Question Editing an old scene of mine without the original Var file?

[tom.ace1776]

I decided to download VAM again and start editing an old scene I made, the "build-a-bot" scene.

I downloaded the scene off the hub and downloaded the relevant dependencies. I do not have the original VAR file.

I am trying to add new clothing presets to some of the UI buttons but whenever I save it, the buttons reset to the original settings without the new clothing presets I made.

I have a feeling this will happen with any new preset I make including UI presets etc...

Any idea what is going on here or how to fix it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[SlimerJSpud]

The var on the hub IS the original var. Maybe what you mean is you don't have the original scene file. Did you save a local copy of the scene? If you open it from the var you downloaded, then save the scene, you have a local copy you should be able to save changes in.

Excessive dependencies are usually a result of using something from some other scene, so Vam pulls in the whole scene. With hair and clothes especially, always use the version from the original creator of those assets, not something from some action scene that pulls in a ton of junk.

 

[tom.ace1776]

The var on the hub IS the original var. Maybe what you mean is you don't have the original scene file. Did you save a local copy of the scene? If you open it from the var you downloaded, then save the scene, you have a local copy you should be able to save changes in.

Excessive dependencies are usually a result of using something from some other scene, so Vam pulls in the whole scene. With hair and clothes especially, always use the version from the original creator of those assets, not something from some action scene that pulls in a ton of junk.

Thank you I got the first part figured out. I'm still struggling to remove "missing" dependencies that are not even in use in the scene. I think they are there as a result of loading something in like a clothing item or hairstyle and then removing it but it still is saved in the scene? I'm not sure.. I moved my scene to a clean VAM and there are still these missing dependencies that I'm not using. I thought I was careful to only download what I needed... I have no idea how this part of it works and its so frustrating TBH this is why I quit making content in the first place. Its all coming back to me...

 

[hazmhox]

Thank you I got the first part figured out. I'm still struggling to remove "missing" dependencies that are not even in use in the scene. I think they are there as a result of loading something in like a clothing item or hairstyle and then removing it but it still is saved in the scene? I'm not sure.. I moved my scene to a clean VAM and there are still these missing dependencies that I'm not using. I thought I was careful to only download what I needed... I have no idea how this part of it works and its so frustrating TBH this is why I quit making content in the first place. Its all coming back to me...

That's not very hard to understand, you either have hard dependencies (direct use of a var in your scene), or soft dependencies (dependency of dependency).

Let's say you are have AcidBubbles.Timeline.283 as a dependency, you should find that in you json file. This AcidBubbles.Timeline.283 or AcidBubbles.Timeline.latest.

If you don't, that's probably a soft dependency.

Look at the meta file in the var, that gives you every bit of information you need to cleanup your dependencies.

 

[tom.ace1776]

That's not very hard to understand, you either have hard dependencies (direct use of a var in your scene), or soft dependencies (dependency of dependency).

Let's say you are have AcidBubbles.Timeline.283 as a dependency, you should find that in you json file. This AcidBubbles.Timeline.283 or AcidBubbles.Timeline.latest.

If you don't, that's probably a soft dependency.

Look at the meta file in the var, that gives you every bit of information you need to cleanup your dependencies.

yes... i know some of these words...

 

[tom.ace1776]

I started over and I think I'm good.. still has missing dependencies but thats because I'm referencing some dependencies and not using everything from those scenes/looks i guess?
another problem I ran into is this BROKEN message when packaging the var. This is what it says in the Meta.json


"reference" : "Custom/Atom/Person/Hair/Preset_Bot.vap",
"issue" : "BROKEN: References local file not included in package. File is missing"
},
{
"reference" : "Custom/SubScene/TomAce/Breast Subscenetct.json",
"issue" : "BROKEN: References local file not included in package. File is missing"


How do I fix this?

 

[hazmhox]

You have a "fix" button on the left when you're creating your var file. Hit this, it should include the missing file, prep again and save

 

[tom.ace1776]

You have a "fix" button on the left when you're creating your var file. Hit this, it should include the missing file, prep again and save

Still says broken.

 

[hazmhox]

Still says broken.

Fix, will fix IF you have the assets.

Check if you have the assets, if not... It's not solvable. Find where the assets come from.

 

[SlimerJSpud]

How did you get it in the scene if you don't have the asset? Package builder will find it if it's at the path stored in the scene.

 

[tom.ace1776]

Fix, will fix IF you have the assets.

Check if you have the assets, if not... It's not solvable. Find where the assets come from.

The hair one I deleted because I'm not using it and not referencing it in the scene, so why is it referenced in the first place?

The Subscene one is not even there and I have no idea where it came from... How do I "Find where the asset came from"???

 

[tom.ace1776]

How did you get it in the scene if you don't have the asset? Package builder will find it if it's at the path stored in the scene.

Its not in the scene..... Its not at the path stored in the scene......

 

[hazmhox]

The hair one I deleted because I'm not using it and not referencing it in the scene, so why is it referenced in the first place?

The Subscene one is not even there and I have no idea where it came from... How do I "Find where the asset came from"???

Loop back to the original post, it's either a hard or soft dependency. You need to look at your scene file and other files/dependencies in general and fix that manually.

 

[tom.ace1776]

Loop back to the original post, it's either a hard or soft dependency. You need to look at your scene file and other files/dependencies in general and fix that manually.

what does "fix it manually" mean? If i knew how to fix it i wouldnt be here asking for help.

 

[hazmhox]

what does "fix it manually" mean? If i knew how to fix it i wouldnt be here asking for help.

That means opening and editing the files, like you did with the meta.

 

[tom.ace1776]

I Fixed it, I didnt have to edit any files, whatever that means.. But If anyone else with this problem wants to know the solution, what I had to do was:

1. Open the (Scenename).json in notepad.
2. Do a search for the broken references. In this case they were called "Custom/Atom/Person/Hair/Preset_Bot.vap" and "Custom/SubScene/TomAce/Breast Subscenetct.json"
3. Scroll up in the .json to see that they were being referenced by a UI Button trigger called "activate UI Button" that I'm using in the scene.
4. Open the scene in VAM.
5. In my case the UI button that the Json file said was referencing the broken preset and subscene called "activate UI Button" in the scene was in fact NOT referencing these references. I believe this is a bug causing the broken reference message.
6. SO, to fix it, I created a preset and a subscene with these exact names, Saved the scene, and ran the package builder again. Boom fixed. I'm pretty sure you can now delete the useless preset and subscene.

 

[hazmhox]

You could have removed the references from the file and call it a day

 

[tom.ace1776]

You could have removed the references from the file and call it a day

idk how to do that

 

[hazmhox]

Show me the json, I'll show you : )

 

[SlimerJSpud]

Editing a json should be done with an editor that understands and checks the syntax for you. It's easy to screw it up. Don't use Notepad. There are other editors that do better. I use Vim, but unless you're an engineer, that may not be the best choice.

What I find in these files is that items that are indented more are sub-dependencies of something else. That's the best clue to answer where TF did that come from?