Quote - The simplest way to make an external runtime folder is to:

1. Make sure you're viewing your Desktop.

2. Right click on an open space in your desktop.

3. Choose: New Folder  from the menu that appears.

4. Rename the new folder and call it, Runtime

You are now done creating an external runtime folder.

I've made a video illustrating the process:

http://youtu.be/Gum2-FMjdd0

 

 

Now, are you new to using computers? I ask, because your knowledge of the computer you are using seems limited at best. This will complicate helping you, as many people here assume some prior knowledge of computers is possessed when attempting to install software and other items to a computer yourself. If you are new to computers and find some or all of the explanations provided difficult, you may wish to consider seeking the help of someone you know who is familiar with modern technology and can show you the steps we've outlined.

As I said, many people here assume you have some working knowledge of computers. They don't know you and can only go by what you're telling them. So please be as detailed in explanation of what you're attempting and the results you are getting as possible. Otherwise, you will find those helping you will become agitated or worse, give you information that is unrelated to your problem becuase you did not explain it fully.

I followed your procedures of creating a Runtime folder on my desktop and everything went well until the Victoria 4 image came up on Poser. The only problem, as far as I can see, is that my image of Victoria 4 doesn't look like your image does. The flesh tone isn't there... the mesh underwear isn't there... nor is the short hair or eyes. I'm not sure what didn't happen correctly, but it didn't turn out the way yours did. Other than that, following your procedures did work as far as creating an external Runtime on my desktop.

did you open the V4 from within poser to see her in poser?  I am sure you would have which is good.  Dunno why she doesn't have her materials applied.

Well if you go now to your materials folder with the V4 selected, can you apply a material to her?

Love esther

I'm using Vicky 4.2 (or is that 4.1?)  you have Vicky 4. The process should be the same for both but there is likely some differences between the two versions. It is entirely likely that the textures for Vicky 4.2 are not the same for Vicky 4.  As long as you're able to load the figure into Poser, everything worked as it should.

The only V4 available is V4.2.

Quote - I'm using Vicky 4.2 (or is that 4.1?)  you have Vicky 4. The process should be the same for both but there is likely some differences between the two versions. It is entirely likely that the textures for Vicky 4.2 are not the same for Vicky 4.  As long as you're able to load the figure into Poser, everything worked as it should.

The image displayed before uploading the application is of Victoria 4.2, but when the actual digital image is uploaded, it doesn't look like yours did in your tutorial... not sure why. It's not detailed at all and is bald.

Quote - Ah, so the original Vicky 4 is no longer available? Didn't know. I thought Vicky 4 base was the original Vicky 4 before the .2 update. At anyrate, if the figure loads in the scene, then you've probably done everything correctly. Make sure your display mode is set to Texture Preview. It's the sphere that looks like the image attached.

The display mode shows a blank screen with no visible image. I usually have to click the "Smooth Shaded" sphere to see anything... is that how it's supposed to be???

Quote - > Quote - I'm using Vicky 4.2 (or is that 4.1?)  you have Vicky 4. The process should be the same for both but there is likely some differences between the two versions. It is entirely likely that the textures for Vicky 4.2 are not the same for Vicky 4.  As long as you're able to load the figure into Poser, everything worked as it should.

The image displayed before uploading the application is of Victoria 4.2, but when the actual digital image is uploaded, it doesn't look like yours did in your tutorial... not sure why. It's not detailed at all and is bald.

The only reason you see anything on the model in my video is because she loaded with textures. She's bald too - the hair is painted on, not actual hair. So is the underwear if I recall.  So perhaps your video card does not support textured preview? I don't know anyhting about your system so I can't really tell you.

If she loads into your scene, do a render and see what happens.  To do that go to the menu and choose  RENDER and in the drop down menu that appears choose RENDER again. She should look similar to my textured preview

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - I'm using Vicky 4.2 (or is that 4.1?)  you have Vicky 4. The process should be the same for both but there is likely some differences between the two versions. It is entirely likely that the textures for Vicky 4.2 are not the same for Vicky 4.  As long as you're able to load the figure into Poser, everything worked as it should.

