Core, base and vital folders list

I have been trying to organise my content library for years... seeing as I HAD poser, I was still using that as a library and it got outright impossible to work with... the problem is that now, just trying to find where everything is installing itself, has me stuck...
When it gets too bad, I just want to cleanse by fire!
What folders CAN'T I delete and where do they need to be?

I have at least 18 'Data' folders... they seem to be duplicating themselves to stupid places and I have no idea why...
Is there a comprehensive "DAZ NEED THIS OR NO WORK" list anywhere?

I can deal with the few items that are going to throw a hissy at me, but I want to have just ONE content directory... having to move between 14 because some items don't show up in others is a royal pain!

Runtime directories don't seem to show from the parented directory, DAZ stuff shows in poser-view, but not in DAZ view? wha?
I just want it all in one place so I can get it set up in an easy-to-navigate fashion

(if there's already a thread for this, I apologise, I could not find it...)

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 99,474
    edited December 1969

    The content folders don't hold anything DS needs to work - they are just the content, all the application files and most of the vital data for shaders and so on are elsewhere. So the question is, what's in those folders and do you want the content?

    On Datat folders, DS 4.6 seems to create or use the one in the current content directory when you save a scene, if it needs to make auto asset files (for things that don't already have asset files - custom morphs, older content from a library or scene, and autofitted clothing). You should be able to merge them safely.

  • edited December 1969

    so, everything in the 'Content' folder can be shuffled as-and-when with no program-killing repercussions? that's good... I sense a mass exodus of aaaaaal my files to one place coming on...

    Where should this one data folder be? I am a little confused where these are all cropping up from (more-so because every so often, it stops something working because apparently, the save is looking for things that aren't there anymore)
    I've seen a lot of support for Genesis, but I can't find a whole lot for us (probably few) who don't use the thing...

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 99,474
    edited December 1969

    As long as the \data folder is in the root (not a sub-folder) of a DAZ Studio content directory, and as long as you don't have one content directory inside another, you should be fine.

  • edited December 1969

    so, my data folders are meant to be in a content directory? content/data ?
    I wonder why i've been getting them appear in my save directories too then...
    Just to check before I start nerfing everything... I just have to have content/runtime/all my library stuff
    I'm going to be rebuilding this from scratch because I am sick of having to navigate from one place to get the clothing item, to another to get the texture, to another to get the morphs I use, to another to get another morph, to the first for an INJ...

    If I use the 'daz studio formats' directory, will all my stuff show up? or am I going to have to add it to the poser one too? 'other' does not seem to show anything...
    And I suppose there's not an option for it to just show and open all filetypes it can? as opposed to having to use these different directory modes?

    Sorry for all the brain-picking, but I keep breaking it and having to start again every year so I'm learning to air on the side of caution haha

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    It very much depends on what your content consists of.

    If your content is mainly Poser content, like V4, M4, V3, M3 etc etc, then it should be installed into a Poser runtime folder so that DAZ Studio can see it, and the folder that holds the runtime (your DAZ Studio content folder) should be listed as a Poser Formats folder in the Content Directory Manager.

    DS will not 'see' Poser content that is not in a runtime folder, and it will only see it in Poser Formats if the folder has been listed in the Content Directory manager. You can add as many runtime folders as you like inside DS, and the same applies to DS content folders.

    The simplest way of all for you, would be to use Categories, that is what they are supplied for. In that way, you can add Poser content, and the DS material files for these items as well. You can have, for example, V4 with all of her morphs INJ and REM files in one Category, along with any clothing items that you want to put there too. It means that you just have to go to the one place to find everything V4 related.

    The beauty of this system, is that you do not need to move anything on the disk at all, the database keeps track of it for you.

    If you want more information on how to do this, you would need to tell us what type of content you are referring to, and where it is stored at present. Poser can also add the Runtime folder to it's library that is inside the DS Content folder, so you can use it in both apps.

