Is it normal for DIM to only partially install products?
TLTJade
Posts: 55
Fairly recently started using Daz again (after using Poser exclusively for a few years) and, while I'm generally pleased with the changes to Daz, DIM has me puzzled (I tried Daz Central and it's just... If I'm being generous, I would say that Central feels like it's pre-Alpha testing right now because it's not very good at all). Most things, DIM installs fine, but other things, it only partially installs or says the product is installed but it's not.
It's an easy enough fix to rt click>install the products within Daz, but it's a bit of a nuisance.
This also sometimes happens with products I install through the "Install" tab within Daz. And I have noticed that sometimes, products don't register in the "Install" tab unless I've first opened DIM. Once DIM populates with the new product, then the product appears in Daz as being ready to install.
I'm just wondering if this is normal or a glitch in the Matrix. :)
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DIM won't skip any files. What you see in Studio as being ready to install is actually for DAZ Connect, which is a completely different installation method, and should not be mixed with DIM (or Central). Do not rely on Smart Content to show everything that is installed, as most older Poser content has no metadata, and lately some (too many) products have faulty metadata. Poser and DAZ Studio native products can physically install to the same folders, but your Content Library must be set up for each one independently. DAZ Studio native products will only show in the DAZ Studio Formats section, and Poser native products will only appear in the Poser Formats section, even if they have Studio equivalents in with the runtime.
Installing with DIM and then again with DAZ Connect actually installs it again in a different location, using twice as much space as it should. In DIM, you can see what was installed and where it was installed with a right-click on the product in the installed tab and selecting "Show Installed Files..." If the enties are all blue hyerlinks, everything is installed. You should be able to locate everything in the Content Library if the proper folders are mapped in Content Directory Manager.
No... I'm asking because I have installed the product(s) via DIM, it shows in DIM as having been installed, there is an entry in Daz under "Products" as if it has been installed, but attempting to load it into a scene or borwse to file location says the file doesn't exist. So it literally forces a "re-install" from within Daz using Connect.
Basically, DIM says it's installed, but it's not--the files are not installing even though DIM says they have been installed. Sometimes that applies to an entire product, other times it applies only to certain items within a product.
But right now, I have to go figure out why my PC+ isn't showing on my account, even though it runs through April of next year.
"Products" in the Smart Content panel or "Products" in the Content Library? They are not the same. Connect and DIM install to different locations, and one does not see the other. They might know of each others' installations but cannot access them. Smart Content is wholly dependent on metadata to function. If the metadata is faulty, the Smart Content is faulty. The Content Library cannot hide, it will show every single user-facing file that was installed, with or without good or bad metadata. DIM will indicate if, and where, the files were installed if you Show Installed files with a right-click on the product, in DIM. It's all in there, you are just not looking in the right place.
In both the Smart Content and Content libraries. Some are newer releases, some are older stuff.
For example, I have a lot of Jack Tomalin's products and this has happened with a few of them (but is not limited to Jack's stuff--I just use Jack's products as an example of the fact that it doesn't care if the product is as old as dirt or so shiny and new that it squeaks). I typically use DIM to install, and though the name of the product shows in both Smart Content and Content library, when you try to load the items, it says the file doesn't exist. If you try to browse to file location, there is no file at that location. The item--whether an entire product or only parts of a product (let's say, for example, the mesh installs but the mats do not or vice versa)--cannot be found in any install location. That includes if I manually navigate to the location the items should have installed to.
I understand what you're saying. I know what you're saying is what should be--but is not--happening. I know how the libraries work. What I am telling you is that there are products that are not installing or only partially installing when installed via DIM. Despite navigating--both using the "browse to location" command and manually navigating through Windows' File Explorer--to the correct location that those files should be installed to, the files are not there and the item must be reinstalled. I have found (so far--I'm not even a third of the way through my product library) at least a dozen such products with this issue: DIM says they've been installed, but they are either not installed or only partially installed. The age of the products--or more specifically, whether or not their metadata is correct/has been updated--does not appear to be relevant at all. The issue seems to be random and occurs with new (within the last six months or so) and older products.
What I am asking is, it that 'normal' or just some kind of glitch? If a glitch--which it seems to be--is there a way to correct the problem?
Okay, just testing the limits, there. I have never experienced any missing files in the, oh, 19,000 product files I have installed, so something is not working properly if the files are not physically present where they should be.
Have you tried clicking on a file link in the "Show Installed Files..." popup in DIM? The blue hyperlinks are only generated if the files are present, otherwise they are plain black text. It should open an Explorer window to that location.
To be fair, Central isn't a new replacement for DIM, it's a simplified and cut-down version of DIM suitable for beginners. A lot of the problems people have been getting tripped by seem to be due to Central not always playing nice with an existing DIM-installed setup. Especially if non-default installation locations are involved. If you're already installing with DIM, and you know what you're doing with it, don't bother with Central.
Yeah, and that's why I asked: the blue links are there, but some of the actual files just... aren't. And it's not giving an error message in DIM on the install (you know how if you try to install Cararra or Bryce content without pointing the DIM to the correct install location, it'll give you an error? It's not doing that for the files it's failed to install), so I'm guessing it's just a glitch? I can use the right-click menu within Daz's libraries (Content or Smart Content) itself to either uninstall/reinstall or just install and the files then install with a "new" tag on them, but it's just weird.
I'm wondering now if it could be caused by the fact that I've set Daz and my libraries to their own drive? I took great care to follow documentation exactly so that all my Daz stuff is on one solid state drive (and DIM, Central and Connect are all pointing to the right places--that was the first thing I checked) becausse I've had drive failures that affected my Daz and Poser libraries and reinstalling everything is not fun, lol) and most things install normally and are accessible--both through Daz and via direct navigation to the files in Windows File Explorer, but I wonder if DIM gets temporarily confused or something sometimes because of it.
Also I apologize if I came off sharper than intended earlier. I should have explained in more detail regarding what, specifically, it was doing. I don't always express what I'm trying to say/ask very well.
Thank you for this information. My install locations are not default, so that explains why Central was such a headache for me that I just removed it and stuck with DIM.
Well, I never even tried Connect (wasn't a fan of the Big Brother-ish tone of it) and DAZ Central looked like a giant step backwards after years of DIM. Central and DIM supposedly use the same mechanism for installations, but if they were pointing to different places when crossing installations, then maybe some files are pointing to one location when they are physically in another. Any products that share files (usually texture bitmaps, but sometimes utility scripts to set tiling, or displacement levels, etc.) could easily get wires crossed.
No worries about tone. Frustration levels are a tad high lately...
Yes, that's exactly what was happening with the first few releases of Central. It seems to have been set up with the assumption that a complete beginner to DAZ|Studio would want everything installed to their default locations, so it ignored any and all existing custom content setups. AFAIR pretty much everyone coming to the forums with a "DAZ DELETED ALL MY CONTENT!!!!" complaint got everything back once they'd been pointed at the Content Directory Manager dialog and talked through restoring their old settings.
It didn't help that a lot of people already using and happy with DIM saw the promotion of Central as the latest and greatest New Thing™, and installed it. Methinks a bit of forethought from DAZ would have avoided all the excitement...