Hi guys, I'm a relatively new user to Poser 8, and a friend of mine gave me a bunch of custom content they created in Poser 7. I know there are some (stupid) issues of backwards compatiblity, but is there any way for me to use his files?

The majority of them are figures and textures. Thanks! 

Shouldn't be any problems.

Well, the issues aren't really "stupid"... technology advances, so the newer version of Poser uses more sophisticated systems than older versions did. Content for older versions had to use kludges to achieve effects P8 and above now do incredibly well.

So, the problem is the older content, not your newer verson of Poser.

To fix any problems you might encounter, you'll need to:

1. familiarise yourself a bit with the material room - there's lots of threads on shaders on here. Read a lot: there's a lot to read.
2. have a read of some of the stickied threads
3. have a stickie-beak in the wiki
4. match lighting with version. Poser 8 lights are different, better, and render well, but they bear studying a bit.
5. When/if all that leaves you unenlightened, the manual comes in pdf format in the Poser 8 folder

I will look at all of those things, thanks! The one thing I have noticed is that his skin textures are not the same format. Hands in different places, different files for the heads, etc etc.

Is that typical?

The textures should match the uv map for a specific figure. For example an M3 texture will not work on M4 because of the map differences. You will have to work out what textures go with what figure.

Quote - The textures should match the uv map for a specific figure. For example an M3 texture will not work on M4 because of the map differences. You will have to work out what textures go with what figure.

Unless of course you use the Heisenberg Compensator, which lets you do some marvelous things, including beaming figures at high warp.