I have just upgraded to Poser 6, and I have 20+ GBs of content in my Poser 5 Runtime folder. I am 'twixt'n'tween over folder reorganization vs multiple runtimes, and in my search for enlightenment, at DAZ (link: Poser Multiple Runtimes revisited) about a third the way down the page, Cliff Bowman says (in a 23 Mar 05 update) that Poser 6 users can ignore the delta libraries. My delta libraries are nearly 1 GB of my total Runtime folder, so my question is, can I get rid of them (delete them) or not. I will not be maintaining backwards compatibility with Poser 5, and if they are not needed for Poser 6, then I would like to reclaim the disk space.

Isn't this a regular problem with any kind of software - do I still need this? My solution: I rename it to xxx.old and leave it like this for some weeks or months. If everything is still working, then I really don't need it any more.

If you want to get rid of the delta libraries, you need to create a pre-injected figure - load the base figure, inject all morphs, save this figure into a P6 library. This creates the .pmd file that contains all of the morphs. You can now get rid of the deltas and inject/ remove files, but only as long as you will only ever want to use a fully injected version of the figure.

I appreciate the feedback. I was wondering if you could share the source of your knowledge so that I can do some further research on it? I wonder how much the .pmd files save straight up. I know that they are supposed to be used by all the iterations of a figure so that the morphs don't have to be saved in every .pz3, but if the .pmd files are smaller than the delta files, could I just save multiple Vicky 3, SP3, Aiko3 etc .cr2s and save space and get rid of the deltas at the same time? Anyway, that's something I would like to be able to research. Again thanks for the feedback.

The source of my knowledge in this case is experimentation on my part, the instruction manual, and some earlier debates in the forums here (although I'd not like to try and find them again). I have created my own fully injected and pmded versions of V3, Laura, S3P etc and have used them while the removable disc that had the deltas on was not plugged in. The delta files are only used by the inject/ remove scripts, to add the morphs to the character. If you use the .pmd file then the deltas are stored in that instead. The best way to work for size is to create a V3 with all morphs injected then always use that figure in your work. That way, when you use that figure, Poser uses the original PMD file, saving me about 20 meg per V3. THe same works with SP3, Aiko3 and any figure that uses deltas. It also works with earlier Daz figures - V2 saved back into a Poser 6 library also creates a PMD file, which is then used by every scene that contains that figure. These figues will load into Poser much quicker. They appear to render at about the same speed (perhaps +1 second per figure); I'm not sure what they might do to the memory bug, but apparently that should be gone by the end of this week...

As a follow up to your second post, how does the way you did the .cr2 files and .pmd files affect third party commercial characters (ie 3D_Celebrity's Kitty and London for instance). I use four or five main ones, and I was wondering how their Inj/Rem pose files are affected? I understand that their underlying needs are whatever they state in their sales pages, but if a character needs V3, V3 Head Morphs and V3 Body Morphs, and I have done this technique, will the INJ and REM MAT/MOR pose files for the character still work? Once again, thanks for your feedback. I greatly appreciate it.

With third party characters you have two choices 1) Leave the delta files in place. The third party character will access them as usual 2) Edit the third party character poses to remove all of the readscript commands that turn the morphs on, then use the modified pose with your fully injected character (this is they way I do it). The second method has the advantage of speed - my fullying injected v3 takes 10 seconds to load, and modified characters take at most a second or two to apply the already installed morphs.

I really appreciate your help here today. Thanks for input without condescension.

No problem. I don't see the point of posting just to patronise that some people seem to have. I've had enough questions answered here to want to help preserve the usefulness of this forum. This whole area really needs exploring. I'm a little concerned about pmd files and multiple runtimes. Sometimes a new pmd file has been genereated for no apparent reason - it might be neccessary to have the main pmd file and character in the main runtime.

On examination, this isn't a problem. The original laura pmd file is nearly 16 meg, while the new one created with the file is only 850k. Turns out the new pmd file is being created by the morphing hair I've used in the scene. I guess to get the full benefit of pmd files, just about everything with a morph will need to be updated!