[SOLVED] How to change where Daz saves its metadata

Cherubit

Every time I load Daz lately, it imports all almost 5k products' metadata, again and again. First it was trying to import to a drive unit I no longer have (changed recently) and was getting an error in the log. Now, I changed my current drive to the old unit letter, and it created a folder there to which all thumbnails and .json files are going. 

My question is How do I change where this metadata goes? I don't want it to be in this folder. I tried looking over preferences and even on DIM and I don't see that folder being called anywhere.

PerttiA

Judging by what you wrote, it sounds like you are installing your content with DIM, but also logging in to DS... You should not be doing both.
DIM installs the metadata to \Runtime\Support\, but that is not where the metadata updates during starting DS are saved. See the attachment for how to set your DS startup options to stop logging in to DS.

Wrote this on another thread;

The structure of (traditional) DAZ Content Library is actually quite logical, but when trying to find a simple "push button" solutions for new users, DAZ has created a situation where different default functions do not play well together.

-At first the (new) user is offered DAZ Central for downloading and installing DAZ Studio and all the content that comes with it, no other alternatives are offered or even mentioned.
-When the user has downloaded and installed everything with the default settings/options and starts DS the first time, one is presented with a dialog that asks the user to log in, with the default option to keep logging in automatically in the future, giving the user the impression that logging in is necessary.
-Once the user is in DS and starts browsing the available content in 'Smart' Content, one is told that the content is not installed (with DAZ Connect), giving the user the impression that the content needs to be installed again, when in fact it is not necessary.
-If the user does as is suggested, the content gets downloaded and installed the second time to another location, taking twice the storage space. The installation location is non-traditional, which does not work with scripts and older content, and whatever gets installed by DAZ Connect, overrides the installations made by the other installation methods (DIM/DAZ Central/Manual installation), even when the DAZ Connect installations fail to work due to for example decryption failures.

The general concensus is that the DIM is the best tool for installing DAZ content.
DAZ Central is just a simplified version of DIM

DAZ Connect inside DAZ Studio was created at a time DAZ experimented with encrypted content, which did require logging in to DS/DAZ servers to verify the users licence for that content. The experimentation with encrypted content was ended some 5-6 years ago, but the user is still asked to log in without being told why or being warned about the possible consequences and side effects - The decryption errors are due to the content still being encrypted at DAZ servers that are used by DAZ connect to download them.

Personally I use manual installation as it gives me total control over the installations without having to track down settings in an installation program to get it to do what I want. The only thing the installation programs have is the ability to uninstall content with a push of a button, otherwise everything works just as if the content was installed by any other method.

Cherubit

PerttiA said:

Judging by what you wrote, it sounds like you are installing your content with DIM, but also logging in to DS... You should not be doing both.
DIM installs the metadata to \Runtime\Support\, but that is not where the metadata updates during starting DS are saved. See the attachment for how to set your DS startup options to stop logging in to DS.

Thank you for the answer! Makes total sense! In that case I'll just keep using DIM (which is what I've always used, I didn't know I shouldnt login), stop automatic login, and i'll delete that new folder it created with the metadata :) Thank you again!