Am 07.10.2018 um 21:15 schrieb Shinzo:

> It seems that the default directory layout fallback is not working as expected.

Just so that we're on the same page here: Be aware that there is an OLD
default directory layout and a NEW default directory laout.

The v3.6 (and earlier) default layout had the sample scenes, include
files and master INI files inside the program's installation location.

The v3.7 (and later) default layout has the sample scenes, include files
and master INI files inside the user directory.

This change was made because since Vista, users no longer have write
access to the program directory (not without hassle anyway); so it would
have been a pain to change the master INI file, or even just render a
sample scene for giggles.

> When installing POV-Ray 3.7 with INSTALL-DIR and USER-DIR pointing to the same
> directory the installer puts everything in the install dir and nothing to the
> user documents directory. Running POV-Ray then works just fine. However if you
> then make a backup copy of the directory and uninstall POV-Ray and then run it
> from the prevously made backup directory it will tell you with a dialog
> something like:
> 
> POV-Ray is not installed.
> Using default directory layout.
> Directory ***** is default directory.

Yes, that is to be expected: The choice of INSTALL-DIR and USER-DIR is
normally stored in the registry; uninstalling will also wipe out this
information.

If you then run POV-Ray without properly installing it, POV-Ray will
again presume the (new!) default locations for INSTALL-DIR and USER-DIR.

> 
> While previous versions prior to 3.7 then worked fine the current version won't
> find the include files because it searches for them in the user documents
> folder.

Previous versions didn't have to make this distinction.

> It doesn't use the default directory layout nor it uses the user-dir given
> during installation.

It /does/ use the new(!) default directory layout; that's exactly what's
causing you trouble. And what installation? Since you've uninstalled.
that installation you had done much earlier remains nothing more than a
fever dream.


> I used the default directory layout fallback with previous versions to make a
> portable version of POV-Ray which I could put on an USB-Drive without the need
> to install POV-Ray on the system.

Yes, the bad news is that POV-Ray v3.7 does not support "portable
installation" (or whatever you want to call it).

This leaves room for improvement, but it is not a bug.

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