Attached Link: http://www.borg.com/~jglatt/poser/poser.htm

Yeah, I know that there are free utilities to fix broken references in poser files. (ie, When you manually move your data files, sometimes poser will give you an error message about not being able to find a file). I've just written my own version of such a utility. It's also free (and who can't use more free stuff?). This one checks for, and fixes, broken references to mesh (OBJ) files, texture, bump, reflection, and other files. Plus, it understands Poser 6's compressed files, and checks those too.

I'd like to get some folks to beta test it. (Warning: You take responsibility for backing up your Poser data files in case something "bad" should happen).

Hopefully, if this works out, I'd like to start a second project -- a free utility to install ZIP files -- one that will separate files out to their logical Poser folders (ie, OBJ/OBZ files to the Geometries folder, etc), and then even create a utility to unstall all of the installed files, and list that in Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs. (It's a real pita to track down all the files associated with a particular character/prop/pose/etc. It would be so much easier for each item to have something in Add/Remove Programs you can click to remove that item).

Ok, I've got a little time at the moment...I'll volunteer. Do you have a specific rubric for your testing that you want followed?

I think Ill try out ;-)

~bookmark~

This sounds interesting.

Sounds handy!! I'll give it a go!

Just try it out, and if something doesn't work, stick your head out the window and scream "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!" like Howard Beal from the movie "Network". Then email me about the problem at jglatt@borg.com And do read the license section of the help book. It was meant to entertain, as well as inform.

P.S. I forgot to mention that this utility is for Windows only. Don't even dare ask about a Mac version. (Ptooie). Linux? What's that?

Ok..I gave it a two hour test run. It's an interesting little toy if it ever works the way that the help file says it should. One of my problems with it was that I had to look up everything the program couldn't find. That's no different than working with files that have lost their "connectedness" already. Perhaps I misunderstood, that's not unusual...just ask all six of my kids. I thought it was supposed to look through the runtime folder and find the missing bits and make the new connections sorta/kinda like another popular program. Did I err?

Hi. Neat idea but this is what I get when I select a file or folder to process. Hope it is okay to post this here rather than in private, didn't know how to send you the screen capture. Same result on each run. Computers all have their own gremlins :) Setup: WindowsXP Home Edition. Compaq Presario with 2.49Ghz Celeron and 1Gb RAM. &0+Mb HD. Poser 4 and Poser 6 all SR and patches.

It asks where the file is so that you can be sure to pick up the correct file, in case you have two files, in different folders, with the same name. Otherwise, the program would have to guess which one you really wanted. I suppose I could retool it to do that, but I'm not entirely sure that's what it should do. But if that's what you prefer, I could look into that.

The idea is that, you only fix your files once. After they're fixed, Poser will no longer display error messages when you go to use those files. (So that's how it's different than working with unfixed files). If you need to use this sort of utility every other week, you're messing around with manually moving things around often. In that case, you're probably better off with some utility that lets you organize/move entire characters, poses, props, etc -- sort of an explorer type thing especially written to work on Poser files. (I'm not sure if there's such a utility).

As far as the crash goes, you can email me at the above address for further correspondance. Particular questions to answer are -- Have to tried it on a small freebie prop to see if it crashes? And what does it show for your Poser installation folder when the program starts? Try clicking on "Find Poser Folder" and setting it to Poser 6's folder. I never tested it with an earlier version of Poser, and I think it's probably working on your Poser 4 folder by default.

Message edited on: 03/13/2006 19:46

Hi. I have been trying more with success/failure maybe 50/50? When it does work... I had a scene prop and the paths I guess were not pointed properly to the textures, I was asked for and found the first missing texture but as each request for missing textures came up the Windows "open" dialog defaulted to the Poser folder and I had to work my way back through the sub-directories all over again, would it be possible to have the "open" dialog sit in the folder in which the last missing file was found? If I could really intrude, maybe also it would help in finding the missing file if the application showed the bad path as a clue for where to look. Anyway, the simplicity and speed are admirable :)

Honestly, it would probably be less problematic if the other program you're thinking of designing kept its own list of installed Poser files, and the user would run it again to uninstall things. You could have tabs for install and uninstall. My reasoning here is that some folks (like me) have too many things in their "Add/Remove Programs" dialog already, and quite enough items in the start menu as well. Keeping things within your program's interface would be a great way to stand out in the crowd :)

I suppose that's possible. I just thought that most people are accustomed to uninstalling items via Add/Remove Programs (or an "Uninstall" item in the Start menu), rather than explicitly starting up a program that uninstalls items.

You could do it both ways, ie, the installed items would be available via "Add/Remove Programs", but also within the utility. You could name the utility itself something like "Add/Remove for Poser" to make it more obvious that it can do both. Within the program itself, it would only display the items it has installed. It could be something like a font management utility, but for Poser items instead of fonts.

I like simple/efficient user interfaces. Maybe I'll create two separate utilities -- one to install, and a second to uninstall so there's no "tabs".