Some time ago I had asked if DS 4.8 is compatible with .daz scene files from DS 4.0 and the consensus here is that it shouldn't be a problem as long as the file content is not too old, such as pre-DAZ 4.0 or pre-V4.

Well, when I've tried to open some of my previous DS work going back to 2013 & '14, it gets a little more than halfway and then gives me Missing File error messages that say:

"Could not find file: Runtime/Textures/DAZ/Characters/MilWom/V4/V4 HiTorso,V4 HiHead, V4 SkinNeck, V4 SkinHip.dsi..."

So I followed that folder path it gave me and it's true that those .dsi files are not in my current DS 4.8, just Jpegs.

But what I don't understand is that all her original files/parts were in those .daz scene files otherwise I could never have created or saved them in the first place. They had opened just fine in the past.

What's more, I can recreate or regenerate Victoria 4 within 4.8 with the Powerloader fine, and it creates the stock V4 with all her standard parts with no problem. So where is the DS 4.8 folder containing .dsi files that my old V4 needs?

Can you type in the search V4 SkinHip.dsi on the C-Drive(Assuming you have it on C) and see what comes up. On the first "Could not find file.
When you click locate it will open explorer and in the file ref at bottom I always copy/paste that and place in search. and you could put the .dsi on end although a full search will bring up anything with the name no matter what file extension.

.daz files are hit and miss, especially if the content was moved or is on a new computer, then it is more miss than hit. There is a major reason that .daz files were replaced by the DSON format. The issue you are describing is the biggest one of them.

You can try loading the individual pieces of content in the .daz file into an empty scene. (You don't have to pose it or anything) then load the .daz file. that may restore the paths, if you still have all the content.

LPR,

I did a search on my comp as you suggested, and it turned up nothing. So I can't understand it. Surely the V4 that DS powerloads & installs(and it does) must have those parts within itself or default V4 from 4.8 would never successfully load, as it does. I've tested it.

Unless those older files have become corrupted somehow. But all of them? I have them backed up on several different drives. From 2+ years ago. Is it simply the old .daz format simply not being compatible?

First thing, the old .DAZ scene files only store the rig, poses, dial settings, render settings, surface settings and which of the several thousand DSO/DSD/DSV files goes where, these are generated when you saved the scene, lose that data folder with all of those files and your .DAZ files are useless.

.DSI are Layered Image Editor (LIE) XML code files from DS2 and 3, the LIE in DS4 was changed and no longer creates those files but can still use any existing files.

Now depending on which product you originally used in the scene, it might be a case of it's been updated and those files removed from the product.

Thanks for that info Bejaymac. I've already accepted the fact now that I'll be starting all over again with the character originally created in .daz format, and now moving forward saving everything in .duf. Now some of the old preset files I've found still work, but will henceforth be saving all presets in .duf as well.