically all of the features in the programs are now implemented in the store and DIM together, second, it will take way too much work to rewrite the programs to work with the new store layout . . .

    I doubt I'll ever be able to use DIM, so this is very disappointing. But you've provided about a year's worth of needed functionality for free, simply out of the goodness of your heart -- thank you, much appreciated. I hope DAZ has thanked you too -- if I'd had to download all the stuff I've bought one file at a time I'd've bought a lot less!
    Post edited by KickAir 8P on
  • HaruchaiHaruchai Posts: 1,884
    edited December 1969

    Fully understand your decision so just wanted to say thanks, for the Install Manager in particular, saved me countless headaches.

    I will look forward to what you do next :)

  • Satira CapriccioSatira Capriccio Posts: 523
    edited December 1969

    Echoing what everyone else has said. Your utilities saved me so much time and headaches, and I appreciate all the work you put into them.

  • SpitSpit Posts: 2,342
    edited December 1969

    I feel I've lost a friend. The DHM was a lifesaver for me and I thank you so very much for giving it to us. A great ride. A great friendship. It will be missed. Thank you again.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,118
    edited December 1969

    Like everyone else, I certainly got a lot of value out of your programs. Thank you for letting us use them when they were so badly needed! They will be missed, but things change. Good luck on your next venture. You already have a faithful following, probably eager to buy whatever you come up with.

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 9,724
    edited December 1969

    Thanks for all your kind words. :)

    As for the new app I'm working on it will include the basic functions of History Manager, i.e, a complete, searchable list of your items. Most of the other features like resetting items and checking cart for already purchased items have become obsolete with the recent updates to the DAZ store. Other new features are planned instead.

    With the arrival of DIM though I feel that the downloader has become obsolete - DIM does a much better job in my opinion, and there will probably be added new features to it as well. If DAZ does not include sorting the files into folders like the downloader did (I know someone has asked them to add that feature), it's fairly easy to write an addon that can do that.

    If I find some very good reasons for including an updated version of the downloader in the new app i might do it, but for now I don't have any plans for it.

  • Satira CapriccioSatira Capriccio Posts: 523
    edited December 1969

    We'll have to agree to disagree about your downloader being obsolete. You sell yourself far too short. Your downloader does a much better job than D3DIM and it is far more reliable. Besides providing options which D3DIM does not for organizing downloads, everything I purchase has always appeared in your downloader. That is so not the case with D3DIM. I'd purchase your downloader if it was available to purchase ... as I'm sure others would too.

    For some reason, Jack Tomalin's Parkside JTC Logistics texture set for the Parkside train doesn't appear in the DAZ download manager despite checking every possible filter. Perhaps, the word Logistics in the product name fools D3DIM into thinking it's software. It's not the first time a product that should appear in D3DIM is missing. Though it's ridiculous that any downloadable product sold by DAZ should be excluded from being downloaded with D3DIM.

    I'd rather download and install manually than use D3DIM. It ends up being more efficient for me to do so.

    Taozen said:
    Thanks for all your kind words. :)

    As for the new app I'm working on it will include the basic functions of History Manager, i.e, a complete, searchable list of your items. Most of the other features like resetting items and checking cart for already purchased items have become obsolete with the recent updates to the DAZ store. Other new features are planned instead.

    With the arrival of DIM though I feel that the downloader has become obsolete - DIM does a much better job in my opinion, and there will probably be added new features to it as well. If DAZ does not include sorting the files into folders like the downloader did (I know someone has asked them to add that feature), it's fairly easy to write an addon that can do that.

    If I find some very good reasons for including an updated version of the downloader in the new app i might do it, but for now I don't have any plans for it.

  • WilmapWilmap Posts: 2,917
    edited December 1969

    I too would buy your downloader if it were available.:-)

    I do not like DIM and will not be using it.

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 9,724
    edited December 1969

    We'll have to agree to disagree about your downloader being obsolete. You sell yourself far too short. Your downloader does a much better job than D3DIM and it is far more reliable. Besides providing options which D3DIM does not for organizing downloads, everything I purchase has always appeared in your downloader. That is so not the case with D3DIM.

    Well there are probably still some bugs in DIM, but I suppose they'll be fixed so it eventually will become reliable. As for organizing the DIM downloads I can write an utility for that if DAZ doesn't include that feature (as I said elsewhere, it has already been requested).

    I plan on using DIM myself, I'm just going to wait until the worst bugs have been straighened out.

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 9,724
    edited December 1969

    wilmap said:
    I too would buy your downloader if it were available.:-)

    I do not like DIM and will not be using it.

    Well if I knew I could sell enough copies (at least 300 at say $7) I might consider it, but I doubt it. A lot of people are praising DIM, it's much better advertized, it works on Macs too, and it's free. It's hard to compete with.

