I am thinking about trying out DS4.5 to check out some of its new features, but the thought of having to reinstall all of my content is causing me to put it off.  I have spent countless hours setting up my categories in DS4 so that I can access everything easily without having to search for it.  I also have some custom made props/materials and characters in my files.  My question is this:  Is there a way to import all of my content and the categories files without having to reload and set it all up again.  I know there were several threads on this matter, but I can't seem to find them.  If someone can help or just point me to the threads I will be very grateful.  I tried looking in the DAZ forums but I can't seem to find them there either.

Thanks!

The Daz help pages say that you do not need to re-install the Genesis starter essentials but need to re-install the Genesis starter essentials for Poser, and the DSON for Poser plug in. 

The Essentials item are two different things two different items.  But if you do not use Poser, then of course you don't need to re-install the items for Poser.

I did the DS 4 to 4.5 upgrade just a few days ago, so that's all I know.  As for content, I have that installed in a custome location without uninstallation options, so I don'think I need to re-install those.

I can't say for plug-ins, but when you launch DS4.5, it will check and update you on those.

Content other than the Starter content shouldn't need reinstalling, though moving from 4.0 to 4.5 you may encounter the Duplicate IDs warning which is best fixed by getting the updated version of the content - however, I do have a script to fix it in place (see the index of free scripts thread in the Freepozitory forum at DAZ).

Thanks.  I'm going to give 4.5 a shot this weekend.  I've got my fingers crossed!

Quote - *I am thinking about trying out DS4.5 to check out some of its new features, but the thought of having to reinstall all of my content is causing me to put it off. *

I updated to 4.5 Pro about a month ago, and have not had any problems with it of any real significance. All of my installed content, in both the DAZ Studio and the Poser formats, are all in the places I had them before and working correctly. When I first opened DS 4.5 Pro, some of my content did not appear in the Library. After closing and re-opening the app., it had reappeared where it belongs.

I think the reason the content remains installed is because it is actually stored in folders on your hard drive, not in the application itself. The application is written in a way that allows it to read specified directories that lead it to the content you want to load into your scene. You may notice when you load a content product, the words "Importing ___________" appears in the loading panel. Some things load so fast you do not have time to read the text in the loading panel, but others such as Victoria 4.2 have so much data attached to them that the panels stay onscreen long enough to read what is in them. 

As for the Starter Essentials, I agree that you need to install them even though the same products found in the previous version are found in this one. This will ensure that your Starter Essentials content is up to date and user ready for the new version of DAZ Studio. If you have certain extra morphs for the Genesis figure, (like head, face, hand, foot, and body morphs), the installation of the Starter Essentials package will ensure that they work as they are designed to work. If it does not, I suggest downloading the latest versions of those morphs and re-installing them. Of course you will need to uninstall the originals and delete them so that they do not interfere with the new version installation process.

I must say the new version is awesome. Practically every plugin is active. The AniMate 2 plugin stays active for just 30 days, unless you have the pay version already installed. If you downloaded 4.5 Pro in the last month, you should not need the free updates for the plugins. This will save a lot of time and trouble.

I hope this helps.

I have written a tutorial on many aspects of DAZ Studio. The last two sections are on installing 4 and upgrading to 4.5. It is very detailed. It is easy to do.

http://www.perpetualvisions.com/new-articles/notes-daz-poser-vue/notes-daz-poser-vue.html

Hope this is useful

Quote - Content other than the Starter content shouldn't need reinstalling, though moving from 4.0 to 4.5 you may encounter the Duplicate IDs warning which is best fixed by getting the updated version of the content - however, I do have a script to fix it in place (see the index of free scripts thread in the Freepozitory forum at DAZ).

Thanks, I was wondering about that.  I would vastly prefer not to have to download and install all that content again.