Daz Asset misteriously disappeared from content folder

[max6325974]

I downloaded a 3d asset, particularly a genesis 8.1 character, I downloaded it from an unoficial website I usually do this is because sometimes I need to test certain specific things about the asset before buying it because there's not enough information on the daz store, instead of having to go through a refund process if I'm not entirely satisfied with the product. If that's the case, I always delete all traces of the file from my daz content folder. If I do like the product I ALWAYS buy it and replace the previously mentioned files with the legitimate ones.

The thing is, yesterday I downloaded (from the unoficial website) an asset and tried it out, I was able to test it without issues, see the model, move it around, do everything like normal. Ok fastforward to next day, I'm like yeah I'm not feeling 100% about this one so i'm gonna uninstall it. (Important to note that I install all my content manually by putting the files in my daz content folder manually and I uninstall it the same way, by deleting each file manually) But when I went to uninstall it it was already gone.

I did not do it myself so I was completely confused, I have no idea what happened, another product I downloaded from the same place but earlier than this one was there and I was able to delete it no problem. But this particular one was already gone, no traces of it in the content folder, therefore not available to use within daz either, it was a character so, yesterday I was able to load the character by opening the "character" folder and selecting it from there but the character wasnt there anymore. I just want to figure out what happened here because I'm losing my mind over this and I can't figure out what happened I'm the only one that uses this computer, I've run antivirus programs and everything and almost nothing was found. Could it possibly be some sort of issue syncing with the daz server and my content folder? does daz have any way to automatically delete files that you don't own and then you happen to have in your folder?. I just want to have piece of mind that about this issue, I don't want to get banned from using daz or something like that, I'm most likely going to just stop testing stuff before buying them this way.

 

[Jumbi]

Honestly, I don't know. Do you use Daz Studio logged into your Daz account? If so, I guess it might be somewhat plausible that somehow a strange case like yours could happen.

I only log into the Daz Install Manager (DIM), which I personally recommend for everybody to be the go-to tool to install and uninstall everything from Daz. With the Content Package Assist application one can even make DIM ready packages out of third-party products (Renderosity, Renderotica, Renderhub... You name it).

But I never log into my account within Daz Studio.

 

[max6325974]

Honestly, I don't know. Do you use Daz Studio logged into your Daz account? If so, I guess it might be somewhat plausible that somehow a strange case like yours could happen.

I only log into the Daz Install Manager (DIM), which I personally recommend for everybody to be the go-to tool to install and uninstall everything from Daz. With the Content Package Assist application one can even make DIM ready packages out of third-party products (Renderosity, Renderotica, Renderhub... You name it).

But I never log into my account within Daz Studio.

I was logged out, I'm just completely weirded out about it all.

 

[Turning Tricks]

I downloaded a 3d asset, particularly a genesis 8.1 character, I downloaded it from an unoficial website I usually do this is because sometimes I need to test certain specific things about the asset before buying it because there's not enough information on the daz store, instead of having to go through a refund process if I'm not entirely satisfied with the product. If that's the case, I always delete all traces of the file from my daz content folder. If I do like the product I ALWAYS buy it and replace the previously mentioned files with the legitimate ones.

The thing is, yesterday I downloaded (from the unoficial website) an asset and tried it out, I was able to test it without issues, see the model, move it around, do everything like normal. Ok fastforward to next day, I'm like yeah I'm not feeling 100% about this one so i'm gonna uninstall it. (Important to note that I install all my content manually by putting the files in my daz content folder manually and I uninstall it the same way, by deleting each file manually) But when I went to uninstall it it was already gone.

I did not do it myself so I was completely confused, I have no idea what happened, another product I downloaded from the same place but earlier than this one was there and I was able to delete it no problem. But this particular one was already gone, no traces of it in the content folder, therefore not available to use within daz either, it was a character so, yesterday I was able to load the character by opening the "character" folder and selecting it from there but the character wasnt there anymore. I just want to figure out what happened here because I'm losing my mind over this and I can't figure out what happened I'm the only one that uses this computer, I've run antivirus programs and everything and almost nothing was found. Could it possibly be some sort of issue syncing with the daz server and my content folder? does daz have any way to automatically delete files that you don't own and then you happen to have in your folder?. I just want to have piece of mind that about this issue, I don't want to get banned from using daz or something like that, I'm most likely going to just stop testing stuff before buying them this way.

