can you install poser 5 separate from poser 4? Im interested in 5 but I really dont want to uninstall 4, or upgrade it to 5 for that matter. can they both be installed on 1 comp and used separately?

Yes, they can. A lot of people link their P4 Runtime folder in P5 so they don't have to duplicate everything for P5. Cheers!

Yes, this works fine now since Poser 5 will allow you to find all the older Poser 4 folders. P5 actually installs in a completely different folder with it's own RunTime folder. BUT, P4 finding P5 folders and files is another story. P4 still ONLY looks in the RunTime folder associated with P4, and will not allow you to use the P5 runtime folder. I think once you get the feel and hang of the NEW differences in P% I think you'll switch. But that opinion only. Only you can determine what you are comfortable with. JamesSF

I have both on my machine, one called Poser 4 and one called Poser 5, I don't have them linked though, also as far as duplicate files, not anymore, I deleted all the files I don't use and were redundent. Took a while but well worth my time. Sharen

Sure, i have poser4, poser pro and poser 5 all installed on the C drive ;o).......Steve

If you have Poser 5 and do not have Poser 4 installed, is it possible to install Poser 4 and Pro Pack after already having Poser 5 installed and then copy the Poser 5 runtime to the new Poser 4 installation as a way to make the files available to Poser 4? I would prefer not to have to reinstall everything seperately for P4 but I like the idea of being able to open P4 scenes in Vue. My system is Win XP Pro. Thanks Frank

I have P4 in Metacreations folder and P5 in Curious Labs folder with P5's additional Runtime folder option pointing to my P4 Runtime folder..which is where I install things to so it can be used by both. When I install something from DAZ it searches for the folder and finds both poser. exe's and allows me to choose which one to install to...I install to 4 so both can use it.

Yup, I have both installed into my poser partition on my desktop, I've got the p4 library linked into my p5 library, and with the exception of P5 stuff my P4 libraries is where everything still goes, it's simply more stable and more usable. I want to create images, I don't want to learn how to use the materials room, I'm happy with the way P4 does it. You can't run both at once though. later jb

I think that Poser four will complain about poser 5 files ... not sure if they work 100% or not. Haven't tried. I have both installed, with Poser5 able to find the poser 4 libraries. I build characters and scenes in four as much as I can, since I'm more used to it. And then switch over to 5 for the finishing touches and render. It seems to work so far :)

I have 5 poser installations on my machine! c:/3d/Poser 3 (don't want to remove it cos it's cute!) c:/3d/Poser 4 (I can do nasty stuff to this install) c:/3d/Poser 5 (I can do nasty stuff here, too) d:/Poser 4 (my P4 how I like it) d:/Poser 5 (Hmmm... Poser 5 set up nicely) But I think I may be slightly bonkers. I like to have installations I can break, mess about and test my apps on (without losing anything!) I have never had any problems with these multiple installations! H:)

Okay, perhaps this is an obvious question, but...

How would I setup p5 to find the p4 runtine folder? I want to be able to switch between the two freely. (Both are already installed, in separate folders).

Will setting p5 to read the p4 runtime folder mean I have to move everything from p5 folders into p4 folders (like the new characters)? Will I have to install freebies (e.g. from DAZ, or here) twice, once in p4 and once in p5?

Thanks for the help!

Surfbored

regarding Red Baron's original question: I can think of one problem you might have with both P4 and P5 installed on the same machine. More of a glitch than a problem and I can't speak to MAC as I only use PC. If you want to call a PZ3 file or some other file unique to Poser that P4 and P5 share, the default in the registry may not point to the path of P4 but rather to P5. This glitch may be ok as long as you are aware of it. - TJ

There is a potential problem here because Poser Pro Pak and Poser 5 don't use "bum" file extensions for bump maps. They use jpg bump maps. I'd run into some confusion in the past because of this difference. I decided to install most of my Poser resources in a runtime folder called "Poser5B." I have installed very little into the Poser 5 folder itself. I don't access the Poser 4 runtime folder from Poser 5 at all. I think some folks have problems because too many Poser resources have incorrect texture references. CorrectReference fixes that problem.