The image displayed before uploading the application is of Victoria 4.2, but when the actual digital image is uploaded, it doesn't look like yours did in your tutorial... not sure why. It's not detailed at all and is bald.

 

The only reason you see anything on the model in my video is because she loaded with textures. She's bald too - the hair is painted on, not actual hair. So is the underwear if I recall.  So perhaps your video card does not support textured preview? I don't know anyhting about your system so I can't really tell you.

 

If she loads into your scene, do a render and see what happens.  To do that go to the menu and choose  RENDER and in the drop down menu that appears choose RENDER again. She should look similar to my textured preview

I did what you suggested and now she looks similar to your textured preview. Thank you very much.

Now... if you know anything about "unzipping" "zipped" items that are purchased on Renderousity, that would be very helpful. And my system is Windows Vista.

I'm on a mac and mine just unzip automatically when I double click on vickiebigboobs.zip that I just bought and downloaded from rendero,  then you get a folder called vickiebigboobs with a folder inside called runtime

I'm pretty sure yours would do the same.

Love esther

PS great you got it working.

Quote - I'm on a mac and mine just unzip automatically when I double click on vickiebigboobs.zip that I just bought and downloaded from rendero,  then you get a folder called vickiebigboobs with a folder inside called runtime

I'm pretty sure yours would do the same.

Love esther

PS great you got it working.

I'm on a PC and it doesn't automatically unzip when I double click any of the Renderosity items I purchased.

@ Esther, on PC's zipped files will open in a separate window, or browser, no automatic unzip.  Now, if Winzip is installed, the application might initiate an unzipping protocol.  I use WinRAR and that app will always open the zipped file when I use the Open With command from the right-click menu.  Otherwise, Windows XP builtin zip program will always open into another window upon double-clicking.

Attached Link: Compress and uncompress zip files

Double left click the zip file.

Single left click the folder that you want to move into your runtime directory (usually a folder called, "Runtime").

It's now highlighted.

Single left click the highlighted folder or file to drag it into the runtime directory that you are using in Poser.

Or drag the highlighted folder into your document folder, your desktop, a temporary folder... wherever is most convenient for you. It's extracted automatically. Then you can view the files to learn about how runtime directories are named and created, see how the vendor has named things so you can find them more easily later before you move them into the actual runtime that Poser is going to use.

OR

Single right click the zip file.

A dialogue box opens.

Move the cursor to "Extract All"  and click.

Another dialogue box opens that asks you to "select a destination and extract files"

If you leave the location at the default (if you do not enter a new location), it will extract the files into the same folder that the zip file is located, but inside a subfolder that is named the same as the zip file.

Press "Extract"

You will have extracted the files.

You can then single left click the files or folders that you want to move into your runtime and drag them to move them.

In other words, the reason you are not getting the option to extract zipped files when you double click on them is that you need to RIGHT click them (once, not double) to get that option.

Quote - In other words, the reason you are not getting the option to extract zipped files when you double click on them is that you need to RIGHT click them (once, not double) to get that option.

The "Options" come up when I "right click" the zipped files, but the "Extract" option does not appear at all.

Attached Link: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-files/problem-opening-zip-files-on-windows-vista/ccc0ee9e-cbf9-408c-b4a1-39e25bb4a958

At some point your compression options that are default in Vista must have been removed (if you installed another compression utility such as WinZip, maybe?).

The attached link explains how to fix it.

But it would just be much easier to download 7-Zip and install it. It's a nice and free compression utility and very useful to have.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - In other words, the reason you are not getting the option to extract zipped files when you double click on them is that you need to RIGHT click them (once, not double) to get that option.

The "Options" come up when I "right click" the zipped files, but the "Extract" option does not appear at all.

At some point your compression options that are default in Vista must have been removed (if you installed another compression utility such as WinZip, maybe?).

