Hi

A little back story. I have around 400,000 items in ONE external Runtime. Up until now I've been using PzDB which indexed, cross referenced, and put everything in Groups. I can't though get the latest version to work with a large Runtime, and I don't want to go backwards to a previous version. Sooo...I plan to use Semideu's Library Manager 2. That does so much more, but having everthing in one runtime makes it extremely daunting trying to find anything, since now nothing is organized. I'm going to use PD3O to move things around, but I have some questions first.

I know the basic rules; do's & don'ts of creating Multiple External Runtimes but here's what I don't know:

1. Do I need to be concerned about going 'sub-folder crazy? Ie: is it better to make a RT named Weapons and then subs named 'Medieval', 'Modern', 'Ancient' etc. OR is it better just to make 3 RT's in this example: Weapons:Modern, Weapons:Ancient, Weapons:Medieval.

2)The common theme I see is that everyone seems to make a RT for each DAZ Generation 4 character; V4, A4, G4, S4, etc., and then put clothes, hair, materials, anything that's respective of the particular character it's made for. But then what do you do when something, like hair, outfits, poses? I mean I can see how to handle things that are unique to S4 or G4, but how would I find say, S4's Poses in the V4 folder, since there will be items in there that are meant just for V4, some for V4-A4-G4-S4, some for V4-A4 etc.?

1. Have to ask: Is there a limit of Runtimes I should make? Does Poser care?

2. Path lengths. Is the limit of alpha-numeric characters based on the 255 Windows rules, or does Poser have it's own? I'm assuming it's not just long file names (single file) that cause problems, but the whole path's character length of the top folder & all the subs?

Any tips from veterans would be greatly appreciated! 

Thank you

Hi Geoffrey,

I have round 8,9 external runtime and know about goods and bads of that. So let me give some hints.

Ad1) I dn't know Semidieu's LM2 but use D3Dimensions Library Manager and there it is a little bit more expensive to change runtime than to change only directories. This is cause runtimes need to be read over all while the subs are just in memory after having read the runtime. So my suggestion is clearly make a RT Weapons and do the diversification of the weapons by subdirs. Only keep in view not to exceed the windows path length.

Ad 2) Either,or ... Neither, nor ... will say its a matter of personal taste. I for example have matching male and female figures and their stuff in one runtime, e.g. Posette/Poserman (P4), V1-2/M1-2, V3/M3, V4(+S4,G4,A4,...), M4 ... with V4 it was neccessary to split male and female cause V4's boudoire is suuuuuch big. In my opinion the clothes are the main point for the RT-split. These are mostly only suitable for one figure, so they incl. their mat-poses should be divided for easier finding and loading. But there are 2 themes that stand a bit out of this: hair and movement poses. Hair can fit slightly easy to more than one figure, so my suggestion have a separat runtime for all hair and sort it by figure named subd in this runtime. Poses f older figures, e.g. P4, fit with small changes to all figures and can be hold over all in a commons runtime. Poses of V3/M3 need to be hold with their figures due to a different geometry in neck area, they mismatch with all other figures. Poses of new figures like V4 disturb slightly often older figures. So they are best located in V4 runtime. To split generatin 4 poses by single variant (V,S,A,G,...) makes no sense. By the way the old P4 poses are anyway a everytime good base to start a new pose for every newer figure. But if you have hand poses for special props, e.g. weapons, I would hold them together with the prop in that runtime and not with the figure.

Ad3) In general no, may depend on the behavior of the used library manager. May be that the build in original Poser manager can run in trouble cause it's holding all the stuff in memory as far as I know and thyt with the tricky flash or air technology. With my D3Dimension Manager there is absolutely no problem cause only the actual used runtime is hold in memory and you can switch between the runtimes with a fingertip.

