OK. My runtimes are a mess, to put it mildly.

But the mere thought of having to reinstall everything has held me back. That, and the fact that the Daz .exe installers are a PITA. Zip files you can at least drag a bunch of to the final destination and they'll unzip there. Daz installers you have to click-click-click-scroll-click-click-clkic (I may have one click too much or too little, but it's about that)

I DON'T want to install uninstallers. I DON'T want to spend time while my browser opens a Readme.

I bought a program here on the marketplace, and apart from the fact that I'm STILLK waiting for the activation code that will remove a 30 second delay between each file (HINT to vendors: When you implement something like this, BE THERE TO SEND THE EFFIN CODE BACK!) - i've encountered at least TWO kind of Daz installers where the program - which is basically a macro doing mouse clicks - can't figure out where to click...

So I'm searching for something else. Something that'll actually work with all the different flavors of Daz Installers. IF such a thing exists...

Searching the marketplace for Installer only brings up the one I bought.

(oh and don't get me wrong, when it encounters one of the installers that fits with the macro, it works and works FINE! - but as it is, it's like 1 in 3 of my recent installers it'll work on. So it's not a useless program at all. Just .. of limited usability for what I need)

ok not batch but http://www.autohotkey.com/ you could make your own macro to automate the installer. (it's a free app).. would be a start.. an possibly, you could make it run on a folder...

Ah cool! I could make something that would run on the installers the other one won't recognize, I guess :)

Nice find :D

I'd still prefer a proper program.. ideally something that will run in the background and not hijack y mouse and computerr like these - but they're better than none :)

I bastarding hate DAZ installers.  The current ones take a geological age to respond to a button press and I hate all the associated fannying about choosing which app and which drive/directory and all the ReadMe bollocks.

Even after that's all done and finished, I then have to go through the Runtime and remove all the stupid DS files which I don't want, don't need and have absolutely no use for.

Why on earth can't they make an installer - if they insist on using them - that's smart enough to remember:

Where my app is and what it is

I don't want an uninstaller

I don't want the DS files

I don't want to read the Readme

In fact, why not just put the files in a zip and have done with it? 

This is why I have my own routine to install stuff...

• unzip to a "dump" folder with a fake runtime in it. I have one for V4, one for A3, etc... but that's only because that's how I arrange my runtimes.

• delete/dump any and all "readme" folders (save for those things that actually need one), dump any and all templates into their own universal subfolder.

• open my dump runtime on one side, my destination (real) runtime on the other.

• copy/merge in "Geometries" and "Textures" wholesale. Move any morph/inj folders over as needed.

• Open "libraries" on both sides. I'm usually lazy, so I copy/merge over "camera", "face", and "Lights" wholesale.

• I then go in and maunally sort out the "character", "pose" and "props" folders. 

Meanwhile, I make regular backups of my runtime folders (all of which are under a folder called "runtimes"), and can dump them in wholesale or in part from backup, to any machine I care to. I use rsync (kicked off manually) for my backups, so any changes that I make locally (adds, deletes, and moves), are automatically made on the backup copy. 

Doing this, I've managed to keep a coherent Runtime structure for literally a decade now. What I now call "old-runtime" was the original one, with files I installed just about 10 years ago. These original files have sat intact on Windows, Mac, and Linux boxes, and have been transferred back and forth quite a few times.

I think there was only one problem I had run across early on, which had arisen from a USB backup disk being squirrelly, but I was able to recover the files before the HDD had completely went splat. Otherwise, if I load Dork into my shiny new i7 laptop, it's the exact same file that I originally installed a decade ago on a Gen1 Pentium4 1.7MHz box w/64 MB of RAMBUS (puke).

Quote - * unzip to a "dump" folder with a fake runtime in it. I have one for V4, one for A3, etc... but that's only because that's how I arrange my runtimes.

Well, that's the problem right there.  DAZ in their infinite wizdom won't supply ZIP installers and the exe ones suck sweaty donkey balls basically.

Peeps have been bugging them forever about it but so far no dice

Couldn't care really on that front... when I run the DAZ installer, it gives me the option of "Poser(All Files)" and asks where I want to dump the contents... naturally, that'd be the dump folder.

The only real diff is that unzipping a file is built into the Windows UI now, while running an .exe is not. The time difference is about 30-45 seconds on my particular machine.

30 - 45 seconds over a couple of hundred installers is going to add up.  Not to mention a couple of hundred clicks of the no uninstaller and removing the tick in the readme etc.

Zips are just much faster esp for batch installs.

as ever YMMV

Daz uses the bitrock installers (www.bitrock.com). In the past I got as far as creating a config file that could be used to automate the installation (with a silent install), but became distracted with other things and never got back to it before it was 100% working.

