Sorry, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's me again, I have read this topic twice from the beginning to the end, and found that very interesting and instructive. but,
- I think a good summary could be found in the new banner of the DAZ|studio forum here above.
2) the only one Character I have bought for this moment at DAZ is aelwen's Vanessa for V4, a very nice character, who came in a bundle containing, sold together, Vanessa + Vanessa dress. And I was surprised to see that the caracter's installers put files (figure, morphs, textures...) in a certain directories, and the dress from the same bundle installed its own morphs, mats, props, textures in directories completely different. I think it's willingfull, there could not be another explanation. As you have perhaps noticed, there is quite no new vendors/products remaining at DAZ. It seems they have all shifted elsewhere.
- As I explained in a very long post (which I cant retrace, I'm not still easy with navigation in this gigantic forum) I have opted to a radical solution to this problem, (a Gordian-knot solution) which is to install only the stuff I need for my scene. This idea came to me while watching a 30 minutes long video tutorial where I notice that 80% of the tutorial duration ones see the tutor navigating along kilometric directories to pick some stuff he needed and 20% of duration only to work really. Guess he makes the same thing when he works in the real, so you can get an idea of his productivity.
So I spent not few times to organize with accuracy, not my files, but my installers, managed in comprehensive directories, each product with the .mht (IE7 save file of DAZ-site page) the .jpgs (images samples), and the .EXE (installer).
considering that a DAZ installer runs within 10 seconds, I install in few minutes all the stuff I need on a cleaned (5Gb) disk-partition (H:), regardless of any kind of subdir, all with NO uninstall, and clean all D|S other preferences-lookup. H:, only H: always H:. , the stuff, the scene, and the renders. Once my scene is finished, I backup this entire partition on a cd and format it. (quickformat, less than 1 minute). So I have no longer any problem, an no longer any contact with this directory hell. That is not THE solution, but that is a solution. If you think that it is stupid, don't hesitate to tell it, I'm a beginner, so I can hear strong thinks without grimacing.
I just wanted to thank you, and to say at last: when you have no longer problem somewhere, just make a step forward, and soon you will get back your dear worries. For me these have the name of CARRARA.
Friendly, LocusSolus.
