Support will solve it for you, the support is awesome here. (not brown nosing)

 

Also, install Daz Central. Never had any issue with this manager/intstaller and it downloads the products pretty fast.

Help Please!!! I have been fighting with DIM  for years and it never cooperates. I have a new computer  build so I jst placed the "MY LibraryFolder " in a folder on my desktop. I used the default directory settings for the 64 Bit Software Base thinking that this is where the actual DAZ Studio Exe. file , or program would be installed. There is in fact now a DAZ 3D directory under C:/ Program Files Which contains directories named DAZ3DIM1,DazCentral1 and DAZStudio4. I selected my desktop folder which contains My DAZ 3D Library as the content directory, so I thought all my content would happily be placed in that folder. No No, Some how DIM ended up having all kinds of diferent locations selected as Content Database path, Content Base path, 64 bit software base,  32 bit software base ......

Even if I try to make sure that my desktop folder containing My DAZ 3D Library is selected right before I do a new install, files end up in a directory called "My DAZ 3D Library/Applications" Many things still work fine such as installing characters, but I could not get PWToon to install correctly without manually moving things under "My DAZ 3D Library/Applications". I still cannot get Fluidos II to install correctly at all.  DAZ Central is cunfusing as well so I have "DAZ 3D" directories all over the place and I never selected the places for different installations. 

I know I jacked this up, but can anyone give a bit of advice about to unscrew this mess? Thank you!!

Zylox said:

We now know the name of the DAZ hamster: Andy. The question is, what "tests" are they running on the poor thing?

The server hamster's name is Bert... Andy is an usurper gloaming off Bert's fame... 

This is Burt's origin story originally published a long while back, probably when I was drunk or something... (PSA...Kids: Drinking is bad for you and only makes you more interesting and popular because you seem more fun, it has no lasting value and will make your liver explode... eventually... sure you can drink a lot and be amusing and charming and have lots of fun, but it's not real fun... and eventually you'll have to pee a lot too... and then one day your liver will explode while you are peeing and you'll have no one else to blame but your stupid flimsy liver and the guy who sold you the booze...)

Bert The Server Hamster 

Clearly some of you have never heard of the Server Hamster...

Poor little Bert was never the fastest hamster, nor was Bert the smartest hamster, but Bert had something other hamsters at Hamster Depot didn't...
Bert had three extra toes on his left foot and a really weird looking patch of missing fur in the shape Guatemala on his back... But that's not what made Bert different... it wasn't even his strange odor or his spontaneous narcolepsy whenever he heard loud noises...

Bert had heart.

Well, technically 3/4 of a functional heart, but Burt had spunk and determination which nothing, not even his chronic flatulence or his lazy, much larger right eye could interfere with.
From the moment he was eaten by his mother and subsequently spit out, he was determined to become the best hamster ever... to show everyone that by underestimating or trying to eat him, they were wrong and one day they'd wished they had gotten to know him or had treated him better.
Bert was dead-set on being adopted by a nice school teacher who would make him the class pet and that he'd teach all the little children about the true meaning of determination and courage... and that generations of little children would grow up to be better people for having known Bert. 
But no matter how much Bert tried, he was never adopted... not even by the evil mad scientist who wanted hamsters to experiment on.

Bert was heartbroken, but he persevered. 

Every time someone came by his Hamsterarium at Hamster Depot, he'd run on the exercise wheel as fast as he could... usually he'd fall off or get his head jammed in between the bars, but he sure did put on a show... yet always after he'd wake up from one of his narcolepsy episodes he'd inevitably experience while putting on a show, it was the other more handsome or less drippy hamsters with no missing fur in the shape of any Central American nation that were chosen.
Bert was always rejected.
But he never stopped trying.
Then one day one of the hamster wranglers that worked at Hamster Depot was passing by and spotted Burt... he bent down and looked right at him! "This is it!!" thought Bert... "Someone called in an order for a spunky hamster with courage and determination!!"... "I've got a home!!" 
Bert started doing his signature hamster dance knowing it might trigger his narcolepsy, but regardless, he'd have to risk it.