You're on a PIRATE forum... there's no need to tip-toe around the reasons why you download and 'test' assets here

Daz Studio does not just randomly delete asset files, even if you are logged in to Daz Central. Personally, I use DIM to install all Smart-Content style assets and I manually install all other types of assets. Normally I work offline with DIM, just because I don't like companies tracking my activities or mining me for data. But I still log-on when I need to update or re-download some essential files from Daz directly.

I'm confused though how you actually install these assets. A normal asset usually has several pieces, each of which has to be put in the proper place. For a character asset, you almost always have the textures in the Runtime folder. all the bits that make up the character go in the People folder (along with thumbnails and tooltips) and morphs usually go in the Data folder.

If you just put these files in some other place, it may be possible you can open them manually but still, DAZ would probably get confused where things are. DAZ has a complicated file and directory system and sometimes you have to reload the Meta data to get smart content to work again. I also usually change all the default directories to point to a specific location on a drive where I keep all my DAZ activities. The only default stuff I leave is the temp file location and my own "My Library" which I keep in Windows Document folder.

Honestly, you should just install assets properly and not worry about them. Smart-content related ones are of course easier to instal using DIM, and therefore easier to uninstall, but you should learn how all assets are packaged, so you can properly uninstall them when one of them injects rogue morphs... because that will happen.

For most non IM000XXXXX-01 type assets, you extract them into your "My Daz3D Library" directory, leaving the structure of the directories intact.

 

[max6325974]

You're on a PIRATE forum... there's no need to tip-toe around the reasons why you download and 'test' assets here

Daz Studio does not just randomly delete asset files, even if you are logged in to Daz Central. Personally, I use DIM to install all Smart-Content style assets and I manually install all other types of assets. Normally I work offline with DIM, just because I don't like companies tracking my activities or mining me for data. But I still log-on when I need to update or re-download some essential files from Daz directly.

I'm confused though how you actually install these assets. A normal asset usually has several pieces, each of which has to be put in the proper place. For a character asset, you almost always have the textures in the Runtime folder. all the bits that make up the character go in the People folder (along with thumbnails and tooltips) and morphs usually go in the Data folder.

If you just put these files in some other place, it may be possible you can open them manually but still, DAZ would probably get confused where things are. DAZ has a complicated file and directory system and sometimes you have to reload the Meta data to get smart content to work again. I also usually change all the default directories to point to a specific location on a drive where I keep all my DAZ activities. The only default stuff I leave is the temp file location and my own "My Library" which I keep in Windows Document folder.

Honestly, you should just install assets properly and not worry about them. Smart-content related ones are of course easier to instal using DIM, and therefore easier to uninstall, but you should learn how all assets are packaged, so you can properly uninstall them when one of them injects rogue morphs... because that will happen.

For most non IM000XXXXX-01 type assets, you extract them into your "My Daz3D Library" directory, leaving the structure of the directories intact.

So the way I install my assets is, I have a "My daz content" folder, where manually put everything, usually an IM000XXXXX-01 zip file has the Content inside a "content" folder(usually next to contet it's Suppliment.dsx and Manifest.dsx, these are the files that I guess are used by DIM). And let's say inside the content folder for a character it's "data, people, runtime" All of those folders contain their respective materials, assets etc.. For the characters. I just throw what's inside "content" inside the "My daz content" and they always sort themselves out. When I open my Daz, It's all well organized in their respective folders the same way it would be how it's packaged. I have never had a single issue installing materials this way.

Important to note, I don't care about recoveing the mysteriously deleted assets. I just wish to figure out what could've actually happened here. I also checked my disks health and it seems fine. I just don't know at this point what else to consider.

 

[Turning Tricks]

So the way I install my assets is, I have a "My daz content" folder, where manually put everything, usually an IM000XXXXX-01 zip file has the Content inside a "content" folder(usually next to contet it's Suppliment.dsx and Manifest.dsx, these are the files that I guess are used by DIM). And let's say inside the content folder for a character it's "data, people, runtime" All of those folders contain their respective materials, assets etc.. For the characters. I just throw what's inside "content" inside the "My daz content" and they always sort themselves out. When I open my Daz, It's all well organized in their respective folders the same way it would be how it's packaged. I have never had a single issue installing materials this way.

Important to note, I don't care about recoveing the mysteriously deleted assets. I just wish to figure out what could've actually happened here. I also checked my disks health and it seems fine. I just don't know at this point what else to consider.

Okay, so that's exactly how you are supposed to manually install stuff.

My guess is that you didn't look deep enough... because there's usually several other directories buried deep in those main ones. For example, the textures that are under the Runtime folder almost always have a developer or product name as another nested folder. So it's probably under a directory that was already there (for another asset by the same maker).