Ad4) As far as I know Poser is having no trouble with long paths but clearly not longer than the OS, e.g. Windows is allowing. But in a lot of internal windows on the poser desktop long paths are not well shown and so to have too long paths can be cumbersome. In this context be warned that poser is having trouble with identical filenames in a lot of situations even if these a placed in different named paths and/or runtimes. This concerns geometry objcts as also textures there this problem most often acures. And the search order in directories poserr is using is a big question mark. So if you get a texture not fitting to the figure but coming from a runtime not belonging to the used figure have a look to the filename and remember that poser not evertime is using the pathname to identify correctly. Though to be honest this is not a problem f external runtime. It will happen in one runtime similary but a bigger number of runtimes can complicate this trouble. This is one thinf from the category: It was/is a bug but now called a feature by marketing ... :-)

Hope this will help you a little bit. B.t.w 400.000 items in one runtime how did you handle this and find the things easyly ...

Regards

Jo

Thank you so much Jo!

Keep in mind, certain files need to be kept together in one runtime or they will no longer work.  For example, V4 base and all her DAZ morph packages must be kept together or the morphs will not take next time you apply them.  Also, be aware that you might break absolute or relative pathways for certain MATPose and morph files.  Those need to be reestablished or Poser will go into an endless search to find them.  You can use D3D's File References script in his Tool Collection Package to fix those but it is tedious when you have many files to correct.

I've been told PD3O will move all folders and subs of a particular item? Choose the character of an item for example, and it will move that and all the other folders associated with it Pose, Props, etc.).

I have twenty runtimes.

V4 & Her Stuff

M4 & His Stuff

Genesis 1& 2

Plants & Environments

Horror & Gothic (Halloween type stuff goes in this one as well)

Apocalyptic

Old West/Indian

and so on. A few of my runtimes are collection specific such as West Park series and so on. All of my runtimes are on an external hard drive. 

A few of my runtimes (mainly V4 and M4) I organize even more than just having their own runtime. Characters such as clothing, the actual figure of V4 and some hair all installs into same folder. So I make Clothing folder and move all clothing characters to it, V4 stays in her original folder and I move the hair characters to the hair folder under hair. I do the same under poses in V4's runtime. I hated trying to find body poses and sifting through tons of clothing textures and vice versa. So I made a clothing folder, general body poses, character texture folder, and V4's morphs ++ and other vital tidbits I left in it's original pose folder.

For me I haven't notice a slow down in Poser or Daz by having so many runtimes. If anything, it speeds up my work flow because I know exactly where to go when I need to find something in a hurry. I suggest taking look at everything you have and make runtimes that fit your needs best but like others mentioned somethings won't work unless installed in same runtime so be careful.

One of the best discussions I've read on this topic so far.  My thanks for clarifying much of this.  Now I just have to figure out how to get multiple versions of Poser to play nice with the runtimes.  Just spent the day and a half it took to install and download updates for 10.

There is also the favorites tab in the Library for those files used on a regular basis.  Content available at your finger tips regardless in which runtime you are using presently 

@ cedarwolf: simply link the runtimes to each Poser version.  There shouldn't be any issues with access.

"and so on. A few of my runtimes are collection specific such as West Park series and so on. All of my runtimes are on an external hard drive. 

A few of my runtimes (mainly V4 and M4) I organize even more than just having their own runtime. Characters such as clothing, the actual figure of V4 and some hair all installs into same folder. So I make Clothing folder and move all clothing characters to it, V4 stays in her original folder and I move the hair characters to the hair folder under hair. I do the same under poses in V4's runtime."

Ah! that's what's tripping me up (I think?), ForEVEH, I've been extracting the zip to my desktop, making sure it's structure is right, but not changing any folder names, and then merging it in to my one Runtime. Everything fell, folderwise, how the designer put it together. 

Sooo...silly question, but my head is spinning- Do you have to organize, or create new subfolders under the Libraries' each and every 9 folders (Characters, Poses, Props, etc.)??