The attached link explains how to fix it.

But it would just be much easier to download 7-Zip and install it. It's a nice and free compression utility and very useful to have.

I did that... so now how do I get Poser Pro 2012 to allow them to be downloaded??? It's like one step forward, two steps back.

Attached Link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Working-with-files-and-folders#section_6

Are the files saved somewhere on your computer?

If yes, then they are downloaded, and all you have to do is right click the zip files to extract them (7-zip will appear on the dialogue box - then move the mouse pointer to it and it will open additional options. Choose "extract files".)

Once you have extracted the files, you just need to left click and drag them into a runtime folder.  Where you choose to locate this folder is up to you, but if you choose to have the Poser runtime inside the "Program Files" directory, you may encounter permission problems. So it's easier to have it in "My Documents" or in the C: drive.

So, to summarize, you don't download files into Poser. You download files to your computer, then you extract them, then you move them or copy them into a runtime that you will tell Poser to use.

Again:

Download files to your computer.

Extract files using 7-zip or WinZip or whatever.

Move or copy (you do not need to download them again) those files into your Poser runtime directory.

Which part is giving you trouble? Do you not know how to move or copy files? If that is the part that is confusing you, then please read the link attached to this post.

Quote -  

 

 

Are the files saved somewhere on your computer?

If yes, then they are downloaded, and all you have to do is right click the zip files to extract them (7-zip will appear on the dialogue box - then move the mouse pointer to it and it will open additional options. Choose "extract files".)

Once you have extracted the files, you just need to left click and drag them into a runtime folder.  Where you choose to locate this folder is up to you, but if you choose to have the Poser runtime inside the "Program Files" directory, you may encounter permission problems. So it's easier to have it in "My Documents" or in the C: drive.

So, to summarize, you don't download files into Poser. You download files to your computer, then you extract them, then you move them or copy them into a runtime that you will tell Poser to use.

Again:

Download files to your computer.

Extract files using 7-zip or WinZip or whatever.

Move or copy (you do not need to download them again) those files into your Poser runtime directory.

Which part is giving you trouble? Do you not know how to move or copy files? If that is the part that is confusing you, then please read the link attached to this post.

The part I'm having trouble with is the Runtime folder part. How many of these folders can you have and which ones will Poser accept? I created a Runtime folder on my desktop and entered Victoria 4 in it. I was able to get that folder to be accepted by Poser, but can't seem to get another one created the same way. I will try creating one and having it in "My Documents" folder, but I am not sure if it will work. Do you go about intitling them "My Runtime Folders" or what exactly? I believe that's where I am confused.

[click for full]

tremendous patience and helpfullness on display here, hborre and others.

and here's the girl all the fuss is about, just to have a little break in the action...

 ::::: Opera :::::

Quote -  I created a Runtime folder on my desktop and entered Victoria 4 in it.

This is incorrect.  The Runtime folder should be inside the Victoria 4 folder.  It will always be within a parent folder as mentioned in previous posts.  You add your content runtime folder to the Victoria 4 folder.  Those runtimes will merge into one.  You can only have one runtime per folder.

Quote - > Quote -  I created a Runtime folder on my desktop and entered Victoria 4 in it.

This is incorrect.  The Runtime folder should be inside the Victoria 4 folder.  It will always be within a parent folder as mentioned in previous posts.  You add your content runtime folder to the Victoria 4 folder.  Those runtimes will merge into one.  You can only have one runtime per folder.

I have Victoria 4 on Poser now... the problem is having a "Runtime" folder for my "Renderosity" purchases. They have been "unzipped" but I am not sure how to have them appear on Poser.

I have a folder called "runtimes"  with a folder inside for each character (V4, M4, V3, etc).  Inside each of those folders is a text file named Poser.exe to fool DAZ's installers. Each of these folders has been added to the Poser Library as an external runtime once something has been installed into it.

I don't know that the limit is; I currently have 26 external runtimes...

