Moving between desktop and laptop PC

  • I bounce between working on my laptop and my desktop PCs. Does anyone have a good procedure for keeping your Poser 11 assets and libraries in sync with each other?

    Currently I'm copying the C://user/public/documents from the last machine I used to the other machine. That procedure bit me in the butt last night.

    Does anyone have a better way of keeping the two in sync? (Oh, and please don't recommend a cloud service as I don't always work where I have Internet access.)

  • Poser Ambassadors

    @dbwalton Use a external hard drive that you plug in to the USB port. Save all the runtimes on that one and map them up in poser library.

  • @Ghostman That's pretty much what I'm doing for the library (which at install time I told it to save the content to my external USB drive). However, there's still the C:\user\public issue.

    Is there a way to tell Poser to not use the user\public on the boot drive?

  • Poser Ambassadors

    @dbwalton you would need to reinstall then and point to the directory you want to use.
    During install you get 2 options.
    Where to install the main program. After that you get another option where to install the content. Default is C:\User\public.
    Just navigate to the folder of your choosing.

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  • @dbwalton
    I am working in the same workspace like you, PC and Laptop.
    Somebody else has written about the external harddrive, i use one for my runtimes as well.
    This harddrive contains all of my poser output, scenes, rendered Pictures and Animations, the models i build for my scenes and big folders with reference pictures and tutorials.
    The copy and paste horror you mentioned, i dont get it.
    If you install poser 11 on both machines, you just have to keep record on the updates, thats it.
    Why do you copy the runtime of poser 11? Do you save changes on figures, poses or materials inside the main runtime?
    I have done that once, i will never do it again. I accidentally de-installed a poser 8 installation with some of my own stuff.
    It went down the toilet, so to speak.
    Hope this is helpfull, but, like the Big Lebowski once sad; it's just an opinion, man!

  • @marco I'm copying because on my laptop the runtime is on drive C:, and on my desktop it is on my server's drive V:. Based on @Ghostman suggestion I'm going to put all of that on a USB hard drive and point both machines to a drive letter that drive will have on either machine.

  • Poser main RT on C and then my own stuff that I've had for years on external. I only modify the external runtime that way I don't have to keep track of anything.

  • @dbwalton
    Hm, i see the problem now.
    Just out of curiosity, you mentioned that your desktop is on a server...
    A server, as i understand the term, runs 24/7 365.
    I presume, you use that thing for internet and network traffic, maybe for a database?
    If my presumption is correct, why not install poser and the runtime on the server, build a client access point on your laptop and work with poser from there via network.
    That seems to me a solution to your Copy and Paste Problem and you can work with your Laptop from everywhere, if you have an internet connection or your network is at hand.
    Just thinking...
    Please excuse my writing, english is not my first language...i am german.

  • @marco

    The server allows others in the office to access files. While having a client on my laptop so it can access the files via the Internet would work in many situations, it wouldn't be accessible when working where there is no Internet access. It also creates security issues. I have my firewalls set up to block any sort of server access from the Internet. I'm not going to start poking holes in it. :)

  • Well, I've got things organized to a usable state. Here's my solution...

    I changed the drive letter to a 4TB USB drive to drive B: (B: is seldom used any more as A: and B: were originally set aside for floppy disk drives. Thus, I won't have to worry about conflicts on machines with multiple card readers, and attached drives.)

    I then had to reinstall Poser 11 pointing my content folder to a folder on drive B: I then copied my additional content (like DAZ downloads, etc.) to the appropriate folders on drive B: All looks neat on my laptop, now I'm going to do the same thing on my tablet and office PC.

    This means I'll be moving that 4TB drive around as I do Poser work, and I'll have my backup procedure such that I can run it on that drive and have backup copies of it on my big server.

    NOW I can start using Poser without dinking around trying to figure out where stuff is on any particular machine!!!

    Thanks for all of those who threw out ideas. With your ideas, I have been able to come up with a very good and suitable solution for how I work.

  • I spoke too soon. While I got this working on my laptop, when I reinstalled things on my desktop and pointed them to drive B:, Poser still was looking to drive C: for content. (I'd open a scene and it would say it couldn't find, for example, Dawn.obj and it was looking on the C: drive. So, I told it where it was on the B: drive, and then it asked where the next file was, and so on.)

    Everything was on the B: drive, but Poser kept looking on the C: Drive. So, I removed and reinstalled again paying very close attention to make sure the second option was selected and the directory on drive B: selected AND selecting the button that directed it to overwrite the existing preferences.

    It STILL was looking on drive C:

    I reinstalled all of my content, and the desktop STILL looked on drive C: (Each time I would uninstall, reboot, go through looking for any straggler files, which there were, deleted them, installed, and rebooted.)

    The only thing I haven't tried at this time is going through the registry on my desktop and looking for anything Poser may have left behind that their installer doesn't remove.

    But, that's not all!

