Installing Content From a ZIP File for DAZ Studio 4.10
ArtsyDragon
Posts: 682
Hello,
I am trying to install a product (freebie) that is rather interesting. I've never used anything not purchased directly from DAZ with DAZ Studio.
I did a search and did not find specific instructions that made sense to me. Would someone mind providing a bit of gentle guideance?
The freebie in question is from Vanishing Point and is the Millennium Falcon. The directions say:
Extract the files into the specified folders:
Put the dsf file into \data\VanishingPoint\StarWars\MillenniumFalcon\
Put the duf/ png into \Props\StarWars\
Put the jpg files (textures) into \Runtime\Textures\StarWars\MillFalcon\
Unfortunately, I don't understand which 'data' folder to use because I don't see a 'props' folder anywhere. I'm probably just in the wrong place.
Thanks, in advance, for your time.
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Assuming that the content creator has packaged everything correctly to begin with (Vanishingpoint certainly has), then everything should be organized within the .zip archive to transfer correctly to your content library. I am a proponent of using a temporary folder outside of my content library into which I can extract the contents of the .zip archives prior to moving them to my content library. This enables me to have a look at how things are packaged and avoid potential problems that might be more difficult to correct if I simply extracted the contents directly to my content library. If everything is OK, then I simply move or copy the contents to the correct spot in my library.
Okay, assuming that you have done as I suggested, using the falcon as an example, you'll notice that the extracted files include three folders: data, Props and Runtime, plus a couple of text files. This is therefore really simple: you simply need to select everything that is there and copy or move it directly into your content library (in whatever location you have put it, and whatever name you have given it if not the DAZ default). For example, my content library is on my D: storage drive, and is called 3DContent. Yours will be different. I can just grab all the three folders for the falcon and drop them into my 3DContent folder, will receive three popups asking if I want to merge each of the three folders with those already existing, I say yes, the files are transferred and we're done.
It really helps to have a look through your content library to see what folders and subfolders are there, because most are standardized and it will help you recognize where things belong. Otherwise you need to trust that content creators have packaged everything correctly. In the case of Vanishingpoint, no worries.
In the past, I used poser and adding was easy, I just dropped from runtime into runtime. This just felt so foreign I didn't want to mess anything up.
I'm rebuilding from a crash and am nearing the end of the reinstall of my content. I thought I would find a 'runtime' folder somewhere and I don't see one.
Well, coming from Poser, I think the key is to mentally replace the term "runtime" with content library, and proceed exactly as you would with Poser and put everything into the content library, including any actual runtime folder. The reason why Poser content all goes into the runtime folder (usually) is due to a longstanding convention there, as you know. Unfortunately when it comes to the top level content folder with DAZ Studio, even the official, default name and location for that folder has changed periodically over time depending on the DAZ Studio version. That is why on all three machines that I have with 3D content, I always name the main folder 3DContent, and always have them on my data drive rather than the boot drive. That way both Poser and DAZ Studio know where to look for things and so do I.
P.S. there is a Poser runtime folder in your DAZ content library. It is exactly the same as your familiar runtime folder, and all the "Poser format" content (.cr2's, .cr3's, pz2's, etc.) go in there as well as any texture maps for any content (so there needs to be a runtime even for "DAZ Studio format" content).
You just need to add "My Library" to the file paths.
Extract the files into the specified folders:
Put the dsf file into My Library\data\VanishingPoint\StarWars\MillenniumFalcon\
Put the duf/ png into My Library\Props\StarWars\
**Note -- in Daz Studio, you can put a .duf file and it's png thumbnail in any darn folder you want, as long as its in "My Library."
If you lack a props folder, feel free to make one.
Native Poser files (.pp2, .cr2, etc.) still need to go in the Runtimes folder and be accessed through a Poser format library.
Put the jpg files (textures) into My Library\Runtime\Textures\StarWars\MillFalcon\
**Pretty much every piece of content sold/distributed places texture files in the Runtime/textures folder, even though that's technically a poser runtime folder.
