DAZ 3D crashing and now a DUF file vanished
Sjlidrbauch
Posts: 2
I was working on a character, attempted to save, and a notification popped up saying it could not save the scene. Then it crashed, and the original DUF file magically disappeared. I know that I had already saved the scene prior, because it was a project I created a few days previously and just wanted to open it up again to make some tweaks, so I know the file physically existed. DAZ has actually crashed on me a couple of times since I installed the most recent update, but this is the first time a file just simply vanished...has anyone else experienced this before? And is there a way to recover the file, or am I going to have to start from scratch? Also, has anyone else had issues with daz crashing, or not wanting to save scenes since the last update? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Also, I don't know if this is helpful but I work on a Mac.
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I haven't seen the exact issue that you described (and I'm very sorry to hear you lost your file).
But the latest release of DAZ Studio is extremely unstable on Mac. A mod in a different thread (can't remember exactly which one) said that you should avoid keyboard shortcuts (i.e. Cmd-S for Save) and use the menus instead.
What I suspect is happening is that the keyboard shortcuts are injecting a double command; instead of Cmd-S triggering a call to 'SomeObject.save' (obviously, this isn't the real name of the method), it's calling 'SomeObject.save' and then immediately calling it a second time while the app is still busy processing the first command. If the second command starts updating bits of the save record that are already in use by the first command, then you've pretty much bought yourself a ticket to Crash City.
You can see this more clearly with render: if I hit Cmd-R, I get a dialog that says "Renderer already in use"; if I click the 'Render' button in the UI, or choose 'Render' from the menu, I don't get this. And this would be consistent with the app trying to launch the renderer twice.
So I think the advice to avoid keyboard shortcuts until they release an update is good. However, muscle memory being what it is, it's hard to stop yourself hitting the familiar key combos without thinking.
Thank you so much for that info! I'll try to keep that in mind moving forward. At the very least, hopefully it'll prevent me from losing another file. Thanks again!
Just for reference, I have now seen the disappearing file issue that you mentioned. Ouch!
I think what happens is that Save begins by removing the old file. If the save then fails -- because of the double-command issue -- that earlier version of the file is gone.
There's a lot of unpredictability here. When I've inadvertently triggered the bug, I've seen the Save complete successfully -- file written correctly -- and then had DAZ Studio crash after the save was completed. Or not crash at all. Or delete the old file and then throw an error. Similarly, when I hit Cmd-R to render, then I always get the 'Renderer in use' error message, but DAZ Studio only sometimes crashes when I close the render window after stopping the render. The bug itself looks straightforward -- a double command being posted to the event queue -- but it appears to trigger a race condition that's timing-dependent, with the result that anything can happen.
Because the disappearing file issue is real, it's a good idea to back up your file manually from time to time. Or use Save As ... to save a version intermittently, so that if you lose everything you can go back to a recent version.
Also, because you're on a Mac, run Time Machine if you're not doing so already. Time Machine is not a perfect backup system, but it's been a lifesaver for me. I used it to salvage my Mac after the Space Manager queue on my boot drive got corrupted by a crash (you don't want to know; this is a very low-level error and it's very, very bad). And I've twice used it to restore my DAZ Studio CMS after that got corrupted. Time Machine is your friend. Use Time Machine.
Yes, this is quite shocking. I've just lost a file too. This is a second time in three days. I understand that one might loose some unsaved work due to a computer glitch but loosing the whole file just like that... Wow! I work on Mac but I'm thinking more and more about switching to PC now. This is a good advice not too use hot keys for saving. I am going to give it a try.
This exact thing happened to me. I'm working on a big commission and my fingers are so used to just quickly saving via shortcut. I had the characters nearly finished and I knew this was happening, I just didn't expect it to delete my file completely. I guess I just have to really avoid from saving via shortcuts now. Ugh. I'm literally so upset. I hate PC's. I hope they come out with an update soon, because this is really hindering my work.
I've had it happen twice. .duf file completely gone only the associated PNG remains Lost a crap ton of work each time
Me too (also Mac), but also a bunch of .duf files named completely different and NOT associated so the reason given above makes no sense to me in this context. I'm thinking of giving up Daz as this was many hours work...