  • edited December 1969

    sadly, either my content folder is too messy or there's something wrong with DAZ because trying to use that feature just freezes it up... without fail.
    Tried it a long time ago (then again with each new update) and am more content with re-arranging the massive amounts of folders I have to something more manageable...

    so, if I get a poser-friendly layout set up, add all my DAZ stuff to it and only have that one content folder added as both Poser and DAZ directories, it will show both retrospectively?

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    Yes, as long as the main folder, let's call it Content has the DS folders AND the Poser Rutime folder inside it at the same level.

    If you give Poser the path to the Content folde (which holds the runtime folder), then Poser should be OK with that.

    If you enter the paths in DAZ Studio as 'Content' as BOTH DAZ Studio AND Poser Formats, everything should be seen, and will at least appear in the Content Library pane under each option. In all cases with Poser or DS, it is the folder which 'holds' the runtime that is declared as a library.

  • edited December 1969

    that's good... Thanks Jimmy and thanks Richard, this should give me something to fill my spare time with for a while :D

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 99,474
    edited December 1969

    so, my data folders are meant to be in a content directory? content/data ?
    I wonder why i've been getting them appear in my save directories too then...
    Just to check before I start nerfing everything... I just have to have content/runtime/all my library stuff

    I was using content directory as a description, the folder that you have selected in DAZ Studio, not as a name - the folder can be called whatever you like, though it's a good idea not to have Runtime appear in the folder names other than for the actual Runtime folder.

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    As long as the \data folder is in the root (not a sub-folder) of a DAZ Studio content directory, and as long as you don't have one content directory inside another, you should be fine.

    I wouldn't be too sure of that. I have a bug report up here about a serious problem I'm having with opening old (D|S1.8 and D|S3 vintage) scene files in D|S4.6 and getting "can't find file" errors. There's no problem with the directory paths, some other scenes with exactly the same objects work, and all the scenes load perfectly in D|S3. It's just that every now and then D|S4.6 looks in /data/3_0/whatever/ instead of /data/whatever/ — anyone else seeing this?
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 99,474
    edited December 1969

    It may well be unable to open the DS1.8 geometry files - 1.5 certainly fails. If that is the case, opening in DS3 and resaving should help. Failing to open a DS3 file would be another matter, however.

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    It may well be unable to open the DS1.8 geometry files - 1.5 certainly fails.

    But other scenes with the same object do work — it's opening the 1.8-vintage /data/ files perfectly well, it's just not always looking in the same place all the time. And I'm fairly sure I have at least a few old scenes that appear to have been originally made in D|S1.4 and they work. This is getting more confusing all the time (and still waiting for a reply in my bug report).
  • edited December 1969

    this is the same problem I'm having... I think... only it's not scenes from way back when, it's scenes from a few days ago...
    I have a basic template I use that has randomly stopped working because the contents of a 'data' file have wandered off to another of it's estranged cousins that's set up shop in a random other folder

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,582
    edited December 1969

    this is the same problem I'm having... I think... only it's not scenes from way back when, it's scenes from a few days ago...
    I have a basic template I use that has randomly stopped working because the contents of a 'data' file have wandered off to another of it's estranged cousins that's set up shop in a random other folder

    Can you go to Edit > Preferences > Content Library > Content Directory Manager, expand the "DAZ Studio Formats" and "Poser Formats" sections, and post a screenshot?

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    this is the same problem I'm having... I think... only it's not scenes from way back when, it's scenes from a few days ago...
    I have a basic template I use that has randomly stopped working because the contents of a 'data' file have wandered off to another of it's estranged cousins that's set up shop in a random other folder

    Can you go to Edit > Preferences > Content Library > Content Directory Manager, expand the "DAZ Studio Formats" and "Poser Formats" sections, and post a screenshot?Look here... Been on that most of the day http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/21095/P15/#346892

  • edited December 1969

    this is less about the content folder and now more about the data folder.
    I am trying to find out why scenes I opened days ago aren't working, whereas ones I used a year or so ago just started to again

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