Quote - I have Victoria 4 on Poser now... the problem is having a "Runtime" folder for my "Renderosity" purchases. They have been "unzipped" but I am not sure how to have them appear on Poser.

Do you know how to create folders in Windows Vista? Do you know how to move, copy, or rename folders? Do you know how to open folders in Windows Explorer? Do you know how to open more than one Windows Explorer window so that you can move folders from one place to another?

If you look in your Victoria 4 folder, you will see a runtime folder.  Your unzipped runtime folder should either go into the Victoria 4 folder which will appear automatically in Poser. Or you can create a new folder with a different name and add you unzipped runtime folder in there.  However, you must link that new folder to Poser.  Do you know how to do that?

Quote - > Quote - I have Victoria 4 on Poser now... the problem is having a "Runtime" folder for my "Renderosity" purchases. They have been "unzipped" but I am not sure how to have them appear on Poser.

Do you know how to create folders in Windows Vista? Do you know how to move, copy, or rename folders? Do you know how to open folders in Windows Explorer? Do you know how to open more than one Windows Explorer window so that you can move folders from one place to another?

Yes... thank you.

Quote - If you look in your Victoria 4 folder, you will see a runtime folder.  Your unzipped runtime folder should either go into the Victoria 4 folder which will appear automatically in Poser. Or you can create a new folder with a different name and add you unzipped runtime folder in there.  However, you must link that new folder to Poser.  Do you know how to do that?

No... how do you link the new folder to Poser? Also... I've unzipped the folders of the products from Renderosity... wasn't I supposed to unzip them or not???

This is a repost from page one.  In the library, you must click the running man + icon on the upper right hand corner as encircled in the image.  That will open a new window where you will navigate to your folder containing your unzipped runtime.  Notice the wording, ...navigate to your folder containing your unzipped runtime. 

Yes, you must unzip your renderosity purchases.

you need to have a folder with the runtime folder inside it.  the outer folder should be called eg vickie4clothes and the inside folder is called Runtime

Then you make another folder called michael4clothes and inside that folder is a folder called Runtime.  It can't be called runtimestuff or anything else. it has to be named runtime.

Then from inside poser you navigate to the michael4clothes folder and it gets added to your library so you can access all the things inside the folder called Runtime, and then you click add again and find the vickie4clothes folder and add that from within poser.  So you have many folders of bought stuff with a folder called Runtime inside each.  Each of these folders is an external runtime.

Love esther

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - I have Victoria 4 on Poser now... the problem is having a "Runtime" folder for my "Renderosity" purchases. They have been "unzipped" but I am not sure how to have them appear on Poser.

Do you know how to create folders in Windows Vista? Do you know how to move, copy, or rename folders? Do you know how to open folders in Windows Explorer? Do you know how to open more than one Windows Explorer window so that you can move folders from one place to another?

Yes... thank you.

Then this is what you should do.

-- Create a folder where you are going to put your Poser Content. It is best if this is not located within the Program Files directory.

-- Then unzip your purchases.

-- Then move the folders inside the unzipped files (usually at Renderosity they are called "Documentation" and "Runtime" -- sometimes "Readme" and "Runtime") into the Poser Content folder you created.

-- Go into Poser and link the Poser Content folder as shown more than once already in this thread.

I'm sorry but it is truly hard to understand which part of this confuses you.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - > Quote - I have Victoria 4 on Poser now... the problem is having a "Runtime" folder for my "Renderosity" purchases. They have been "unzipped" but I am not sure how to have them appear on Poser.

Do you know how to create folders in Windows Vista? Do you know how to move, copy, or rename folders? Do you know how to open folders in Windows Explorer? Do you know how to open more than one Windows Explorer window so that you can move folders from one place to another?

Yes... thank you.

Then this is what you should do.

-- Create a folder where you are going to put your Poser Content. It is best if this is not located within the Program Files directory.

-- Then unzip your purchases.

