8 Gb of ram should be adequate. but i would not choose a 1Tb for a system drive.

a 250Gb fast drive is better, only loading OS and apps on it.

a couple of 1 Tb drives for runtimes and storage, with a couple of large externals for backup. ( only powered up when backing up files)

avoid Maxtor  drives if at all possible ( in my experience very unreliable)

think of the amount of actual work a system drive does, compared to one used for storage. it is the most likely to fail first.

partitioning a drive will not save your data from mechanical/electronic failure.

no idea, i am afraid i will not be upgrading to DS4, as far as i am concerned, they have turned a nice logical interface into a maze of hidden tools and it is way too much of a clickfest to do anything now. not to mention the CMS, which is the worst implemented piece of trash i have ever seen.

i love my DS3A, but any upgrading now will be to PP2012, not DS4.

btw, been using DS since DS 1.7, and even with its quirks, i have loved it , up until DS4.

Quote - er... DS (3 I know, unsure about 4) can read .pmd files but only upon initial figure load, if the figure is tied to a .pmd.  It cannot use .pmd injection beyond that without the free plugin.

weird, i have a couple of characters that use .pmd, could never get them to work without the plug-in.?

actually, DS CANNOT read .pmd files natively, but they can be used via a free script from the freepository  ' Inject .pmd'   is the name of it, i believe.

just a little note.................. you do not need a 'poser.exe' file anywhere to get the installers to work.

just use 'daz studio' as the target app in the dropdown menu on the splash screens.

then you can install anywhere. just point the installer to the folder you want to instal too. ie  'any drive' :users:'poser stuff':V4.

the only proviso being that a file with dependancies should go to the same folder as its parent.

ie  'morphs++' should be installed to the same folder as V4, and any characters that use EXP should as well.

the only things that need to be installed to Poser's own runtime are python scripts or certain light sets that rely on python to work( afaik).

ever since Vista, it has paid to install Poser and similar apps that use content outside of the Programs folder. either on a separate drive, partition or at the root of 'C'.

also , for sanity's sake, have the runtimes ( your own) on a separate drive, where possible.

basically because once you get to having large amounts of content installed, having to reinstall everything when/if the system drive fails gets tedious very quickly.

also, as a newbie you should get into the habit of backing up your installers and content .zips externally.

Quote - getting banned anywhere is not difficult, just do something on a regular basis that is against the TOS and ignore the moderators when they tell you not to, getting unbanned generally is as simple as promising not to do what you did to get banned and sticking by that promise.

total tosh!   you can get banned even if you don't go against TOS!  especially at a certain site.

just post a few sarky comments about their flagship app's shortcomings or certain weird decisions like vaulting stuff or discuss legitimate concerns (at a totally different forum)and you get banned.

worked fine for me as well.

i am ( or was) an avid DS user, only got Poser because i needed it as a beta tester.

i still love using DS3A, bought many plug-ins for it ( and DS2). but i will not be upgrading to DS4, in any form. tried it, hate it. i was very vocal in the forums at DAZ over the complete mess they had made of my favourite 'go-to' app. DS4 has the same bugs in it now, as it did in pre-release beta. reporters were basically ignored unless it was something that DAZ wanted to hear.

another point of contention is the CMS, those of us who really know how to dissect code have found that the way it as been developed is to look for 'AllPorts' instead of just the internal ports it needs to function. in actual fact it 'pings' all the external ports long before it tries any internal port for access to the database. so if your firewall is not configured correctly( most hobby users won't know how to do that) your rig may be left open to anything that drives by.

also, there was no need for it to install as a Windows service( no other database i know of requires that) the reason for it is very clear, it was EASIER to code it as a service, instead of doing the job properly. ( basically they have cut and pasted code together from various sources and fudged it just enough to get it working)

i also stopped my PC membership, as i could see that the way things were going that less and less content would be in that category. PC members will get less for their money in the future, as less and less of the older content will be available and the new stuff will likely by mostly Genesis format.

i will be upgrading my Poser, if i can afford it, as DS is/will be uneconomical to upgrade to the equivalent i have in DS3A. even if i could stand the b****** awful GUI.

Quote - DAZ Rand said the CCT were free in Studio 4 Pro.

yes, but DS4 Pro is $430, you are actually paying about $200 for CCT.

thankyou!!

no ds lights at all will work in Poser.

in fact Poser cannot read any file that ds produces.

BB's sphere does a great job.  :)

Genesis will not work in Poser.  if you were ambitious, you could import the .obj and rig it in the set up room. but you would have to export it from DS as a wavefront .obj first.

there is no .obj in DS itself as DS uses its own filetype.

heh, heh. my connection is supposed to be 'up to 8Mb/s',  i actually get 1.9 to 1.6 Mb/s.

i still pay the same as someone who gets the full speed. people who live in/near major conurbations are actually spoilt a bit. those of us who live away from these areas tend to get a low speed, whichever provider we use.

had similar issues with OGL on my rig ( asus board, AMD Athlon2 quadcore, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit).

original card was a HD 4850, knowing that ATI cards sometimes have issues with OGL, i purchased a GeForce GT 430 card. but the issue still persisted.

found that by turning Aero ON and hardware acceleration OFF, the issues were 99% cured.

Quote - It's funny that Someone in the Poser forum brings out the toppic and the only ones that answer are hardcore Poser users. Of course they gonna say Poser is the best.

perhaps you ought to actually read all posts about DS4 before you jump to conclusions.

i, for one, was a diehard DS user, this no longer applies. i am saving for PP20--.

i already have P7 and P8 for testing purposes, which will be seeing MUCH more use for personal work from now on.

DS4 is a crappy Kiddies toy from Fisher Price now.