I've got about 2 dozen runtimes (I lost count). My system is very much like fictionalbookshelf's. I organize some things by figure (like morphs, characters, and modern clothing), and other things by theme, like Vikings, Gothic, Medieval, or function, like Terrain and Nature, Poses. Hair has its own runtime because hair can be scaled or adjusted to fit any figure.

Pretty much anything in the libraries subdirectory is open season for renaming, moving (within the same runtime), adding folders.

You can make folders anywhere you like, but if they're not inside the Libraries subdirectory, they won't show up in the Poser Library.

A directory only needs one folder to be linked in Poser, that is, a folder name "runtime". It can be completely empty, or it can have one pose file in Poses, or a single prop in Props, etc. You don't need to have files and folders in every Library category.

You can have pretty long names on your folders and subfolders, but I think there's a limit on how much of the name will actually show in the library -- which probably depends on the size of the library window when it's open in Poser.

Whenever I install new products, I look inside the ZIP to see what the folder structure is. If I like it, then I just drag the runtime to the directory where I want it so it merges with the other folders. If I want to change it, then I either extract it to a temporary folder and rename, delete, add subfolders, and then merge with the directory. Or I just merge it, and then rename the subfolders.

Thank you all!

Ooops. One last question. When you come up with a folder organization structure you like, do you then use that as a 'template' of sorts, and copy that into the other 8 libraries to keep everything uniform, or...?

I have 1000s of external runtimes.   this makes installing a breeze.  Using semidieu's advanced library manager from runtimedna makes finding my content in them really easy and also I can load the whole lot of them all at once if I want into poser (In poser library. you have to load them one at a time)  

and the other advantage of semideu's library manager (amongst the many) is that I can right click on a pose and just choose say an arm or hand or top part of the body etc.

here is just a small section of my content:-

sample showing a few of my many external runtimes:-

I thought I had attached the picture

I just noticed that I haven't labeled those runtimes very well.  the poses are meant to have the word poses in them so that when I want to see all my runtimes with poses in them I can just type the word poses into advanced library manager, and instantly I get to choose from a batch of runtimes with the word poses in the name of the enclosing folder, then I can select which of those I want and the library manager merges them all into one virtual runtimes.  

Also I can open several runtimes at once and choose items from all of them to put into my scene.

Ooops. One last question. When you come up with a folder organization structure you like, do you then use that as a 'template' of sorts, and copy that into the other 8 libraries to keep everything uniform, or...?

No, because every product is different, and many don't have poses or materials or a figure or whatnot, so you wouldn't want to make folders that won't be used. Also, different themes and functions will have different subcategories. My Terrain and Nature runtime, for instance, will have subfolders called "TREES" and "TERRAIN" and "ROCKS", etc. But my Medieval - Renaissance directory won't need those subfolders. It will have "INTERIORS" and "EXTERIORS" and "V4 CLOTHING" and "M4 CLOTHING". However, if a product uses more than one category (for example, it's clothing figure with mat poses and some matching prop accessories), then I will keep the folder structure for each category for that product consistent. So let's say, vendor OOT has a figure called "Fantastic Clothes" for V4, then I will put this product into my "V4 Modern Clothing" directory. In the Figures subfolder, I'll have a folder called "Fantastic Clothes -- OOT", and that's where I'll put the figures. If there are mat poses, I'll put them in a correlating folder with the same name in the Poses, and likewise if there are props. If I already have three or more articles of modern clothing for V4 by OOT, then I'll probably make a "vanity folder" called OOT in each of the appropriate categories, and I'll put a subfolder called "Fantastic Clothes" inside it. 

Putting the vendor's name somewhere on a folder is a habit I got into because vendors usually put their asset files (geometry and textures) in folders that use their names. So if there's a file reference problem and Poser can't find an obj or texture, I'll know what vendor made the item, so when I go to find the tex or obj for Poser, I'll have a very good idea where to look. It saves me from having to search through a bunch of readme's. :)

If you do it as external runtimes the folders for the products are already organized how they are meant to be, and you don't have to do anything except merge the various runtimes that belong to that same product and any addons.  then you find your hair mats in the right folder for the right figures and associated other pose files e.g. adjustment pose injections for a hair or something.

