I am STILL trying to find an alternate runtime set-up that works for me. I am having real trouble. By character doesn't seem to work. By object catagory eg. character, clothes, prop, scene doesn't seem to work. I just can't work it out. Meanwhile, I can not tell that small alternate runtimes are actually saving me load time over large alternate runtimes with sub-folder organization as long as the big runtimes is not in the Poser 6 Downloads directory... for some reason it seems that a large "Download runtime" slows the start up almost as much as a large primary runtime, even if I close on the primary. Does anyone know the mechanics of this preloading of content? Can it be tricked or pre-indexed with runtimes that are not changed often? Also I tried write protecting my ini to keep the primary runtime as my start up runtime no matter what I close out on and it did not work... I would set to start with Factory Default but I want an empty space when I start up (picky I know but maybe someone knows a work around). ********************************************************** Now I am thinking to organize my runtimes by content source as in "DAZ", "Rosity", "Freebie", since for some reason I always seem to remeber where I got something though never the merchant folder names which I have to rename as merchant_product. So I have a ton of DAZ stuff I want to load in one runtime. Is there a free utility that will unzip these .exe installers? I have not found it. **********************************************************

They're not zip files, but installers made with an application. As far as I can tell the installers are made with Install Maker from Clickteam, at least it looks a lot like it. These install applications use there own compression and protection format, which cannot be opened by any other application, only by running the execute file.

uGH! Between 5 years of purchases and freebies and Platinum Membership I have a far amount of junk I want to install.

I don't know of any way to mass install executable files. Winrar will allow highlighting a group of zip files and, after right clicking, extract them to a directory of your choice (your Poser directory so that they'll unzip to the Runtime directory structure, assuming they were zipped correctly to begin with). If you do that, use two Windows Explorer windows. Have one window open to the Poser directory (or whatever top runtime directory you're using) so that all new files are installed sequentially. The other Explorer window is used to highlight and right-click extract the files. The reason for this is to keep the improperly unzipped files together so that you can tell which zip they came from. Going to the main Poser directory after things have been unzipped will order them alphabetically or by whatever sort you have and it'll then be difficult to tell what came from where. The only solution I've found to having large runtime directories is not to have them. I'll only install the major characters and then whatever content I need for a project. That still leaves the question of how to view the content you've got. I'm using the arduous process of creating large thumbnail indexes in multiple Word documents. A faster process would be installing content into a temporary runtime, opening all the library folders in Poser (4PP or higher since the newer versions use the standard .png graphics format instead of the proprietary .rsr format) so that Poser will create a .png thumbnail. Right click the Libraries folder and do a search for .png. This search will list all the Poser thumbnails. Highlight all the results and copy them to a new folder. That provides a complete view of all the content that's in a runtime, with thumb filesizes of less than 15K in most instances compared to multi-megabyte .cr2 and obj files. Then use a folder indexing program, such as Catfish, to provide a directory listing of all files from the runtime (it might first be best to do searches to delete .png and .rsr files from all the libraries to eliminate their duplicate file names). Unfortunately, there's no simple way to have a good view of all the 3D content that's out there.

Fully agreed. Comes to that that add-on items will look for the external files they refer to only in the library they are installed in. So you need to put your add-on download to a DAZ thing into the DAZ library if you have one, or go in and re-direct all the references... And then, switching from one library to the other is a real drag when it is a bit layered. I use P3dO Explorer now. It gives at least some quick way to look things up, but I found it sometimes locking up in complex re-arrangement sessions, and preventing itself from deleting items. Poser could really do with a real library, allowing cross reference searches and, most of all, with a mecanism to at least provide the supporting information (e.g. in the readme) along with the item. B.

Comes to that that add-on items will look for the external files they refer to only in the library they are installed in. So you need to put your add-on download to a DAZ thing into the DAZ library if you have one, or go in and re-direct all the references...<<< I'm sorry, I don't get this... it is something I haven't noticed. Could yoou explain it a little further. Thanks.

It depends on the downloaded item. When it calls external files such as geometry or textures that came were with the item it is an add-on to, the reference file paths may not be valid. You will then get a message 'please locate file such and so.' You can do this every time you load the item, or do it once and save the thus modified item in the library, or hack the file with an editor. B.