The hamster wrangler shook his head and winced and started putting on some rubber gloves... "That's odd..." thought Bert. 
But undeterred, he continued doing his little hamster dance so the hamster wrangler wouldn't grab the wrong hamster.
The hamsters wrangler opened the hamsterarium reached right for him and picked him up.

Bert was overjoyed!

The hamster wrangler held him up and examined him... "Ugh, what's that weird cheese smell?" 
Burt blushed a bit, he was proud of his odor and no one ever complimented it before.
He held Bert up by the scruff of his neck turning him all around... "Yup... just as I thought... missing patch of fur the shape of Nicaragua, leaky orifices and uncontrollable seizures... Terminal Deranged Hamster Syndrome... 

"Wait... What?" thought Bert, "that was dancing, not a seizure and it's Guatemala, not Nicaragua!..."

But it was too late... the wrangler shook poor Bert a little to see if any parts would fall off and then said "Sorry little fella, but it's the hamster compactor for you... we can't have diseased hamsters like you infecting all the other handsome hamsters"...
And with that he tossed Bert into a bucket labeled "Hamsters For Compacting".

Burt landed with a squishy thud... he lay there in abject sadness... his tiny drippy weird smelling soul crushed like a spoiled grape under the wheel of a shopping trolley in the grocery store.
He lay there for hours awaiting compaction... maybe it was better this way he thought... "Who wants a drippy, smelly hamster who keeps falling off his exercise wheel?"... "I'm probably more useful as a fine paste used in cosmetic products"... "I was a fool for thinking I'd ever amount to anything"...
The hamster wrangler came by two more times with customers looking for "adorable hamsters"... Bert heard the other hamsters being adopted and silently cried at the bottom of the compaction bucket.
The wrangler passed by one more time and looked down at Bert... "Oops, sorry... I didn't forget about you... I'll be back for you as soon as I take care of this next customer..."
Burt cried uncontrollably... he barely heard the wrangler and the customer talking over his hysterical sobs...

"Well, they told me to pick up a new hamster... the adorable ones keep dying", said the new voice... "But these ones are all too expensive... are you sure there is nothing cheaper?" 

"No, that's it, those are the cheapest entry level hamsters we have... they are sold as is, no warranty or repairs... fairly disposable actually"...

Bert sobbed harder... he wasn't even "disposable quality"!

"Okay, I guess that's it... the cheap bastards won't spring for a halfway decent hamster, I guess we'll just have to use a diseased sewer rat to power our servers... it's the worst case scenario, but they are determined not to spend money on their forums, so..."
The voice paused... Bert looked up at the strange face staring down into his death bucket...  
"What's going on with that one?" the voice asked.
"Oh... he's got deranged hamster syndrome... he's not for sale." said the wrangler to the customer with the strange face.
The man with the strange face replied "So does that mean he's free?"
"No, no it doesn't... but you know what... I'm busy and turning on the hamster squasher takes five minutes for it to warm up... you know what, you can have it... just get it out of here now", said the hamster wrangler.

Before Bert knew it he was snatched up and dropped into a mostly empty Starbucks matcha green tea latte cup and taken away.
After a long journey in the cup holder of a high mileage late nineties Saturn SL sedan, Bert was brought into a janky old brick building way across town and brought down into the basement into a dark room that smelled of mildew and burning electrical insulation.

The man with the strange face dumped Bert out on a table littered with old scratch-off lottery tickets and Settebello Pizzeria menus.
He took an old sweat sock and dabbed off the whipped cream and green tea from Bert’s fur and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
He then carried Bert over to a old machine made of yellowing beige plastic and dented up metal… on the side was a hamster wheel with a handsome looking hamster laying dead on the wheel. 
The strange faced man picked up the dead hamster and unceremoniously tossed it in the recycling bin far across the room. 

