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Hoping this thread can draw enough participation to become a good education on Forum Search for beginners re: DIM vs exe, and DS file install needs vs Poser when acquiring content. Tried several unsuccessful searches, so thxs much in advance.
1. How have these exe files been re-assembled for posting here? and could they possibly be incomplete? What's your experience? Is there a place where feedback has been posted where any specific exe content produced an install failure error?
2. is there concern exe's might have trojan viruses? and is simple anti-virus scan good enough to detect them?
3. What the steps for DS install to make an exe work just as if it had been DIM-ready?
4. Does exe necessarily mean it is already Poser-ready as an exe?
5. Can the tool Content Package Assist be used to convert exe's into DIM's? --or is there another means to repack such exe's that can be learned? [ https://www.daz3d.com/content-package-assist ]
6. Can the tool Content Gatherer be used to re-assemble an expanded exe into a DIM?
[ https://zonegfx.com/?s=content+gatherer ]7. other related and perhaps even more important issues not listed above.... thxs.
In this reply, please bear in mind that personally I exclusively use the Content Library rather than any smart or connect content.
I always do a manual install & really don't care for either exes or DIM.
There are plenty of folk here though that do like DIM, so their answers may be of more use to you.
Only a few people like the exes1 Exes are exclusively older content, Genesis or earlier.
It is likely that exes will be original, although that cannot be guaranteed.
Content will usually be complete, but larger items tend to come with the textures in a seperate exe file
& the metadata was often in a seperate exe too.What I do is fire off the exe to a dummy folder with only a DS.exe in it.
Once it has completed extraction I then prepare the extracted data for a manual install.2 If you have a decent anti-virus it should pick up on any problem prior to you running it.
If in doubt, right click it & have your anti-virus run a check.3 Don't know, other than doing as I suggested above.
4 Older exes will be in Poser format. Later ones can be either, or in some cases both, which can lead to a rather confused installation.
That was why I started doing a manual install to keep things neat & coherent.5. I could be wrong, but i think the content package assist is aimed more at compiling for distribution than for end user install.
6. I would think the Content Gatherer will be trying to tidy up the mess of earlier installs.
7. In closing, if you are interested in trying manual install I will try to advise.
Eel 🙂
Eel, thxs much for the reply. Can now see the learning curve will be even steeper. I was thinking one of those utils might convert an unpacked exe to a DIM. Since that is not the case, yes, would like very much to see a step list when starting with an exe. ...and is it different for DS than for Poser?
All of the Daz EXE installers I ever came across allowed for either Poser OR Daz Studio installs, the current DIM format allows for both at the same time.
A talented Daz enthusiast & Coder has created a tool suite to manage both DIMs & EXEs to install for both programs. His Username is runningDAZman, his tool suite is called CDDS(Custom DIM Designer Studio), well worth the effort to check out. It can be found HERE: http://cdds-and-tools.forumotion.com/
Another talented Daz user & Coder, mathmathou, has a Content DataBase Tool called D.R.A.M.A.(Daz Related Asset Management Application), and that can be found HERE: http://www.drama-soft.com/forum/
Both fellows were part of the KAT Daz3D & Poser Community and development started there in 2015 for both programs. Both programs handle content from all sellers, DRAMA is currently limited to tracking Daz, Rendo, & R'otica, & I think Content Paradise is in the works with other Vendors slated for future addition like HiveWire3D & OptiTex. If you all want those tracked, Join & put in a request.
I helped a lot in CDDS' alpha stages, I supplied EXEs from Daz, Content Paradise, BaronVladHarkonnen(AKA BVH), the Russian Repacks and 2 other sources, including a couple of ISOs. CDDS can open them all, extract to Zip & create Manifest files for DIM to read & install automatically. You can even use CDDS to take ALL of the Genesis Base Releases & create a single DIM to install all 4 Generations at once from a DIM up to 200GB in size, I think CDDS might get upgraded to 1TB sized DIMs within the next year.
thank you Don_K. sounds like the Custom DIM utility is exactly what I was looking for. So glad to know this wheel already invented. Would now be very curious to hear again from eelgoo, who has apparently learned to do all that by a manual procedure, to see what he thinks of this utility. Care to take a test drive with it, eelgoo, and let us know what you think...?
From my limited crash course into DAZ and 3D files, over the last couple of months I have to say I hate dealing with exe files, especially if I've obtained them from "pirate" sites. Solely due to the risk of infection and not knowing until unpacking the package. I also install manually, mainly because I couldn't figure out how to aim the DIM at a downloaded zip file and make it install it automatically but I digress. Any file that I come across that I find in EXE format I extract to a safe environment, inspect the contents and then repack in a zips for storage with the appropriate filename where possible.
I'm quite interested in the information put forward by don_k though and may look into that because although fairly foolproof, manual installation can be a pain sometimes.
there is a free* proggy called Sandboxie, which you can use to safely run suspicious executables
after you run them, you can extract the files you were after just by copypasting them out of the sandbox to your desired location* OK it's nagware, but y'now, free
also very useful, Colle. thxs. so, if I understand, rather than a virus detection scan utility, this Sandboxie isolates the exe in question for examination. ...but I'm not sure I'd recognize the virus bits from the good ones, so maybe apply both? open the exe in question into sandboxie where it's supposedly safe, then run a virus scan on the exposed contents too.... ? what say you further...
Thanks @grbage I'll check it out. I was extracting within a VM for a while but the way I was doing it was a pain.
@bucy
I don't trust anything other than a manual install & I am comfortable working that way.
It is fairly straightforward stuff, & with reason enables you to put things where they make sense to you in a custom folder heirarchy.
This has the caveat of navigation by the Content Folder only.
If you use DIM, smart content or Connect it won't work so well for you.🙂
@bucyh yes, you can do that, it makes sense just the way you propose and is prudent actually
eelgoo, you sound pretty firm about going it by manual setup. could you then please lay out those steps you use? let's say you start off with an exe you acquire here, what are your steps for getting it into Daz3D where it will all show up as if it was loaded using DIM? I presume this will be good for a lot of people here. thxs in advance on that, and as for the Custom Dim Designer tool mentioned above, maybe somebody else who has also done things manually might give it a test drive. ...and thxs for all this... is really pushing my education forward..
Righto.... I am just off to work now, I will have a bash at that when I get back.
I think it might be better if I started a new thread with the info.🙂
I have a cracked by Danhuk(former KAT Staff/Coder) Premium version of Sandboxie. It even allows for updating the program without killing the cracked registration.
Sandboxie is an automated 1-click VM, nothing overly special there, just very convenient.
Anybody interested, PM me, will put it in my MEGA or MediaFire account, not worried about Points for it, but will gladly share.
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