    I took the B: drive back to my laptop and guess what?

    Yeah, Poser isn't finding files there now.

    My question at this point is, has ANYONE on a PC successfully created an external drive for their content that they can move from machine to machine without issue?

    Here's what I've tried:

    Completely removing Poser 11 from my PC and Laptop rebooting after the uninstall.
    Installed using the second content option and specified a folder on my B: drive, and rebooted after installing.
    I've tried all three options on the preferences: over writing, backing up, and keeping the old.
    Reinstalling EVERYTHING, including all content.

    Current state - Poser runs, shows the factory default screen with Andy 2, but when I go to drag new content to the screen, it pops up a window saying it can't find the files on C:\user\public\documents... I can then tell it where it is on drive B:, and it then asks for the next content related file looking for it on drive C:, but I have to again direct it to drive B: It is as though it completely ignores the fact I told it they are on drive B:

    HOWEVER, if I go to the library, right click on any content, select Show in Explorer, it brings up the content folder on drive B: So, it knows the library is on drive B:, however, when I go to drag something to the scene from the library, it says it can't find the files and is looking on drive C: Again, if I right click and ask it to show me in explorer it shows me the specific content on drive B:

    Note: the poser.ini file shows the B: location for content.

    I am so frustrated with this. It's consumed too much time.

  • @dbwalton

    When you installed Poser, did you assign a network drive letter to the external drive?

    I have to confess, though, that I'm not sure what would happen to the network drive letter after you unplug the drive. Never went down that road. I usually keep mine plugged in to the same PC.

    Then the other question is, when you installed Poser, did you use the UPDATER, or did you download the full installer? And did you have the network drive plugged into the second computer and assigned the same drive letter when you installed on the second machine?

    Those are the only things I can think of.

  • The other possibility ... install the base installer content and the support files installer in the default location on both machines (just the stuff that gets installed with the application).

    Then use the "Add Runtime" feature in the Poser Library to add the runtime or runtimes on your external drive.

  • Poser Ambassadors

    @dbwalton - is the option in General Preferences - Library - File Search set to Deep?

  • @caisson Yes, it is set to deep.

    @Deecey that's basically what I'm trying to do.

    My theory - they are holding on to stuff in the Windows registry. When I get back from my trip, I plan to uninstall EVERY copy of Poser 11, scan and delete any related files, and then run a registry cleaner to remove any loose ends. I will then re-install with the content pointing to my B: drive, and re-copy every content package manually from scratch. If that doesn't work, a well worded letter will be written to Smith Micro with references to Djikstra and others on Software Quality Assurance, as well as Six Sigma practices.

    Any recommendations for software similar to Poser 11 that's perhaps better behaved?

    Oh, and what is with the reputation not allowing replies for 9500 seconds? That's not a very good policy for someone trying to solve a problem. I realize it's there to thwart trolls and spammers, but seriously.

  • Have you tried to modify or delete the information located @ C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\Poser Pro\11? I have setup a computer lab at the college I work at and have all the machines pointed to a common set of content files and never run into the issue you are having. What I do is setup one machine with all the content installs and then copy the contents of the above folder on that machine into the same location on the machines that I have just installed Poser on. If you want to change the location of where content is accessed from edit the LibraryPrefs.xml and Poser.ini files in the above location. Just make sure to have Poser closed when you do the changes listed.

  • @richard60 Thank you for the tip about the .xml file.

    I have ran in to some odd behavior on the .ini file in that I make a change to it, and then when I run poser, the change hasn't taken effect. I go back in to look at the .ini file and it is set back to the setting I just changed. Any recommendations there? (I've even double checked after editing the .ini file by typing the .ini file and verifying my change is in it. However, once I run poser it reverts back to the way it was before.)

  • @dbwalton I believe your problem is the Poser.ini file is regenerated every time you open Poser, so "editing" the file in a plain text editor will not do the job.

    What I usually do is open poser, delete the Poser.ini file, make my change(s) within Poser, and then close Poser and reopen it. That way Poser regenerates the "fixed" Poser.

    I don't know of any way to make changes by editing the Poser.ini file directly.

  • @dbwalton

    I read your latest postings and reached out to a relative of mine, who happens to be in the computer business.
    He thinks, that the solution is the harddrive structure of both of your computers.
    The way to have the same search path and the same search behavior on both systems is, to make both system structures identical.
    If, for example, the server has 4 harddrives, letter A to D, and your external harddrive was labled with the letter C, your Laptop has to have the same letter/drive relation.
    To have such a structure without the real harddrives A to D, he would create small partitions on the laptop, named A to D.
    Next time you plug your external into the laptop, the machine will put the next free letter to your external drive. This should be the same letter on both systems and poser should be able to find the content on both as well.
    The beauty of this is, in my opinion, it did not cost to much work to be done and if it fails, it can quickly be reversed.
    Hope this is helpfull...let us know, if it works.