I have been using Poser File Organizer from the Market Place for finding/correcting paths. Terrific utility.

At least DAZ finally has their installer remember the path you last used. For older stuff copy and paste paste paste the install directory path. It really doesn't take all that long. Might want to be sure you uncheck the box at the end so it doesn't constantly pop up the "readme" in your browser. Correct reference is a good utility to have also and it seems to make poser run faster since it's not constantly searching for content for those files with bad tags in them.

I have been using multiple runtimes... a whole lot of them, and it's been working great.

Millennium People Runtimes, which contain the following:

V3 Character Addons Runtime (includes the base/head/body morphs)
V3 Clothing Runtime
SP3 Character Addons Runtime
SP3 Clothing Runtime
M3 Character Addons Runtime
M3 Clothing Runtime
D3 Character Addons Runtime
D3 Clothing Runtime

Faeries and Angel Runtime (all things faery/angel related)
Furrette Runtime
Lighting Runtime
Hair and Nails Runtime
Props and Poses Runtime
Millennium Baby Runtime (all things baby)

I further sort by sub folder. For example...inside the character folder and poses folder of the V3 Clothing Runtime I have the following folders:

Miscellaneous Clothing
Morphing Clothing
Shoes

I further sort those sub folders by more sub folders. For example, in the Poses folder, "Morphing Clothing" folder I have:

MFD
MCD
MSD
MFG

Inside each of these folders I have the various textures for each dress. Each folder inside contains the name of the person who created it, plus the name of the texture.

This way when I want to use the MFD, I go to characters, locate the MFD and find all my files there. I then go to Poses folder and locate "Morphing Clothing/MFD" and have all of the textures that I have for that dress in one location. I recenly picked up some poses for the dress, so I put them in there as well.

At first it was a bit confusing have to go from runtime to runtime to do various things, but I've gotten used to it and it really doesn't take that long to switch runtimes. I also install one file at a time. After installing the file, I go to the runtime, look through all of the folders in the "Library" folder and name them " - ". This way I can always locate the files for each outfit because they are named the same throughout the Library folders. If you have multiple outfits from a merchant, you can further organize by moving the folders into yet another one named for the person who created it.

Message edited on: 06/03/2005 19:15

Thanks Acadia. I I just dumped all DAZ in one folder, all MP in another, Poser World in another, since I rember all my purchases by vendor. But I will probably go your rout for my huge freebie collection. Maybe.

<<Acadia wrote: Correct reference is a good utility to have also and it seems to make poser run faster since it's not constantly searching for content for those files with bad tags in them.>> Hmm. Do you tell me here that Poser first tries to solve bad tags by itself by scanning the library(s) for a file with the correct name? If it did, that would explain the sometimes very lengthy loading process. It fould be a nice thing if it did, but then please report the bad tag and ask if the user wants it fixed. B.

What is this scanning of the libraries about!!!!! I just don't get it! Is my impression it is scanning the "downloads" folder runtime false? Is there a way to disable the scan? Would one want to disable the scan? Is ther a trick for fixing the startup runtime to a blank runtime even when not closed out on it other than setting to open on Factory settings? Would there be a purpose to it? Thanks.

bagoas, Yes indeed Poser has always scanned for the correct file, but never moves or reports it! To (find and) fix it you'll need Correct Reference or Correct Reference Pro. momodot, Poser - all versions - opens every file in the library currently attached when it (Poser) is initially loaded. (Why? Don't know, but it probably made sense under very early OS's, think MacOS < v5, and Win 3.1.) I think this is what people mean by "scanning." So the bigger the initial library the slower the boot time.

anyway to default the runtime used at start up... i keep forgetting to move out of my big runtimes before closing. locking my start up directory list did not work... maybe i did it wrong.

Layingback, Thanks. That explains. I assume there is no way to contol the is? Why is it that I begin to hate this program with its no-worth documentation and its hidden 'features'. B. Momodot, You just beat me with this one. I was typing this reply when your message came trough. B.