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Confused by Studio4 content tools

LeatherGryphonLeatherGryphon Posts: 11,513
edited January 2013 in New Users

OK, many people here know I'm a long time DAZzer but I'm posting in this newbie forum because Studio4 is making me tear my hair out. :-(

I'm blessed with a stable of many computers many of them are orphans that I've cleaned up, given them homes and fed them memory and storage to make them strong and healthy. I've enlisted a recent adoptee Vista machine to be my Studio4 machine. It's essentially a virgin machine freshly re-built Vista Home Premium, updated to all latest Microsoft functionality and security patches, 4GB RAM, 500GB storage, nVidia GT520 graphics card and a nice big 23" 1080 widscreen display. A very happy machine. :-)

I've installed Studio4 on this machine using all defaults. I've installed only Genesis or Genesis related content onto this machine using all default installation options. I'm running logged in with administrative privileges. (although I would prefer to be a "Standard" user but past experience with Studio4 as a "Standard" user has caused me many many problems. *grrr*)

I have products like Genesis; D3 for Genesis; Gn_Evolution Body Morphs; Gn_Evolution Muscular Morphs; Gn_Fantasy Shapes; Gn_Gorilla; Gn_Minotaur; Gn_MrHyde; Gn_Swole;, etc. installed and with some trouble I've been able to find them in the content browsers, make some scenes, change textures, poses, & shape.

However, I've just purchased the Freak5Pro bundle and I'm getting an error sometimes during loading of character Derek onto Freak5. The error is:
Missing Files
Some assets needed to load the file were missing. The content may not work as expected. The following files could not be found:
/data/DAZ/3D/enesis/Base/Morphs/DAZ 3D/Freak 5/FBMFreak5Smooth.dsf

So why is that missing? What should I have installed to have it be found?

And as long as we're talking about missing things. What do I need to have installed to provide genitals for Genesis, Michael5 and Freak5?

Fundamentally my issue is complete confusion about content management in Studio4.! 8-o
I know the old Poser content file heirarchy, and I know DAZ Studio3 content file heirarchy but Studio4 seems to have tossed another line of structure into the mess and I'm lost. That's why I have absolutely NO Studio3 content from my old libraries installed onto this machine. I'm pure Studio4 & Genesis to try to keep things simple until I'm able to grok it.

I have several questions about content management in Studio4:
Why does "Michael5" show up in the "Smart Content" tab but "Freak5" does not?

What is "Smart Content" anyway?

What happend to the old Studio3 "Content Manager" that let me create my own category structures?

When I buy Genesis related products I often see two download file types and have figured out that some of them (*.trx.exe) are "DSON" files but what is DSON? why do I need it? Is it for Poser people only? I don't run Poser anymore.
Do I need to install the *dpc.exe files? And what are they? I knew how they related to Studio3. Will I need them if I ever try to merge my old Studio3 library into my Studio4 library? My content installation policy has been to just install everything given to me. Is that a good policy or am I wasting space?


Where is this all neatly documented?

Post edited by LeatherGryphon on

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,990
    edited December 1969

    The smooth morph is a left over from the F5 development - the character should have been updated not to call it now.

    DSON is the DAZ version of JSON, used for .dsf and .duf files though only in DS 4.5 did it become sufficiently locked down for the development of importers (such as the Poser DSON Importer). Generally the DSON version will be the best for DS4.5 as it is fully up-to-date; the Poser files will be named PoserCF, and may well have a dpc in the name too (which is another indicator of Poser or dual format content).

  • LeatherGryphonLeatherGryphon Posts: 11,513
    edited January 2013

    Richard Haseltine said:
    The smooth morph is a left over from the F5 development - the character should have been updated not to call it now.

    DSON is the DAZ version of JSON, used for .dsf and .duf files though only in DS 4.5 did it become sufficiently locked down for the development of importers (such as the Poser DSON Importer). Generally the DSON version will be the best for DS4.5 as it is fully up-to-date; the Poser files will be named PoserCF, and may well have a dpc in the name too (which is another indicator of Poser or dual format content).

    Thank you.

    Well, the smooth morph issue seems to be explained and I'm assuming I can expect an update of the character to eliminate the problem.

    However, the DSON issue answer just confused me more. Never heard of JSON before.

    Does anybody have a map, tour guide and glossary to the installation world?

    And why does Michael5 show up in the "Smart Content" tab but not "Freak5"?

    And I'm still missing my genitals! 8-O

    Post edited by LeatherGryphon on
  • LeatherGryphonLeatherGryphon Posts: 11,513
    edited January 2013

    oops, triple post

    Post edited by LeatherGryphon on
  • LeatherGryphonLeatherGryphon Posts: 11,513
    edited January 2013

    oops, double post

    Post edited by LeatherGryphon on
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,990
    edited December 1969

    DSON is just the format used in .dsf and .duf files. It's discussed and defined here http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/dson_spec/start , but all you need to do is use the files as normal - none of this is needed for their operation, as long as you know that DSON Core are the filse for DAZ Studio 4.5.

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