Wow, @Headwax, the ground in the rain scene looks amazing.  Thank you for that rain. 

Thanks for the comment.  Regarding the beer server, I've noticed a trend that etsablishments that directly cater to the public often hire attractive sales and customer service employees.  It is not universal, but is very common.  While I have never been to central Europe, all the Bavarian and Czech tourist pictures show off mountains and valleys.  

@Stezza, you are nailing this challenge!  Another terrific render.

Thank you, Richard - that certainly explains a lot! I'm going to rethink my options as a result of that wealth of information. It's a bit ahead of my database learning curve, but not very far ahead. I'll get there soon. In the meantime, what did you mean by "folder ownership?"  I especially appreciate knowing that when I eventually replace this machine, I can export my user data so as not to wind up in the same boat again. Very useful! :) 

It's possible for files restored from back up to be marked as belonging to a different user, or none, I am told (I've not met it myself) and that can block you, and the Content Management System, from accessing them. There is a simple "Take Ownership" registry hack which will add a new command to the right-click menu on files and folders which will fix this if it happens.

One thing I should add - make sure that nothing is using the CMS when you back up and resore (so close DS, Install manager, Daz Central, Carrara) - otherwise there's a danger of getting a hybrid set of files (some chnaged, some not) which won't work.

THANK YOU @3Diva for the Filament scene subset you posted for people to download!  With that I was able to jump right into exploring the new engine without any hassles. 
   ~Gen

I've looked through this thread and didn't see an answer to the problem I'm having. I might have missed it. I wanted to try Filament out so I downloaded and installed DS 4.14 through Daz Central. I have Filament (PBR) as one of my draw options in the viewing styles, but it's grayed out. I'm on a PC so it should be available. If you look at the screenshot, I have the Viewport selected, but no Filament.

What am I missing? Was I supposed to do something first? I created a new Filament Draw Options, Environment Options, and Tone Mapper Options to my scene. But still, not able to select Filament preview.

Help!

Filament requires Windows (currently), 64-bit, OpenGL > 4.1

Okay, that was it. Thanks, @Sevrin!

I thought I was running 4.1, but I was running 4 which is the latest version my CPU is running. Can't update that. I did have an older, low-end nVidia graphics card I could install which runs Open GL 4.6. I didn't know we had one or I would have put in my computer before now because I've been working without a graphics card since November of last year!

Anyway, I got it in and downloaded the drivers and I'm up and running, so I can take a look at Filament now. It's no longer shaded out. I'll be so happy when I can get a proper rendering computer again!

Yay! I'm glad you are going to be able to play with Filament! I look forward to checking our your renders! :D

I made a Scene Subset with some of the Filament scene nodes if you're interested in trying it: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/6220241/#Comment_6220241

 

 

You're welcome! :)

I think loading up Filament for the first time can be a bit of a shock because of how blown out the default settings are. Just a couple of tweaks with the Filament Draw node can make a big difference. I think it would be cool if, upon switching to Filament, the Filament Draw Node got added automatically (like they add the Environment and Tone Mapping nodes when switching to Iray) with settings that tame the blowout and bring it a little more in line with what you would see with Iray. That's one of my "wish list" items for improvement to Filament going forward - automatic load of Filament Draw node with decent settings upon switching to Filament preview. Until then, though, that scene subset works pretty well to tame the blowout, I think. :)

THANK YOU @3Diva for the Filament scene subset you posted for people to download!  With that I was able to jump right into exploring the new engine without any hassles. 
   ~Gen

I've looked through this thread and didn't see an answer to the problem I'm having. I might have missed it. I wanted to try Filament out so I downloaded and installed DS 4.14 through Daz Central. I have Filament (PBR) as one of my draw options in the viewing styles, but it's grayed out. I'm on a PC so it should be available. If you look at the screenshot, I have the Viewport selected, but no Filament.

What am I missing? Was I supposed to do something first? I created a new Filament Draw Options, Environment Options, and Tone Mapper Options to my scene. But still, not able to select Filament preview.

Help!

Filament requires Windows (currently), 64-bit, OpenGL > 4.1

Okay, that was it. Thanks, @Sevrin!

I thought I was running 4.1, but I was running 4 which is the latest version my CPU is running. Can't update that. I did have an older, low-end nVidia graphics card I could install which runs Open GL 4.6. I didn't know we had one or I would have put in my computer before now because I've been working without a graphics card since November of last year!

Anyway, I got it in and downloaded the drivers and I'm up and running, so I can take a look at Filament now. It's no longer shaded out. I'll be so happy when I can get a proper rendering computer again!