  • SpitSpit Posts: 2,342
    edited December 1969

    Yeah, I have to admit DIM is an impressive piece of work. I think the problem was more that many of us had found a routine and method of dealing with our content and DIM was a threat to our routines. It takes a bit of thought and experimentation to establish new routines whether or not we also change organization methods. It's all doable. You can even change your mind.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 40,560
    edited December 1969

    ...well I'm one who doesn't care for it as the installer not only messed up my username, there is no way I can correct it (I tried) so I cannot access my account with it. I also don't care for this new library format as it is more cumbersome than the old (pre Magento) itemised order history. I just need a full list of everything so I can see if I missed any downloads. Unfortunately that seems no longer possible.

    They definitely broke something that didn't need fixing.

  • Satira CapriccioSatira Capriccio Posts: 523
    edited December 1969

    It's not simply a change in routine that is the problem some of us have with accepting D3DIM. It's that D3DIM is more cumbersome to use and has fewer options than Taozen's downloader ... which is unquestionably an impressive piece of work.

    Spit said:
    Yeah, I have to admit DIM is an impressive piece of work. I think the problem was more that many of us had found a routine and method of dealing with our content and DIM was a threat to our routines. It takes a bit of thought and experimentation to establish new routines whether or not we also change organization methods. It's all doable. You can even change your mind.


    I don't care for the new Product Library either. It's ... pretty. But, it is also more cumbersome and slower to use than the old Download page. There definitely needs to be an easy way to download purchase and product file information. Back when I had to reinstall my runtimes, it was possible to see everything, so I copied all my purchase information to Excel. Then as I reset products, I copied the filenames to that spreadsheet too. Taosen's downloader made updating that spreadsheet easy from the log. Unfortunately, that's another functionality that's missing in D3DIM.


    You can't add a second account with the correct username? Or does D3DIM mess that up too. I wonder where D3DIM saves that information. With any other application, you can delete saved settings ... as long as you know where they are stored.

    ...well I'm one who doesn't care for it as the installer not only messed up my username, there is no way I can correct it (I tried) so I cannot access my account with it. I also don't care for this new library format as it is more cumbersome than the old (pre Magento) itemised order history. I just need a full list of everything so I can see if I missed any downloads. Unfortunately that seems no longer possible.

    They definitely broke something that didn't need fixing.

  • icprncssicprncss Posts: 3,694
    edited December 1969

    I have little use for the DIM. I'm not all that impressed with it as a download manager and I have no use for it as an install manager. My main app is Poser. I never install any file directly to a runtime. I always install to a temp folder, check the files and then move it to the external runtime I want it in.

    As far as the price goes, I'd pay more than $7 for it. Your support for the alpha releases has been excellent. If I went back through my order histories both here and at Rendo, I know I will find apps and plugins I paid a more than $7 for that are now useless because the vendor has chosen to no longer support and upgrade their products. While free upgrades are a wonderful thing, I have no problem paying a reasonable upgrade price. Such has become the nature of the beast.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 40,560
    edited December 1969


    You can't add a second account with the correct username? Or does D3DIM mess that up too. I wonder where D3DIM saves that information. With any other application, you can delete saved settings ... as long as you know where they are stored.

    Kyoto Kid said:
    ...well I'm one who doesn't care for it as the installer not only messed up my username, there is no way I can correct it (I tried) so I cannot access my account with it. I also don't care for this new library format as it is more cumbersome than the old (pre Magento) itemised order history. I just need a full list of everything so I can see if I missed any downloads. Unfortunately that seems no longer possible.

    They definitely broke something that didn't need fixing.


    ...well if, as in the case with most (if not all) websites, I use the same name, it usually will result in an error that the name is "currently in use". If I use a different name (not sure how as it is supposed to be your email addy) then I'd have a whole new account with no transaction history for the DIM to pull up. This is also a practise most websites frown upon.

    I filed a support ticket on this today.

    As to where this information is stored (I checked the logfile and nothing seemed to make sense) and whether it even can be edited remotely, is anybody's guess.


    I find it a bit strange that I am experiencing this issue when apparently nobody else did.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 40,560
    edited April 2013

    ...double post due to more Magento/Cloudflare weirdness

    Clicked on "preview post" and it "submitted" it instead.


    ...also beware, the Cloudflare issue from last week seems to be back as when I submitted a response to another thread, I was directed back to the edit post screen.

    Post edited by kyoto kid on
  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,565
    edited December 1969

    Are you saying there's a problem with your account (e.g. you have a plus sign or some other character in your email address), or do you just need to delete the settings in DIM so you can put them in correctly?