Nice work estherau!

Thanks everyone!

         :)       (I protest! Why don't we get real smilies in our 'lil Forum!?)

I'll try and post screen caps

I'm having trouble with this website new format.  

In this one you can see I have two windows of advanced library manager. I searched the word town and found I have several runtimes with the word town in the enclosing folder title. I select the badlands ones next.

see

and this is how it looks after i selected that thing and clicked.

Hello Esterau, the Runtime Queen..LOL.

WHAW, you have a lotta stuff. . . . . a 1.000 Runtimes??????? Oh dear, I can not imagine. . . .

I had to reformat both my Poser PC's around New year, and had to start all over..... from ZERO. (Some wonderfull hackers killed both of them over a 3 day period.)

Loosing a 1.000 runtimes of content? ? ? Kla-be-dadder. (Belgian dialect) here LOL.

I would back up the bachup of the backup tripple . . . . . . .

Ha -ha-ha-, I have only 3 runtimes. PP2010, PP2012,PP2014. I keep almost nothng..

I build something as a test, upload to freestuff, and delete it to start building something else for the next test..

A 1.000 runtimes? My neckhair starts to wiggle. LOL.

Here it is PURE Poser, no scripts, or (As Few As Possible), and Blender.

The only things I keep is hair. You can never have enough hair... LOL. And my personal test figures.....LOL.

So now the last ignorant Question (I keep saying that).

Zips you can control where things go. Extract it on the desktop and move things over. What about installers (*.exe)? When I had just one Runtime, which was named MyContent > Runtime > Libraries, etc., I extracted the exe's to MyContent. With Multiple Runtimes, I'm assuming if you have a Runtime named:

Animals > Runtime > Libraries > Character > Domestic, you'd point the installer to Animals, and then move things inside Animals to the Domestic (if it was a Doggy; Razorback Boars would go to 'Wild, as they don't make good pets) folder??

But then again, assuming it's not a DAZ Morph file, you could extract the installer too, to a temp folder on the desktop, right?

Yi-Yi-Yi

Yep.  Or you could reset your account and hopefully re-d/l the sipped files.

Oh. I didn't even think of that. I bet everything back over at DAZ is a Zip now- just re-download..

Thanks for that!

also advanced library manager can handle zips as well but I don't use that feature as I always rename my new runtimes to something searchable.

Vilters - I am backed up to the cloud as well as to external drives, and as I'm on a mac I think it unlikely that anything bad will happen to my drives.  But my cloud backup took about 8 months to do as it is my whole computer.

Love esther

I use CrashPlan (too?) to backup to the cloud. It's a good feeling knowing that you don't have to worry about a drives's failure, theft, or natural disaster.

http://www.code42.com/crashplan/

yes - u r correct. I use crashplan.  There were some hiccups initially because it wasn't backing up  the bigger files and I had to change (under instruction from the crash plan people) something in an xml file to make it work.  some of my PZ3s and images are huge.

Love esther

Remembers me that the actual backup is overdue a big, big time ...

Some small hints for rearranging folders:

1. I found that a lot of python scripts are placed best in the original Poser runtime. Especially if they should be shown in Poser menu. Pythons used to load library thing mostly work from the external if call via pz2 or such.

2. If long pathnames are a problem I suggest cutting of the vendor names from them. Ok, maybe it's not what vendors will find nice but a exceeding length is also not trivial. And I'm rarely n pain to find out the vendor if getting trouble cause I normally repair that by myself. But ONLY cut or change pathnames in the library structure and NEVER for path in geometries or textures or morphs folders. Otherwise the references in cr2,pp2,... will miss them.

