How to find out about updates?
nabob21
Posts: 1,024
Hello,
I have recently read in a couple of threads about significant updates that have come out for OOT hairs as well as Angela 9. I have been using DazCentral to install my purchases, and over the past couple of years, I have only noticed updates for a couple of items, and even then I only stumbled across that as I scrolled through my list of purchases in DazCentral. So since it seems like DazCentral doesn't do a good job of letting me know about product updates, can anyone suggest a good way to find out if any of my purchases have been updated?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
nabob21
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I have used DAZ install manager since it came out, because any updates made to content shows up at the top of the list of purchased content in its own catagory.
Same here, using DIM is the absolute best and easiest method for installing your DAZ (or compatible) product files, IMO.
Please don't ask the same question in multiple threads. I have removed the two psots asking about updates to other threads.
DIM is the answer to life, the universe and everything. It's even been updated recently to work faster.
Daz central is rubbish, I don't even go online when using daz as I cannot even stand Daz connect, so it's DIM all the way!
Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. So based on the answers that have been provided, it seems that people prefer to use DIM which does provide notifications of updates. Does anyone know why DazCentral doesn't flag products that have updates? I thought DazCentral was the downlaod application that was supposed to replace DIM.
And as I had asked in the other threads, what are the ways that product updates are communicated to us, i.e. how do folks find out about updates? Is the only avenue available to us through DIM and possibly by monitoring the forums?
It's at the top of the download tab on DIM. Please see attached screen shot. Right now, the only update I have is for DAZ Studio 4.21, but all updates show up above that gray line labeled "Product Updates."
Updating the readmes is good for knowing what has been updated, but it doesn't push a notification to users that an update has happened.
So, to answer the question simply, as far as I know DIM is the only certain way of being notified when an updated file is available.
Daz Central is a simplified version of DIM - think of it as a pen knife compared to DIM's Swiss Army knife.
Back in the day, after making a purchase you pulled up your product library listing and started downloading. One item at a time. And every item was an executable installer, which began to cause problems with Macs as older installers became obsolete and had to be rebuilt. We found out about updates mostly by accident. There were requests - in some cases, demands - for a better way.
We got DIM.
When you log in to the store it walks your product library and compares it to what you have on your system and shows you what has been updated. It gives flexibility on where to put things - downloads, executables, installtion directories - and it can restart interrupted downloads.It was - glorious. It has been expanded and updated, adding features like pulling down thumbnails and linking to a product's readme page.
Some people were overwhelmed with the flexibility - so two (three?) years ago Daz added Central - effectively a stripped down version of DIM, that was easier to configure. Central should be notifying you about updates but I'm not sure. I looked at it when it came out and realized it wouldn't work for me - I have my executables on the C: drive and content on the D:, E:, and F: drives, with my downloads on an external K: drive - so I haven't paid any real attention to Central since it came out.
Thanks Sevrin and melanie for the replies.
One final question I have is will DIM recognize the products that have been installed through DazCentral? Hopefully that will be the case so that I don't have to 're-install' everything again in order for DIM to see and recognize it.
And thank you AlmightyQUEST and namffauk for the replies as well.
Install Manager will pick up the settings and actions from Daz Central, and vice versa (if you chnage the paths in Install manager, so they no longer match the options Daz Central gives, then its settings will say that the paths are being managed by Install Manager).
Thanks for the info Richard but now I am a bit confused.
I installed the lastest version of DIM and as Richard stated, it found all of the products I have installed. However, it only shows 5 items that need to be updated, and they are old plugins that I no longer use. This is somewhat confusing since in the thread about OOT hair items it was stated that there were updates for most if not all of his hair products to address the recent iray issues. And in a similar fashion, in the Angela 9 thread it was stated that a recent 300 mb update had just come out. I have many OOT hair items as well as Angela 9 and yet there is nothing showing up in DIM about any updates for these products. So I don't understand where folks are finding about updates, and if they are available, how they are getting access to them so that they can be installed.
(If my questions here should be in a different thread, please let me know and I'll start a new one).
So I'm putting together a new system, and if all my items were installed, it would be gigabytes of stuff that I'd only use occasionally. So I'm making 3 or 4 libraries for commonly used items. When I get to fully rendering again, I'll add temporary libraries for projects as they are needed. My full stash is on back-up hard drives.
So the questions: If I install DIM, would it flag everything I own as missing and needing to be downloaded, even the manually installed items?
If DIM does recognize those manually installed files in those various libraries, would it know if they needed updates?
If DIM mandates that I change my plans to resolve the update problem, it'd be fixing a problem which that system created for me in the first place.
I prefer the R-place's much simpler system which lets me monitor my needs on my own!! *That was not a commercial for the other place. I love it here in the Daz world:-)
I have a lot of the updated OOT hair but no updates in DIM.
DIM won't recognize content installed manually. When you install a product with DIM (or DazCentral) then it creates an "install manifest" file in a given directory which tells it that this product was installed in that place at that time. That's how it knows what was installed, it doesn't scan your library to detect products.
I suppose you could create install manifest files for your manually installed content and put them in DIM Manifest directory so that DIM thinks they were installed, but that would likely be a lot of work.
Interesting, but still no cigar. I've avoided wandering into the DIM recesses of DAZ's idea of data management. I'm still blessfully ignorant of, and unaffected by, DIM-ish problems.
Sometimes the old ways still have advantages.
I'm still not sure where people are finding out about updates to OOT Hair and Angela 9 since no updates are showing up for these products for me in both DIM and DazCentral.
OK, thanks for the info. I appreciate that very much.
A thought, not a question: "R" can show updates in our Product Libraries, why can't "D"? Or just have a date listed in the zips themselves. Too late for that, of course.
No cigar from me, either. I'll just take pride in how I manage my system on my own. Less clutter, more direct access to individual projects' needs.
The update issue is still going to suck, though. With any little problem, I'm going to have to figure out if it's me or the file that has aging problems;-)
Well it looks like the thread keeps getting hijacked and my questions buried....
FWIW - I got three items updated - skus 37421, 36971, and 35843 - all for Genesis 3. The packages were updated January 20 this year. From the readme file: 2023-01-23 - Updated shader to fix a rendering issue with updated Iray. These are apparently the only OOT strand-based hair products I've picked up.
In DIM these all show up with a package date of 1/20/2023 (filter on oot hair, sort order package date - recent first)
Check your download filters (Advanced Settings->Downloads). There are not that many settings that would affect the list of available product updates. All the updates listed in my DIM Updates list all have "DAZ Studio 4.5+" and "Connect Available" (not that I use Connect, but there was a time that was the only tag used, so to see them, you had to select that tag).
Thanks namffauk and NorthOf45. I'll give those suggestions a try.
I know it's not popular, but if you use (or check) Smart Content, items that have an update available will show a little circle type thing on the thumbnail. If you click on the thumbnail to open the product, there will be an "update" button underneath the main thumbnail.
Thanks for the tip Nyx.
That is only if they are installed through Daz Connect, and Daz Studio has been online since the update was issued. If the content was installed through DIM, Daz Central, or Daz Studio itself then an update (any change from the downloaded version) should be flagged.