Pretty soon I'm going to be doing a full system reinstall. Which is kind of a pain in the neck, but it give me a fresh system, fewer memory issues, and the chance to fix the numerous bugs I've ended up with in my Daz Studio install.

I plan on doing everything from scratch. Deleting all content, except saved scenes and customized skins. That is something I have to read up on. I've used Skin Creator to do a couple, and I want to make sure I don't mess them up as the characters are ones I use a LOT.

From scratch, what is the best way to install Daz Studio? Now we got Daz Central, only I've noticed that not all purchased content shows up in Daz Central. We got DIM, which has its own quirks but clearly is still needed since they still update it. And then we got just installing Daz Studio and using the internal installer to add content.

Currently, I keep getting content that goes missing, some that gets that annoying "U" icon, and some that says its uninstalled even though I know for a fact that is is installed to the hard drive. Every method creates a DIFFERENT file structure, so that means that due to needing to get some content or another working, I have some content installed multiple times. I've currently got an error stating that LAMH player and full suite are both installed, so it says it won't work, only it shows as uninstalled in both Daz Central and DIM and oddly enough I can open it and use it just fine.

On top of that, scripts work when they feel like it, with no real clue as to why sometimes when I run a clothing converter is works great, and other times it tells me that it can't find any clothing.

Phew!

A reinstall also means reaquiring all my third party content and installing it fresh. My plan is to install a Seagate Barracude 1TB HD I have lying around JUST for Daz Studio.

In six months I'll be building a new PC, so I would really like to get this figured out now, ahead of time, to make that process into the pure joy it should be. Now is an excellent time for me to deal with headaches. I just finished writing a book, I've nearly worked through all my WIP renders. It's just the right time to get this done.

Any advice before I get started? I'm thinking of going at it on Monday. Prior to the reinstallation of Windows 10, I'm going to backup my scenes/skins and then delete all DAZ content I can find ahead of time. Clear out the space it has managed to take on three different hard drives, which is why I think it takes such a long time to load things now.

I know, I know. I've got close to 3,000 Daz store items now, and lots of stuff from Renderosity and elsewhere. So it's a big file structure. But considering that each of my three current drives is a different speed, it really slows the whole PC down everytime I run Daz Studio now. The Barracuda is pretty fast, so it should speed things up overall.

I just want a nice clean setup to get me through until I can build the new PC and retire this one to light duty.

Thanks ahead of time!

My recommendation is to stick to either or both DAZ Central and DIM to reinstall your content. You have more flexibility in determining where you want your content placed and keep better track of your installed files. Personally, I haven't had the opportunity to examine DAZ Central closely; I have more experience with DIM. I recently rebuilt an old computer which is still pretty decent and began the process of installing Poser 11 and DS on a second machine. In this case, I intend to streamline installation and pick and choose what I want as content instead of bloating the system.

I keep telling myself that, but then I get on a creative kick and emd up installing everything but the freebie textures for things I don't have.

And I seem to be a sucker for legacy sales. I mostly do Gen 8, but can't resist biying old content if I can get it dirt cheap. 8 items for $3? Yes please!

LOL!

Central is just a prettier but dumber version of DIM so don't even bother with it.

I'll definitely keep that in mind.

LOL Daz Central > DIM and DIMmer I manually install all my DS content, except for a few that requires DIM The drawback of manual installations is that from time to time you have to check on updates manually as well.

You could use DIM to download, then as long as leave the zip (or at least the matching .dsx file) in the Downloads folder you will get update notifications even if you install the content manually.