Help with Installing Products so they show in Smart Content

buba_smith2

I got a character from Renderosity that did not have the requisite support files in order to be installed via the DIM or show as smart content.  I painstakingly created all the files, ensured there are no missing files or errors, everything is formatted correctly, and it will install either manually or even through the DIM without issue.  The problem is, no matter what I try, the product refuses to show as a product and thus will not show up in smart content unless I manually create a new product and recreate all the data that I already have set up.  The problem is, even if I do that, if I save that new data, the only thing that changes is the randomly genereated ID and if I wipe the database and reinstall, I have the same issue.  Is there something I'm missing?  I'm doing this one as a test/template for my own custom characters.  I have a lot of custom characters that I created that I want to convert into products to sell but I can't figure out how to package them so that they don't have to be installed manually every time.  And yes, everything shows up in the Content Library and works as expected, they just don't have the labels in the top-right corner, don't appear as a product, and don't show up in smart content.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Leana

If there's no metadata included in the product install files then it won't show up in smart content when installed, that's normal. The metadata you manually created after install are not part of the install files, so it's also normal they don't appear when you reinstall the product.

It is possible to export the metadata you created so you have a backup you can reimport: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/990669/#Comment_990669

 

I would suggest looking at this utility if you want to process a lot of files and create installers with metadata you can share: https://www.daz3d.com/content-wizard

 

buba_smith2

Leana said:

If there's no metadata included in the product install files then it won't show up in smart content when installed, that's normal. The metadata you manually created after install are not part of the install files, so it's also normal they don't appear when you reinstall the product.

It is possible to export the metadata you created so you have a backup you can reimport: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/990669/#Comment_990669

 

I would suggest looking at this utility if you want to process a lot of files and create installers with metadata you can share: https://www.daz3d.com/content-wizard

 

The metadata IS there.  I created the dsa and dsx files in Runtime/Support/ and added all the files to it as either functional assets or support assets as well as creating the manifest and supplement files.  The zip file has to be formatted very specifically for DIM to recognise it, but it does and it installs without errors, but it doesn't seem to recognise or read the dsx file.  Initially, I tried using a custom store (after adding the custom store to the database) and that didn't work, so I also tried using DAZ 3D as the store as well as using LOCAL USER.  Nothing works.  The SKU/ProductToken is a unique 8-digit number and I use one of the randomly generated GlobalIDs.

barbult

Did you try reimporting metadata from the Content Library database maintenance? You created a dsx file but maybe it needs to be imported into the content database to be effective.

NorthOf45

Are the metadata files installed with the rest of the content by DIM, or were they just added to the Runtime/Support folder? For Studio to recognize the metadata, it has to be part of the installation, or it has to be re-imported separately, either in DIM or Studio, as @barbult says. Note that if not part of the package, the metadata will get overwritten with a basic version if ever you re-install or update, like it had when first installed. To add them to the package, you need to copy the files into the proper location in the zip, and modify the manifest.dsx in the root folder of the .zip to include those files. While you're at it, you can add a thumbnail file to the mix.

What I do after installing with DIM is to edit the metadata from the Product view (the alphnumeric list), make any adjustments to Store, Token, Artist, Content Type, Default Category, Compatibility Base, Compatibilities (the really usefeul part of the metadata for Smart Content), etc., then export the metadata and Accept. (You can Auto-export the metadata which will create the new versions of the files when you Accept). You can then re-insert those files back into the zip as described above, go back to DIM, find the product, uninstall it, "Refresh Package Data" and re-install.

There are products that will help create the metadata, but I am unfamiliar with them, and not entirely convinced that they are better than my own judgement, but they are faster.

buba_smith2

I figured it out and it WAS something very stupid.  The VALUE of a SupportAsset needs to be prepended with a / while the regular Assets cannot have a forward-slash.  I had both Assets and Support Assets starting with the forward-slash, thus none of the Assets were being recognised.  I still have to re-import the metadata after install, but after that it's been working every time.