My original install of DAZ Studio used all defaults. I was horribly confused but went with it and sighed thinking I would never fully get it or be able to use my Renderosity files again. I had a crash and have been reinstalling. I'm not sure I'm doing it efficiently enough. I really want to understand this part of the program. I appreciate your time and patience. NOTE: If I have to wipe my drive and start over just to fully understand this, i am prepared to do so.
I have a 'DAZ Studio' folder on my external drive. The thought I had was to use it as my content folder for anything DAZ. When I started installing, I found it added a LOT of nesting that I do not understand. It has a path of (drive letter) DAZStudio > Documents > DAZ 3D > Studio > My DAZ Connect Library. Within the My DAZ Connect Library is a folder called 'data'. Then it goes 'cloud > meta > data > cloud' followed by a bunch of folders with numbers (there are over a thousand such folders). When I go into one of them, I see the following folders in the numbered folder 'data, props, runtime'. I assume that this number is a product file.
So, then I go to the Content Library tab in DAZ Studio and click the 'DAZ Studio Formats' icon, right click the 'My DAZ 3D Library' and select 'Browse to File Location'. I end up in a completely different area not on my external drive. This confuses me as I have deliberately installed DAZ Studio on my externald drive. I don't know why I have a path of 'Users > Publich > Public Documents > My DAZ 3D Library' when i installed on an external.
So then when it comes to installing from a zip, I'm staring wondering how much coffee it's going to take to understand all this.
How are you installing DAZ content? Through the DIM? Or through DAZ Connect? If you're using either of these, you'll need to tell them that you don't want anything installed in your public documents. (I totally understand. My PC has an SSD boot disk that holds my Windows user folders. The fact that DS repeatedly tries to use these folders makes me nutty.)
I use the DIM to install pretty much everything because it gives me ultimate control of where to put things. If you're using the DIM, you should click on the little gear icon in the upper-right corner to open the settings menu. To tell it where to download things, click the download tab and then change the download location in the file path selector.
You should then go to the installation tab and add/change the directories where the DIM installs things. As you can see, you can tell it to put stuff pretty much anywhere. If you tell the DIM to install content in a pre-existing library, it warns you that this isn't recommended. Ignore this. I've never encountered an issue and I've used the DIM to install almost 10,000 things in pre-existing libraries. Just be sure that if you're using multiple libraries that you select the radio button which tells the DIM to install updates to the "Respective Install Paths" or you'll have a mess when it updates content.
Once you add the libraries, you can select where the DIM installs them after download. First, make sure that the "Install After Download" checkbox isn't selected in the download tab.
Then, in the install tab, click the boxes next to your desired content and select the desired install library from the "Content Path Shortcuts" dropdown menu. (Make sure "show details" is checked, or you won't see these options.)
I was a Poser user since forever ago and made the transition to DS after I'd already accumulated a MOUNTAIN of content in different runtimes. (The only way I could keep track of my Poser content was to create different runtimes for different characters. I even made an entire runtime to put my Poser Companion Files for Genesis content.) The DIM allowed me to continue using this system. I just tell it where to install V4 stuff and it goes in the right place. All native Poser files (.pp2, .cr2, etc.) will be installed into the Runtime folders and all DAZ files go into the folders that are one directory up from the Runtime folder.
DAZ Connect is a different beast altogether. DAZ Connect is built into DS and holds files which are encrypted and can only be installed via DAZ Connect. Since I install pretty much everything via the DIM and not DAZ Connect, I'm less certain about what else it stores in the DAZ Connect library, but it is somewhat irrelevant because you can specify where things are installed. To change where DAZ Connect files are stored, you need to use the Content Directory Manager. Go to file, preferences, then click on the content tab and open the content directory manager button. If you hit the + sign next to the DAZ Connect Data heading, you'll see where DAZ is storing your Connect stuff. In theory (I believe) all formerly-encrypted content has now become "non-encrypted" and can be installed without using Connect. The data/meta files that you're looking at are the files that DAZ Connect downloads for your smart content, btw. The rest of your smart content metadata is stored in your My Library/Runtime/Support folder.
Good news in ALL of this...
As an aside, once you have everything installed, make sure that you use the Content Directory Manager in Studio to add all of your libraries so you can access them.
