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Does anyone know of a utility that can search libraries for props and characters - along with associated files - that aren't used anymore? I have a crap ton of stuff (especially in my Poser library) that I haven't used in years, and it's just taking up disk space.
It would be easy enough to delete them from the library, but there are of course geometry, texture and mat files to consider, and who can remember what goes with what?
Rank:Something I learned is that you don't want to install too many assets into a library. You would ideally only install what is necessary for what ever project you're working on. I've setup a base library that has the bare minimum required to run daz. Then I always start new projects with that pre-setup library adding assets that I need for that particular project.
You can have multiple library's and just unlink/relink that particular library as you need/want to.
EDIT:
I don't know if I was clear enough. I zipped up that base library and just pop out a copy of it when ever I need a new one. Just makes life easier.Yeah, right now my Library is about 278 GB. I have all the original zip and installation files and have organized my libraries into various sections (like time periods, etc.) but it is getting a bit unwieldy.
Rank:I did the exact same thing with the files lol. I started seeing a massive increase in loading times but also incompatibilities with some of the assets. My log file was riddled with errors and that was also causing issues.
The easiest way to remove stuff is to not manually install them from the start, use the DIM installer.
And in the case of assets not from the DAZ store, use the Content Package Assistant program to create an installable package that is compatible with the DIM. Then the content from other sources can be installed/uninstalled with DIM.It takes a bit longer to install with this extra step, but its worth it in the long run, plus the added benefit that you can easily go into DIM and search for what stuff you already have installed in case you are like most people, and have tons of stuff and can't remember what you have and what you dont!
"...you are like most people, and have tons of stuff and can’t remember what you have and what you dont"
😄😆🤣😂 That's for damn sure!!
Yes, I have tons of stuff also, and DIM and Listery helps me find if I have it or not.
But I forgot to answer your initial question, YES it is possible to delete the files *IF* you have the original install source .zip file or can download it again. The files/folders in the zip will be your roadmap on what to delete.EDIT: Oops, I forgot how to accomplish it. I have not tried this, but it definitely should work, so give this a shot and test it out: create a new DIM installable package using the CPA software I previously mentioned with the original source ZIP files. Then install this new package via the DIM. This *SHOULD* overwrite the same files previously unzipped there, plus makes it an un-installable package. Then simply un-install via DIM after installing it, should remove it all.
I used to categorize things for a living and never liked Daz's categorization functionality, so I roll my own. I don't touch the DATA and RUNTIME directories and only move the DSON files into a new directory structure.
I identify the DSON file of any product(s) I want removed and use the "Content Gather" utility to generate a list of files in the DATA and RUNTIME directories. It is tedious and open to error (deleting common files), but it's simpler than any other method I can figure out.
The best method is to use the Daz native installers, but I'm too anal retentive for that.
Manual installation is something that I've done since I started over 4 years ago. Most things are categorised - and for those things I don't use much (or not for a while) - I try putting in categories down the bottom of a list with a Z-prefix. I still have lots of stuff to install, but with a database over 1.2TB, it doesn't bother me I don't have it now.
There is some poser stuff I need to get rid of (but space isn't a big concern for me), as my DAZ folders are on a 3TB hard drive.
a utility that can search libraries for props and characters – along with associated files – that aren’t used anymore?
To answer your specific question, no, I've hoped for something that would search through all the scenes I've ever done and identify the stuff I've actually used. I know there must be loads of things I've never used, and it's a good bet that if I've never used it, it will never get used. I could make my library easier to navigate by getting rid of it. I've still got the zip files so I could put it back if needed.
I can envisage a utility that would do this, it would take a while to run but that's what night time is for right? I don't have the programming skill to put it together myself, I'll just have to keep hoping.
(especially in my Poser library)
A lot of your old Poser stuff won't have uninstallers or anything, but if I know what I want to remove I unzip the original download into a temporary folder and compare that against my runtime. A synchronisation utility like SyncBack can make that easier if you change the file dates on your temporary folder to highlight the differences.
278GB? *Embarrassed* Almost 5TB here and took me forever to organize everything after YEARS of just dumping in. I am going to be trimming that down soon though. I have an internal backup on another drive and also an external backup. What I plan to start doing is build a basic daz library, then move stuff and organize it as I use it and over time, eventually have a library of only stuff I find I actually use and delete the rest. Since the biggest part of the library is textures, figuring out what I use from the old poser style runtime is the biggest part. One of the parts of this process it to find exactly what I use from the old poser runtime style, convert to native daz format find the texture folder for it to move into my new library and delete everything else.
I've been thinking it would be great to convert the old Poser content I still use to native Daz format. How does one do that?
Example.
#1. Load item, I loaded the Beech Bar, not sure by whom. Just picked this as it is pretextured and has no texture folder to apply different ones.
#2. File -> Save As -> Support Asset -> figure/prop asset(s)
#3 In the window that pops up, add the product name and the creator name, if I don't know the creator name I just do it by default and it uses my name. I also picked the folder in the DAZ native library I wanted to save it to.What this does is write a new geometry file in daz format into your data/yourname folder. Textures stay where they are. There's other steps and different save choices for other things such as clothes, material settings etc. At least a few months I am very short on time so don't have time to write a tutorial for those.
This may help some.
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