3. Object files are sometimes in the same folder like cr2 or pp2 (poser itself is placing them there if you save a obj out of poser desktop). I personally find this somewhat unorganized and therefor create a geometries subfolder and move the obj in there and then I modify the references in cr2 or pp2 to the correct location. In single case its done best with text editor. With more stuff I let Dimension3D's Poser File Organizer do the job. Also a lot of original Poser content and some freestuff CR2s (conforming clothes) are placed in pp2 folder and named pp2. That was a really silly idea of a poser guy. It's really irritating searching for a coth in characters which for what damned reason placed in pp2 folder. So to have this shit and a lot of others corrected it's even a good idea to have a new build runtime checked by Dim3d's PFO. Small price and worth every cent and more.

4. For me it's normally best to unpack every new stuff first into a temporary directory, to checkt it and then push it with or without modification to the correct place in my runtimes. With zips, rars, etc. that no problem but some DAZ files, no only V4, are looking for the poser.exe as reference for the runtime. In this case just copy the poser.exe into the temporary folder structure ... :-) but use a poser.exe not the othernamed exe's of poser64 or such.

5. For me it's a good idea to push all the texture templates out of the regular runtime structure. Those templates are used rather seldom (for me, texture artists a bit more) and not all togerher in one time. So I hold them on a read/write DVD for use by need. This is lowering the volume of the runtimes and therefor speeding up things just on harddisk level. And if a template is not just on hand there are a lot of tools (free) out there which can produce the template from the obj-file and also each better 3D-modelling app can do this. Or you use a existing texture as blue print. So no need to waste big time on template organisation.

And at last if you reorganise your big runtime from scratch make first a plan for the new structure cause it can be painful to rearrange stuff in the new structure only cause a needed folder is missing and a lot of stuf is then in a wrong position. With clothes you then need not only to move the cr2's but also the accompanying pz2, mt5 and/or pp2 to a new subfolder or otherwise you spend much time in searching them later in wrong positions.

But all in all not a rocket science and worth the work for much easier fun later ...

Cheers Jo

I keep adjusting the actual folders, but my Runtimes are of two types:  Figure or Project.  Ex:  Nekkid Posette in a locker room snapping a towel.  Yeah, I know . . .

Runtime:  Posette --> Libraries --> Figures --> !WM P4 HiRes Nude Female wG [Note:  Still working on this]

• Runtime:  Hair --> Libraries --> Hair or Figures (depends on the hair) + Poses, Materials, etc. (if any)

• Runtime:  Locations --> Libraries --> Figures --> Locker Rooms + Props --> Towels --> Rat Tail + Poses --> Towels --> Rat Tail + Lights

= Runtime:  Sports Arena --> Libraries --> Scenes --> Locker Room --> Rat Tail + an animation folder somewhere [Note:  Still working on this also]

*    *    *

Who is it Runtime + Where is it Runtime = What, Why, and How Runtime.  Since I can link externals to my workbench (or whatever you call it), I only link what I am using at the time; Poser does not care if my computer fills up since I usually only have maybe five linked at a time (for the example:  Posette, Locations, Hair, Locker Room, and Victoria 4 if I am also doing hair and clothing refits in the same work session).

Since I prefer Posette to anyone else, I keep any clothes made for another figure in that figure's Runtime and keep any refits in Posette's Runtime since the refits are specific to her.  When I get around to it, I will do the same with Hair:  Original files in Hair Runtime and refits in Posette's Hair folder.

I link all mine at once and I have 1000s

Last (?) Questions. I realize you can build multiple runtimes anyway you want basically, but I want to make sure I start out right, and not 4 months later think, "gee I wish I would've done that differently. So:

   1) Do most of you create a Runtime with subcategories to keep it neat, or do you just make everything a separate Runtime?

