Hi All I must admit my Runtime folder is a mess (don't know who's isn't?). :( I don't actually have much installed but it already seems a bit whacked. Part of the problem has been that different merchants use different folder heirarchy systems. Some put them in a folder of their own Merchant name, some put them under the name of the figure and occasionally some I don't know where they go to at all! I've also noticed someone accidentally recursed the texture folder to "Textures" rather than "textures" so now I have two texture directories. And my one personal gripe? Merchants who put special characters in front of their folder names to make it get to the top of your folder tree which is putting the alphabetical ordering out of whack for me! Grrrrr! :( Anyway, is there like somewhere that goes through a list of setting things up in a zip/rar for others to install? I realise there are bound to be differences but I have like 4 different types of Folder Heirarchies in my Runtime directory. Also what file types do most people use for textures? I've been using .bmp's but I realise these are somewhat big. Should I be using something else? Do people prefer a html or txt format Readme? Both are viewable on any system really but the html offers a lot more versatility (but it's also bigger).

Attached Link: Seno Software

Welcome to Poser hell. ;) A lot of people, myself incuded, rearrange everything they install to keep it organised. If you don't do it now, by the time your runtime has grown, it will be too late. P3dO Explorer will help greatly. Don't get me started on the "!!!I'm a really important merchant" business. Others will doubtless chip in on that subject. :) Unless you're producing stuff for Poser 3, use JPG for maps. A zipped BMP will still be larger than a reasonable quality JPG. I prefer text format readmes, because they're easier to read within the zip program. If you need HTML to explain something visually, provide a text file with the basic contact and installation details in it.

preachin' to the choir..;) yup..the !!!Excitable Boys do make things hard on us..I just wish they'd organize it by Character (i.e., everything for V3 or M3 would install into 1 place..how hard is that?..;)

also, how about if things were name > item Mat, instead of having Mat item. I won't go there on the !!, I have already crossed 4 vendors off my list. It's a shame too. One is a brand new vendor, the textures were fantasic.. But, she decided she wanted to be first in my pose directory and to make matters worse, the texture folder is !!! name, so she's at the top of my textures. First and last purchase. I think it is maybe time to start naming names.

preachin' to the choir is an understatement... yup Even a lot of us merchants don't like it. But I suppose a lot of ppl do it because they see how others have done it before and just want to fit in. Also- especially with a lot if not most newbees and mid-ers, have no clue on how to manually install stuff. Really ppl- unzip to dumby folders, every time. Rename and then install. And use logical names- like Beds or V3-Babs Plus- if you have stuff in multiple folders- like figures, poses, props ect.... Use the same names!!!

I unzip and exe into a special folder. As I have several runtimes geared to diff things I can move things and rename as I go. First running it thru P3do to get the rsrs to png first. Lately the !!! having been causing P3do to have a fit and crash. I don't mind re-naming folders, the vendors can't please everyone, impossible. I resent having to go thru mat files and correct the texture paths as no-one but me is going to be first in my texture directory. And how that got thru Rosity testing I don't know.

Ok since were on this topic I am pretty new to the Poser world and I agree with whats been said here. I have just started my seperate runtimes and have started renaming things so I have couple questions? 1. In the folders there are sometimes png files and rsr files can I delete the rsr files if there are pngs? 2. Some said something about things being compressed? Is it better to uncompress and what exactly is compressed? 3. I was told not to rename things in the Geometry and the Textures folder is this so?

1. yes, if there are both, delete rsr 2. compressed is like having of folder of zips, only it'll say like , obj.crz. if they are compressed, leave them that way. you can always uncompress later if you really want to. 3. you must leave them that way. They only way to change them is to open the file (cr2, pz2 etc ) in a text editor and you can change the paths there. go and open a mat file or something in a text editor and you will see what I mean. The cr2 will point to a Geometry file and sometimes to textures. The mats will just show where textures are. don't be afraid to look, it'll come in handy later when Poser can't find something, if you look at the file it will show where it is..

Hmmmmm okay. Looks like my personal gripe is more of a public one :) . lol I'm a little reluctant to move things around too much. Part of the problem is about including absolute or relative file locations in MAT files. Since I'm only creating textures at this stage and MAT files to apply them I'd like them to work for the default location the merchant wants their products installed to. I imagine I will do a clean install eventually and only put the extra stuff in I like (bit of trial and error to get started!).

People, you can put your texture files anywhere you want in the textures folder as long as you run it through Correct Reference. That's what I do. All my V3 textures go in "textures:Characters:Vicky 3:(character name:textname.jpg" and so on - makes it so much easier to find things, especially when it comes to stuff like hair textures and some of the older Vicky and clothes textures (you know - from back before everyone was making MAT files). If I had to leave textures where the stupid merchants put them (and yes, I meant that "stupid" comment since so many seem to think that "black.jpg" is a perfectly good texture name. Never occurs to them that I have a horse texture named "black.jpg" and a bear texture named "black.jpg" and umpteen gazillion clothing textures named "black.jpg" not to mention all the hair textures with that name) all my images would be a complete mess since I'd wind up with horse textures on the clothes and hair textures on the horse and weird stuff like that. Believe me, it's happened. Thank the gawds for Correct Reference!!

Kate (who is glad she has flash renamer, too, so she can get rid of all those idiotic !!! and +++++ names in one fell swoop)

Message edited on: 09/01/2005 19:35

I used "1-4a Rename" when i transfered all my MAT pz2 files to Material MC6 files. I highly reccomend it. not only did i rename the pz2 to mc6 i also got rid of the !!! and MAT and even the M3 V3 SP3 etc. I put my poses in subdirectories by figure. I would like to request merchants add mc6 files to their products. All it will take is copying their MAT pz2 to the material directory and renaming it mc6 (and dropping MAT from the name)....it probably wont happen....but i gotta at least ask.

Thank You Joffry!

we've been going around and around about this for about the last 2 years, it didn't do a bit of good, the ones that did it before, are still doing it. They are not going to change. And being a new vendor is NOT an excuse, if they know enough about a program to create content for it, then they should know how things should be done. There are a great great many vendors who are putting out nice products. I will take my business to those who make an effort to find common ground on naming things, but those who do !!! and now !!! and even ~~, will never get my business.