Problems Trying to install DS3 on my New PC
AiRen-Irin-Malachy
Posts: 21
Hi everyone!
Hopefully someone would be able to help or nudge me in the right direction - please bear in mind I'm not technically savvy, so the chances are I might be asking totally daft questions:red:.
In August my trusty old machine finally gave up the ghost and died (killing the hard drive with all my work and custom-made stuff unbacked up, but that's a different story :sigh:).
Anyhow, a few days ago I got a new machine, with a new hard drive and a whole pile of DVD with my old programs carefully line up for re-install. Though my old machine was an old 32-bit Windows XP and my new one Windows 7 64-bit, all of the32-bit programs that ran on my old PC were neatly installed in their x86 corner.
However, when it came to my DAZ Studio 3, it starts installing, it goes through the process of putting the icon on the desktop, installing the default content, then visual C runtime libraries 2005, 2008 and then the green progress line stops near the end of the visual c 2010, the error message displaying 'DzInstallHelper.exe has encountered error', and then the whole thing goes through the uninstallation process in the reverse order, the desktop icon popping out of the existence the last.
I'm puzzled and clueless as to why is this happening.The new 64-bit DAZ 4.6 installed correctly, DAZ 3 is a 32-bit program anyway, it should surely install without the trouble in its x86 programs file folder, just like my old Photoshop and my ancient Carrara.
The system is only 3 days old, installed form scratch, scanned for viruses and malware within inches of its life - nothing.
I would really like to have the old 3 alongside the 4.6, just as I used to have DAZ 4 alongside the 3 on my old PC, - there were never any issues.
What is going on? Am I missing something?
Many thanks in advance
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Comments
There is a problem on some new 64 bit systems, that don't have the needed Microsoft 32 bit stuff in the System folder. There are several threads about this, and I'll see if I can find one for you.
I can't remember off the top of my head what the needed file is called, but it has to be downloaded from the MS website.
This one Jimmy?
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26347
make sure you download the vcredist_x86.EXE that is the 32bit version that is missing.
Thank you both for such a quick and helpful reply - I went to the link straight away, downloaded and clicked to install - and then half-way through the error message popped up that a 'newer version of Microsoft Visual C 2010 has been already detected on the machine(hope you can see the attachment pic). I'm stumped now. Does it mean I have to wipe clean everything I've re-installed for the past few days, re-instal the Windows and then instal the oldie DAZ 3 first before anything? (I hope that can be avoided - when i just remember how much of a pain and drama it was just to instal the drivers for my Intel graphics, I feel the cold sweat running down my neck just at the thought I'd have to go through it again).
Many, many thanks for any help and advice!
Thanks Pam, that was the one I was thinking about.
No, there is no point in installing an older version. DS probably installed the newer one before it aborted, and your problem may lie elsewhere.
You could try reinstalling DS again, and see if you still get the same errors. I am sure that someone here will be able to help, but they live in a different timezone, so hang on.
Thank you, guys - yes, I shall hang on in there and cross my fingers someone will be able to help me get my ole, reliable and user-friendly DS3 back on my PC.
Now, while waiting in hope, I did a little experiment last night - my old PC has had the new hard drive put in and Win7 Ultimate freshly installed at the same time as on my new machine - about 4 days ago. It's an old, rickety thing unable to take more than 4 GB of the old DDR2 RAM, but it does run 64-bit, and apart from the OS and the antivirus-thingy, had nothing on it.
This time I've installed the old DS3 32-bit first - then my old DS4 Advanced 64-bit - and it went like a dream, No errors of any kind, both programs run OK.
Then this morning I went back to my new PC, tried to re-install the ole DS3 - and it's been hanging at the end of the green progress line on the 'Installing MS Visual C++ 2008 libraries for well over an hour now.( Funny thing is - the default content that came with DS3 installed without a glitch, and it stays put in its folder. It's the program itself that won't budge.)
I have a sinking feeling that installing DS4.6 Pro BEFORE the old DS3 - even if they were 64-bit former and 32-bit later-was a most definite no-no, and now I'm paying the price for my silliness. Is there a way out of this that will not require reinstalling my PC from scratch, Windows7 'n'all?
It seems unlikely -- I Haven't heard or seen any problems installing DS3 after DS4. It sounds more like a permissions issue -- the final step, AFAIK, is creating start menu entries. Did you try running DIM as administrator?
:red: I'm sure I'll show the depth of my ignorance right now - please bear with me. I don't think I ever used DIM - I can't get used to the new system, always go for the old-fashioned manual option from the account download menu. That's for all the current available download stuff, as well as all the stuff that can be reset.( Besides, my old DS3 is positively ancient, it has been ages since it showed as a reset download option. I've kept the backup copies of every single DAZ Studio I've ever owned, from 2.2 onwards, this DS3 is one of those neatly catalogued and filed for future use.)
I ran it as ' administrator', and that didn't work, either. Also, I'm new to Windows 7, it's been only 4 days since I finally migrated from XP, and I am still trying to find my way around and recover from the cultural shock, which can't be much help, either.
I still don't get it how the same copy (my backup DVD), of the same program (DS3), on the same Windows 7 OS (same installation disk, with valid multiple PC license but on one brand new and one 6 years old computer) works on the old, but not on the new..
To say I'm puzzled and confused would be a bit of an understatement...
As a final note, just in case someone else encounters the same problem - I had to eventually re-install the Windows and the DAZ from zero, this time getting in my 32-bit stuff first such as DAZ 3 and Adobe CS3 , and then the new 64-bit software last, like DAZ 4.6. I even managed to get my old DAZ 4, the first Pro that came out free, alongside DAZ3 in their 32-bit program folder, no problem.
