I now have Poser 8 and have loaded Sr2 but can't use it.  It doesn't find the content that's available to it.  When I open it up it doesn't necessarilly even find the content in it's own Poser 8/runtime let alone the other runtimes that it's been given to work with.
What happens is that most of the folders show up with a ? on them.  Even when it does find some of the other content (it can take hours for it to do that) it quite often won't find all of it even after being left to read through the folder structure for hours.  This is seriously flawed in comparison to P7 or DAZ/Studio or Carrara or any other 3D program in existance..
P7 would come up in a fairly short period of time and be able to show you the content in the currently selected runtime right away.  If you changed runtimes while working with it it might take a minute to give you access to all of the new runtime.
As far as I'm concerned P8 is flawed to the point of being useless.  What's the point in a program that can't even read it's own files or even one that can't read them as fast as the previous version did?

 The one thing I find VERY important is to ensure that as many folders in Our Runtimes are kept CLOSED..  For some reason the more folders that are left open the longer it takes Poser, or Flash, or perhaps even Our browsers,  to read and store this file info..

I know,  it is a royal pain in the rear end,  but it does have the advantage of teaching ourselves housekeeping skills..

There is an alternative library thread in this forum if you go back a couple of weeks.

If I recall correctly it is this one.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3585164

A forum search for "alternative Poser 8 library" pull up a number of others.

My free alternative is http://www.philc.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2922

Attached Link: http://renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3586469&ebot_calc_page#message_3586469

Sorry for posting the added thread.  There are so many new threads posted here that it's difficult to find threads pertaining to a topic even if they're only a few days old.
What I want is a fix by Smith Micro not a work around.  P7 had no problem in reading the library structure why should P8?
As far as handling content goes P8 is a downgrade not an upgrade.

Well, then contact Smith Micro... 

and stop moving from thread to thread posting about how crap you think it is...c'mon that don't help at all does it.

Attached Link: http://support.contentparadise.com/contact.html

I never got the Poser 8 Library to work and have resorted to some of the workarounds suggested in the threads that PhilC notated.  I currently use Shaderwork's Library python script, along with P3DO Explorer (when I need to find something quickly).

I mostly use Poser 7 for character design (because it's easy to save the progress) and sometimes when I'm putting together a complicated scene.  I'll then save the PZ3 file as a WIP and bring it in to Poser 8 to Render.

Sorry, I don't normally rant but I'm ROYALLY POed at a product bug that should have been caught in Alpha testing, certainly in beta testing at the latest but still exists not only in a released product but one that has gone through a  few service releases.
Most items that I post are suggestions to others not rants.

I do now have a ticket open with Smith Micro.

I guess it's a work around or nothing for the moment.  Does anyone know if doing the posing in P7 then importing the scene into P8 and doing lighting and rendering would work?  Will P8 find the items in the folders labeled with a ? in that case or will it give you a message telling you that it can't find the object or objects?  Seems a bit counter productive since they touted the new library handling as a feature.

You mentioned loading SR2, however did you load SR2.1 also?  And did you load the Adobe Flash pertaining to Poser installation?  Just trying to cover all bases in the installation workflow.

Just discovered something.  I may have been too POed to notice the obvious.  I had been hoping that it was something like this. 
When you click on a folder with a ? on it there's a button that appears at the end of the folder name.  That button is a refresh button that forces a scan of the folder.  The button is a long ways from being obvious.  It has a small circular arrow which I had assumed was telling me that it was working on scanning the folder.
Still not sure why they don't have it automatically scan the folder when there's a request to open it but I'll settle for usability even if it is more than a bit clunky.

You'll have to add all your Poser 7 runtimes to Poser 8, then opening pz3 files saved from Poser 7 with Poser 8 should be no problem.

