External runtimes pt 2

[Jherrith]

OK so you now have all of your zips, and exe files sorted by character and in master folders in a safe location.

Now the fun part installing all of it ... well I use the word fun loosely.

At any rate go to your main drive where you are going to have all of your content reside at.
Create Master folder I call mine Poser Runtime.

Now create folders within the master for every single category you have sorted your content by.

Now you can begin to install all of your products for that character into the separate runtimes created.

"Reprinted"

Example on your hard drive create a folder and call it "Poser Runtimes"
Create  a new folder within it and call it "Aiko4"
Now go to your storage folders and find an outfit or any other product for Aiko4 and install it to that newly created folder.
I will not go into detail on the steps of installing unless asked, but the highlights are simple.
When you go to install it it asks for a destination, direct it to your newly created empty folder called Aiko 4 and let it run.
When you go back to it to look at the file structure you will see that when it installed it that it created all of the other needed folders to contain all of the files.
So nothing else to do there except continue to install content.

At some point you are going to run into dialog screens saying that there is already a read me folder or file by the same name. Do not overwrite them. You will have to manually go into your Aiko 4 folder and then rename the file or folder, (I usually give it the name of the product).
While you are in there you might notice several folders all called read me in various spelling formats. What I do at this point is create a Master Read Me folder and I move all of the stray read mes into this folder that way I have all the license and usage documentation for all products in one spot. Another trick that I do is I create one called DAZ Read mes, since they have thumbnails and a html plus a text file for all products. I will move all of them into that one folder to keep them organized.

At some point you are going to get some content that when you install it instead of unzipping to the proper directories it creates a new folder called runtime within your folder. Now what? Well now you have to go into the root structure of the folder find that new runtime folder and click on all the "+" signs until you can see all of the final folders for the product, now move them (drag and drop) to the correct location in the main folder (geometry, character, pose, prop, textures and so forth) and then once you have all the pieces moved then you can leave the read me in that folder, after deleting all of the empty folders and rename the folder it as the product and then move it to your Master read me folder.

This should pretty much keep one busy for a while, mine as mentioned installed into each of the separate runtimes. Has that master folder weighing in at 75GB. So it takes a bit to install.

Now in the attached screen shots you will see examples of what my set up is like this is only a guideline and it works for me so adjust as needed or ask questions as to why and I will try to explain it more clearly.

Luffie ... Kianna will come over and give you personal instructions.

[Jherrith]

In the second picture you will see an example of what happens when you have other content that installs a runtime of their own.

This content is not visible in Poser when you try to find it ... why because it is in an additional runtime that you have not specified.
One can find it via  a long drawn out process with Poser open but it is so much more convenient to click on each tab in the folder until you have them all expanded as shown in image #03

At this point as mentioned it is a simple matter to drag and drop each of the final folders into the correct location in the "runtime" folder of the character.

[DarkAngel]

my question is this:

in my runtime i have a folder called people that houses the runtime folder which gets imported into poser and the pz3 folder also.
inside it is the different sections of the normal runtime when empty

geometries we know what goes in there

characters folder has  the different types of character corresponding to people ---like Mil 4 girls that holds  these folders: clothing/hair/footwear (that does not come with the outfits) --- since the items can be interchanged with the girls so I don't have a v4, A4 or G4 runtimes but they actually hold the injected gals

yours appears to be set up with not only being in like V4 main folder with all the many unzipped items inside it...holding their own runtimes each...right?

Poser sees them that way...each seperate entity when you tell it to load the external runtime for V4?

did that make sense

[Jherrith]

I am sorry but the question is unclear.

Each folder that you see of my external runtimes is independent of the runtime in Poser.

I do not create separate folders within Poser itself for the individual characters which is what I think you are showing me.

I create separate folders outside of Poser for my characters and install my content there.

[DarkAngel]

so the images you showed are not an external runtime but holding folders to go into the external runtime?

the image i showed you is my external runtime--a folder that is in my people runtime

I was thinking that the one you showed us is the one you import into poser when you wish to use a certain character---with each one having its own runtime of its own...which is what it looks like

my question is when in poser and you click the + to add the runtime Poser actually sees them the way you have them set up?

[Jherrith]

No they are indeed my external runtimes. I keep them all in a master folder as you see called Poser Runtime.

Those are the individual runtimes that I import into Poser via the + button at the bottom of the root directory of the runtime.

I import them one at a time via the "add runtime" function "that + sign".

Once I import them, yes Poser does see them as a proper runtime and all I do is select the runtime I want to use and then open it and create my scene.

[OFW]

Ok, I'm making some real head way here, but I do have a question.  What do you do with files that are intended for more than one character-ie: A4-V4 or A3-H3 or any other combination?

[Jherrith]

I typically buy outfits for the character even if they can be worn by others I will put it in the runtime for the character I originally purchased it for, but that is just me.

Alternatively you could create another runtime folder and call it "4th Gen Common" or what ever makes sense to you and install products that have multiple fits in there.

[DarkAngel]

No they are indeed my external runtimes. I keep them all in a master folder as you see called Poser Runtime.

Those are the individual runtimes that I import into Poser via the + button at the bottom of the root directory of the runtime.

I import them one at a time via the "add runtime" function "that + sign".

Once I import them, yes Poser does see them as a proper runtime and all I do is select the runtime I want to use and then open it and create my scene.

aha, now that made sense...I was thinking you somehow got Poser to see the main holder...but now that I see they are all runtimes it is no longer me being 

[Jherrith]

Tomorrow I will post the text and pictures showing the next step for clarity's sake