Being a rather curious individual I have always wanted to know why would you set up multiple runtimes for Poser other than, in my humble opinion, to access content faster (if this does work) and to take up one heck of a lot of disc space (if you have an extra 500gb hard drive sitting arround doing nothing). I'm not trying to be a smart a** but there are other ways other than installing content to keep you "stuff" straight, isn't  there?

it takes up a similar amount of disk space (assuming there are no duplicate files in the various runtimes) whether one has a single 500-GB runtime that takes forever to load, or whether one has 100 5-GB runtimes that load more quickly.

Poser loads faster with a smaller runtime. One way is to put everything you use regularly in the main runtime , and put you lesser used stuff in one or more external runtimes. Switching runtimes however also takes time , so you dont want to switch back and forth a lot .

You can have 'Genre' runtimes, character runtimes, Vendor runtimes etc, quite useful really.

Off topic now, but Miss Nancy, you are certainly going through the avatars lately! :)

I hadda get rid of the last one, lest folks become too nostalgic.

2/26/09

It should be remembered that Windows short-cuts will work in Poser runtime libraries. If there are some pose folders in your A4 runtime that you like to use for V4, you can drop a short-cut to those folders in the Pose folder of your V4 runtime. Poser will find the content as if it were actually installed in the V4 runtime.

I have a runtime with swords, axes, and weapons. I have runtimes for various types of scenes and for charaters that sometimes will have weapons with them. Because I can add a shortcut to my Weapons Runtime, I don't have to figure out how to move all the items that make those weapons work. :) Short-cuts take almost no disk space.

LMK

 I love my external runtimes, because I can find (for example) all the mat files that go with the figure etc really easily and quickly.
I have a really really huge amount of content - I mean really huge.
Love esther

Actually what I was trying to do was to find out if it is really worth installing all the content to multiple runtimes. I have my content in folders under the specific model and broken down into clothes, morphs etc. (all EXE or ZIP). When I decide what I want in regards to a particular scene or model, I install those items into a folder which I call "Installed", this folder resides on my Poser HD which is " D " drive. I then point Poser to this folder and start composing. My thinking by doing this is if I decide I want to keep everything together I can zip the folder with the jpg of what I've done and put it away. After I'm done I just delete the "Install" folder, make another and start on something else. I try to keep it as simple as possible realizing the ammount of content for Poser is enormous annd the content just keeps on growing. Also inregards to updates, it's much easier to install the item and then the update rather than looking or trying to  remember where it is in my runtime folders. I have to admit my memory leaves a little bit to be desired.

I like everything installed. Don't want to be messing with installation whenever I feel like playing around.

And I discovered early on that I had collected way too much content to try to keep it all together.

I now have 15 runtimes (although I would have fewer if I were to start over):

Poser Pro (for python scripts and other stuff that doesn't like to be in external runtimes)
V3
V4
V4 Male
M3
M4
Children
G2 Females
G2 Males
Miki 2
Minor Figures
Hair
Props and Animals
Scenes and Furnishings
Believable3D (for my own custom character development)

Since I haven't been at this as long as others, I was never wed to V3, and I don't really use Miki and the G2 figures enough to justify separate runtimes. Most (say 90%) of my work is with V4 and M4, really.

So if I were starting over, I'd probably do something like this:

M4
V4
Older DAZ (M3, V3 etc)
G2 + Miki
Minor Figures
Hair
Props and Animals
Scenes and Furnishings
Believable 3D

FWIW.

Quote - 2/26/09

It should be remembered that Windows short-cuts will work in Poser runtime libraries. If there are some pose folders in your A4 runtime that you like to use for V4, you can drop a short-cut to those folders in the Pose folder of your V4 runtime. Poser will find the content as if it were actually installed in the V4 runtime.

LMK

Wow, shorcuts, I didnt know poser worked with those, that's going to change the way I organize my runtimes!! Thanks!

Yeah, that's excellent info... I'm surprised to learn Poser recognizes them.

As I look at ester and timags examples, basically the way the folders are laid out is the same way I have mine the only differance being is yours is installed where mine are in exe or zip.
When I acquire content I always take a screen shot of what the content is (jpg) and I also put what model(s), figure etc it goes to and if necessary I also put other info such as if it requires other content to creat that piticular item for example Rowan for V4. To make this model it requires 3 other products to come up with model on the jpg of Rowan I put what is required whioch is ac2519 - Courageous for V4/A4, ac1957 - V4 Hooded Cloak and ac2022 - V4 Morphing Cloak and Cape. Now if I were to go to external runtimes, would I have to put all three of these together and call it , lets say "Poser-V4-Rowan". I realize that most of the content only requires 1 file, lets say V4 Hooded Cloak, but Rowan requires 3 items to creat the model. How do you know what files are required to creat Rowan? Am I getting to pickey? I hope not, I'm just curious. Cause if you just install Rowan into Poser and go to Poses, Rowan is there but nothing happens in Poser if you click on the Icon. Please bear with me, I'm trying to find out answers about Multiple RunTimes.

 Hi there,
well in my folders for example I have one called boxing which has several different boxing things in an external runtime all grouped together ie things that I will use frequently together go in their own runtime as a group.
Love esther
PS but with the external runtime system you can access it all from within poser and I don't have to load and unload any folders, they all come up in my poser 7 list once I have added them and I used shaderworks to add the lot of them as a group.
Shaderworks is at runtime dna, and another advantage of using it is for example I can conform and magnetize  a whole bunch of figures in one hit at the click of a button eg a whole outfit, and because the clothes are in their own runtime and folder the script selects only those things (since that is all that is there, by default) and I don't have to unselect anything even.