I cannot say with any certainty what might have caused the glitch, but I did discover that some of the drivers installed after the Windows was put in were corrupt, and that old copy of Carrara messed everything up the moment it installed - apparently, due to the very same corrupt driver. In the end, everything had to be installed from scratch, the drivers had to be replaced, and my overzealous anti-virus and anti-malware had to be disabled in order to let the DAZ installation run. I had to leave that Carrara 6 out, but that's OK - I never used it anyway, so II think I can live with it.
While I'm still no wiser as to what really happened, at least I'm now DAZ operational.
Now my biggest problem is how to get my old saved scenes load on the new system - it appears that Win7 has entirely different path to the My Documents folder than my old XP - my directories are set just as they've been set on my old PC - but the whole path and the name is now different.
If anyone has found a solution to this, please let me know (otherwise it will be 4 years of work and gigabytes upon gigabytes of daz scenes down the drain).
Many thanks for your help, much appreciated.
Your saved scene files will need access to the 'data' folder, which holds the geometry for saved .DAZ scenes. If the data folder is inside one of the library folders which are listed as content directories in the Content Directory Manager, then your saved files should open.
If you did not save and transfer the data folder, then you have a problem. It would mean re-creating the data entries for most scenes. It is not as difficult as it sounds, and it is preferable to losing your scenes altogether.
Try and find the data folder from your old installation, and make sure that it is available in any of the content libraries that you have listed.
Thanks for coming to my aid again so quickly, I was beginning to tear my hair out.
All of the original files have been kept as-is. On my old XP, the path to the default folder was
C:/Documents and Settings/Hp/My Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio/My Library/
On my new Windows 7 PC things get complicated, its folder system looks different, and instead of the above, I get this;
C;/Users/Tallulah/Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio/My Library
Win7 goes though that whole 'users/name/differently named documents folder before coming to the DAZ3D/Studio/My Library one, and I can't seem to get it to match the old XP path.
Is there any possibility to get DAZ to 'figure out' that the' old' data folder is still there, but the Win7 names the path differently?
Many thanks.
DS should find the data folder, if it is inside one of the 3 folders listed. Make sure that it is inside the 'My Library' folder, try to load one of your saved scenes, and post the EXACT error message that you get. You can find the complete error messages in Help > Troubleshooting > View Log File if you miss them on the screen.
I take it that most of your scenes are in .DAZ format?
Thank you so much for taking time to help, I really appreciate it.
Yep - all the files are in .daz format. The problem happens with every scene done in the previous, old DS3, which was what I used most often (those half a dozen or so I made in DS4 seem to open OK)
In this example I tried to open a simple scene with three lights and a MilHorse originally created in DS3. The Studio 3 directory is mapped just it was on my old PC - in the same C/Documents/ DAZ 3D/ folder as the Studio/ My library, but under Studio 3 (I made a note of the location before getting rid of XP and installing Win7).
The only difference now seems to be the addition of that whole 'user/name' thing Win7 does, and the fact that what my old XP had as 'My Documents' folder ( that housed both Studio/My Library, and Studio 3/content folders under the DAZ 3D) is named by Win7 as just 'Document's. Otherwise - no changes, I've checked and re-checked, and for the life of me can't see what has changed.
I've enclosed the screenshots of the error messages, just in case I missed something (it might make more sense than my clumsy attempts at explaining stuff :red:)
The message 'Unable to find file for storable' means that DS cannot find the 'data' folder, in other words, it is not mapped correctly.
Do you have the data folder from your old XP machine in one of the folders listed in one of your previous posts? Is it directly under the folder that is listed?
Is the data old data folder in C:/Users/Tallulah/Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio3/content and have you looked to see if any of the files that DS is looking for are actually in that folder?
I mean files like data/3_0/blmilhorse_66354 etc.etc Make sure that the path is exactly the same.
Can you please post a screenshot of your 'content' folder, the one listed first in DAZ Studio Formats so that I can see how it is set up? And can you make sure that the data folder contains the files DS is looking for as mentioned above?
I think the problem is that the old scene was not saved into a DS-format content folder -- if it had been, relative paths would have been used, but since it wasn't it has absolute paths. The "Documents and Settings" vs. "Users" is something Win7 should take care of, but the different username may be the problem.
:-S Oh, dear me, I think I have not one, but a whole colony of gremlins living at my place...
JimmyC_2009, it seems you hit it on the nail with your last post. I checked my mapped directories over night on two different PC (I even roped in our neighbour's spare XP-running machine), and the path can be tweaked to fit - eventually DAZ stumbles on the right directory, and once it does, it remembers - whether C;/ Documents and Settings/name/My Docs, or C;/ user/name/Documents/My Docs.
I tried dozens of random scenes, and the missing data files were all random, sometimes just a part was missing, sometimes all of, sometimes nothing.
Your suggestion to check for the actual missing file by name revealed - to my horror and dismay -that the data folder I copied from the old PC had whole swathes of files corrupted/and or missing, and DAZ did its best to make best of what it had to work with.
So, the directories were in the right place, and the DAZ was hunting for them in the right place - but the actual files were messed up and/or missing.
I'm now trying to copy the data file from the old back up drive again, and cross my fingers and toes that the files are still there, and that the corrupted/missing ones were just a glitch.
Will let you all know - thank you all for your help, I'd never figure it out on my own.
Wally of the week award goes to me, without a doubt :red:
You're doing really well I think, but the gremlins are agin you :)
I will keep an eye out to see how you get on.