Hey all,

Well... the entire story of exactly what happened is just too insane to tell right now. To take care of all of this, I really think that I'd need to have a Poser expert right here in the room. So I'm going to try to focus on one thing.  I uninstalled and reinstalled PP 2014, and it did the same thing as it did last time-- refused to link to the libraries. I don't think it's actually Poser's fault (that part of the story is just too complicated for right now, when I have the flu!), BUT-- when this happened before, what I did was to link the libraries externally. That worked. I couldn't find the old posts about this. So, for now, that's the main question: how to link to external libraries again with a new install?

If your external libraries already exist, run the script Import Runtimes 2014 under Scripts>Partners>ShaderWorks.  That will automatically link all existing libraries to the Poser Library.  

And if you are running Vista, Win 7, or Win 8, did not place any runtimes within Program Files.  You're original Poser content should also exist as a separate runtime called Poser Pro 2014 Content.

When adding a new runtime, you need to navigate to and select the folder containing that runtime, not the runtime folder itself. 

Maybe not the right thread to post, but close enough.   Have PP 2014, and at one point had a large number of 3rd party figures/props in various folders placed through the program's content-installer.   Anyway, went into the program to put together a small animation for a friend's movie and found a huge chunk of both folders and individual figures, etc. just plain missing.   This is where things get worse - attempted to reload from WAR files through content installer and very few of these would install in PP2014 content libraries, mostly hit and miss.  Anyway, thought something had glitched the program and deleted/reinstalled from disc, and also updated everything with SR.5 from SmithMicro site, including Content Updater, Download and Queue Managers.   Didn't help, still dealing with hit and miss (mostly miss) in program-installer.   I've only had to re-install Win 7 64-bit once since I first started using it (not a cold re-install), but all those files were still intact in the libraries afterward.

Where does your main content reside?  Hopefully not within Program Files in PP2014's core program folder.  Unless you have modified the direction path of the content installer, the Program Files folder is where that content will install.  And will be subject to Win7's UAC interference.  If you allowed PP2014 to install using default settings, your actual content should be located under a share folder within Documents.

The SR.5 updated main PP2014 content is in Documents, along with the original version (and since this was an upgrade), PP2012 folder also.  Previously I tried what you posted above about Shaderworks under Partners, and that's now why the earlier 2012 folder opens in the program itself.

When you say "Content installer" what do you mean?

Are you talking about the several gigs of content that comes with Poser (in a bunch of executables)? If so, the problem probably is, as already mentioned, that you've got your content runtime in Program Files and UAC is getting in the way.

Or are you talking about installing from 3rd party vendors at Renderosity or Daz? A lot of 3rd party content won't install using the Poser interface because the zips aren't set up correctly, so you just need to extract the files and drag them into your content runtime(s) manually so that the folder structure of the "runtime" directory in the zips matches the "runtime" directories in your content.

Daz zips wrap the "runtime" directory in a folder called "content" and this will play havoc with the Poser content installer. It needs zips to have the runtime folder in the root of the zip. If this is what has happened, you may find that you have a content directory that looks like this:

Poser Pro 2014

Runtime

Content>Runtime

If so, you just need to move that second runtime located inside "content" so that it is actually merging with the first runtime.

"Daz zips wrap the "runtime" directory in a folder called "content" and this will play havoc with the Poser content installer. It needs zips to have the runtime folder in the root of the zip."

If this is the case, one of two solution: (1) as mentioned in the post, or (2) use the free DAZ Install Manager (DIM) to handle those zips.

For any Vista/Win7/Win8+ users who tried to install content into a Program Files runtime which content is now missing, check C:Users{user account name}AppDataLocalVirtualStoreProgram FilesSmith MicroPoser Pro 2014Runtime and if you find anything there, manually move it to the runtime of your choice.