Quote - Just discovered something.  I may have been too POed to notice the obvious.  I had been hoping that it was something like this. 
When you click on a folder with a ? on it there's a button that appears at the end of the folder name.  That button is a refresh button that forces a scan of the folder.  The button is a long ways from being obvious.  It has a small circular arrow which I had assumed was telling me that it was working on scanning the folder.
Still not sure why they don't have it automatically scan the folder when there's a request to open it but I'll settle for usability even if it is more than a bit clunky.

It is automatically scanning the folder. There's something wrong. The refresh button just issues the scanFolder request again. But as soon as a folder appears in the tree, it is scanned, whether you open it or not.

Out of curiosity, start Poser and click anywhere on the GUI. Hit F7, F8, F8. A log will appear. Anything nasty in there? Anything about faults?

Persevere, it is worthwhile. I had these problems too. Solving them required me to change my firewall from ZoneAlarm free version to Eset Smart Security. Now the library works and Poser 8 is a huge improvement over Poser Pro which I used before.

Thanks for the feedback people.
Oh, for those with curious minds I have P8 setup as suggested by Smith Micro.  Runtimes are not only outside of C:program files but on a seperate drive.
     I think you can understand my earlier frustration.  I had access to next to nothing within P8 and the refresh button:
a) should only be required when you've added something new to the Poser library while Poser is up and running
b) a LOT more obvious in both being a button and what it's for. Um, "Refresh" comes to mind as a useful icon for that button.
At least now that I know no matter how strangely I can at least use P8 I'm laughing rather than ranting but I'm still wondering about a few things.
Primarilly, why  P8 doesn't do a single initial scan for content, build a library and on subsequent startups just read the information in and allow the user to refresh any new or updated folders?
     Does anyone else here feel that's a better working method?  It would save 15 minutes worth of disk access at startup or at least a large portion of it since it would only need to access a single file.

My P8 library too has crapped out, I dunno what's up with that.  I'm fairly sure it's related to a problem with IE8 but I don't see what I can do to fix it.  I put a ticket in with SM support about it.

The error it fails with is:
FAULT Detected!
[FaultEvent fault=[RPC Fault faultString="HTTP request error" faultCode="Server.Error.Request" faultDetail="Error:[IOErrorEvent type="ioError" bubbles = false cancelable = false eventPhase=2 text="Error #2032"], URL:http://127.0.0.1:11530/apps/lms/api.py"]messageId="E986DC5F-331C-3282-08E9-7318984E4C72" type="fault" bubbles=false cancelable=true eventPhase=2] --- Fault Request Info:
  op=appConfig

I'm reluctant to try one of the alternate libraries suggested if this is fixable...

A lot of the problems seem to be very individual in nature.  People have their librarys in different places which creates a uniqueness to the environment.
I've been going over things with Smith MIcro.  I'm not getting a failure or an error message.  In my case and because of the environmental items, it may be very personal, turning off indexing seems to have had at least some possitive effect.
IN my case it's now reading the runtime that it starts up with but  ot always reading any that I switch to.

Quote - A lot of the problems seem to be very individual in nature. 

I find this to be true in almost every case.  I've tried reproducing some of the errors you guys have on my end, just to see what's going on...I've seriously never had a problem.  
Then again, I use Adobe Air and always have it installed, and have never had to update my IE or flash in IE.  I've only ever opened IE on this computer to download Chrome, lol.  
This is why it is so important to file bug reports with Smith Micro.  You might be having every problem ever, and if no one else is having it on the forum, we can't help you.  But, if there's a way to document it, even with a screenshot, then Smith Micro have something to go on to fix it.  Not everyone who uses Poser comes here, RDNA, or DAZ for help, so if you're having the same problems as members who aren't getting forum help, there's no reason for them not to work on your problem.
This isn't to say that they'll fix it right away.  Or that it will be perfect.  But, they can't fix what you don't report.

The only library issue I had when running under Windows was when I upgraded from SR1 to SR 2.1, and the library didn't open.  It was resolved by upgrading IE 6 (Yeah, it's old, but I only use it for Windows update) to IE 7.

Still doesn't work properly under Linux, but that's not Poser's fault.