Yay! I'm glad you are going to be able to play with Filament! I look forward to checking our your renders! :D

I made a Scene Subset with some of the Filament scene nodes if you're interested in trying it: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/6220241/#Comment_6220241

 

Daz Central should not be required to use the Blender Bridge, Install Manager should work just as well. I have seen soem posts on the missing zip file in the Blender Discussion forum, unfortunately I have yet to install Blender or the Bridge myself so can't give any detailed advice. it may be worth opening a support ticket - they are very busy but I would hope, if you explain that your pruchases are conditional on yoru being able to use them in Blender, that they might not insist on the literal 30 day window if you have to wait more than 30 days for a response (I hope, as things seem to be settling down storewise, that it would not come to that anyway).

...

.

Yeah.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to wait until tech support helps on this one.  I keep searching through Google with questions regarding this issue raised by other members of this forum, but not one person had a solution or a resolution to this issue either.  I wish DAZ would have left DIM and the manual download of DAZ Studio available for people who are having DAZ Central issues.  I'm really stuck.  Oh well, back to Sims Medieval I go for the rest of this weekend. 

The product Library pages still have manual downloads, DIM is still available here https://www.daz3d.com/get_install_manager/

I feel like this is the olden days when I used to type: 10 GO TO 10. RUN.  
The Dashboard is stuck in a data loop, and sadly there is no way to clear out the Dashboard cache, or my login cache to reset this back to standard again.

The cache is in the AppData folder - on Windows I beleive it should be

%AppData%/daz 3d/installmanager/web/

Thank you greatly, Richard!  That worked!   
I've been pulling my hair out, especially since I'm not at all familiar with Windows 10 nor the app system it offers.  I understand apps.  I have them on an iPad and a Chromebook...  I'm just new to the setup of Windows 10 is all.  I've heard it's a very, very good operating system since Windows 7... I just don't understand it yet since I haven't really had time to delve in and explore the layout and design. (I skipped Windows 8 and 8.1 on purpose)

Thank you again!

What do you mean by "Makes folders"? The whole point of Daz Central is to provide a simpler experience - it just asks for a base location and puts evrything in that. If you want more fine-grained control then use Install Manager https://www.daz3d.com/install-manager-info (though it should respect the pathss et by Daz Central, so you will need to edit those in DIM and DS, or in one of them and then use one of the scripts for synching here http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/start#directory_mapping

Yeah.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to wait until tech support helps on this one.  I keep searching through Google with questions regarding this issue raised by other members of this forum, but not one person had a solution or a resolution to this issue either.  I wish DAZ would have left DIM and the manual download of DAZ Studio available for people who are having DAZ Central issues.  I'm really stuck.  Oh well, back to Sims Medieval I go for the rest of this weekend. 

The product Library pages still have manual downloads, DIM is still available here https://www.daz3d.com/get_install_manager/

I feel like this is the olden days when I used to type: 10 GO TO 10. RUN.  
The Dashboard is stuck in a data loop, and sadly there is no way to clear out the Dashboard cache, or my login cache to reset this back to standard again.

The cache is in the AppData folder - on Windows I beleive it should be

%AppData%/daz 3d/installmanager/web/

Edit: I couldn't wait to see if anyone replies or has a solution, so I uninstalled everything, deleted every folder and did a full clean install.

Error is gone, but it's still a [big problem], cause the installations always make folders before letting me choose where I want them and then you change them to your file structure and you got stuff lying around that you don't know if you can delete.I don't understand why they can't clean up their [leftovers] and let us decide where to put what.

New issue: When loading a figure it gets stuck at Reading Asset now, never did that before!

I give up with this...Every update there's new issues and everything breaks somehow.

Original Post:

I uninstalled all my Daz Folders that seemed to be dead, after installing the program itself in the Daz Central.

Then I set the installation path to D:\Daz\Daz Studio but it ignored it and put it into D.\Daz\Library\application and so on.

I can live with that, BUT now everytime I start I get the error:

Resource Error

A valid PostgreSQL CMS connection could not be established. Several Daz studio

features that require a valid PostgreSQL CMS connection, such as context aware content

vies and loading content installed using Daz connect service, wll not be available.

Check your network, anti-virus and firewall settings for conflicts

I bet it has something to do with the automatic folders it always creates and points the library to.

I have all my stuff in D:\Daz\Library and it creates a folder D:\Daz\Library\Applications\Data\Daz 3d\My Daz 3D Library which it puts under Daz connect Data, Daz Studio Formats and Poser formats, ALONGSIDE my Library folder, except in Daz connect Data where it's the only entry.