Quote - To make this model it requires 3 other products to come up with model on the jpg of Rowan I put what is required whioch is ac2519 - Courageous for V4/A4, ac1957 - V4 Hooded Cloak and ac2022 - V4 Morphing Cloak and Cape. Now if I were to go to external runtimes, would I have to put all three of these together and call it , lets say "Poser-V4-Rowan". I realize that most of the content only requires 1 file, lets say V4 Hooded Cloak, but Rowan requires 3 items to creat the model. How do you know what files are required to creat Rowan?

Don't forget - Poser allows you to save grouped figures, including the human figure, hair, and clothing. If you want to save a complete character like that, you put the character together ONCE, save the group (by clicking on the + in the figures folder and being sure to save as group), and it will always be there for you with one click.

Or am I missing the point of your question?

 Yes, it would be easier to put all 3 things in one runtime.
why not try creating one external runtime, you can still leave everything else where you have it, as it doesn't matter if you have duplicates, and just try adding the runtime and then playing with it.
Because I have such an enormous amount of content and not much time, this has been the easiest way for me to add my new content, and then to find my new content when I need it.
Love esther

First off I would like to say thank you for your input. Since reading your replys I am going to take esters advice and just install some stuff and play arround and see how it works and timag, no you didn't miss my point at all. Thanks again.

I use a single runtime with sub folders, works better for me than multiples, and yes I did try them! Navigation of a single is far easier IMO using the small black arrow.
As for initial Poser start up time, it's an urban myth, mine is 50 Meg and starts in less than a minute, I mean how fast do you need it start!

 I hate to think how many gigabytes of content that I have.
Love esther

LOL, yea I meant 50 Gig not Meg!!

Quote - As for initial Poser start up time, it's an urban myth

It's no myth and the reason for it is that Poser builds the library dropdown on startup as has been explained far too often. Since Poser 7 SR 1 (or 2?) you can change the timeout for that operation to 0 seconds so Poser will start within a few seconds, no matter how big your library or content collections are.

I can only say as I find Dizzi, my single runtime of approx. 50 Gig of content loads in Poser 7 in less than a minute and I have made no adjustment to any timing feature.
Vue loads a lot slower with a lot less content in.
It's not something I've ever had an issue with, I don't see the need to have instant gratification where software is concerned, I can wait for a minute or so!!

It's the number of files in the library/content collections that matters not the size in GB, anyway...

Quote - > Quote - As for initial Poser start up time, it's an urban myth

It's no myth and the reason for it is that Poser builds the library dropdown on startup as has been explained far too often. Since Poser 7 SR 1 (or 2?) you can change the timeout for that operation to 0 seconds so Poser will start within a few seconds, no matter how big your library or content collections are.

How do you change the runtime load timeout? I tried to search on the forum but cant find it.

I know it is in a xml or ini file.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2732837

My $.02:

I use multiple runtimes, similar to the approach outlined by Believable 3D above.  When one gets ungainly (takes a while to open), I split it.  For example, I had a lot of DAZ characters (other than V4) in one runtime.  M3 items got to be a large volume, so I split that out into a separate M3 runtime.  How do I do that?  I maintain a separate but identical folder structure on a raid volume (in a folder called Poser Runtimes) and move each zip or exe file to the appropriate folder there after successful installation.  This way I always have the original content files organized according to my runtimes.  This also makes backup of the original zip/exe files easy.  I have an external USB drive which I hook up occasionally and copy everything over to.  Given the cost of an external 250 GB drive today, this is way more efficient than making DVD's.

When I want to split a runtime, I first split the folder with the content zip/exe files, then make the new runtime in my poser directory, delete all content from the old runtime (ie: Daz Characters) and then reinstall the content into the two folders ... Daz Characters and M3.  This process is greatly simplified if you have 3D Content Installer (by ahudson).  It will install all your files to a runtime at once (including Daz installers).  Really, this wouldn't be realistic without it.

Also, I tend to go into the pose folder and rename content which modifies a given product (like additional textures for clothes) so that the folder name begins with the original product name.  Makes it easier to find when looking for something.

Finally, if you have a lot of content, a poser specific browser is really helpful.  I use P3dO and find it does a nice job.  You can see your content, and locate where texture files are placed (useful when the program can't find something).  One thing to note, P3dO is not that useful for the renaming tip above.  You can do it, but the delay when renaming a folder is horrendous.  Better to do that in explorer.

Hope these tips help.

Klebnor

Attached Link: http://artcomp1.tripod.com

I only have two runtimes, my old poser5 runtime and my poser7, uses the poser 7 for Victoria 4 and new stuff, has old stuff and architecture and environment props, I use almost a minute to change to poser5 runtime the first time, after that it uses perhaps five seconds.

Changing the ini setting did not improve this.

Think the runtimes is pretty annoying. Poser should really use a open first and then read in the background to fill up, but I’m also annoyed on the categorizing. I would like to have a Victoria4 folder and all her poses and faces as subfolders. Perhaps use a legend to show that, poses, characters and props.

Attached Link: http://artcomp1.tripod.com