(http://installbuilder.bitrock.com/installbuilder-faq.html#A2_3)

How can I perform a silent installation?

You can perform a silent installation, using the --mode unattended option from the command line:

$ ./sample-installer.bin --mode unattended

This will perform an unattended installation that will not prompt the user for any information. Any required information can be passed to the installer using command line switches. This mode allows for easy integration of the installer into your own scripts.

I've stopped buying stuff from DAZ because I can't be bothered with all the bullshit options you have to check, or uncheck, in their installers.

The last thing I bought from them peppered my system with shortcuts, weblinks and spurious folders - basically a pile of crap presumably intended for DS, even though it was the Poser installer - all for a simple prop. 

I found the utility that TrekkieGrrl referred to was great until a few months ago; the trouble is, DAZ started to change the way the installer worked twice a week (it seemed) and there's no way the vendor can keep up.

Trekkiegrrl, it might be easier to just drag stuff to the correct folder rather than reinstall everything.

I checked the 'mode unattended', but didn't found a way to make it work actually (maybe something I do is wrong).

For Windows, there might be also some python script that could handle this (like macros).

Correction... I managed to make it work. Now, I don't know if 'older' version of DAZ install are also working... In particular, the installer who contains the DAZ Studio and Poser files...

I'll continue investigating this :)

And more info... I have downloaded some 'older' installer... And it does not work :(

From my research, it seems that the old installer (Vise Installer from MindVision) do not accept easily commands... (this is wrong - you can have use commands, but none of them seems to install it correctly - I would need to know the variables name to create a batch installer).

Quote - Trekkiegrrl, it might be easier to just drag stuff to the correct folder rather than reinstall everything.

I remember some sort of application (Pboost? Poser Explorer?) that apparently made that super-easy to do. Just can't quite remember the name of the damn thing...

Attached Link: Instructions for performing unattended / silent installations

maybe the linked page will be useful

Yes... I searched it... Unfortunatly, for older DAZ installer:

Wise InstallMaster InstallMaster   from    Wise        Solutions is a competitor to InstallShield.  You  can  usually  identify  the        installers it produces by  running  "strings"  on  the  executable  and        grepping for "Wise".

InstallMaster installers are supposed to recognize the /s switch to        perform a silent installation. And in our  experience,  they  generally  do.  But        there is no way to set options, and the exit status is meaningless.

Note:   This   product   has   been  rebranded  the  "Wise        Installation System". Don't let them confuse you.

My particular problem is that I had some runtimes installed on an external disk. <Which died :(

So I do have a lot of stuff I need to reinstall from scratch.

Oh and btw steer clear of ahudsons installer. He won't SEND me the key code now because I left less than stellar feedback on his "program"

(and yes, he flat out told me he wouldn't! Nice vendor!)

Quote - My particular problem is that I had some runtimes installed on an external disk. <Which died :(

So I do have a lot of stuff I need to reinstall from scratch.

Oh and btw steer clear of ahudsons installer. He won't SEND me the key code now because I left less than stellar feedback on his "program"

(and yes, he flat out told me he wouldn't! Nice vendor!)

Was that here, TG? Send a message to the store staff.  That is UNacceptable. Completely.

Quote - And more info... I have downloaded some 'older' installer... And it does not work :(

From my research, it seems that the old installer (Vise Installer from MindVision) do not accept easily commands... (this is wrong - you can have use commands, but none of them seems to install it correctly - I would need to know the variables name to create a batch installer).

From what I remember (which may not be correct), you can create a log file, or a log file is created somehow, and in there, it tells you which variable is missing/wrong when going through it. I remember doing this at some point when trying the various versions of the installers.

Here is a sample of what I had working that I could find. I think I also had trouble with the earlier installers

essentially run this from the commandline:

13064_HighBoots3ForV4_1.0_dpc.exe --optionfile options.txt

and then the contents of the options.txt are:

unattendedmodeui=minimal
debuglevel=4
mode=unattended
debugtrace=debug.txt
accept_license=yes
uninstall_previous=no
installdir_content=C:PoserRuntimeVictoria 4 Clothes
create_uninstaller=no
create_startmenu_shortcuts=no

Once you're comfortable with the above, then you can write a batch file that runs through all the exe's in a single directory.

I looked at this again. Yes, this is where I started having troubles. On older versions of installers, I'm not sure how to set the, what appears to be a, custom path variable in the options. It looks like DAZ did their own thing for that part of the installation.

Quote -
Was that here, TG? Send a message to the store staff.  That is UNacceptable. Completely.

Yes that was here. Didn't think he was allowed to do this. He told me he would rather i requested a refund... and because of what I'd written in the feedback he wouldn't send me the code.

I don't WANT a refund, i want a working program. And it does work on some of the installers. Not all, but some of them.

