I'm very new to this, so please be kind. I've already got the free studio software up and running on my mac but I've hit a problem. When I download stuff, unzip it and install it, it creates a folder on my hard drive called runtime and drops the gear into it. None of it goes into my studio application file and consequently the program can't find the new content. I've tried getting it to import from the runtime folder but to no avail. I've tried to manually move the stuff into corresponding folders within the application folder but with very little success. Any tips would be appreciated. It says something about creating a folder with the name Posertm4 or some such, but Poser is not DAZ, so I don't get it. Thanks

The Runtime folder should end up in a folder you have selected as a Poser content folder (Edit>Preferences>Directories, use the button at the top to switch to the Poser content directory list). You will then have two folders shown in the Content palette - if you put the Runtime folder in the Content folder and are using that as your D|S content folder then one will be named Studio (or whatever the application folder is called), will have as tylised S on its icon and will contain your D|S format content and the other wil be called Content, will hae a plain icon, and will contain your Poser format content subdivided into Poser libraries.

I've given this a go and I'm getting some results, although it still doesn't work. I've gone under Edit-Pref-Directories and added the "runtime" folder (that was created on my hard drive) to it and applied it. Subsequently the contents do display in a separate 'unnamed' folder but when I click on them to bring them in nothing displays in the panel below for me to choose from. DAZ sees the categories but won't bring them in. Have I missed a stage? Do I have to move this runtime folder into someplace else or rename it? Also, I don't understand what you mean by "should end up in a folder you have selected as a Poser content folder ". I haven't a clue how or why I should do this??? Thanks

rhaseltine will have to explain further but I can tell you that even tho poser is not daz..almost anything you use in poser works well in daz.  for instance i have poser installed but i never use anything but daz studio...I do install lots and lots of poser content to poser and point daz at the runtime and it all shows up in daz.  I am not sure what you have done since you said you moved things around.

You need to select the folder that holds the Runtime folder, not the Runtime folder itself.

ooops..my bad.. smack   :b_blush:

Thanks guys, but still no joy I'm afraid. Everything happens as you say it will and I can now see all of the new items listed in my content panel but when I select them no icons appear in the panel below for me to choose from them. I have downloaded the free package with the Elephant, Dragon etc. and have named the runtime folder "runtime2" and have put it in the application's content folder and selected the content folder instead of the "runtime2" one. Also tried to load in the Poser7 stuff I have just installed, but it didn't show any content at all! It's very frustrating because I like the feel of DAZ but have hit this brick wall. I must be making a very simple mistake but I can't figure out what?

The folder has to be named Runtime, nothing else will work. Things within the folder have different locations, so they can coexist peacefully.

Quote - Things within the folder have different locations, so they can coexist peacefully.

This is the crucial point - you may have nailed it there. I think that I can trace the problem back to the actual installation process. When I click on the install icon it fails to recognize the DS application folder and also gives me no option to direct the installation into it. Instead it creates a folder on the Hard Drive called runtime and puts all items into this. The software I can access (and use) is within the content folder of the application itself - this is Vicky, the fairy outfit and woodland scene. I notice, however, that within the application's runtime folder, only texture elements are stored. All other elements are dispersed throughout the content folder in, presumably, a correct manner - where they should be. What happens, when I direct the software to "add content" from another runtime folder, (within another named folder, as you suggest) is that it can then find the new stuff and list it all in the contents panel - but when I try to select and use it, nothing happens. I assume this is because the various components that make up a figure are not in their correct locations within the application folder, so the software cannot access the relevant data in the relevant place. I'm very used to installing all kinds of software and I feel that therein lies the problem. The various components of the new items are simply not in the correct locations for DS to be able to access them. I may be wrong here but it seems odd to me that the 'working' software is distributed around the applications folder in some kind of logical manner, whereas all components of the new stuff are just lumped together in one new 'runtime' folder. There isn't a lot of software out there that could make sense of that IMHO.

The items that have everything in the Runtime folder are in Poser format, the items that have only the textures in the Runtime folder are in DAZ|Studio format. It sounds to me as if you may be selecting the folder containg the Runtime folder as a DAZ|Studio content folder, not a Poser content folder. You choose which you are doing by using the button at the top of Edit>Preferences>Directories (it always starts off with the D|S content folder list).