-- Then move the folders inside the unzipped files (usually at Renderosity they are called "Documentation" and "Runtime" -- sometimes "Readme" and "Runtime") into the Poser Content folder you created.

-- Go into Poser and link the Poser Content folder as shown more than once already in this thread.

I'm sorry but it is truly hard to understand which part of this confuses you.

Okay... if I create a folder and name the folder Poser Content and then place the folder in my Documents, would that folder be placed in the correct area or should it be placed on the Desktop?

Quote -

This is a repost from page one.  In the library, you must click the running man + icon on the upper right hand corner as encircled in the image.  That will open a new window where you will navigate to your folder containing your unzipped runtime.  Notice the wording, ...navigate to your folder containing your unzipped runtime. 

Yes, you must unzip your renderosity purchases.

This has been done, but the problem came up to where the items were not listed as being within the folders once I clicked the running man + icon on the upper right hand corner. There were a lot of folders, but the content, the actual item came up empty.

And what actual item is that?  A prop?  A character?  Conforming clothing or a new model?  What is the name of the content you are trying to load?

Inside your folder poserruntimes I sure hope you have lots of subfolders eg Vickie4 Michael4 and each of these has a folder called runtime in it that contains stuff.

can you open that folder out so we can see and take another screencapture please.

I opened a couple of them so you could see the runtimes inside.

This is not taken within poser.  this is my finder on my computer.  to get those folders into poser you can either load them all in one by one from within poser or you can use a python script such as loadmultiple.py from semidieu to do it.

Love esther

Quote - Okay... if I create a folder and name the folder Poser Content and then place the folder in my Documents, would that folder be placed in the correct area or should it be placed on the Desktop?

You can put that folder anywhere you want. You can put it on another drive, you can put it on a USB stick, you can put it on an external drive. You can create a really big and complicated file tree and place it there. It's entirely up to you.

It's not wise, in Vista and Windows 7, to place it in the Program Files directory because User Account Controls in these versions of windows restrict what can be saved in this directory for security reasons.  You can override these restrictions, but in the end it is much simpler just to locate your Poser Content folder anywhere else. :)

My Documents would be a fine place.  I do not, myself, place content files on the Desktop as I have heard that having a great many files on the desktop can slow down the loading of the desktop (when the system reboots). And runtimes get very, very big indeed.  I place them on my root drive at C:/Poser Content/People or C:/Poser Content/Animals and so on.  You can name the directory anything you want. And you can have more than one directory. I have about 12.

But again, inside My Documents is fine. As long as you do not move this folder, it's fine, and it will be easy to find.

Once you've made this directory/folder, move the "Runtime" folders that are inside the extracted zip files into this directory/folder. (I move the documentation and the readme's as well).

Then in Poser, when you link to the folder, link to the main directory you created (not the folder called "runtime".  In my case, I would link to a folder located at C:/Poser Content/ People (for my people purchases). For my animal purchases, I would link to "C:/Poser Content/Animals"

I would not link to "C:/Poser Content/People/Runtime".

If you only wanted to have one directory (only one "runtime" as we call it), you would move all the runtimes from all of your purchases into one main directory. So it would look more like C:/Poser Content/Runtime.  But you would tell Poser to link to the main directory "C:/Poser Content".

Does that make sense?

I think that in Vista, if you use My Documents, the location would be:

C:/Users/Your User Name/Documents/Poser Content

But I'm not sure, as I'm using Windows 7.

In my system, when you click the plus sign in the Poser library to add a "runtime" to the library, you get a dialogue box that allows you to view the file tree:

Desktop

Libraries

Homegroup

Username

Computer

Network

If yours is similar, you would find My Documents under Username (whatever that is) and then My Documents. Then you would click on the Poser Content folder to add it.

Quote - And what actual item is that?  A prop?  A character?  Conforming clothing or a new model?  What is the name of the content you are trying to load?

A character... Sofia.

Quote - can you open that folder out so we can see and take another screencapture please.