That's a sweet looking interface BB showed in the Poser 8 Primer thread-I'm looking forward to getting it....

I was having an issue with content disappearing from my library. It was like playing runtime rolette as to what would show up and what wouldn't. I actually amused myself refreshing folders for a time. Anyway... I emailed smith micro who I have to say responded within 10-15 minutes of my initial email to them. They sent me a link to the newest service release and it fixed it right up (so far) as well as the speed of my indirect lighting renders. Don't know if you've tried it yet... but it can't hurt.  Go to the site and check out the updates.. there are 2.

 Some time back I was one of the worst for complaining about P8..  I said a lot of things that maybe I should not have,  but there were a lot of things going wrong at the time  Sr2 and Sr2.1 have fixed most of My issues.  However I still have problems with everything going SL..o...oo....ooo......w  from time to time,  especially with libraries.  and occasionally with rendering.. 

Roll on Poser Pro 2010..  The ONLY issue I have had is PPro crashing if I hide the program while rendering..

NoelCan.... Contact Tech Support about the Slowness.... (put Attn John in the Subject)

Quote - NoelCan.... Contact Tech Support about the Slowness.... (put Attn John in the Subject)

I have had several threads with SM for a while now..  I know that if I keep as many folders as possible closed before I change libraries things aren't so bad..!

Closing as many folders as possible before shutting down Poser was one of their recommendations to me.  The other main one was to turn off indexing.
I have to admit that I really love the renders I've been getting out of P8.  Its render engine produces excellent results in very fast time.

Quote - Closing as many folders as possible before shutting down Poser was one of their recommendations to me.  The other main one was to turn off indexing.
I have to admit that I really love the renders I've been getting out of P8.  Its render engine produces excellent results in very fast time.

I do not know why,   but closing files before a render does seem to speed the process a bit more.

And the improved lighting in P8 is totally AWESOME..!!

My library has crapped out many times in the last few days...ever since the IE8 bug "fix". I just restart poser until I get my library back. It may take 2-3 times.

The reason to close folders is that P8 scans or is supposed to scan all library segments 1 level down from what's open.  If the top level has 3 folders and you leave it open P8 is then scanning whatever number of files is inside the 3 folders whereas if the top level folder is closed it will only scan the 3 folder names.
     If, as an extreme example, you left all folders open it would be scanning every file in the library not just the second level items.

Any system update that causes serious interference with your applications should be removed immediately.  It is not worth the time and aggravation to isolate those problems.  Don't accept them as necessary evils.

It's a good idea to uninstall and then reinstall flash after an IE update. My Poser library worked right out of the box until Smith Micro released the bug fix. After that, I needed to download the latest version of IE and reinstall flash before things worked properly. 

I think it was a mistake to have built the Poser library on the soft and shifting sands of Microsoft IE and Adobe Flash, but maybe it will force the users to upgrade more quickly than the Poser 4 fans since the continual updates of third party components will make Poser 8 unusable in the future. 

 I came across this thread while searching to see if anyone else was having similar problems with Poser 8...am I correctly understanding that Poser 8 relies on windows components and flash?

I'm using  Poser 8 on a MAC !
It's behaving like Poser 7 did and just shutting down mid render no error message from Poser at all,  just now you see it, now you don't.

 Do you have the latest service release installed  SR 2.1 from Smith Micro.?

This is one issue I no longer have..!     I am Using "Snow Leopard"

 I'm using Snow Leopard as well, and I did update it.  I just sent in a support ticket to SmithMicro, seems my user ID cannot be found..good thing I kept the receipt. 

Thanks for the reply:)

Quote -  I came across this thread while searching to see if anyone else was having similar problems with Poser 8...am I correctly understanding that Poser 8 relies on windows components and flash?

I'm using  Poser 8 on a MAC !
It's behaving like Poser 7 did and just shutting down mid render no error message from Poser at all,  just now you see it, now you don't.

On Windows, Poser uses Windows components. On Mac, Poser uses Mac components.

This is no surprise.