Figures we will accept products for
As we've had some new people asking about products that can be submitted, I wanted to add this info from a thread Lisa started in Early April.
- We will no longer accept products that are made exclusively for Daz/Poser figures, however we will accept products that include versions for both the Daz/Poser figure AND one of our HiveWire figures.
- Note that the "other figures" MUST be current Daz/Poser figures. Current figures will generally be listed on the Submission page. At this time, they include Genesis 3 or 8 figures, and La Femme
- We will no longer accept Bryce products.
- We will still be accepting environments and props that are not figure specific.
Tips that came from questions I've been asked:
Please do not get overly freaked out about what's in the CA Kit, doing things wrong, etc. I've not yet beaten up any of our CAs and have no plans to start
. I work closely with the CAs and we'll work out any issues the QAV team has with a product. Some will be "you must fix this in order for it to be in the store" issues. Others will be "As customers, we're noticing this, you may want to consider changing it". We refer to this as "above the line" and "below the line".
Use of "My Library" or "Content" folders in DAZ Studio:
We do not use those, because not everyone CALLS it My Library or Content, so it causes confusion for people when unzipping their products.
The main folders - all on the same level - are
data
Animals
People
Shaders
Runtime
etc,,,
ReadMe/Template folder structures:
ReadMes\{your artist name}\
{Product Name} ReadMe.txt
then list files here
"But I like my own Runtime organized differently - Like I put all my poses in the Poser Character folder with the item. Can't my product be done the way I usually do things?":
What people do with files in terms of moving things after they buy is their choice. For my personal use, I move everything around all over the place.
However a product comes INTO QAV, it will go to the store with the structure we use, which you can see in any products from HW (other than really early ones), so that they are consistent.
.pz2 Mat Files:
We do not use these UNLESS the product is an older one which can be used in DAZ Studio 3.x and there are no DS Specific Files. Anyone with Poser 6+ or DS 4+ can read .mc6 Poser files. If you submit something with pz2 mat files that doesn't fit this exclusion, we'll convert them to mc6, place them in the Material folder, and delete the .pz2s. So, you can convert them yourself and save me the trouble
. Any product for HW figures will require Poser 9 or DS 4.5 as minimum, so there is absolutely no need for pz2 mat files.
Beta Testing:
Honestly the most IMPORTANT part is to have things THOROUGHLY Beta tested to ensure that things work. Missing files or path errors tell us (though this can just be a packing error and happens sometimes) there is likely something wrong in the Beta process - it wasn't Beta tested, the Beta testers need better instruction of what to do, or they are testing with conflicting things mapped into Poser or DS.
ReadMes:
Things like the ReadMe not being perfect or the file structure maybe needing some alteration is not a big deal. Keep in mind that QAV goes over products. I do the final ReadMes and typically create them from a combination of the Submission info and what the CA says. I almost ALWAYS redo the file list because people do them all different ways and I also like consistency
. I have a very specific method, and have a program that does it very quickly for me. The most important part of the ReadMe for CAs to provide is the "Important Notes" section - this is where you should have any information you want/need your customer to know..useage tips, render tips, resources used, etc.
A file list is nice, in that I know YOU intended something to be in there. Again, if it's done differently than I do it, I'll redo it.
To create final file lists. I use Mister Lister, which is part of Creator's Toybox (not available at the moment - should be coming to HW. It's used within Poser, so not something you'd use...but it creates the file list from files in any directory so is not DS/Poser specific. I make 2 small changes, removing the \ before the Templates and ReadMes folders.
Poser File Versions:
If using Poser, set your files to the lowest version the product can be used in (for anything Dawn, Dusk, Luna or Harry - that is 9).
Texture file and folder names:
If you have multiple products that use the same textures, use the EXACT same textures...ie same date and time stamp. Otherwise, people get confused when they have to overwrite and the date/time is different.
If you are doing a product for both Poser and DAZ Studio, remember that often users combine their Runtime/Library in the same folder. So if you have jpgs, don't have different files with the same name in the same folder for Poser and DS.
If you want, submit just one copy of the Runtime\Texture folder if the files are the same in Poser & DS.
Don't use generic texture names like blue.jpg, as programs often find the first one listed.
Vanity Folders:
Please don't use vanity folders ANYWHERE. These are folders you'll see in some products in your runtime with ! or multiple !!! in front of them so that they show up first before other people's product.
Compression:
Do not save files compressed (more likely for people to do in DS than in Poser) as they need to be uncompressed to edit them. Uncheck the "Save Compressed" box when saving your files.
File Locations:
We don't insist on CAs following the same location where HiveWire puts their products. Some already have things they do a certain way. Some are selling at HW and other stores and already submitted to other stores with something different (apparently at some places you are not allowed to change things once submitted).
If you are doing textures for something, have them inside the same folder structure that the original product's materials were in. SO if the original is "Runtime/Materials/Pretty Dress for Dawn/" and you do textures, put YOURS inside that last folder, not in "Runtime/Materials/Josie's textures/Dawn/Lovely for Pretty Dress for Dawn/
For things for specific figures, I'd recommend putting your folder below the folders for the specific figure, because that is where a user would go to find things FOR that figure.
Our main concern in terms of structure are user-facing files (for Poser, those are the ones in Libraries).
File folder Names:
I ALWAYS capitalize the first letter of the file folders in Poser
So
Runtime>Libraries>Materials>
Not
runtime>libraries>materials
In DS, data is not capitalized but other folders are.
Keep consistent with capitalization. So
Dog Collar.mc6
Dog Collar.png
Dog Bowl.mc6
Dog Bowl.png.
Rather than
Dog collar.mc6
Dog Collar.mc6
dog bowl.mc6
dog bowl.png.
If you don't change it I will, but less work for me is nice
Final zip file size and what goes in what zip file:
Don't worry about final zip files/sizes/what's in which zip file. I decide that when I pack the final product.
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The bottom line - do your best but don't freak out or lose sleep over this.
One of my favorite lines is that I'll expect perfection of others when I am perfect...and don't expect that to happen in this Space/Time Continuum
We are not expecting everything to be perfect, and we'll work together to get it right
.
Hope this is helpful!!
