Hi

Getting error opening a .dsf file

Following README:

INSTALLATIONS INSTRUCTIONS

Unzip the "PROHIBITION POLICE CAR BUNDLE" folder in your My DAZ 3D Library folder.

If you don't have such folder, create it in Users/Public/Documents/

The FORD B 400 POLICE and the LINCOLN 1929 POLICE are now located in Props/3DClassicsVEHICLES/

These are the erorrs

but all the assets are present in the location. I don't understand. Also would be awesome if it just shown full paths instead....

Thanks

Do you have a folder called My DAZ 3D Library linked to DAZStudio? The instructions in the readme documentation are vague, in my opinion.  If you created a separate folder exclusively for the police car bundle, link it to DS. Otherwise, place the zip file contents into the My Library folder. The My DAZ 3D Library folder is automatically created by the DAZ Install Manager application which installs all free and purchased DAZ content.

This help:

Probably the Prohibition Police car Bundle folder contains folders names Data, Runtime, and at least one other (maybe props) - those need to be merged with the matching folders in your content directory (e.g. the  My Daz3D Library folder). You should be able to see the folder with the presets for loading the model in the content library, but not the Data and Runtime folders.

Have you added the Users/Public/Public Documents/Prohibition Police Car Bundle to the  Daz Studio Formats

Right click on the Content Panel  Select Add A Base Directory

Paste the link Users/Public/Public Documents/Prohibition Police Car Bundle in the Folder Section

Select Folder

Once you do this the folder should be added and you should see the Prohibition Car Bundle in the the Content Panel.

Now select something and see if it works.

Remove the old link because it is missing something

I completely disagree with GGreen. Look, Jemtromno, you need to find your DS Library folder. To do that, open DS, press F2 or Edit => Preferences in
the top menu to open Preferences. Select the content tab and press the wide button at the bottom marked Content Directory Manager. That will show you the location of your DS library. Close DS. Copy the Data, Props and Runtime directories from your Prohibition Car Bundle. Go to your DS library directory, open it and paste the 3 copied directories into your DS library. Open DS. The user-facing files will be in the Props folder of DS as DocPhoton shows above.

@Torquinox - Well my instructions were based on the information that the original poster shared -

INSTALLATIONS INSTRUCTIONS

Unzip the "PROHIBITION POLICE CAR BUNDLE" folder in your My DAZ 3D Library folder.

If you don't have such folder, create it in Users/Public/Documents/

The FORD B 400 POLICE and the LINCOLN 1929 POLICE are now located in Props/3DClassicsVEHICLES/

I do not install my stuff this way at all. I was only assisting him with how to get the information to work if he followed the instructions he shared above. I have absolutely nothing install in Users/Public/Documents.

Did you even read what he posted. My response was to help with the information he shared. I do not have one large runtime as many here have. I have runtimes based on

Themes.  Example my Prohibition Runtime includes all clothing, props, etc that pertain to that time period such as flapper dresses, hats, jewelry, shoes, tommy guns, gangster stuff, and anything else from that time period

I read it! Those instructions are awful. Not your instructions - The product instructions. If we're helping, we should offer info that's actually helpful.

It is not desirable to have separate content directories for every product - when daz Studio is looking for a file it takes a relative path (/data/3D Classics/Ford B 400 Police/ etc. here) and sticks it on to each content directory in turn until it finds the referenced file or runs out of content directories. Having a great many content directories, as a result of making a separate one for each product, will start to have a noticeable impact on load times. Checking for a file at a given location in one or a few consolidated directories will be much faster, even if the directories do get quite large. That is why the advice in the product readme is poor.

Thanks for that, Richard.

We all have different ways of doing things, some people have one runtime and it works for them, but my system is set up according to how I work. I have some major runtimes such as Female, Male, Shaders, Scripts, Clothing, Footwear,  Hair. I have a very large collection been working with this stuff for more 15 years. Everything else I use is based on the genre it falls in. Example Theme-Apocalyptic-Cyber-DieselPunk-Dystopian-Military -SciFi-Wasteland - has everything that falls within any of these genre because this is how my scenes are created. Theme-Scary has anything that is scary to me, vampires, horror, halloween, ghosts, etc.  Theme-Fantasy has all fantasy stuff, Theme Crime has all crime related stuff, etc. These themes have both the Poser and the Daz files. I use lots of poser stuff in my designs but I simply apply Daz shaders as needed. Some of these freebies we get have no structure they are simple in a zip file with no runtimes everything in one section. A bit frustrating, but still usable. The stuff I post in my gallery is simply me testing out the files to see if they work the way I want, once the testing is done I simply upload to my gallery. 

@GGreen there are two different conversations going here.

The first is, should we follow the instructions given in the Prohibition Car Bundle? I say, no we should not follow those instructions because they are a boilerplate solution with no thought given to organizing assets into a usable form. Whether one uses a single library or multiple libraries, the install location should be chosen for ease of use and integration into an organizational system. For many people, putting the assets in the main DS library for use in DS is a good idea. Some people may have other ideas.

The second is apparently about your own installation practice. You've been doing this long enough that you know what you're doing and it works for you. It sounds well thought out and remarkably well organized. Cheers to all that! Richard indicates there may be a hit in file performance in DS for doing that. It doesn't seem to bother you. So, it's all good! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yes everything is good.  I just think there should be a standard for vendors as to how they set up these file structures. Some are a complete mess.

I completely agree, @GGreen !