I tried to show a screencapture, but my computer doesn't reveal any.

Quote - > Quote - Okay... if I create a folder and name the folder Poser Content and then place the folder in my Documents, would that folder be placed in the correct area or should it be placed on the Desktop?

You can put that folder anywhere you want. You can put it on another drive, you can put it on a USB stick, you can put it on an external drive. You can create a really big and complicated file tree and place it there. It's entirely up to you.

It's not wise, in Vista and Windows 7, to place it in the Program Files directory because User Account Controls in these versions of windows restrict what can be saved in this directory for security reasons.  You can override these restrictions, but in the end it is much simpler just to locate your Poser Content folder anywhere else. :)

My Documents would be a fine place.  I do not, myself, place content files on the Desktop as I have heard that having a great many files on the desktop can slow down the loading of the desktop (when the system reboots). And runtimes get very, very big indeed.  I place them on my root drive at C:/Poser Content/People or C:/Poser Content/Animals and so on.  You can name the directory anything you want. And you can have more than one directory. I have about 12.

But again, inside My Documents is fine. As long as you do not move this folder, it's fine, and it will be easy to find.

Once you've made this directory/folder, move the "Runtime" folders that are inside the extracted zip files into this directory/folder. (I move the documentation and the readme's as well).

Then in Poser, when you link to the folder, link to the main directory you created (not the folder called "runtime".  In my case, I would link to a folder located at C:/Poser Content/ People (for my people purchases). For my animal purchases, I would link to "C:/Poser Content/Animals"

I would not link to "C:/Poser Content/People/Runtime".

If you only wanted to have one directory (only one "runtime" as we call it), you would move all the runtimes from all of your purchases into one main directory. So it would look more like C:/Poser Content/Runtime.  But you would tell Poser to link to the main directory "C:/Poser Content".

Does that make sense?

So... you would label a folder "Poser Content/People" and another folder "Poser Content/Animals" and another folder "Poser Content/Clothing"? I just want to be sure I understand, because I want to get this right. There are a lot of items on "Renderosity" that I'd like to get setup in Poser.

Quote - > Quote - Okay... if I create a folder and name the folder Poser Content and then place the folder in my Documents, would that folder be placed in the correct area or should it be placed on the Desktop?

You can put that folder anywhere you want. You can put it on another drive, you can put it on a USB stick, you can put it on an external drive. You can create a really big and complicated file tree and place it there. It's entirely up to you.

It's not wise, in Vista and Windows 7, to place it in the Program Files directory because User Account Controls in these versions of windows restrict what can be saved in this directory for security reasons.  You can override these restrictions, but in the end it is much simpler just to locate your Poser Content folder anywhere else. :)

My Documents would be a fine place.  I do not, myself, place content files on the Desktop as I have heard that having a great many files on the desktop can slow down the loading of the desktop (when the system reboots). And runtimes get very, very big indeed.  I place them on my root drive at C:/Poser Content/People or C:/Poser Content/Animals and so on.  You can name the directory anything you want. And you can have more than one directory. I have about 12.

But again, inside My Documents is fine. As long as you do not move this folder, it's fine, and it will be easy to find.

Once you've made this directory/folder, move the "Runtime" folders that are inside the extracted zip files into this directory/folder. (I move the documentation and the readme's as well).

Then in Poser, when you link to the folder, link to the main directory you created (not the folder called "runtime".  In my case, I would link to a folder located at C:/Poser Content/ People (for my people purchases). For my animal purchases, I would link to "C:/Poser Content/Animals"

I would not link to "C:/Poser Content/People/Runtime".

If you only wanted to have one directory (only one "runtime" as we call it), you would move all the runtimes from all of your purchases into one main directory. So it would look more like C:/Poser Content/Runtime.  But you would tell Poser to link to the main directory "C:/Poser Content".

Does that make sense?

Okay... I just created a "Poser Content" folder in MY Doctuments and also created a Runtime folder within it. Then I placed the "Sofia" contents inside the Runtime folder. Clicked on the Poser Content folder inside Poser and the folder had this (0) next to it. Let me know what I did wrong, please.