I guess it's possible your hard drive had a fit and corrupted the saves or something, but I can assure you that no version of Daz Studio that I know of has ever had the ability to modify or self-delete asset files like you fear. Of course, Daz is buggy as hell and it's locked up on me umpteen times, corrupting the file I was working on. It's why i always back everything up religiously.

What was the name or link to the asset?

 

[max6325974]

Okay, so that's exactly how you are supposed to manually install stuff.

My guess is that you didn't look deep enough... because there's usually several other directories buried deep in those main ones. For example, the textures that are under the Runtime folder almost always have a developer or product name as another nested folder. So it's probably under a directory that was already there (for another asset by the same maker).

I guess it's possible your hard drive had a fit and corrupted the saves or something, but I can assure you that no version of Daz Studio that I know of has ever had the ability to modify or self-delete asset files like you fear. Of course, Daz is buggy as hell and it's locked up on me umpteen times, corrupting the file I was working on. It's why i always back everything up religiously.

What was the name or link to the asset?

So, the asset I installed is called "Rosa Maria 8.1" I got it from Render-State

You must be registered to see the links

Note: Inside the zip file for this asset there are several other zip files which contain "anatomical elements" I did not install these and I installed only the main character one called "IM00082813-01_RosaMaria81.zip". And like I said, I was able to use the asset in daz without issue, put clothes on it, test it with expressions and what not. But the next day when I went to delete the asset's files, they were already gone. And as a result, so was the character inside daz iself.

Thanks for your answers btw. I just want to have some peace regarding this, I just want to be sure I can keep doing daz and 3d rendering normally.

 

[Turning Tricks]

So, the asset I installed is called "Rosa Maria 8.1" I got it from Render-State

You must be registered to see the links

Note: Inside the zip file for this asset there are several other zip files which contain "anatomical elements" I did not install these and I installed only the main character one called "IM00082813-01_RosaMaria81.zip". And like I said, I was able to use the asset in daz without issue, put clothes on it, test it with expressions and what not. But the next day when I went to delete the asset's files, they were already gone. And as a result, so was the character inside daz iself.

Thanks for your answers btw. I just want to have some peace regarding this, I just want to be sure I can keep doing daz and 3d rendering normally.

Hmmm... I just looked.

Did you do a file explorer search for "Rosa Maria 8.1" or RosaMaria8_1"? because those are the names of the folders where the assets are stored.

Final question... were you drunk when you did this?

 

[max6325974]

Hmmm... I just looked.

Did you do a file explorer search for "Rosa Maria 8.1" or RosaMaria8_1"? because those are the names of the folders where the assets are stored.

Final question... were you drunk when you did this?

I did do the explorer search, not a single file was found, it wasnt even in the recycle folder

As to your second question.. DUDE I'm almos questioning my sanity, I was very much lucid when I used the asset inside Daz... I'm so sure I did not delete those files, and i'm also

Thanks again for your answers and help. I'm not sure at this point I'll be able to find out what actually happened.

Just as a final question. So the bottom line is that, Daz didn't penalize me or something? lmao

 

[Turning Tricks]

I did do the explorer search, not a single file was found, it wasnt even in the recycle folder

As to your second question.. DUDE I'm almos questioning my sanity, I was very much lucid when I used the asset inside Daz... I'm so sure I did not delete those files, and i'm also

Thanks again for your answers and help. I'm not sure at this point I'll be able to find out what actually happened.

Just as a final question. So the bottom line is that, Daz didn't penalize me or something? lmao

No, Daz didn't penalize you. When I first started playing around with Daz (about 2.5 years ago) I was also worried about the client "phoning home" sort to speak. Daz Connect sounded way too much like Adobe's Creative Cloud for my peace of mind. So I worked almost totally offline using the regular DIM utility to install stuff.

Thankfully, DAZ eased back on pushing Daz Connect and they seem to be fine with a large percentage of the assets out there being pirated and tested without purchase. In fact, I feel they realized that the pirate community kind of helped promote their product. Daz 3D content would be a fraction of the amount it is now, if they strictly enforced asset purchases and use. People experimenting using pirated assets is like how 80% of the creators out there have started. Of course, now that I monetize my stuff, I am a lot more careful about purchasing assets and only using those in my VN's. But that doesn't mean I don't have a terabyte or so of stuff I am "testing".

