Hello Poitou,

from the screenshot and the symptoms you describe this looks like a corrupted "preferred scene" file.

One way to fix:
In "General Preferences" "Document" tab, tick "Launch to factory scene", "OK", and restart Poser.

Now you should have the default Poser scene, with our beloved "Andy" in it...
Kick him out, go back to "General Preferences" "Document" tab, click on "Set Preferred Scene", tick "Launch to preferred scene", "OK", and restart Poser again.


Alternatively you can use the "preferredState.pz3" from your Poser 10 / PP2014 installation.

Shut down Poser, then go to:
"C:Documents and Settings[yourusername]Application DataPoser Pro10" and copy the file.
Switch path to
"C:Documents and Settings[yourusername]Application DataPoser Pro11" and paste the file, overwriting the corrupted one.
Restart Poser and all should be well.

The advantage of the latter method is that in case P11 came with "The Construct" loaded by default and you don't want it, it won't be there and you have your default scene as you're used to from P10 / PP2014.

HTH
K

P.S.:
For additional information about "The Construct", also look here:
https://forum.smithmicro.com/topic/2569/alternate-construct

P.P.S:
As RLOwens said above:
the "ground.obz" file is in Poser's internal runtime:
"[DRIVE]:Program FilesSmith MicroPoser Pro 2014RuntimePoser Pro 2014 ContentRuntimeGeometriespropsground.obz"
Simply copy it to the respective location in your P11 installation if it's corrupted.

Hello RLOwens,

you were faster than me
Thank you for helping out

K

Hello Poitou,

please carefully read my above post again, esp. the part about "using the "preferredState.pz3" from your Poser 10 / PP2014 installation".

However I admit that your paths are different to mine. Damn those Windows "dedicated folders" setup which makes things more complicated than they actually are! *1

So here's a solution that should work in any system:

The "default" scene is called "preferredState.pz3".

Start a search for this file in "search all files and folders" on drive C:
You'll probably get several search results listed, depending on the number of Poser versions installed.
Look for the path which represents your PP2014 installation. In it is your default scene from your PP2014 installation.
Hit to copy it.

Next look for the identical path, but for your P11 installation this time.
This also should contain a "preferredState.pz3".
Hit to overwrite it.

Restart Poser and it "should" load your default scene as you had it in PP2014: the usual ground plane, without "The Construct"

If this works pls. let me know.
Otherwise (like, if Poser can't find the "ground.obz" file) we must dive deeper into the runtime structures of Poser to get the file to where it can be found.


Let me know how you progress.

Karina



Footnote *1:

And damn Windows which, with all these "convenience" folders, keeps people dumb from knowing where their files actually reside (see your path blurb "ComputerLocal Disk C(username)AppDataRoamingPoser" - this is anything but a valid path!)

A valid path "might" rather look like this:
"C:Documents and Settings(username)AppDataRoamingPoser".
But noooo!
Due to the "convenience" folders most of today's users (who never learned how a file structure is built) most of them are completely lost once they must look for a certain file in Explorer...

For my part I never use drive C: for anything else than the OS and driver install.
## ALL ## programs are ## always ## installed on D: drive - no exception!
Nor is any data like pictures, music, videos, whatever, saved to the "My Folders" on C: drive. It all goes to *my own* folders on other drives, ## never ## on C:

With this method you avoid the nagging UAC in Windows, and it also keeps your data and program setups in relative safety should drive C: ever get corrupted:

Just format drive C:, reinstall Windows and the drivers, and most is back almost immediately.
Well, except your Poser settings maybe, which Poser still insists to save to C: drive.

Countermeasure: Make a backup of the Poser settings folder whenever you made changes to Poser's setup, so you can copy the files back when you need them - e.g. also if some got corrupted (like when Poser crashes exactly during shutdown - when the configuration files are updated - and you're left with a mess. Maybe that's what happened in your case!).

[snip!] (deleted more paragraphs because tl;dr)


OK, rant finished, and pardon me this "tour de force" through drives, files and folders.

K

Thank you for the heads-up my friend!

I've just downloaded that new Poser service release [rolling_eyes] and I'll try it as soon as I have some time - and finally rebuilt my P8 laptop to run it because it won't run on my prehistoric XP workstation.

I guess both me and my computers are getting real old

I'll attach a copy of *my* "preferredState.pz3" to help you out.

• The scene is almost the PP2014 basic scene, but less Andy.
• It includes my four "Posing Lights" which can be controlled from the "UNIVERSE" actor: They light the scene evenly for posing purposes, but they are *not* included in the render.
• Plus it also includes BagginsBills "Environment Sphere" which I use all the time.

That's right.
I always keep a copy of my settings too, just in case Poser messes with the files. If something goes wrong I can easily restore them to my liking.

Binary Morph Targets?
Some say they're working now, some say they still have problems.
Also, pmd files are still a "black box" which I don't like at all. That's DAZ style...
So my suggestion is: Keep - that - bloody - thing - OFF!


The big problem during setup is when you have to tell Poser Setup where to store "content".

I don't remember exactly, but I think it suggests a location in the "C:users[username](etc.)" folder which is a no-no because of the bloody UAC.

So it's best to store it in the same folder where the Poser program is installed (which should be a non-C: drive like "D:Program FilesSmith MicroPoser 11")
Problem is, when you're asked for the "content" files location, this path doesn't yet exist because it will be created during the actual installation process only!

What I do is create that path manually beforehand, e.g. "D:Program FilesSmith MicroPoser 11"
Then run setup and use this path for both program location and "content".

The reason why Poser needs this "native" runtime is because it's the first runtime that Poser looks for files when loading a scene, figure, prop, whatever.

If it's not in there, it will then parse the other libraries.

So it's a good idea to have the basic Poser files (like the infamous "Null.obj" and a lot more basic geometries and definitions) in this "native" runtime.

If you use V4, then you should also install the V4 Base (geometries, data files), into this runtime. It speeds up loading V4 considerably.

The figures and characters using V4 however can be stored in any runtime of your choice!
It's all about that the referenced geometries and data are right in the first runtime Poser is looking for them - and that's it's native runtime.


This is a very tricky and complex topic, so if you have more questions, just ask.

K

Well, I can't say anything about previous versions because P11 SR6 is my first installation, and it seems to work fine for now, even on my poor Lenovo laptop).

However, what I learned from previous "updates":
Never install just the update.
Get the complete install instead.
Then save your runtime (in the Poser program folder!) and the settings (in the C:Users[Username]AppDataRoamingPoser Pro11*.* folder - all files!) as a backup.

Uninstall Poser completely.
Restart mashina

Install the new Poser version, and run it once to register and make sure everything works OK. Close Poser.
Copy back your saved runtime and settings.

Never failed hitherto.


K


P.S.:
Of course you're never safe from ugly surprises; on my Lenovo laptop the OpenGL preview doesn't work because of those bloody unINTELligent chips, so it's just SreeD for me.
However, if Poser worked OK on your machine a mere update shouldn't cause the program to stop working.

Except if the "update" messes something up: An update is a very different beast than a fresh install:

A fresh install just copies all the files to where they belong and it should work.

An update however must copy new files, replace existing files, modify some files, mess with .DLLs, .XMLs, and whatever. One mistake here and you're toast.

Well, good luck then my friend!

If some other day you want to tackle the update again, I'll be here to help you if I can.
In the meantime listen to this:

https://youtu.be/tGeI6BdgLFc

Enjoy, and keep that British stiff upper lip!

K