Sofia is a character and you should find her under the Pose category of the Poser Library.  That would be the running man icon just to the right of the standing man icon at the top of the Library.

Might I suggest a couple of free image programs, IrFanView or Xnview.  Both programs are simple but powerful image utilities that have screencapture functions.

http://www.irfanview.com/

http://www.xnview.com/

Poser uses relative addressing for pathfiles.  This means that Poser only need a partitial path that is indexed or referenced somehow.  The actual 'Runtime' folder is this index, Poser then needs to know which folders contain a 'Runtime' folder.  It does become confusing when people refer to a mapped content folder in a general way as a runtime folder.  Perhaps a way to think of this is to compare it to a treasure map.  On a treasure map you might have the instruction to start at the old oak tree then from there go so many paces etc. etc...  The 'Runtime' folder is the old oak tree in this analogy.

Quote - Okay... I just created a "Poser Content" folder in MY Doctuments and also created a Runtime folder within it. Then I placed the "Sofia" contents inside the Runtime folder. Clicked on the Poser Content folder inside Poser and the folder had this (0) next to it. Let me know what I did wrong, please.

I think this is the problem and it's a very common problem.

When you unzip "Sofia", there should be a folder called "runtime" within those unzipped files.

Drag that runtime folder into your Poser Content folder, not into the runtime folder. You do not want a runtime inside a runtime. Instead, you want the new Sofia runtime folder to merge with the Poser Content runtime folder.  When you drag the runtime into the Poser Content folder and there already is a runtime in there, a dialogue box will appear and it will ask, Do you still want to merge this folder? Click "yes".

If you already have a runtime in your Poser Content folder and you are moving the Sofia runtime into it and you do NOT get this dialogue box, then you are putting the Sofia runtime into the wrong place.

Quote - So... you would label a folder "Poser Content/People" and another folder "Poser Content/Animals" and another folder "Poser Content/Clothing"? I just want to be sure I understand, because I want to get this right. There are a lot of items on "Renderosity" that I'd like to get setup in Poser.

Well, the slash means that there's a subfolder. So that Poser Content/People means there's a subfolder called "People" inside the folder called "Poser Content".

I would make a Poser Content folder with several subfolders. So that inside the Poser Content folder would be a folder called People and a folder called Animals and a folder called Victoria Clothing and a Folder called Props and so on.... And inside each of the subfolders there would be a runtime folder.

When I bought new content I would decide where it belonged, unzip the files, and drag the runtime from the purchased stuff into the folder where it belonged so that the purchased runtime merged with the runtime in My Documents.

It's a good idea to get a firm understanding of this, yes, because if you do end up buying a lot of content or downloading a lot of freebies, you'll probably be happier if it's well organized. :)

If you just want screen capture then why download anything?

Hit PRT SCN on your keyboard.  This puts an image of whatever is showing on the desktop onto the "clipboard".

Open "Paint" (usually located in "Accessories" in the start menu.

Click "Paste"

Whatever is on the clipboard will be pasted into the Paint program.

You may want to crop and resize. There are button in the "home" tab to do this.  You must click on the "Select" box where the little arrow is, and select "Rectangular Selection" before you can crop.  Then you drag your mouse to select the area you want to keep before clicking "Crop".

The go to the top left corner icon, click it, and then save as jpg.

Then you have an image.

Then when you post in the forums, there's a box that allows you to "Attach a File". Browse to the image's location on your computer and click either preview reply or post reply.

It worked for this screen capture...

(Though, I honestly do recommend irfanview very strongly. I wouldn't be able to function without it.)

My folder icons will look different from the default, but don't let that bother you.

Once you've done this, you can click on the runtime on the left to see that the files have been copied into it. Or you can copy more files for more purchases.

You should only have to link inside Poser to the People folder once, though, unless you move that folder somewhere else.