I use VB for this type of automation but I've used AutoHotKey in the past & it will do the job. If you search, there are probably a few macro builder utilities that might make the process easier than AHK not sure. Creating your own is the only way to really handle the various installers. Ideally, you'ld probably want to read the version information of the .exe to determine which installer it was. but that's getting pretty involved.

Usually, I have the Daz installers install to a working folder as others have mentioned. The isntallers remember the path between installs, at least for me. I just tested it and did a scan of the registry. I cannot find where the path is being stored though, odd.

 I don't know if anyone mentioned this free utility - might be worth a try.  "Windows only macro that automates the installation of Bitrock installers from DAZ."

http://www.sharecg.com/v/34492/view/8/Script/Bitrock-Clickthrough 

Quote - Usually, I have the Daz installers install to a working folder as others have mentioned. The isntallers remember the path between installs, at least for me. I just tested it and did a scan of the registry. I cannot find where the path is being stored though, odd.

the settings are here on my Windows7 64bit machine :

C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesDAZdzInstall.ini

Quote - > Quote - Usually, I have the Daz installers install to a working folder as others have mentioned. The isntallers remember the path between installs, at least for me. I just tested it and did a scan of the registry. I cannot find where the path is being stored though, odd.

the settings are here on my Windows7 64bit machine :

C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesDAZdzInstall.ini

This is, I think, the ini file for the recent (bitrock) installers. These installers are easy to 'extract' in silent mode.

The problem comes with the 'older' installer, which does have some 'switches/parameters'... But they are obscure and we miss the 'vairables'.

Just a question to vendor selling at DAZ. When you submit a product, you submit the zip file and they do the packaging ? This would mean you also don't know the variables used internally in the Wise Installer (which was the very old installer software - I would say 2-3 years ago)

If the experience was so bad, I would take the refund.

I have been using it for years and always found the product and vendor both to be exceptional.  As many have found, it is a difficult task to automate multiple installation methods, and this does it better than anything else I've been able to find.

New installers will always confound a robo-key method, but when it's time to scrap and fully reinstall a runtime, it's saved me hours.

The fact that you can pre-populate all your runtimes, with drop down box access is a real godsend.  The vendor has always responded to my inquiries and updated the product in what I consider a reasonable time frame, certainly not DAZ soon.

It is just possible that the vendor was upset at being flamed in review and forum before he had a chance to help.

Klebnor

Thanks rjjack..  I figured it must be in an .ini file somewhere.

Quote - If the experience was so bad, I would take the refund.

[...]

It is just possible that the vendor was upset at being flamed in review and forum before he had a chance to help.

Klebnor

Just a little note. I didn't "flame" the author before he had a chance to reply. I actually waited several DAØYS from the purchase, in which I'd had NO response, and no key code. After which i was left with a semi-functional program. And that was part of my pretty elaborate) review. 

I said, and say that the program WORKS FINE on the installers it knows how to deal with, but that it doesn't work with at least two different flavours of the newer Daz installers. It DOES work with some (most) of the bitrock installers and the Wise ones as well (I think.. I'm actually not sure I tried those) but a vendor who implies a "send a 
PM and you'll get a code" and then waits several DAYS before doing so (or.. NOT doing so, as the fact is) deserves to be told that this is not acceptable.

IF you're not able to be online every day (and I fully accept that people have a life outside of the Internet!) - then you shouldn't use a scheme that requires you to get back to your customers! It's as easy as that. 

The same thing has annoyed me GREATLY with AutoGroupEditor where the author is unreachable for MONTHS at a time.. so if you're unlucky enough to need a reinstall when he's not around.. well.. too bad.. you just can't use the program!

I don't like paying for something I can't use!

I don't like paying for programs that only work 50% of the time. Who would?

And now I am the bad guy for pointing that out? I think not!

"and it's the same old story, everywhere I go
I get slandered, Libeled
I hear words I never heard in the bible
and I'm one step ahead of the shoe shine. Two steps away from the county line
Just trying to keep my customers satisfied, satisfied" 

Simon & Garfunkle

Doesn't matter if she flamed his hide off, you don't behave that way in business.

Attached Link: Universal Extractor

Quote -   Doesn't matter if she flamed his hide off, you don't behave that way in business.

Ha Ha, good one.  Management by Simon and Garfunkel.

Anyone in business for more than a day and a half learns that some customers are too expensive to afford.

Klebnor

'Universal Extractor'

If you're willing to search for the structure by looking in the Poser files (.cr2, etc.), you can pretty much get it working for a full install. Worst case, Poser's error msgs. should give you an idea where something needs to be :-) If you're really lucky, you may find have a readme that lists the file locations. UE wasn't able to do much with the last Bitrock installer I tried, but I haven't checked for a new version in quite a while. Definitely a valuable but last resort utility.