And the last bit of good news -- unlike in Poser (where you had to put different things in the right runtime folder) you can move anything in a Daz Studio "My Library" folder if it isn't in the "data" or "runtime" folder anywhere you want. (The "data" folder stores geometry info for your items and the "runtime" folder stores the support (metadata) and textures for your content. Moving things in these folders will cause your content to break, so don't touch those places.) If you move anything outside those folders, it will confuse your Smart Content, but if you don't use Smart Content, then you won't care about that. My own workflow uses a bizarre hybrid of the Content Directory and Smart Content tabs, but I won't confuse you further with that.
I hope that helps. I've just done what you're trying to do, so it's all fresh in my mind if you need help!
I forgot to address this. I'm blessed to own the "3D Content Installer" program written by ahudson and formerly sold on Renderosity. You drop zip files into an install folder and when the program installs them, it looks for a "runtime" folder in each zip, then unzips them all in the right place, regardless of whether the zip contains them at the root level or a few levels down. If there is no runtime folder (because, for example, it's installing a morph package for a DAZ character and is only moving things into the data or people folder) it throws an error for just those files and you can then install them manually.
After considering this, I've asked my husband (he's an electrical engineer who programs at work a lot) to write a script that does all that but also looks for a data and/or a people folder. I think pretty much everything that is sold at Renderosity and 90% of freebies would be installable this way. I'll let you know when he finishes it. I've been meaning to ask him to do this for a while now because installing DAZ content zips from other marketplaces is a pain.
@Karibou Thank you for the explanation. I thought I did tell DAZ to install to my folder. I favor DAZ Connect but have DIM installed as well. I just woke up and haven't been able to really dig into it. I'll be doing that a little later. One quick question though, am I going to need to reinstall everything or can I move the data from the user file once I get this sorted?
I'd love a script. Oh yes, yes indeed. :)
The easiest way I have found is to open the myDaz3dLibrary folder (or whatever yours is called) and then opening the zip file for the new content and just dragging and dropping the folders into the MyDaz3dLibrary folder (make sure that if its packaged into a Content folder, you open that folder to get to the runtime, props, people or whatever folders are there) if you drag the content folder in it won't work. You should get a message that pops up and asks you if you want to combine the data folder, the runtime folder, the props folder etc. You don't need to put the documents folder in, that's usually the terms of use or the read me, I tend to put those in a separate file outside of Daz studio for quick reference.
@IceDragonArt Thank you for taking the time to explain that to me as well. I have been away from the forums for a while. I'm just getting back into it. I'll give it a go.
I realize this is really, really late, but here's that script:
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/241831/freebie-batch-installer-script-windows-only
Hope it helps!
Thank you. I am very disappointed with DAZ right now. I really appreciate your time however.
I lurk around Novica's thread occasionally and saw your Horse 2 woes. Sorry you're having a rough time -- I'm with ya! (I'm 8 days out from lumbar surgery and can't take anti-inflammatories until after surgery due to risk of bleeding. I can't take any prescription pain medications when I'm working and Tylenol is NOT cutting it. Removing my spine with a chainsaw has crossed my mind a few times in the last couple of days...) I'm glad you received a refund, at any rate. Daz does frequently sneak "bundle bonus" content into pro packages, which is why I generally just buy them, whether I can afford them or not. But don't tell my husband that...
I haven't yet received the refund. It may take them a couple months to look at the ticket with the way support is going.
I'm somewhat bitter at DAZ right now. Oh me poor me. My dominant wrist is in a cast. Nothing compared to your trouble. I'm sorry for whining. I hope you have good things happen to you.
And, @Karibou, I dont tell hubby's or SO's anything.
When did you file the ticket? Have you received the automated response email to show that your ticket did go through?
Surprisingly I did get a response. They want me to purchase a Gift Certificate and then they said they would refund the gift certificate amount. I'm not understanding how that gets me my money back on the item.
After a more than three week battle with DAZ Supprt (Not Emma), I still am lacking the basic math formula to be able to calculate my cart costs using known variables. I am so frustrated right now. I love Emma though. She doesn't reply with bullshit like the others.