It landed with a muffled "thump". 
“Damn, I was aiming for the trash bin”, he said… and without a proper greeting or introduction, he tossed Bert on the wheel. 
“Well, you know what to do…” said the man.
Bert knew exactly what to do... he ran... he ran with all his three quarters of a functional heart, he ran as fast and as best as he could... he ran because he knew who he was... he was now the Server Hamster.
And with that Bert began his origin story as “Server Hamster". 
Bert started running and hasn't stopped... aside from when he falls off the wheel or has a seizure or gets his head stuck in the bars. 
But Bert has a purpose and he'll never give up... because he finally has a home and he's gonna show everyone he's the best damn hamster ever.

So now you know… the forums are wonky because they are powered by a spunky, funny smelling, drippy hamster with a patch of missing fur the shape of Guatemala, who frequently has narcoleptic episodes whenever someone slams a door or the water cooler compressor turns on, or even if someone sneezes on the third floor… the servers may freeze, they may falter and really suck because of it, but they always come back because of plucky and courageous Server Hamster… or as we know him…

Burt.

Well, that's it... Bert's backstory.

Well couldnt get any of the so called free characters to work in either DIM or Daz Central, so that was a waste of my time.

At least BIG-DEALZ seems to work.

I wish they would test this stuff before making it live.

ernie.c727 said:

I uninstalled DAZ Central after numerous install problems and went back to DIM. Also couldn't modify images associated with a product if it was installed with Central. That being said, after seeing the banner, i went to install Central and I can't find it anywhere. Links only take me to DIM. Are they abandoning Central or did they pull it to fix or release a new version? So, like th rest of you, no freebies.

This is Dazland, if one is offered a freebie, one must claim it by 'buying' it, then it will be available in ones Product Library and available for installation with all the installers - This one though is a glitch, the messages were sent by mistake. 

I uninstalled DAZ Central after numerous install problems and went back to DIM. Also couldn't modify images associated with a product if it was installed with Central. That being said, after seeing the banner, i went to install Central and I can't find it anywhere. Links only take me to DIM. Are they abandoning Central or did they pull it to fix or release a new version? So, like th rest of you, no freebies.

It's a glitch, those messages are meant for new members, but someone has made an error and...

Even if one was the intended new member, nothing would appear in either DIM or Central without one 'buying" (=claiming) the product first, after which the product would also be available in ones Product Library for manual downloads.

Ditto. I've checked both DIM & DAZ Central.

richardandtracy said:

If I need to install DAZ Central to get any freebie - I'll always pass on it. DAZ origin content makes up maybe 50% of my library, so I am not going to stop manual installation for anything, and it seems DAZ Central can get flakey (if you're polite about it). On reading this forum for a few years, if someone has a content problem, it's in a ratio of (roughly) 95:5:0 with installation method DAZ Central:DIM: Manual Install. See why I'm not keen on pre-programmed help? Regards, Richard.

!

...the banner has disappeared for me.

Yeah, Daz Central is a "no go" for me as I never use the documents folder for content since my boot drive is only 240 GB (just to boot up the system, for the OS and other programme files.

If I need to install DAZ Central to get any freebie - I'll always pass on it. DAZ origin content makes up maybe 50% of my library, so I am not going to stop manual installation for anything, and it seems DAZ Central can get flakey (if you're polite about it). On reading this forum for a few years, if someone has a content problem, it's in a ratio of (roughly) 95:5:0 with installation method DAZ Central:DIM: Manual Install. See why I'm not keen on pre-programmed help? Regards, Richard.

I just submitted a ticket with screenshots - both attempting via daz install manager and daz central. but they've must've changed the choices because there was no selection for

"Missed Freebies"

we will see - they're really good at fixing their problems

It must be a mistake. I have Messages:

f) Andy Test 1

e) Testing the HTML

d) Freebie #1 — Meet the Next Star of Your Scenes (Millarose for Genesis 8 Female | Daz 3D)

c) Freebie #2 — New Hairdo Just for You (Lauren Hair for Genesis 3 and 8 Females | Daz 3D)

b) Freebie #3 — Customize Your Modern Loft (Modern Loft | Daz 3D)

a) Freebie #4 — Toon Dwayne 8 (Toon Dwayne 8 | Daz 3D)

I don't own Millarose for Genesis 8 Female | Daz 3D or Modern Loft | Daz 3D and they have not been added to my DAZ 3D Product Library so they won't show up in DIM or DAZ Central.

