OS factory reset - library installation and location issues
crashworship
Posts: 218
I recently reset my iMac to the factory OS. Won't go into detail about why I did this.
I keep my Daz library on an external SSD because of its size. This works fine for as long as I've done this. Once the reset was conpleted, Studio was reinstalled and the necessary flips and twists were done to get PostGRE up and running, Studio was able to find my content library on the external drive. I changed nothing on that drive after the OS reset. Everything was where it was before I did the reset. Studio has found and is able to use most of what's in my content library and smart content seems to be working fine.
There are some exceptions, mostly relative to some (not all) content which requires a plug-in to function. Mesh Grabber, for one, and UltraSceneryXT for another. I've used UltraSceneryXT as the example for this post. The attached images give a visual record of this problem:
The Studio content library pane shows UltraSceneryXT in its installed location on the external drive. The plug-in, however, hasn't been installed despite repeated attempts to get Install Manager to install it. This is also true with the Mesh Grabber plug-in. Additionally, IM wants to download and install my entire library which, if done, would be a duplicate of all 3,400 plus items in my library.
So, beyond getting the content requiring plug-ins to work, how do I tell Install Manager to recognize the library installation location? I've pointed it using the advanced settings option to that location but it still won't recognize the already installed content.
Is my only option to wipe my content library from the external drive and do a fresh installation of everything? I'm hoping there's some database file in the DAZ Studio documents folder which can be reset to get Install Manager to recognize the already installed files which would allow me to use all the content that I've previously installed.
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Comments
The "installed staus" within DIM is handled by the files in the "Manifest Files" folder. So you need to restore the backup of that folder so that DIM can see it. If you did not backup that folder before wiping the HD then I am not sure if it's fixable easily.
Also, plugins probably need to be re-installed regardless following a wipe of the main drive. Just re-linking the library would not be sufficient since they have to add files within the Application's folders. "/Applications/DAZ 3D/plugins/UltraSceneryXT/libUltraSceneryXT.dylib" in this instance.
For the "Retry" issue on installing UltraScenery, check the two log files under the cog menu. One of those should provide more info about what is going wrong.
I just moved to a new external drive from another smaller external drive and thankfully I had saved my zip files. I uninstalled and reinstalled with DIM, including Daz Studio and all plug-ins. Also had to deal with a plug-in issue on my Win11 computer and found doing this helped that. (Captured by the Cloud, again.) So every plug-in had to be uninstalled/reinstalled. I found LAMH was the tough one. It took some doing to stop that cloud feature which I hate. Then again when I found files had moved not to My DAZ 3D Content but to My DAZ 3D Library. Figured that out, posted in the Commons for DIM.
The log file isn't being helpful. It just indicates a fail without detailing what the fail is. No aftermarket plug-ins are being installed. I've checked for port compatibility. I cleared the library from the external dirve and have started to reinstall everything and all of the products requiring a plug-in are failing. DIM will install the associated files but the plug-in fails. What this tells me is that DAZ is terrible at creating installation options other than the "recomended" default. This is really a huge fail in their part. I have a library with over 4,000 items. Installing it to the default location - the shared path - would completely fill my hard drive. The only option is an external drive yet DIM doesn't like that. It seems that every time I do a fresh installation of my content, I have to go through a very annoying series of flps and twists to get it to work with the non default options. DAZ really, really needs to create a seamless and viable option which doesn't inflict an overly annoying level of pain for their users.
Since this is Mac, has Gatekeeper (or whatever it is called) been told to allow DIM to install these?
Yes
Plugins and applications are installed by DIMHelper, not DIM itself.
I think my issues also belong in this thread. I've got two issues, and I suspect they're connected. I'm hoping that someone knows how to fix this. Thumbnails aren't showing for one asset, and neither asset will show in the Smart Content tab the way they should. They only appear in Local User despite me recategorizing them to go in their proper locations. They won't obey my category settings.
Both are purchased content. For the Cargo Shorts, I highlighted the three folders I was instructed to copy into the directory you see. The other is the Skinvent bundle. Initially, Skinvent 01 was entirely unavailable, leading to me forgetting I even bought both in a bundle. I was only reminded of it when I stumbled across it while creating and organizing my own hair assets. DAZ could only see those assets after I moved them into the same subfolder that Skinvent 02 was in, but it doesn't show at all in the Smart Content tab unless I dig through Local User. It's supposed to be with the other Skinvent assets. I categorized them after I moved them into the same folder as Skinvent 02, but DAZ is completely ignoring the categorization.
Does anyone know of a way to fix this? I really need to get it working - the Cargo Shorts at the very least because I can't see anything to know what I'm trying to use before applying it. I can't let the cache build up with the guess and check method because I'll get all kinds of glitches that permanently corrupt my scenes if I don't notice before saving, then I have to stop and clear the cache, then wait 10 minutes for it to do that [for some odd reason it takes a while to fully clear but can CPU render a character in that time???], then restart DAZ and reload what I was working on. With rapidly tightening deadlines, I can't afford to ignore and workaround it. These are not currently in use because I've been trying to solve this problem before using them, so I don't have any files with them to share.
Thanks in advance for any help!
The icons with exclamation marks mean there is a reference with no refereant - the ! in a frame means missing or no thumbnail, the triangle with a ! below it means the actual file is missing in the location the database says it should be in.
Once the item is correctly placed it will not appear in Smart Content unless it has a category, content type (the tag at top-right), and compatibility (which is how the Smart filtering works)
The only way I was able to fix this was to do another fresh install of Studio and delete all manafest files. Rinse and repeat. It took several tries and then repeated closing and then opening of Studio before the missing plug-ins populated and became available. Very, very frustrating.
That could make sense for the Cargo shorts, as that one required a manual install. However, I followed the seller's instructions to the letter, which matched advisory found around the web. When I look at the directories in Windows Explorer, all of the thumbnails are present and everything appears to be well organized. I suppose the seller could be mistaken though. But Skinvent isn't adding up. I installed that via DIM. That shouldn't be misbehaving at all.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaat!
How long did that take you?