Can Daz3D Install Manager install Daz content files previously archived on a hard drive?
I have been buying many Daz content programs since October. They are downloaded and stored on hard drives. This winter, the DIM became available and I wanted to use it for all my installations . (For reasons I cannot understand, I have not been successful in installing any pre-Genesis programs. They always seem to install, but Daz Studio 4.5 can never find them, and hence, I can't use them). I was hoping that the DIM could install these older programs (M4, V4 and earlier) in a way that could get around the quirks of DS 4.5's content finder.
Unfortunately, DIM doesn't seem to offer any option to install programs that are already archived on my hard drive. The "Ready to Install" window is blank and there is no way to put in a path to direct it to my previously-created archive. What gives?
I don't want to install everything directly from the My Downloads window to DS 4.5. I prefer to install content (from my hard drive archive to DS 4.5) only when my projects call for them. This seems such a logical way to go about things that it is hard to believe that the Installer was designed without giving its users that option. It makes the DIM Installer much less valuable, and for most of the things I have to install, useless. Is there a way to do what I want to do with the DIM, even though the DIM interface does not obviously offer this option?
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Comments
DIM works only with its own zips, not the old installers. You may be able to find your content if you use the Content Library pane rather than Smart Content, as older content usually isn't smart.
DIM only knows about files that it has downloaded, not the previous ones taht you have downloaded yourself. All files that the DIM uses are in ZIP format, and they almost all have Metadata now, and will appear in your Smart Conent pane. There is a way to put in a path, and you can use the DIM to install content to whatever path you like.
If this is referring to the path option above, then yes, you can use it.
The DIM can be used to simply download files, and you can install them yourself, or you can let DIM do it automatically. It is a fantastic piece of software, and there are videos on Youtube on how to use it.
If you want to know more about it I can post links to the viedeos for you, and there is also a Help file available from the interface on how to use the DIM.
The vast majority of folks install the content (all of it) once and leave it installed. I do that myself. And that's the way the DIM is set up.
It is also meant to grab the content from the DAZ servers alone...as one of its main features is 'update management'. I suppose with a firewall, some crafty IP redirecting and setting up a local server, it could be tricked into grabbing them from a local archive...but version checking and all of that would be out of the question. Plus it sounds like a lot more work than it's worth...and that's if there aren't failsafes built into it to prevent just that.
You can always just keep installing the content the old-fashioned way...as it sounds like the DIM isn't really fitting your workflow. It's really a tool for the masses, those that don't do much in the way of customization or anything.
I have set up 5 different folders for my content, the base library for everything new (genesis etc), a Gen 4 library, a Gen 3 library, and a Toons library as well. It all works out fine for me, and any updates for the products automatically go into the correct folder, so there is the possibility to cuatomise a little at least.
I wouldn't be without it to be honest.
DIM works very well if you only want to install items as you need them, and then uninstall them.