FREEBIE #1 — Meet the Next Star of Your Scenes Banner

Did anyone find this in DIM or Daz Central? Millarose for Genesis 8 Female | Daz 3D

 

I am facing the same problem and I am confused.
Out of the four items, the items I do not own are "Modern Loft" and "Toon Dwayne 8", but I cannot install either of them.
In DAZ Central, the search never ends even if I start the search, and in DIM, they do not appear in any of the tabs "Ready to Download", "Ready to install", or "Installed".

My Daz central won't even load anything right now

What a great move this has been clearly

A Mousso character I don't actually own, yes please

Any one having trouble with getting the latset freebie "Millarose for Genesis 8 Female" ? Is not showing in DIM and daz central will not even load.

Sorry Daz, but freebies aren't going to make me use Daz Central. 

Plus, nothing in the store is loading for me. 

File upload hangs while uploading. 

Try this instead.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tq7nOiMh6RlN8yx1RUB43l0wl7gp_fDv/view?usp=share_link

My version is 4.16 pro

It's not the most up-to-date version I know but when I go to Daz Central which is what I'm always advised to do I uninstall reinstall and still end up with this version.

 

 

ainm.sloinneadh said:

Thanks for the pointers! I've been using Connect and Central, and possibly DIM on occasion too. Really need to get myself more organised and disciplined on that.

Central is effectively a fancy wrapper for DIM so as far as I am aware those two can probably be used together although it probably still would make sense to pick one. Connect does things very different tho and uses a separate library configuration and structure. It also take precedence over products installed by other means which does trip up many users.

 

Think I'll go the manual route because none of the offered install managers organise things to my liking, plus it'd be nice to stop things like 3Delight materials ended up installed at all. My shaders folder is particularly messy - things installed all over the place but then also some categories that are big dumps of 100's of files that are difficult to browse if you don't know what you're looking for.

Well, the folder structure for products does have some rules but mainly is a set of recommendations. Plus some products are packaged incorrectly. Thus, if you do use "Content Library" more often than "Smart Content" then you will unfortuntely have several frustrations and finding things could sometimes be tricky. Manual installations would give you some control over that - although you would have to be careful of folders that cannot be changed (data & runtime) - with the downside being that it will take a lot more time to install each product. If you go that route it might be wise to seek out some advice from other users who do that.

 

Shutting Studio down definitely frees the system hard drive files almost instantly, so I guess I should focus on what those files are like you suggested. There may be something odd in my setup that's causing that.

I don't suppose you know where the PostgreSQL DB is stored? Wondering whether that adheres to the library drive or it's on the system drive (hopefullly with an option to store it elsewhere? Although that shouldn't have anything to do with the 17GB or even be anywhere near that size). I wonder if there's any way I can load that up in a viewer to get a look at the DB structure. More for my own curiosity and, if I'm starting from scratch, to ensure whatever I end up doing plays nicely with it.

If you go to Edit->Preferences->CMS Settings it will show you where the PostgreSQL files are stored.  By default it would be stored on your system drive - I don't remember the installer prompting for an install location. However, this is not liked to the library locations in any way - it's a separate setting. You might have some luck moving it elsewhere although I have read some posts from people that had trouble with that so proceed with caution if you try.

For some context, my CMS cluster folder is 2GB so it does take up a bit of space but not 17GB worth.

It is possible to connect directly to the database as I do that for a few reasons. However, if you do start poking about please note that this should also only be done at your own risk.

Another thing to note is that if you go down the route of installing your products manually then you will have to populate the CMS manually also.  I think most people who manually install don't tend to use Smart Content and so that is not an issue for them.