       Example: Runtime/Creatures/Character/Vampires                                         Runtime | Creatures:Vampires

                       Runtime/Creatures/Character/Werewolves                                    Runtime | Creatures:Werewolves

                       Runtime/Creatures/Character/Zombies                                          Runtime/Creatures | Zombies   

                         (same Runtime W/Subcategories)                                                          (All separate Runtimes)

1. If I make a Runtime named 'Generation 4' for the various DAZ bases & their Morphs, what do I do with 2nd party designers, like P3D, or Seven, who like to make their         character FBM's out of a combination of Morphs++, Aiko Morphs, and some times even S4 Morphs? Do I either put a subcategory of 'People' in my Generation 4                 Runtime, so it can pickup all needed Morphs, or is their a way to make a separate Runtime named 'People, without duplicating the various DAZ Morphs? Guessing not.

2. Same basic question as above for a 'Creature' Runtime. I can put Creature Creator Morphs in there, but sometimes. depending on what the creature is, it isn't it's own         CR2, it';s V4 or M4 with Morphs++. Same deal- either put it in with Generation 4 Runtime, or duplicate Morphs++ in this Runtime?

Again, I know I can do either, but how do most handle this situation?

Thank you

I make every single item I buy in a separate runtime, except sometimes I merge some vehicle runtimes together or a couple of pose runtimes.  If there is an add=on e.g. hair mats of course I then put it with the hair in the same runtime.  but each hair has it's own runtime.  that way the mats etc line up with the hair props.  Makes it quick and easy to find my stuff and also quick to install.  (I still want a poser secretary though)

Love esther

Using your example # 1, Mr. Woodget, I would either make mine by base figure or by project.  If I just wanted creature versions of a figure with no immediate intention of using it with any other figure, I would have it in a sub folder of the figure's Runtime.

Example:  Runtime:  Victoria --> Victoria 4.2 --> Monsters --> Vampire (folder, as there will probably also be clothing or props that are classified as figures)

If I were starting a project where I would actually use the creature, I would start a new Runtime and immediately copy into it everything I thought I would need for that project so I can find it all in one place.  This helps me 3 ways:  I can just link the 1 Runtime and not have to scroll down (yes, we can number or put a ! to bring it to the top, but why bother?), it gives me an extra copy of whatever just in case something happens to the original and I either forgot to back it up normally or I misplace the backup, and all of end products are stored in the same place instead of "Victoria's Vampire Dress" only in Victoria's Runtime + "Mike's Bloody Corpse" only in Mike's Runtime + "Gothic Graveyard" only in Locations Runtime.

Otherwise it is Select Runtime + Select Library Tab + Select Folder + Select Sub, repeat for next Runtime, Render, Save Where Again?

*    *    *

Your 2nd Question:  Since I do not use much or anything made with morphs from more than once source, I cannot really advise you on this.  Since you do not want to duplicate the files, * I * would just put all V4/A4/Whatever in my existing Runtime:  Additional Figures, since those characters can be used by more than one figure UNLESS they have to be in the same Runtime as the base figure, but I think you can tell Poser where to look, even in a different Runtime, and just have it cross reference automatically after that (unless you move something later, then you just have to do it again).

Your 3rd Question:  Answered, really, by my Per Figure If Specific / Additional Figure If Multi Use / Project system.

The only folders that get changed "regularly" are in the Project Runtime since I already copy everything I think I will use and treat the other Runtimes like source material.  Those rarely have anything altered, just new things added from time to time.

At the risk of sounding redundant (again?) and, as I am getting hungry, I will use soup as my example.  The bowl is the Project Runtime and each type of ingredient is brought over from somewhere else:  Water from the sink, veggies and meat from the fridge, seasonings from the pantry.  Getting everything ready and cooking it is what Poser is for.  If I did a good job, I enjoy the soup.  If not, I can make minor adjustments but, if it really sucks, I just start over or go hungry.  As long as I do not burn down the house, I should be fine. :)

How you organize your runtimes will depend on what content you have and what kind of content you use. Since this changes over time (unless you're always buying the same things), eventually, no matter how perfect your initial organization is, you'll want to change things. Moreover, what works and is easy for a relatively small content library will be very challenging to work with if you end up with a million files or more. I don't think there's ever going to be a final template you can use that you won't find you need to alter at some point. 

