Clean up scene and remove unused dependencies?

[screwy]

Not sure if it's possible, but is there some way to clean up or remove unused dependencies and assets from a scene. I noticed with a scene I shared recently there seems to be a lot of dependencies for atoms or assets that aren't present in the scene anymore. When I was making the scene I was trying out a lot of different ideas, clothing, looks... and some of those still show up.

So anyways, if possible I'd like to cut down the enormous dependency list. Couldn't figure out a way so thought I'd ask here. Also if anyone knows how to remove non hubhosted dependencies from a scene, I've been trying to figure out that as well.

Thanks in advance!

 

[WrongTamago]

The easiest way would be to open your .json files in a text editor (like Notepad++) and look at them directly. You can search for ":/" (without quotes) to find your var references. You can then either edit the JSON directly (be sure to make a backup!), or figure what it's referring to and remove it in VaM.

For morphs especially, it's easier just to delete them from the JSON. Be careful about commas though. The last item in a list can't have a comma at the end.

Edit: Oops, it's just ":/", not "var:/"

 

[SlimerJSpud]

Yes, 106 dependencies is a mess.

It's possible some of the atoms or props in your scene are still there, they are just turned off. On the main Control tab for an atom or asset, if the "On" button is unchecked, they're still in there, just disabled from view. You have to click Remove to get rid of them. For morphs, it's sometimes necessary to slog through and "clean the dials" on the characters. Go to the Morphs tab for each character and check the Only Active box. If you're using random morphs from a bunch of different packages, try to swap those morphs out for a built-in morph if they exist. If the same morph exists in several packages, and you need it, try to pick one morph pack to get multiple morphs from, rather than getting them from random characters.

For editing json files (danger!), I use the free ViM editor. It has a mode that highlights syntax errors, but you have to click on the characters that might be wrong. It understands json syntax.

 

[screwy]

Thanks for the advice. I definitely removed all the atoms I know longer needed. And as far as the person atoms, I did the thing that unloads unused assets for that atom like clothing I guess. I'll have to look into the morph thing and see if that helps. Hopefully I won't have to mess with the json file but we'll see.

 

[screwy]

The easiest way would be to open your .json files in a text editor (like Notepad++) and look at them directly.

Hey quick question. So I have notepad ++ and tried opening the .json file but it's just a bunch of strange looking characters "J€ ©ÂòžD$c" for example. Is there something I need to do to actually be able to read this thing?

 

[SlimerJSpud]

That's not the json file. It's probably the jpg that goes with it. In Windows you have to uncheck "hide known file types" in control panel. One of the dumbest things ever. Either that, or you opened a zip file by mistake. Again, always show file type extensions if you're going to hack the files.

 

[neoajdude]

This is really hard to do afterwards (at least I feel like it is), but you have to be careful as you build the scene and make sure you're only reference one dependency at a time.

For example, I see in your dependencies that you have several hairstyles being referenced but they probably aren't in the scene. I don't know for certain where those are coming from, but you're probably using something (a piece of clothing or even a morph) that's also used in another scene you've downloaded, so it references THAT scene and then everything that THAT scene references. So you can see how the dependencies start to build up.

It's hard to clean up a scene afterward. But my suggestion is to go through the character morphs and Zero out all the Custom morphs, and find built in replacements and use those instead. And then go through all of the assets. clothings, hairstyles, etc and make sure they are the versions from their author and not versions that are referenced in other scenes.

Hope that helps.

 

[screwy]

That's not the json file. It's probably the jpg that goes with it. In Windows you have to uncheck "hide known file types" in control panel. One of the dumbest things ever. Either that, or you opened a zip file by mistake. Again, always show file type extensions if you're going to hack the files.

I was just being stupid haha. Was opening the .var file instead of the .json file from my saves folder.

 

[screwy]

This is really hard to do afterwards (at least I feel like it is), but you have to be careful as you build the scene and make sure you're only reference one dependency at a time.

For example, I see in your dependencies that you have several hairstyles being referenced but they probably aren't in the scene. I don't know for certain where those are coming from, but you're probably using something (a piece of clothing or even a morph) that's also used in another scene you've downloaded, so it references THAT scene and then everything that THAT scene references. So you can see how the dependencies start to build up.

It's hard to clean up a scene afterward. But my suggestion is to go through the character morphs and Zero out all the Custom morphs, and find built in replacements and use those instead. And then go through all of the assets. clothings, hairstyles, etc and make sure they are the versions from their author and not versions that are referenced in other scenes.

Hope that helps.

Yeah I'll definitely have to be a bit more carful as I build scenes and put a little more planning into it. From my testing zeroing sliders for morphs and such has seemed to help some. Thanks for the advice!

 

[SlimerJSpud]

The fact that Vam shows the same resource (like hair) multiple times in the menu is part of the problem. That's how you inadvertently pick up everything in some other scene. Like @neoajdude said, find the version from the original creator.