A lot of cool things are being made available lately but I do have some issues with some things.. For future reference.. if it is for P5 please mark it for p5 Please please do not put an uninstaller with the installer. 1. I do not need A whole bunch of uninstallers for items. (Besides this is what I have P-un for) I also do not trust uninstallers. Please please put maps in textures, geometries in geometries, and everything in it's place. Not everything in the character, prop, hair, or whatever folder. I do NOT need it there. And I just have to edit the file to point it where it belongs. Quit trying to get your folder on top.. I do not need folders named !!!!!!!Stormswork Do put your textures in textures/yourname This helps me find things. Do put your geometries in /geometries/yourname for the same reason Sigh going back to cleaning up my poser after installing a bunch of stuff.

Same here, I've been on a download spree for the last couple of days and now I'll have to reorganize things for another day lol. I think the most important advice would be to put everything in Runtime and not in yourname category but in something appropriate - eg weapons, furniture, etc.

Thanks Stormrage, I hate installers and hate uninstallers even more. Marque

Heya, having provided free stuff in the pass, I have perhaps (unintentionally) commited a few of these atrocities. I apologize. It would be nice if the community could adopt a standard or at least come up with a set of guidelines that those of us, who are willing to cooperate, could go by. Back to the subject, I would like to add to the list. (1) that a thumbnail of the download item (can be the same one used to display the item here) be included. (2) that a readme be included and that it not be named in some way (other than readme) to indicate what goes to. Also, the readme should indicate who provided the file, and also what usage restriction they wish for it - such as "you may (or may not) use this in a picture you want to sell. Not just commercial or non-commercial use only, since that seems to mean different things to different folks.

I sometimes provide installers because some people asked me for them. I don't do it much but uninstallers.. NO PLEASE.. :) Had a freestuff one take out poser one time.. (not dina's uninstaller from wayyy back but a freestuff item) i do not need that again :)

My suggestion is to ALWAYS "install" to a folder you've created somewhere (I simply use "new folder" on the desktop.) Then, move things from the directories created by the uploader to where they should be in your Poser directories. You can avoid folder overload this way. For example, rather than having several folders in Props named "John's conforming tinfoil hats," "Selena's squeezeboxes," "!!!!Ultimate Dragon Chow," and "Xoco's Milllennium Pelvis Wings" you can simple put 'em all in your "misc" folder. Or whatever. It's more work in the moment but less hunting in the long run.

Oh yeah, and speaking of readmes...put them in the ReadMe's folder and clearly name them. I had overwrite issues with at least a third of my downloads.

I agree with xoconostle on installing to a seperate folder first. I set up a dummy Poser version for just this reason, and install everything to it first, zip, sit, exe, whatever. On more than one occassion this has allowed me to catch and fix things that would have given me probs later. Definitely a tip worth considering.

I try to name things so people will recognize them Textures/Thunderstorm Creations Geometries/TSC Figures/TSC Lights/TSC Camera/TSC Pose/TSC Runtime/TSCDOCS this lets people find things without searching. But too many people don't even do that.. SIGH

What really IRKS me is the ones who start everything in their download path with something IDIOTIC and irrelevant to the poser structure like: mywonderfulpreciouslovelydownloadfilesruntimetextures........ People really need to make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in front of that "runtime..." in the zip file paths, or the paths are worse than useless.

It's a matter of adjusting winzip .. Instead of clicking Save full path info UNCHECK it and it will zip everything without that my mywonderfulpreciouslovelydownloadfiles folder I learned that when i was zipping up something and it wouldn't zip without storms/runtime

Or when Poser looks for textures stored on someone's 'D' drive...

While I agree with some of the things there are reasons for others you are not aware of or not thinking about. >Do put your textures in textures/yourname This helps me find things. >Do put your geometries in /geometries/yourname for the same reason Ok, not everyone knows how to organize thier stuff the way you do. In fact the majority don't. So if everyone names something the same thing for example supposed they name the folder and prop something like this RuntimeGeometriesDAZPeoplevicky then you got your vick model overwritten. I think that would piss you off more. When you name all the folders the same thing that can happen and I have seen it happen, i dont remember which prop it was from the free stuff but it would have overwritten something i already had. was something like swordssword.obj way too common Now you think someone that has put out thier work out there for free really want to sign on rosity and then walk a several hundred people through trying to fix it. Next if they do not make it simple for people to install they are going to get again 100 messages from people asking them how to install it or how to use it. First rule in making anything for the public be it a program or a simple prop is make it as easy as you can for the dumbest person you can think of. Everything else yeah I have seen those problems but you know I don't bitch about them. First off the stuff is free. and yes some of the stuff out there takes hours to do. These people giving away free stuff are giving you hours out of thier life so you do not have to spend hours doing it yourself or it is somethign your not good at. An example is the Tower construction kit. I know very well that took him a month + to make it of all his free time. he put it out there for free, No charge, and still some people bitch. You can always just go buy everything from Daz or build it yourself.

