DAZ Studio and Organized Categories - Folders Listed, but no content
Visioneer
Posts: 158
Hello, all.
I'm having a bit of an issue with my DS Organized Categories (Default Organization is terrible, with all the content I have.) I recently bought some items from both Renderosity and the DAZ3D store. After installing the content, I tried to organize all the content to my various categories. However, while the Renderosity goods show up in the Organized Categories just fine, the DAZIM products (while in my regular content library) show up, but when "Organized" only the folders show, none of the links for the morphs, textures, or models. Has anyone had this happen to them? I tried looking for a solution online, but nothing is coming up online. I tried searching the forums to no avail. I have enough HDD space left (over 50GB) and I'm confused as to why it's only today's DAZ3D purchases aren't showing up. Any input or idea would be greatly appreciated. I can add screens to illustrate what I'm talking about if anyone has trouble understanding. Thanks for your time.
Visioneer
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Comments
If you right-click a product folder in the Content Library make shure to select the second enty in the sub menu to include the Sub-Folders "Create a Chategory from>Selected Folder & Sub-Folders".
I'm not familiar with the term "organized categories" but I have a file structure problem that might or might not be related. I'm using DS 4.10.0.123. Note the highlighted directory. Five minutes ago it was full of subdirectories; now it's empty. I haven't navigated to it from Windows Explorer in some time, so I can't confirm that that's changed in the last few minutes. I thought I mirrored the default file structure when I set up my external drive, so that all the purchased content went into the "Users/Public/Public Documents.My DAZ 3D Library" while all the project files I ever created went into the "Users/Private" path. (I think that's what it was called.) Now, there's no "Private" path. Something tells me that's bad. I can understand DAZ crashing (which it did, right before I lost my files) and forgetting the path - but ERASING everything? EVERYTHING? What's the application's complete default pathway to the directory where "My Library" should point?
I once had a simmilar issue but I don't think its related to the descriped one in the OP.
Don't worry if its not a hardware failure im shure your content isn't lost. If you are using windows and an external drive keep an eye on the drive letter (by default windows assignes the next free drive letter) but that can change by a restart of the computer especialy if you have pluged in other USB thumb drives for example and then restart. In the windows control pannel there is a Disk Manager with it I would assign a fixed drive letter for the extrenal drive if possible one further down the alphabet to avoid conflicts with USB thumb drives suddenly changing drive letters. How to Open Disk Management in Windows - Lifewire
There is no need to copy the exact same path to the external drive "Users/Public/Public Documents/My DAZ 3D Library". Move or Rename the Content Directory "My DAZ 3D Library" as you like but then you need to also tell Daz Studio that you change it in the Content Directory Manager. You can open the Content Directory Manager by pressing F2 to show the Preferences switch to the Content tab and click the button at the bottom. Change the path to your Content Directorys in the Content Directory Manager with expanding the DAZ Studio Formats section, select a entry (propably pointing to a no longer existing path) and use the buttons Add, Edit, Remove on the left to fix it. Don't forget to also change the path settings in DIM. Changing Content Directory paths can also lead to issue with "custom actions" added to the Scripts menu.
Some references:
Changing paths?
Changing default path for DAZ content library
Custom Content Path Configuration – Daz 3D Help Center
If a library path is lost, then nothing will be displayed, but the info is (should be) still in the database, Studio just needs to know. Make sure your Library paths are properly set in the Content Directory Manager. It wouldn't hurt to check in Windows Explorer that the files are actually there, too.
That's what worries me. All the "My DAZ 3D Library" files - all the purchased content - are exactly where they belong. It's the other path that's missing. I know I should be able to reestablish the link, but only if I know where the directory is supposed to be. Likewise with "check in Windows Explorer that the files are actually there." That's why I'm asking where DAZ puts them by default, so I can check there... I can't imagine any scenario where those thousands of files blinked out of existence, but they aren't where I would've sworn I put them. I alreay checked that location...
So you mean you missing the Content Directory originaly saved in "Users/Private".
First with which file system is the new external drive formatted, should be NTFS? Some extrenal drives get shipped formatted with the FAT32 file system that is an ancient file system of windows 95 times I can't recomment using.
I can also think of an issue with the windows user file premission settings because originaly they where saved in that default user folder on the windows drive.
(Tag Team Troubleshooting)
If you copied the path for your "private" library literally the same way as the Public Documents library (Users/Public/Public Documents/My DAZ 3D Library) then it would be something like "Users/yourWindowsUserName/Documents/someLibraryName". It should start at a top level folder on the drive, unless it got nested underneath the other one. By default, saving scene subsets goes in the main library under Scene Subsets. Any presets (poses, materials, characters, etc.) will go into a corercponding subfolder in the main Library under Presets. Of course, you can save anywhere, and I believe it remembers the last location you used to save.
Hm-m, that makes me think... try saving something and see where is wants to go. If the folder is still there, it should successfully open the dialog, then you can see exactly where it is.
You could also check the Studio log (Help -> Troubleshooting -> View Log file) around the time you noticed to see if it caught any tell-tale actions.
Yes, that's the acurate summary. And... duh! I can't believe I didn't think of that too lol... I'll start it all up again and see where it wants to save something. Thanks, NorthOf45 -
HA! It took me hours, but I finally found where I somehow moved the directory without knowing it. I wouldn't have gotten there without your suggestion, NorthOf45. Not tonight, anyway. Thanks! I'm sorry for hijacking the thread, Visioneer; I thought this might be related to your question but I guess it wasn't...
Like I saied have a look if the external drive is formated in FAT32 that is known for fatal file system errors (and loss of countless files) if the copy process got interrupted by a computer restart/crash or by unpluging the USB device even if the copy progress bar seems to be finished. If you moved the content files instead of copy them and you think they are lost there are advanced disk repair software tools that can scan for appearantly lost files and repair the "File Allocation Table" that is the weak part of the FAT32. The NTFS file system is far more reliable and failure resitant due to iterrupted file write processes.
No worries, we all need help sometimes.
Still, getting back to my issue, I made some screen caps to show what I was talking about (and thanks to Syrus_Dante, that's my typical MO for setting up my organized categories.) I haven't moved, relotaed, or renamed any files, so I'm really curious about what's going on. Is there a byte limit or something to the Organized DB file or something? If so, how do I increase the limit? Thanks for any input. I'm including an image of the default DAZ Studio Library and an image of my organized categories and the content missing but the folders existing.
Not seeing the images
For some reason, the forum isn't successfully uploading my images. :/
Please check out the links.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eetx27o2kfc4v0g/Default DAZ Folder.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/egcgw6v3q5i9t1x/Organized Category Folder.jpg?dl=0
So the content appears in the file-system view but not the database view? And these are your categories? Please show the categorisation dialogue for one of the files, to be sure it is actually assigned to the correct category.
Thanks Richard, but I ended up uninstalling the product through the DAZ Install Manager, then reinstalled. Afterwards, I re"organized" the products, and now they show up correctly. I didn't make any changes, and I didn't move any files, they just magically worked. The only thing I can think of is that I had DS open while I was running DIM, and maybe that somehow impacted my ability to get the categories organized and the products to show. Either way, it works now, so thanks for everyone's help.