Some things to keep in mind...

You can make an infinite number of subfolders. But too many will become unwieldy, and you'll get tired of clicking through them. So don't make a subfolder unless you really need it.

At the same time, a folder with a long list of items in it will require annoying amount of scrolling, especially if your favorites things are at the bottom. Here's where subfolders will be very good. How much scrolling you're willing to put up with vs how much clicking through subfolders is a very subjective thing. Some prefer to scroll; some prefer to click. I'm a clicker. If you're a scroller, you'll want to organize things very differently.

You can use pretty long names for your folders, and even with a small docked library, most of the name will show. So I often put extra information in the folder name, such as vendor name or category: Black Mini Skirt - OOT or Creatures - Sixus1 .

You can use capital letters to emphasize category names, and use the ! or other such characters at the beginning so that category folders appear at the top of the list. Example: !EXTERIORS, !FURNITURE, !INTERIORS, !SMALL PROPS, Dante, Faveral, Merlin (Here I've got categories for medieval scenes and props first, and below that, my favorite vendors get their own "vanity" folders. I could put those vendors' items inside the category folders, but I like their stuff so much that I want to keep them visible when I first open the runtime.)

You can always move and rename folders within a runtime library, so the main decision you have to make, really, is WHICH main runtime to put a product in. And that should be, I think, what you expend most of your thinking time on. After that, you'll probably move it around at some point inside that runtime. But you can do that inside Poser. No problem.

Finally, use the favorites option for the files you really do use the most. V4's Cr2 and the Morphs++ injections, for instance. I think fav's work best if there aren't too many. Others like to organize all their files via favorites. Up to you. :)

Thanks everyone for the excellent input! I think I have enough info now to start building it & screw things up. :)

what could possibly go wrong?

Don't fail to overlook the Library's Favorites tab in current Poser versions.  It will save you from hunting through numerous runtime folders just to find the right model/prop.  It is accessible regardless of which runtime folder you're in and you can organize projects without mover any files which can confuse Poser if identical files are generated multiple times.

favourites are in advanced library manager 2 as well, but I never use it because I can have several libraries open at once and also I can just type a word into the search and it instantly gives me a result even though I have 1000s of external runtimes.  

This is a very informative thread. I've been away from Poserland for a couple years, and now trying to get back into it.

I've been having a difficult time trying to wrap my head around adding DS content with it's Poser CF files into  a Runtime that is orderly, as when I attempted to DL the zips and install them, I end up with a scattered mess with multiple data, content, and runtime folders, and when I used DIM, it just made one huge folder. Is there an example of a correct folder layout  so all my content is functional?

I had a working runtime for the Genesis 2 / V6 characters but it was a mess, after I "cleaned" it up to a normal layout, most content doesn't work. 

Where Genesis/Genesis2 is concerned, many users opt to keep the Poser CF files and DAZ dedicated files separate in their own folders which are linked to the Poser Library.  Yes, even the DAZ folder, this is how DSON collects the necessary data to reconstruct the models in Poser.  When using DIM, you must manually select the install path for each content file you would like to add.  Unfortunately, DIM is not very intuitive when working with install files.  

So, select all the files for Poser CF and, under preferences, direct DIM to install to your runtime folder containing Genesis/Genesis 2.  I prefer to keep these installs in their own collective folders.  If a path does not previously exist, create one but make certain that it is properly selected or your files will be installed elsewhere.  Exit preferences and proceed to install your Poser files.  Now go back and select all the necessary files for DAZ.  Not necessary to have DAZStudio, but you should create a folder which will contain the same content set up for DAZ files.  DIM will take care of the install process so you won't need to populate the subfolders.  Enter DIM preference again and select the DAZ folder which will receive content.  Exit and resume installation.  DIM will strip all folders from within the Content folders in the ZIP and place them where they belong.  As long as you use this method, installation progresses smoothly without a hitch.  Remember, the DAZ folder must be linked to the Poser Library.