Okies, I crashed and burned last night while installing some freebies. I guess my runtime got overloaded and exploded and my litle default guy must of gotten corrupt because I couldn't open P4. So, I had to cleanout and uninstall, losing some of my V3 stuff so? Is there a better way to do this without reinstalling every other week? How do you guys keep all that content without crashing? I have a small drive 5gigs and no burner. I can't combine anything right? Everything is getting dumped in my Pose folder. with all thw dam '!!!!' folders. I'm bummed tonight lost my V3 arwork on the crash. :(

Have you got the patches installed? Poser 4 should be Poser 4.03.

I never install directly into Poser. I always install groups of downloads and purchases into a dummy Poser runtime, then I go thru and consolidate library folders, renaming files and folders as needed for organization. Then I run CorrectReferencePro against it. Then and only then I consolidate the new downloads into the real Poser folder structure, reworking as needed to avoid exceeding the 256-folder Library limit. If you have a problem with Poser files going corrupt, Try doing a clean install, then copying the lot into a [Poserbakup] subfolder, and anytime you suspect a corruption, just re-copy it over the originals. It won't affect any aftermarket products you've installed or anything you've created or added. Might also be worth running the standard diagnostics on your hard drive to make sure it's not hardware related (Scandisk, Defrag, or Norton's if you have them).

you suspect a corruption, just re-copy it over the originals I think my problem is it overloaded in the 'pose' folder. as it tends to put all V3, MAT files etc and I ran out of room, I seldom crash. This was like my second time in a year. I did a clean install, scanned/defragged my laptop, I have a feeling it might have been my little 'default guy' got corrupted. I did save some files from the runtime. it's safe for me to re-copy these files like the MATs into my Pose folder? exceeding the 256-folder Library limit. ok, I think that too may have caused the crash. Is that limit for all the folders or each folder? I can rename some folders in the pose/character folders Can prop folders be renamed? thanks in advanced. Message edited on: 03/04/2005 00:15

256 assets maximum per folder 256 folders maximum per library It's better to keep it trimmed well down from there. Poser starts to choke and gag a bit in odd ways a bit before you get near to those limits. Libraries must not be renamed, but folders within can be renamed at will. Individual assets within folders can be renamed as you like (make sure the name of the thumbnails match). Renaming can't be done within Poser, btw, you'll need to do it in a file management utility like Windows Explorer, or the wonderful Poser utility, P3d0 by Yarp at Senosoft.com. These are the limits for P4 & ProPak, btw, P5 has a somewhat different set of limitations.

256 assets maximum per folder
256 folders maximum per library oh, ok, thanks for letting me know. I knew there was a limit but wasn't sure just what it was. Ok that makes sense. I just got to remember to keep it trimmed. I do rename the subfolders in my Pose & Character folders because these 2 seem to fillup the most. Message edited on: 03/04/2005 01:04

The usual suggestion is to buy PBoost which will allow you to have multiple runtimes (Windows only I believe). Some condem the practice but you can also rename pose files, changing the .pz2 extention to .cm2--them move them (and the corresponding .rsr) into a folder(s) within the Cameras folder. It helps to take some of the burden of an overstuffed Pose folder. I do this with a lot of MAT pose files. I believe you can also rename and move them to the Hands (hd2) folders--Whatever makes the most sense to you.

I've only used P4 for almost a year not, yet, experienced enough to rename the file extensions. I'll just remember to not exceed the limit. V3 & M3 killed me. This time around, I only installed V3 SAE. :)

Only 5 gigs? Ouch! You might want to look into an external hard drive for more room, and/or backups (an external CD or DVD burner would work too). If your laptop has a USB 2 or firewire port, you could get a new exteranl drive for $100-$120 dollars (if you watch the sales). I wouldn't suggest using the old USB (1), it's way slooooowww. If you don't have USB2 or firewire, you can get a PCcard (also known as PCMCIA) card for either USB2 or firewire, but that would be an extra $40-100.

I use laptops a lot and I couldn't function without external hard drives. I know it's a lot of $$$ if your on a tight budget, but if you can save up for one, it would really make life on your laptop much better.

Another option would be to install a larger drive in your laptop. If your not a hardware techno nerd, then I would recommend having a computer shop, or a friend who really (and I mean REALLY) knows what he/she is doing do it for you. I still think the external hard drive is the best option, since you can use it to back up your laptop drive.

Good luck, hope your crashes are over!

Thanks, reinstalled everything again, just gonna use V3 for some poses. I just need to keep the limit down. Well, I had desktop got rid of it, and opted for a laptop. I know I need to invest in at least a hard drive or two. Heh, someday. :)