Hi, I hope nobody minds what may be a dumb noob question here:

I've created a few smartprops in Hex2 for Poser7 and they work fine. The .obj objects I made imported OK into Poser, and they saved fine in the directory I made for them in the Props library, which I called "Custom". In Poser when I view the Prop library, the props are visible in the "Custom" directory, I see the thumbnails for them, they load up fine and perform perfectly as smartprops. However, in Windows Explorer when I look inside the folder I made (...Runtime/Libraries/Props/Custom) it tells me the folder is empty. I can see the .pp2 and .png files in all other prop directories for products I have downloaded, but not my own, so it doesn't appear to be some kind of hidden file issue. I assume the prop files are lurking somewhere in the Poser directory tree since they continue to load from the Props library and work fine, even after I closed Poser, moved the pre-import Hex-created .objs to a different place, then restarted Poser.

I was under the impression that Poser created a .pp2 file when saving a smartprop - am I mistaken in this? I like the props I made and I'd like to share them as freebies, but that's a tad difficult when I can't get hold of the files to upload...

If anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong, or if this prob has already been covered elsewhere in the forum and someone can point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful. Thanks muchly! :)

Have you tried to just search the runtime folder with Windows Explorer for the prop name instead of navigating to where you think it is? What I do is set up separate runtime files for each project I work on, this way props don't get lost. Then I save them to that particular runtime until I'm finished. 

I haven't run into this before. Best thing you can do is search with Windows Explorer for the prop name. It should find it now problems, just don't navigate to it manually. Let me know if you find it. 

Poser will create either a PP2 or a PPZ file when saving a prop to the library; PPZ if you have file compression turned on in your preferences, PP2 if it is off.

Where did you place your library when you installed Poser, and what OS are you using?

     If your computer is Vista/Win7/Win8 and your library is in program files, Windows' User Account Control will put your saved props in VirtualStore.

     Look in C:UsersadminAppDataLocalVirtualStoreProgram Files.

You nailed it, seachnasaigh! That's exactly where they were hiding, alright. I had no idea about that User Account Control thing. Many, many thanks :)

And thanks 3DFineries and EnglishBob for your responses also! I greatly appreciate all your help :)

My custom expressions, hands, poses, lights - in fact everything I've saved - were all squirreled away in there. I've just never had occasion to go looking for their files before...

     To keep the problem from recurring, create another runtime somewhere outside of program files if you are using P8 or later.  Put all of your purchased content and homemade stuff in the new remote runtime.  P8 and later default to provide a downloadsruntime in shared documents.  Use it if you've got it.

     If you are using P7 (or the original Poser Pro) or earlier, your options are to re-install Poser somewhere outside of program files, or make a desktop shortcut for the VirtualStore folder, and after saving stuff, you open the virtualStore folder, and manually cut/paste your stuff into the P4-P7 runtime.

In Poser 7, you could also create your own additional runtime outside the program files, and use that in future. You can preserve the default P7 runtime in its current position.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll go with one of those options. Cheers :)

Users-yourusername-AppData-Local-VirtualStore-Program Files (x86)-Smith Micro-Poser 10-Runtime-Libraries-Character-New Figures

This is where I found it in Poser 10 running on Windows 10.

Kinda sucks how they have to "Hide" everything from you lol

If you move the Poser 7 program directory outside of the Program Files hierarchy (say, to c:Poser),  it will still work and avoid the UAC issue,  and reinstalling SR3 and pointing it to the new location (telling it to use existing preferences) will update the shortcuts and file associations...

http://my.smithmicro.com/poser-7-updates.html

Thank you WandW.  I have done that before, but just thought for anyone migrating to Win10 and deciding to do the "Default" install, it might be nice to know ;-)

I didn't want to reinstall, but I was having an issue after the Win10 update with poser crashing immediately.  Turns out it wasn't Poser related, but I reinstalled, and tried the default "just in case"

I also am running Poser 10, and for some reason on Win7 I never could turn off the "Are you sure" dialog when I launched poser.  That was annoying to say the least as sometimes I reload poser 10-12 times a day when I am working on a project due to it's inherent issues, and wanting a clean palette for the next step of the job.

BUT,,,again for taking the time to reply, I do appreciate that.  So many view and run.....I too sometimes am guilty of that ;-)

One doesn't  need to reinstall; just move the installed program's folder and update the shortcut... :)