  • KickAir 8PKickAir 8P Posts: 1,865
    edited December 1969

    It's not simply a change in routine that is the problem some of us have with accepting D3DIM. It's that D3DIM is more cumbersome to use and has fewer options than Taozen's downloader ... which is unquestionably an impressive piece of work.

    I have over 300 gig of DAZ installers, most of which DIM wants me to redownload for no good reason (nobody there knows SQL?). And that's aside from insisting on a new install location after I finally got used to DAZ4's. Until DIM can handle this (if it ever can -- old loyal enthusiasts with years of spending behind them clearly aren't DAZ's concern, they're trying to attract new customers who still need everything) I want a queuing download manager that grabs what I tell it to, not whatever DAZ thinks it should shove down my bandwidth.

    Yes, I'd pay Taozen $7 for it -- I'd pay twice that.

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,565
    edited December 1969


    I have over 300 gig of DAZ installers, most of which DIM wants me to redownload for no good reason (nobody there knows SQL?).

    Because the old installers aren't designed with a straightforward manifest which can be used to immediately tell whether the product has been updated. To do this on the fly, you'd need to (a) generate checksums for hundreds of thousands of files, (b) maintain a complete chronological history of all the previous versions a product has taken, with changes in directory structures, Poser versions, etc.., (c) download all the data needed to check against every single file which has ever been associated with every product. And that's assuming the user never rearranged their folders, never fixed any broken files. The magnitude of the data processing needed to do this, and the magnitude of ways in which it could go wrong and trash your content folders, just makes it a horrible idea. It's unfortunate that this means to get a complete clean record you need to redownload, but the amount of data you'd need to download just to be able to see if you needed to download a product would be significant in itself -- better and safer, IMHO, to download clean zips, even if you have to do it gradually over weeks or months.


    And that's aside from insisting on a new install location after I finally got used to DAZ4's.

    Or you can change the install location in DIM. You don't have to use the default. DS and Poser both allow multiple external runtimes, also.


    I want a queuing download manager that grabs what I tell it to, not whatever DAZ thinks it should shove down my bandwidth.

    Which DIM already does. It gives me my full product history, and I choose exactly what I want to download, as many or as few as I want to queue up, which I can select using regular expression filters.


    Yes, I'd pay Taozen $7 for it -- I'd pay twice that.

    I think you're still making assumptions about what can or can't be done with DIM. Taozen's programs are great, I used them until DIM came out (and continued to use the History Manager alongside DIM, until they cleaned up the Itemized Order History/Downloadable Products page), but most of what you're criticizing DIM for are things Taozen's programs can't do, either.

  • KickAir 8PKickAir 8P Posts: 1,865
    edited December 1969


    I want a queuing download manager that grabs what I tell it to, not whatever DAZ thinks it should shove down my bandwidth.

    Which DIM already does . . . I think you're still making assumptions about what can or can't be done with DIM. Taozen's programs are great . . . but most of what you're criticizing DIM for are things Taozen's programs can't do, either.
    I don't wanna get into a DIM debate in this thread -- I very much appreciated Taozen's downloader because I preferred it for the reasons stated, most especially "I want a queuing download manager that grabs what I tell it to". It did that, easily, intuitively, and (DAZ site borks notwithstanding) reliably. Last time I tried it, DIM didn't. Does it now? If so, I'm still reluctant to get burned again, and would pay Taozen money to keep using his/her downloader. Enough money to make it worth Taozen's while? If there are enough of us, maybe. Are there enough of us, and will there be going forward against DIM improvements and possible future interference from DAZ to a DIM competitor? Since the bar's been set at "at least 300 at say $7" maybe not, but that's no reason for those of us interested to keep silent.
  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943
    edited December 1969

    I tried the DIM now ... I have a search field in the downloads tab so I can select what and can add it to the download queue.
    Is that what you are looking for?
    I never used Taozen's download manager, sorry.

    I loved the History Manager and still miss Daz not giving me the number of items in "My Product Library".

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 9,724
    edited April 2013

    Kerya said:
    I loved the History Manager and still miss Daz not giving me the number of items in "My Product Library".

    The number is in the page source:

    "totalRecords":3490

    That is however the number of single products, including the number of single products in bundles. So it's different from the number the old download page and History Manager showed, which was the number of purchased items (bundles as well as single items both counted for 1 item here).

    Correction: it looks like the bundles are included in the number as well, so a bundle counts for the number of included items plus 1 (the bundle itself).

    Post edited by Taoz on
  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943
    edited December 1969

    In that case they could clearly show that number (maybe with an explanation about the additions of bundles).

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 9,724
    edited December 1969

    Kerya said:
    In that case they could clearly show that number (maybe with an explanation about the additions of bundles).

    You could ask them, should be very easy to make.

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