That's why I suggested naming things Textures/yourname geometries/yourname it prevents overwriting things by other people. These people giving away free stuff are giving you hours out of thier life so you do not have to spend hours doing it yourself or it is somethign your not good at yep I know because I put a lot out for free. And I try to use the same rational as stuff I put in the store as I do for free items. Because it makes it a bit easier on all customers be it free or not. I have hundreds of thousands of poser files. Files I have to manually place because people didn't put in paths. Files I have to move obj's because someone put them in the character's folder not in geometry Files I have to move textures Or correct texture placement I have seen it all. :) I can bitch because I DO put things out for free. 95 % of my stuff has been free. And I maintain High standards for my freestuff. So should anyone releasing freestuff.

And a big thank you to Stormrage, and all the other freestuff creators :-)

Stormrage I couldn't agree more. Lots of stuff I download ends up in the recycling bin without ever having been installed at all, mainly if they're left with no paths at all. I do NOT want to go around guessing where to put what. Of course I could go look in the cr2 (or whatever) file but frankly it would have to be a very special item before I would bother doing it. It's too bad coz lots of the stuff looks very nice in preview and then ends up as garbage. Not long ago I downloaded a unicorn and a pegasus just to find out that the frikkin OBJ WASN'T in the zip :o(((( And yes it DID want an obj >:o( What a shame. I was looking foreward to playing with the pegasus...but no. I TRY to zip everything as I want it zipped. But I ust admit that I only recently was made aware of the generic readme.txt issue... :o}

Gee, I guess I'm the only one who uses "my" technique. I have been using a product called "Windows Commander since shortly after he introduced it (1993). It's made by Christian Ghisler (from Switzerland or Sweden...can't remember) and started out as shareware. Still is. Unless he has changed it, it has unlimted use. But I registered my copy years ago and haven't upgraded so I don't know. I "run" it in dual pane mode (screen split into two windows). Because it has its built-in unzipping routine, you can double-click on the zip and work up and down the files and folders in the zip and when you find what you want, just change the target folder in the other pane and pull out just that part of the zip. Then navigate to other portions of the zip by clicking the "up" button or double-clicking the folder you want to go deeper into. I never use Windows Explorer. SO, I guess you could say I extract the zip file in parts and pieces and place them where I want them. BTW Windows Commander is DEFINITELY worth a look as a replacement for Windows Explorer.

[[ It's a matter of adjusting winzip .. Instead of clicking Save full path info UNCHECK it and it will zip everything without that my mywonderfulpreciouslovelydownloadfiles folder I learned that when i was zipping up something and it wouldn't zip without storms/runtime]] ************ You have things in folders actually named "...stormsruntime...whatever"? ? ? I was under the impression that all Poser stuff HAD to be in "...Poser 4runtime... whatever." This sounds like you could have DOZENS of various folders under Poser 4, EACH with its own whole ...runtime... setup - (i.e., ...Poser 4stormsruntime...; Poser 4clearskiesruntime... etc. ) something I did not think was at all possible w/ P4. On the rare occasions when I have zipped something, I never had it put anything in the path, but I assumed that when that was checked it would put in the ACTUAL path to the files, i.e. the usual "C:Program FilesCurious LabsPoser 4...etc." or in my case, the far easier to work with "D:Poser 4..." I don't understand how poser works if you have some strange unorthodox folder system, OR - IF you have the standard folder system, how winzip puts in these other folder names that are not in the ACTUAL path to the files. How is it that some people apparently use the "full file path" and get the correct (technically) structure such as ...Curious LabsPoser 4runtime... and others apparently use the very same function and get these other folders put in the path???

You have things in folders actually named "...stormsruntime...whatever"? ? ? I was under the impression that all Poser stuff HAD to be in "...Poser 4runtime... whatever." Nope :) i put my stuff to package on my desktop then zip it from there.. like a product i just did.. desktop/cin/runtime and package it from there.

Ahh, I see the pattern. Thanks for the info, Stormrage.

Then check the "Save full path info" and the zips will have the correct path starting with "Runtime".

Oh and of course you must be on C: and zip the FOLDER Runtime for it to work. Don't be IN the Runtime folder.