This article provides general information for trouble-shooting installation and activation of plugins. For help with a specific plugin after it has been properly installed and activated, contact the creator of the plugin for brokered plugins. A list of plugin creators and their contact info is provided further on in this article. A list of other plugin support articles is also included at the end of this article.
Installation
Make sure you have installed the latest version of the plugin that matches the version of Studio you have installed. If you are using DAZ Studio 4.5.x, make sure you have run the plugin installer designed for DAZ Studio 4.5.x. If you have an earlier version of the plugin installed (such as for 4.0), the plugin will not work and may not even appear in 'About Installed Plugins' in DAZ Studio 4.5.
You can get the latest version of the plugin by resetting your existing order for the plugin. You can do this in your DAZ 3D account in 'Itemized Order History.' If the plugin is provided with DAZ Studio 4.5, then reset your order (or place an order, if you never have) for DAZ Studio 4.5. At the time of this article, you can find it here: http://www.daz3d.com/shop/daz-studio-4-pro. If you need the latest GoZ or 3D Bridge Plugin, for example, reset your order for DAZ Studio 4.5.
By default, most plugin installers do not even ask you where to install the plugin, because that is already established by your existing installation of DAZ Studio 4.x. Plugins are not installed like content. Content can be customized and you can potentially have more than one content install path. Plugins *must* be installed to their default path in the plugins folder in DAZ Studio 4.x. Once DAZ Studio 4.x has been installed, the location of the plugin folder is established and should not be changed, otherwise, DAZ Studio 4.x will not find the plugins and they will not work.
Keep in mind that some plugins may have associated content. The installer may ask you for the install path for this content. This is different from the plugin itself. The Light Dome Pro 2 plugin, for example, asks for an install path. This path is not for the plugin, but for the accompanying content that supports the light dome. In this case, the path is your correct content path. Most plugin installers do not install additional content.
Activation
After the correct version of the plugin has been installed, the plugin may need to be activated. Some DAZ 3D plugins (plugins owned by DAZ 3D and not brokered) will be automatically activated if you have already activated DAZ Studio 4.x as the Pro Edition. For example, 3D Bridge, GoZ, the Content Creator Toolkit (Cr2 Exporter, Weight Map Brush, Polygon Group Editor, Transfer Utility, Property Editor, Morph Loader Pro, Figure Setup, Joint Editor, ExP Editor) are part of the Pro Edition of DAZ Studio 4 and will be activated simply by activating DAZ Studio 4.x.
To activate other plugins, go to HELP --> About Installed Plugins... This displays a list of plugins that DAZ Studio 4.x can see have been installed. Find the entry for the plugin. On the entry, you will see the status of the plugin. If the status is 'active' (with a green plugin icon), then the plugin is already activated. If the status is something else, then the plugin may need to be activated or updated (as explained above). To activate the plugin, press the button under registration. Input your serial code (probably provided when you purchased the plugin) and submit it. Then close and re-launch DAZ Studio 4. It's necessary to relaunch DAZ Studio 4, so that it can load with the newly activated plugin. You can check the status in 'About Installed Plugins...' again to verify that the plugin has been activated.
Be aware that the Genesis Generation X (upgrade) differs from the regular Genesis Generation X plugin. The upgrade version requires a previously installed product sold elsewhere in order for it to be activated. If you do not have the required product for this special upgrade version, you should buy the regular Genesis Generation X plugin.
Contacting DAZ Tech Support
If you need to contact DAZ Tech support for help with a plugin, please include the following information:
The name of the plugin
The full build of DAZ Studio 4.x that you are using (Mac: DAZStudio --> About DAZ Studio; Windows: Help --> About DAZ Studio)
The full build of the plugin, as explained above.
Brokered Plugin Support
aniMate2
http://www.gofigure3d.com
Dimension 3D (Genesis Generation X)
http://d3d.sesseler.de/index.php?support
Dreamlight
www.dream-lounge.com
FaceShop Pro
info @ abalonellc.com
FINDER, Finder II (rigger)
http://www.gmccsoft.com/
Infinito
http://infinito.alessandromastronardi.com/
ParticleFX
John Brugioni
jbrugion @ earthlink.net
Other Plugins Support Articles
How to Activate Plugins in DAZ Studio
https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/entries/20868421-how-to-activate-plugins-in-daz-studio-3
3D Bridge: How to Install and use 3D Bridge in DAZ Studio 4 Pro
https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/entries/21045731-how-to-install-and-use-3d-bridge-in-daz-studio-4-pro
Autofit
https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/entries/21964772-auto-fit-plugin
GoZ Plugin
https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/entries/21995281-help-with-goz-plugin