Solved Strange folder read issues and plugin permission prompts after first VR launch

[supperGR]

Hi everyone,

I'm running into a very strange problem and hope someone can help.

I've been using two versions of VaM on my PC without any issues until today:
- **1.22.0.12** (my main project version, desktop mode)
- **1.22.0.13** (a clean "test" version, also desktop)

Everything worked perfectly until I decided to try VR mode today. I used Virtual Desktop (wired streaming) to launch `VaM (OpenVR).bat`, which started VaM through SteamVR. The game launched fine, but I immediately noticed that **all my session plugins were showing errors**.

All my essential session plugin `.var` files are stored in `AddonPackages\Plugin` and I haven't moved them. I tried to re-add them via the in‑game session plugin editor, but when I opened the `Plugin` folder in VaM's built‑in file browser, **it appeared completely empty** – it didn't recognize any of the 20 `.var` files inside. I then checked my `AddonPackages\Scene` folder (which contains 64 scene `.var` files) and the file browser showed that as empty too. As a result, many of my scenes can't be loaded.

However, other folders like `AddonPackages\Others` and `AddonPackages\Clothes` are still being read correctly – their `.var` files show up fine.

I tried renaming the `AddonPackages\Plugin` folder to e.g. `01`, and when I opened that renamed folder in VaM, the `.var` files were suddenly readable again. But then VaM prompted me to accept user license permissions for **every single plugin** – I clicked "Agree to All" and saved my current session plugin setup as default. Unfortunately, **every time I restart VaM**, it asks for those same permissions again, as if VaM has lost the ability to remember my plugin permission history.

At first I thought my main project version might have been corrupted, so I repeated the VR launch with my clean "test" version (1.22.0.13) – and the exact same issues occurred:
- Some `.var` files in certain folders are not being read (they show as empty),
- Plugin permission prompts appear on every restart,
- The problem persists even when I switch back to **desktop mode**.

Has anyone encountered this before? What could be causing it, and how can I fix it?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[atani]

Usually when some VARs are read and others are not, what I tell people is to check on what they downloaded between having no problem and the problem showing.
This usually is found by some corrupted VAR file or having a VAR with chinese characters in its internal files/folders that are not recognized by the system, breaking the scan and leading to this kind of problem. Given that your screenshots show that you have a chinese language pack installed (sorry if it's not chinese, not very familiar with asian writing systems), it could be the corrupt VAR option.
What you could do is to first check your more recent VARs, move them out of AddonPackages, run VAM and see if the problem is gone. If it is, the problem is likely one of those VARs. If it's not in that group, you may have to expand this method to all your VARs until you find the culprit(s).

 

[supperGR]

Usually when some VARs are read and others are not, what I tell people is to check on what they downloaded between having no problem and the problem showing.
This usually is found by some corrupted VAR file or having a VAR with chinese characters in its internal files/folders that are not recognized by the system, breaking the scan and leading to this kind of problem. Given that your screenshots show that you have a chinese language pack installed (sorry if it's not chinese, not very familiar with asian writing systems), it could be the corrupt VAR option.
What you could do is to first check your more recent VARs, move them out of AddonPackages, run VAM and see if the problem is gone. If it is, the problem is likely one of those VARs. If it's not in that group, you may have to expand this method to all your VARs until you find the culprit(s).

Thanks for the response! I'll follow your advice and test it out, and then I'll post an update with what I find!

 

[supperGR]

Usually when some VARs are read and others are not, what I tell people is to check on what they downloaded between having no problem and the problem showing.
This usually is found by some corrupted VAR file or having a VAR with chinese characters in its internal files/folders that are not recognized by the system, breaking the scan and leading to this kind of problem. Given that your screenshots show that you have a chinese language pack installed (sorry if it's not chinese, not very familiar with asian writing systems), it could be the corrupt VAR option.
What you could do is to first check your more recent VARs, move them out of AddonPackages, run VAM and see if the problem is gone. If it is, the problem is likely one of those VARs. If it's not in that group, you may have to expand this method to all your VARs until you find the culprit(s).

Sorry to bug you again – turns out the real culprit is yours truly

I tried to save texture memory by exporting the PNGs, compressing them, and overwriting the originals inside the VAR. That's totally not how you're supposed to package a VAR – I was being way too clever for my own good.

(I'll add a comparison pic: original on the left, my compressed version on the right. Even though names and sizes stayed the same, it's clearly the cause of the issue.)

Thanks again for your time – really appreciate the help!

 

[atani]

You can definitely change the image compression, etc, and push them back into the VAR, I do that often and I see no reason to break anything, unless you changed some kind of attribute in the zip compression of the VAR as well.
Even yesterday I did the same as you to change a PNG from 16 bit depth to 8 bit, absolutely no problems that came from it. I've been also removing stuff I don't need from VARs for years to keep the packaging madness contained and the error log empty.

 

[SlimerJSpud]

I've done the same by unzipping the var to a folder with the same base name, moving the original var out to a holding area, then changing the folder name to have the .var extension. Once that's done, I can muck with the contents (recompress), then not worry about repackaging as a var. Vam can read a folder called somePackage.var as well as a var file. Another sneaky trick: Having diffuse textures as png is a complete waste of space. I save them as jpg, delete the png files, then change the extension from jpg to png. Vam doesn't care. I don't do this on normals, but all the other texture files are fair game. The process can work, as long as you don't screw it up.