In a previous installation it also created a My Daz connect Library under D:\Daz, but that does not seem to serve a purpose.

I don't know how to clean up that [confusing melange], since I don't know what folders are needed, where the program should be pointed and why it ignores my base install path in Daz Connect.

If I load GENESIS 8 I get the message "following files could not be found:"

/data/DAZ 3D/Genesis 3/Female/Genesis3Female.dsf

I have never understood the need for installers. I just can't imagine a better way, than manual install with a decent zip app. I use 7zip for at least 10 years now, and never had any problems.
What is people's problem with manual install at all?
Why do we have to have installers, other than zip apps?

I prefer manual install from zip as well. The only drawback I can see is that - especially if you buy from various stores - not every product conforms to the standard directory structure, and if you don't pay attention or don't really understand the content file structure it's possible to end up with nested content directories and runtimes, and loose items in random places.

Well, there's that. But there's also the flux of support ticket issues if folks who manual install don't go in and uninstall things before updating anything. I recall this whem DS 4.0 was still fairly new and previous versions of Genesis needed to be uninstalled before installing the fresh update, because file names remained the same, but with a different extension, where both extensions are supported by Daz Studio, so the user was left not knowing which file to open, and neither worked properly due to the lack of uninstall.

That being said, I'm a bit perturbed that Daz 3D decided to rename products with a new "Legacy" suffix and load those into my DIM without offering to uninstall the originals. So now I'm faced with that dreaded dual load syndrome and likely twice the storage space.

I have a feeling that this had to do with the new Daz Central or perhaps Daz Connect, but in a world of metadata, why didn't they handle it differently?

That said, I'm reluctantly beginning to feel as my friend Mindsong does (above). I have been an integral part of Daz 3D for many years now and am (reluctantly) beginning to feel as if they want me to take my business elsewhere. 

I don't think I've reached that point yet, but I certainly can understand the sentiment.

I haven't yet either, and I truly hope that day never actually comes. Daz 3D (Carrara and Daz 3D Content, actually) is my favorite reason to turn on a computer. I built this machine just for my Carrara endeavors - and it Rocks Carrara!

• Ryzen 2700 Octa core (Carrara uses CPU for ray tracing)
• 64GB RAM
• Modest GTX 1660 6GB - still works Great for Iray

I somehow never really got into liking Carrara (which perhaps says more about me than about Carrara), but have been working on wrestling Blender if not into submission, at least into doing what I want on occasion, but still enjoy working with Studio and its content as well (and of course Blender and Studio (content) aren't mutually exclusive either...)

I have never understood the need for installers. I just can't imagine a better way, than manual install with a decent zip app. I use 7zip for at least 10 years now, and never had any problems.
What is people's problem with manual install at all?
Why do we have to have installers, other than zip apps?

I prefer manual install from zip as well. The only drawback I can see is that - especially if you buy from various stores - not every product conforms to the standard directory structure, and if you don't pay attention or don't really understand the content file structure it's possible to end up with nested content directories and runtimes, and loose items in random places.

Well, there's that. But there's also the flux of support ticket issues if folks who manual install don't go in and uninstall things before updating anything. I recall this whem DS 4.0 was still fairly new and previous versions of Genesis needed to be uninstalled before installing the fresh update, because file names remained the same, but with a different extension, where both extensions are supported by Daz Studio, so the user was left not knowing which file to open, and neither worked properly due to the lack of uninstall.

That being said, I'm a bit perturbed that Daz 3D decided to rename products with a new "Legacy" suffix and load those into my DIM without offering to uninstall the originals. So now I'm faced with that dreaded dual load syndrome and likely twice the storage space.

I have a feeling that this had to do with the new Daz Central or perhaps Daz Connect, but in a world of metadata, why didn't they handle it differently?

That said, I'm reluctantly beginning to feel as my friend Mindsong does (above). I have been an integral part of Daz 3D for many years now and am (reluctantly) beginning to feel as if they want me to take my business elsewhere. 

I don't think I've reached that point yet, but I certainly can understand the sentiment.

I haven't yet either, and I truly hope that day never actually comes. Daz 3D (Carrara and Daz 3D Content, actually) is my favorite reason to turn on a computer. I built this machine just for my Carrara endeavors - and it Rocks Carrara!

• Ryzen 2700 Octa core (Carrara uses CPU for ray tracing)
• 64GB RAM
• Modest GTX 1660 6GB - still works Great for Iray

and if I recall correctly, the Legacy files have been around for quite some time, certainly longer than Daz Central

Yes, they have nothing to do with DazCentral. Legacy files have been there since DS4.5 was released and they changed the file format to .duf, they were for people who still used 4.0 and so needed the product files in old DS formats. 