Actually, I just had a brainwave. I took the DS application folder out of the applications folder onto the Hard Drive and renamed it Runtime. I then installed the Elephant and checked inside. Lo and behold, various components have installed in various locations, just as one would expect. I restored the name of my apps folder and put it back in the main apps folder, as it was before. I, thus, tricked the installer into putting the goods into the application folder. Clever eh? Well, not really - no sign anywhere of the elephant in the contents panel. I have noticed that the "working" items are all .daz files whereas the new stuff is .pz2 and has not actually installed in the exact locations as the working software. Now I'm beginning to think that there's a bit more to this than my inexperience. What do you reckon? I'm on OS X - version 10.4.11 btw.

Yes, that's it. I was missing the stage of telling it that it was a Poser format. It's worked now many thanks. They're all there! phew.

If you only have daz don't be confused by the repeated use of the phrase "poser content". In all likely hood its Daz content as well. I did a clean install on a computer that does not have poser recently so If that is your situation then this should help. I won't swear to it  being 100% accurate for mac however as I know nothing about them. If file structure is similar then this should apply.

When you install new items into daz they go in (depending on your computer set up and original install) drive studio is on/program files/Daz/studio/content. Any content you want in studio goes there. Some people use both poser and daz and they install in poser even for daz. But if your installing to daz basically it should go into that content folder.  The way the downloaded and unzipped (or daz installed) file works you will not in Daz see that runtime folder in your contents list. You should unless you have poser installed and have told daz to find that content then have in content a folder called content and a folder called studio. Content will end up with any non daz files. When I say Daz files I mean files ending .ds or .dsb. Those files can only be used by daz. It is where the files you create in the future with daz need to go and it is where files that are optimized for daz live. Content is everything else.

When you look at the file structure you will see daz a studio file inside it and then a various files like your contents folder, shaders, plugins and what ever else has been added into that studio only uses. Inside content will be more files. If you create files in daz they will end up in folders here. So for example I have a Calida file in here for my company files. If I save a scene or another daz file it ends up here or in a file I have created in daz to store things in. There is also a runtime folder. This is where all non daz specific files go. When you install to content if the files have been properly packaged they will drop right in here with no help from you at all. Be warned not all free content gets packaged properly and installed content can vanish on you. If that is the case then you can look into the runtime folder and see if any new files have suddenly turned up or if somehow you have a new runtime folder added somewhere inside the runtime folder (I''ve had that happen quite often). If that is the case drag it up to content and drop it back in. It will tell you there is already a runtime folder and that's fine just go ahead and let it put it in there. In most cases that will solve your problem. Some other problems are easy fixes once your more comfortable with the file structures. But what all of those files inside runtime would make a to long post even more over long -grin-

Quote - you have a new runtime folder added somewhere inside the runtime folder (I''ve had that happen quite often). If that is the case drag it up to content and drop it back in. It will tell you there is already a runtime folder and that's fine just go ahead and let it put it in there.

Not on the Mac. There, if you drop one Runtime folder on top of another it will replace the existing folder with the one you move. Instead you have to move the files (or folders if they aren't already there) from the RuntimeRuntime folder to the equivalent location in the proper Runtime folder.

"Not on the Mac. There, if you drop one Runtime folder on top of another it will replace the existing folder with the one you move. Instead you have to move the files (or folders if they aren't already there) from the RuntimeRuntime folder to the equivalent location in the proper Runtime folder."

How odd. Then how does it know not to overwrite the whole runtime when you install new content? Or do files that are for mac get packaged totally differently? I'm sorry to say none of our stuff is mac compatible because its such an alien landscape to me.

As far as I know unpacking a zip isn't the same on a Mac as dragging one folder otno another, it's like the way other archive formats are handled on Widnows with an extraction utility.     

Well, thanks again for resolving that little problem. I've even imported my Poser7 contents into DS (which I much prefer using btw). The only thing that I seem unable to locate are the texture maps for the poser figures (vers. 5 and below). This is despite doing a search on the Hard Drive under the requested names. I guess they may be called something else.