Forced to Re-install Genesis 8 Starter Essentials over and over
mikethe3dguy
Posts: 515
I have a recurring problem where opening particular files (at times it appears to be all files with G8 figures) triggers a popup telling me to re-install Genesis 8 Starter Essentials. I do it and the file opens. But from now on every time I open that file it does the same thing. This becomes a real problem when I've set up a render queue to run when I'm away from the computer because of course everything halts until I re-install. This hadn't happened for weeks now but just started happening again. I create sequential scenes, modifying "scene 1" and saving as "scene 2", then doing the same often over and over, each file building on the previous one so every single file in that chain has the same problem.
Why is this happening and how to fix it?
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Comments
Sounds like bad metadata to me.
Has that package ever been installed with Connect(inside Studio) and then a second time with either DIM or Central? Don't mix install methods.It gets complicated to keep them working correctly.
Are you logging in inside Studio? Don't if you use DIM or Central for installs.
Not intentionally or to my recollection. I only use DIM for content installation and consider Connect an annoyance. I do log in from DS because it pesters me to sometimes - is that only for Connect? If so, how do I shut up or disable Connect?
Yes, that is only for Connect.
Press F2 on keyboard
Startup tab
Uncheck eveything
Apply
Accept
Thanks so much! Monkey off my back.
As it turns out it doesn't matter whether I'm logged in or not. DS has been logged out for 2 weeks or so now, and the problem just returned.
Did you uninstall the Connect installed files?
Are you saying that there's a separate content library pathway for Connect? That's weird. I assumed they all installed in the same place but that there was conflicting database info. Where do I even go to find and delete that? Or do I log back in and uninstall it somehow in the Smart Content tab? I'm completely ignorant of anything "Connect" related.
Yes, DAZ Connect installs everything to a completely different location from the other installers.
Uninstallation of DAZ Connect installed products must be done within DS (in smart content), before the DIM/DAZ Central/manually installed versions start working properly
Hmm, sorry if I'm seeming dense, but everything in the Smart Content tab under "Products", under all categories shows black&white icons which I assume to mean it is not installed. Everything I click has an "Install" option but no "Uninstall". The only Starter Essentials I see even listed there is "dForce Starter Essentials" which is not the content I keep getting the error message about. Under "Files" there are some icons in color that look like they might be installed, but even those don't show any uninstall or delete option in the right-click menu.
Show us, which folders you have specified as Content Directories in "Content Directory Manager", and we can give you the location of DAZ Connect installed content.
Yeah I can find that directory no problem. There are folders and files there. Should I manually delete them?
That's the catch, you can but that doesn't solve the problem - They must be uninstalled within DS, but you can see now, which products are installed with DAZ Connect so that you know which ones need to be uninstalled in 'Smart' Content.
But that's the thing: I don't see how to uninstall anything. How do you do that?
Sorry, I have never used DAZ Connect or let DS connect to DAZ servers.
I do know from previous threads here in the forums, that when something is installed with DAZ connect, that Connect installation takes priority over the installations made by the other means, even in cases where the Connect installed content is corrupt and doesn't work. The only way to fix it, is to get it uninstalled within DS in 'Smart' Content.
You could try first zipping the whole "Cloud" folder with it's content and deleting the originals, but that's a hail Mary...
I don't use Connect either, but it's my understanding from what I've read that you click the product in Smart Content then right-click (this is PC, no idea for Mac) and pick the "Uninstall" option that be showing now.
ETA: There are step-by-step instructions HERE - it's talking about a specific different product, but the method should be good.
I'm using a PC, but as I mentioned above when I right click on Smart Content products or files, there is no uninstall option.
In the Products tab, right-clicking on the product - not opening the product and right-clicking there. You can also right-click on the container (the folder) in the Content Library under Products>G (for Genesis # Starter Essentials)
I just added something to my previous post - take a look at that, maybe.
Make sure the filter box (bottom of the Smart Content pane) is unchecked and type "Essentials" in the search box again. If the G8 Essentials shows in colour then there should be an uninstall option. If it's gray-shades then try right-clicking and picking "view in Content Library" (or something along those lines) - once there, try right-click and "Delete" - this should remove any rogue metadata still sitting in the database.
ETA: Follow Richard's instructions first - they are probably right!
Thanks Richard, that last suggestion (Products>G in the Content Library) may have been the silver bullet. The Starter Essentials product did not even appear under Products in the Smart Content tab for me to even delete!
Okay, in fact this did not work. I found "Genesis 8 Starter Essentials" under Products>G in the Content Library and deleted it. Then I re-installed it via DIM. All seemed fine until today when I got that error message again telling me there were missing files and to install Starter Essentials AGAIN.
Just to be clear: there appears to be no "Genesis 8 Starter Esentials" when you install. Only "Genesis 8 Male Starter Essentials" and "Genesis 8 Female Starter Essentials... right?
Edit: This time, since I knew what was triggering the Starter Essentials error message (opening a Scene Subset), I deleted it from Products>G just as before, went into DIM and uninstalled it there (surprised I still have to do that after deleting it, but whatever), then re-installed it in DIM. Then I refreshed the DS Content Library, confirmed it was now re-installed, and re-opened that same Scene Subset. THIS time I didn't get the Starter Essentials error message, but instead a message that I had a missing file: /data/DAZ 3D/Genesis 8/Male/Genesis8Male.dsf... except that I then followed that file path and saw that that file was in fact there.
If and when your scene subset has been saved with a reference to a wrong file in wrong location, you must save the scene subset again with the correct references.
The reporting for missing files is lacking in DS, as it gives you just the path within a content library, but doesn't tell you which content library on which disk...
I'm not sure what you mean - if the file is missing it isn't in any of the content directories. Daz Studio files should store only the relative paths for content in mapped directories.
If there are several copies of the same file in different locations, apparently DS flips a coin on which one it loads. If one of the files is later removed, DS starts looking for the 'missing' file, even when the correct file is where it is supposed to be.
The scene subset that triggers this was just created yesterday (a week or so after I supposedly fixed this problem), so it should have had the proper reference.
If you have, or can trigger, an example of that please open the file in a text editor and see if it is using an absolute path. All saved files should use relative paths, where possible, so the only potential issue should be with Connect-installed content (which of course you don't have)
I found out about this behaviour when I was wondering why my saved characters didn't remember the dial settings for the lashes. Every other time I opened the scene, the lashes were at default settings.
As it was only three morphs (upper/lower length and curl), they were easy to track down and found a character from Rendo where those DAZ morphs had been included within the character morphs and every other time, DS was picking those instead of the regular ones.
When I removed the lash morphs from the character folders, DS started complaining about the missing morphs and the path it showed, pointed to the proper DAZ folder, where the proper morph files were still located.
While searching for the lash-morphs, I stumbled on quite a lot of similar cases, where creator of some character had included morphs or even the base mesh from starter essentials, removed them and after a few days, I realized DS had not hanged anymore at closing, in fact has not hanged once since I removed the misplaced duplicates - Unexpected positive side-effect
Still don't understand, how DS reverted to the wrong morphs every other time, as I thought it used the ones it found in order they were read => That's how DAZ Connect installed content takes priority over the other installation methods and why the dummy files will disable the G8 base expressions on G8.1