I have never understood the need for installers. I just can't imagine a better way, than manual install with a decent zip app. I use 7zip for at least 10 years now, and never had any problems.
What is people's problem with manual install at all?
Why do we have to have installers, other than zip apps?

I prefer manual install from zip as well. The only drawback I can see is that - especially if you buy from various stores - not every product conforms to the standard directory structure, and if you don't pay attention or don't really understand the content file structure it's possible to end up with nested content directories and runtimes, and loose items in random places.

Well, there's that. But there's also the flux of support ticket issues if folks who manual install don't go in and uninstall things before updating anything. I recall this whem DS 4.0 was still fairly new and previous versions of Genesis needed to be uninstalled before installing the fresh update, because file names remained the same, but with a different extension, where both extensions are supported by Daz Studio, so the user was left not knowing which file to open, and neither worked properly due to the lack of uninstall.

That being said, I'm a bit perturbed that Daz 3D decided to rename products with a new "Legacy" suffix and load those into my DIM without offering to uninstall the originals. So now I'm faced with that dreaded dual load syndrome and likely twice the storage space.

I have a feeling that this had to do with the new Daz Central or perhaps Daz Connect, but in a world of metadata, why didn't they handle it differently?

That said, I'm reluctantly beginning to feel as my friend Mindsong does (above). I have been an integral part of Daz 3D for many years now and am (reluctantly) beginning to feel as if they want me to take my business elsewhere. 

I don't think I've reached that point yet, but I certainly can understand the sentiment.

(and if I recall correctly, the Legacy files have been around for quite some time, certainly longer than Daz Central)

I have never understood the need for installers. I just can't imagine a better way, than manual install with a decent zip app. I use 7zip for at least 10 years now, and never had any problems.
What is people's problem with manual install at all?
Why do we have to have installers, other than zip apps?

I prefer manual install from zip as well. The only drawback I can see is that - especially if you buy from various stores - not every product conforms to the standard directory structure, and if you don't pay attention or don't really understand the content file structure it's possible to end up with nested content directories and runtimes, and loose items in random places.

Well, there's that. But there's also the flux of support ticket issues if folks who manual install don't go in and uninstall things before updating anything. I recall this whem DS 4.0 was still fairly new and previous versions of Genesis needed to be uninstalled before installing the fresh update, because file names remained the same, but with a different extension, where both extensions are supported by Daz Studio, so the user was left not knowing which file to open, and neither worked properly due to the lack of uninstall.

That being said, I'm a bit perturbed that Daz 3D decided to rename products with a new "Legacy" suffix and load those into my DIM without offering to uninstall the originals. So now I'm faced with that dreaded dual load syndrome and likely twice the storage space.

I have a feeling that this had to do with the new Daz Central or perhaps Daz Connect, but in a world of metadata, why didn't they handle it differently?

That said, I'm reluctantly beginning to feel as my friend Mindsong does (above). I have been an integral part of Daz 3D for many years now and am (reluctantly) beginning to feel as if they want me to take my business elsewhere. 

@Silene

Great story to be able to tell.  But glad I didn't live it! 

The fountain was moved after that.  Here is the Wikipedia account.

The Temperance Fountain was originally placed at a prominent location: Seventh and Pennsylvania Avenue, across from Center Market and near to "Hooker's Division" (now the Federal Triangle). The message was to drink water, not whiskey, as there were so many saloons along the Avenue to tempt passersby. This was near the halfway point between the Capitol and White House. For many years after National Prohibition, it ironically sat in front of the Apex Liquor Store, which operated in the ground floor of the Central National Bank Building.

Washington's Temperance Fountain (lower right corner) for years sat in front of the Apex Liquor Store, housed in the Central National Bank Building.

In 1987, it was relocated about 100 feet north during the renewal by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, since the statue was regarded as undesirable from the start. The PADC created Indiana Plaza, and the Temperance Fountain swapped locations with the monument to the Grand Army of the Republic, which was considered historically more significant.

Have just purchased Dreamlight's 'After Midnight HDRIs and Lights' , but the product does not appear in Install Manager, Daz Central or manual download.

I've just purchased Dreamlight's 'After Midnight' HDRIs and lights. The payment has been confirmed, yet the product doesn't appear in Install Manager, or DAZ Central. I have the latest versions of both. Has anyone else had this issue?

Have just purchased Dreamlight's 'After Midnight HDRIs and Lights' , but the product does not appear in either Install Manager of Daz Central?