Why would this happen?

fred9803

I'm making a scene and all the test renders are fine. I plug in an old external HD because I wanted to add a prop from it. Added all the files (data, textures etc.) to the right place into my current library then saved and removed the old HD. Go to render and there's missing texture files all over the place. Missing textures on figures and props that had nothing to do with the prop I installed.

I plug the old HD back in and it renders fine again. Why on earth would DS now be looking for those textures on the old HD? Perhaps when I saved somehow the links to some of the textures reverted back to the old HD path. Very annoying.

FSMCDesigns

try adding the textures to the current library before applying them to the model. Seems like you pointed DS to the old HD first and that is where it is looking.

fred9803

Thanks FSMC. The missing textures ARE in the current library but DS is trying to find them on the old HD, that's the problem, the missing textures aren't on the old HD where DS is looking. I suppose I can re-apply the textures from the current library but there's lots of missing ones and many are modified so I'll need to find and relink the maps I've made. I still think the problem was when I saved the scene DS got confused about where all the textures were. This is the second time this has happened and the only way I can render the scenes is to keep the old HD plugged in.

Edit - I'm now thinking that the problem could be that they are both external hard drives and the old one might have had the same drive-letter as the new one when I used to use it. That could explain it.

jestmart

Do your get an error box?  If so and the path indicated starts with anything other than "Runtime" the files most likely got saved with absolute references instead of relative references.

fred9803

Thanks jestmart. I did get missing file (texture) error messages when the old HD was unplugged. How do I avoid this happeneing again?

vukiol

considering jestmart answer this should never happen if you save the file in the correct texture folder

daz autonaticlly saves a relative reference

which is runtime/textures

ie: it can be runtime/textures/myfolder or runtime/textures/myfolder/amorespecificfolder

it cannot be runtime/myfolder

this is indepenndent from the library, assuming that you keep the format as above, you can move your texture folders wherever you want (in mapped libraries) without loosing the reference

fred9803

Thanks vukiol. Both the drives have the correct library structure. When I originally saved the scene DS knew where the texture files were located. I plug in a second HD via USB and hit save again and DS is now looking for eg. the G8F torso texture, on the second HD and not in the place where it was originally saved. Somehow the .duf reference to the texture location switched from one drive to the other. I think in future if I have to install something from another drive, I'll only save the scene after I've unplugged it. Thanks everyone for your help and advice.