In any case, this is a weird thing to lose your asset like that. But DAZ is a very buggy app, and I guess it was just one of those things. That's why you should keep all your asset files stored on a separate drive and you soon get used to have to re-install stuff because something stopped working.

 

[max6325974]

No, Daz didn't penalize you. When I first started playing around with Daz (about 2.5 years ago) I was also worried about the client "phoning home" sort to speak. Daz Connect sounded way too much like Adobe's Creative Cloud for my peace of mind. So I worked almost totally offline using the regular DIM utility to install stuff.

Thankfully, DAZ eased back on pushing Daz Connect and they seem to be fine with a large percentage of the assets out there being pirated and tested without purchase. In fact, I feel they realized that the pirate community kind of helped promote their product. Daz 3D content would be a fraction of the amount it is now, if they strictly enforced asset purchases and use. People experimenting using pirated assets is like how 80% of the creators out there have started. Of course, now that I monetize my stuff, I am a lot more careful about purchasing assets and only using those in my VN's. But that doesn't mean I don't have a terabyte or so of stuff I am "testing".

In any case, this is a weird thing to lose your asset like that. But DAZ is a very buggy app, and I guess it was just one of those things. That's why you should keep all your asset files stored on a separate drive and you soon get used to have to re-install stuff because something stopped working.

Absolutely. I have folders containig every asset I own, separated by the website source (daz, renderosity, renderotica, etc..) In case something goes wrong like it seems to have been in this case. Whenever I buy an asset and download it, a copy of the zip goes straight in there.

And what you said about being a developer also resonates with me, like I mentioned, I always buy every single asset I do intend to actually use, I've spent quite a bit of money worth of assets because I am also developing my own game and the same way I wish to get monetarily rewarded I want to give that same thing to the devs and artists that develop the assets I use.

Anyways, thanks again for your help.

 

[MissFortune]

I'm assuming you've tried reinstalling it and didn't get the "Overwrite X Files" prompt from Windows? That'd more or less tell you where it was

That being said, I'm wondering if you just accidentally CTRL Z'd the file out of the folder or something. As buggy as both MS and Daz can be, I have a hard time imagining a file just vanishing for no reason at all.

 

[max6325974]

I'm assuming you've tried reinstalling it and didn't get the "Overwrite X Files" prompt from Windows? That'd more or less tell you where it was

That being said, I'm wondering if you just accidentally CTRL Z'd the file out of the folder or something. As buggy as both MS and Daz can be, I have a hard time imagining a file just vanishing for no reason at all.

I didn't try reinstalling because I was going to remove them anyways but the files were completely gone, not a single trace of it in my whole system, and as I previously mentioned, also not in the recycle bin either. Which actually makes me think.. It may actually be a possiblity that I ctrl+z'd somehow.. It was after all the last asset I installed and I probably did leave the folder open when I went to testing.

Maybe I reopened it again and for some reason did press ctrl+z since I was working on daz before.. I don't remember doing that but at this point it does make sense. Because I agree. It's just really REALLY strange the entire set of assets divided in different folders just vanished all together at the same time. Only those. I installed another product like 20 minutes earlier and I had absolutely no issues with it.

 

[max6325974]

I didn't try reinstalling because I was going to remove them anyways but the files were completely gone not a single trace of it in my whole system, and as I previously mentioned before, also not in the recycle bin either. Which actually makes me think.. It may actually be a possiblity that I ctrl+z'd somehow.. It was after all the last asset I installed and I probably did leave the folder open when I went to testing.

Maybe I reopened it again and for some reason did press ctrl+z since I was working on daz before.. I don't remember doing that but at this point it does make sense. Because I agree. It's just really REALLY strange the entire set of assets divided in different folders just vanished all together at the same time. Only those. I installed another product like 20 minutes earlier and I had absolutely no issues with it.

Actually, tested it out.. It doesn't work if you already had Ctrl+z'd on another instance or window. Which i most certainly did when I tried the product... So I guess it'll remain a mistery lmao

 

[Turning Tricks]

FWIW ... Daz can intensely hog your system resources when it has something heavy to process. So much so that I have often found my other Apps that were open having issues, like I would be updating my spreadsheet while starting a render or something in DAZ and then my spreadsheet just freezes for a few seconds. I've had this cause me to delete cells and other issues when this happened. It's disconcerting because normally, I can multi-task several apps a time, even when rendering in Daz.

Just like when you close Daz sometimes and it doesn't actually close. It looks closed, but it's still hanging around in the background processes, consuming resources until you open the task manager and end it. That's why Render Queue restarts Daz after each render.