Renderotica

It can be frustrating. I have reinstalled many times when my folders have gotten screwed up. Read up on best practices in the advice section of the Daz site. They recommend a Library folder that is on a public server, that is, not nested within your particular user profile. I use the DIM to keep track of ech product I install, where it goes, and keeps track of your one single library. So short of wiping everything out and starting over, determine where your main library should function best and start consolidating the other libraries contents into that one folder structure, and then launching DAZ and updating the content database to make sure it recognizes all the products there. When you get third party products, make sure you follow the read me files to ensure proper placement of the product files, and if you want to include them in your smart content tab, follow these steps:

Use the Content DB Editor
Select your file in the top part of the window
Select your file in the lower part of the window also
Click on Type: in the middle of the window - Select Actor>Character
Make sure the Categories tab is selected on the lower part of the window
Right-click your file in the lower part of the window, and Add Root Categories to Selected File(s)
Select /Default/Figures/People/ (include any deeper subcategories you want to add for filtering, like Male/Female, Fantasy/Scifi, etc. You can Add Root Categories multiple times if you want to add more than one filter)
Accept.
Now your character will show up in Smart Content under Figures, for easy adding to scenes.

I keep all my content purchased from any place other than DAZ itself separate from items purchased from DAZ. You can have as many libraries as you want, they just need to be set up correctly (and you need to point the program to them). Generally the problem with items purchased from here is they tend to unzip in unusual places in that library. What will not work is if they put the files in /data anywhere other than the root /data folder. Except for Poser content, that /data folder is really the only one DAZ is particular about. For Poser content, it needs to be in /runtime which has a further hierarchy.

What I find with items from here is they will start them off in /Mylibrary so the data folder is /Mylibrary/data and that will not work. The data folder needs to be moved to the root directory. Everything else can be left where it is, but to make it easier to find I stick it where I can find it. As I mentioned, DAZ really doesn't care where.

For Poser Items, the directory structure is /runtime/geometries for the objects, /runtime/textures for the textures and /runtime/libraries for the script files, with a number of predefined places the loading scripts go, runtime/libraries/poses,  rumtime/libraries/props, etc.  DAZ really doesn't care which of the subfolders you put stuff in, but Poser does.

Edited by user Tuesday, June 8, 2021 1:30:45 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

It isn't really that hard. I have a SSD where I install all DS related content:

Daz folder where DIM installs Daz stuff

Rotica folder

osity folder

Deviant Folder

Render Hub folder

Adding a Base Directory is easy and can help keeping your stuff organized. If you upgrade your system or change hardware, you can easily map the content folders and get going.

I frankly have more problems with Daz products going into random fkn places than with 3rd party vendors. If it wasn't for DIM "Show Installed Files" I wouldn't be able to find half of the Daz stuff I buy. Daz QC and standards enforcement is seriously lacking.

The gotcha from many non-Daz vendors is that they will pack their Zip files under a "Content Library" folder. That will screw you up if you are actively managing your content and not just accepting the defaults. If you use Winzip (old school, I know, but that's how I roll) then you can drill down and tell the software where you want the files to go.

Edited by user Friday, June 18, 2021 11:05:26 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Originally Posted by: KINKYGR

You would think that daz would make it easy to install assets from third party sites which would make their program last longer. When i get assets from here or rendo its a nightmare to install them. Usually the installation says copy folders to your daz folder adn here is where the nightmare begins. For newbies like me when i follow these instructions and try to find the asset in the folders its impossible.

At the risk of self promotion (sorta, this is still on our favorite naughty forum) you may like this guide of mine:

https://www.renderotica.com/community/forums.aspx?g=posts&t=247154#post486429

In this thread I'm showcasing an easy way to put all your naughty stuff into a place of its own.

It really isn't that hard... any folder on your system can do, as long as you add it to your Daz configuration. I explained this in detail in my guide but in short: open the content directory manager, decide what kind of stuff you'll be adding (DS content, Poser content or maybe both?) and then add your new folder to the "Daz Studio Formats" and/or "Poser Formats" section(s). And done!

Now... of course this won't have any effect on the smart contents pane (that can be set up as well) but you will be able to easily dump most of your naughty stuff into this folder of your choosing and find its contents in your "Content Library Pane".

It honestly isn't that hard! Check my guide for full details.