Help with moving files to proper folders

[johara45]

Hello all, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around using Vam and I’m making extremely slow progress.

I was wondering if anyone out there have experience in working with custom looks files from Bamair1984. He makes excellent lookalikes. I have trouble following his instructions as I’m still learning all the terminology for vam. His instructions are as follows

“The VAR file to ==>> VaM_Release\AddonPackages
Open the game, read the VAR scene, and load the appearance preset.
You can increase or decrease various textures, makeup textures, body erythema, and nails.”

What is meant by opening the var scene? And load the appearance preset?

I notice in the zip file, there is a vap file but don’t know if it stays where it is in the unzipped folder or does it go to one of the vam folders? (Don’t know which one). I messaged him but haven’t had a response. I figured maybe someone here can help
Thank you

 

[SlimerJSpud]

Which model are you using? Some of his models are on Mega as .zip files. Inside that zip file, there is a .var file. The .var file is what goes inside the AddonPackages folder. If you just put the zip file in AddonPackages, the program won't see it. You have to unzip it. Once you do that, then inside Vam, you can use the All Scenes Browser to find the one you just put in AddonPackages. Note that the default sort is by the date of the meta.json INSIDE the var file, not the date you installed it. You can search using a string that's part of the name. Once you open the scene, there should be the character you want. You can make whatever changes you want, then save an Appearance preset to use in some other scene.

 

[johara45]

Thank you very much for helping me SlimerJSpud. You are correct the Folder was downloaded as a zip file. I already unzipped the file and put the var file where it should go. Not sure where to put the other file (Preset with the vap extension) or how to even load it. I tried moving it to the Custom/Atom/Person/Appearance folder (its the only way I could figure out how to even navigate to the file), then hit the "Appearance Preset", then hit select existing. I see the person bounce, but I'm not certain what it does. I know if I choose random scene from the all scenes browser I can adjust the nail color etc., but if I load this one in particular I dont get that option. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Screen shots is below. (Last one is when I load a pre-existing scene from the scene browser).

 

[atani]

Thank you very much for helping me SlimerJSpud. You are correct the Folder was downloaded as a zip file. I already unzipped the file and put the var file where it should go. Not sure where to put the other file (Preset with the vap extension) or how to even load it. I tried moving it to the Custom/Atom/Person/Appearance folder (its the only way I could figure out how to even navigate to the file), then hit the "Appearance Preset", then hit select existing. I see the person bounce, but I'm not certain what it does. I know if I choose random scene from the all scenes browser I can adjust the nail color etc., but if I load this one in particular I dont get that option. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Screen shots is below. (Last one is when I load a pre-existing scene from the scene browser).

Nail color or other selectable items are dependent on the skin used and even if it shows options they may not be selectable if the creator didn't make the options.

 

[johara45]

Thank you again for your time Atani. Just for future reference as in me trying to learn what I can, was my attempt done correctly in trying to place the files im the correct folders and trying to load the appearance preset? I guess I thought that since there was a VAP file and his directions were to load the appearance preset it would automatically work. I suppose that he didn't create them for all of his looks customization files.

Thanks Again!

 

[atani]

If you could load Ariana fine with the appearance preset it worked. The nail options is not something usually present anyway, it's a option to include not something missing in the model.
Bamair finally managed to do his packaging better last year or so, but as you can see he's still not a great packer as the preset should be part of the main VAR in the first place. If you go to his earlier works they will be much more messy.
Keep in mind that he always provides a scene, from which you can create your own appearance preset.

 

[SlimerJSpud]

I found another issue with Bamair's packaging. In one look I downloaded to test, he packaged dependencies in a subdirectory of the folder he had his var in. This caused a duplicate uid error because I already had those dependencies in the main AddonPackages folder. Putting a hub-hosted dependency in a subdirectory is bad packaging.

 

[johara45]

Thank you all for your inputs, it really explains a lot and helps a lot. After downloading several more of his content I decided to just cancel my membership. I found that many of his dependencies lead to more paid memberships. I'm all for supporting all the wonderfull people who create nice work, but it gets incredibly costly when you have to pay for several other subscriptions per content that is downloaded. Also after reading a few comments on his page it appears that he won't offer support for content that can't be found. Does anyone know of other creators who provide excellent support for lookalike content?

 

[Fazrei]

Thank you all for your inputs, it really explains a lot and helps a lot. After downloading several more of his content I decided to just cancel my membership. I found that many of his dependencies lead to more paid memberships. I'm all for supporting all the wonderfull people who create nice work, but it gets incredibly costly when you have to pay for several other subscriptions per content that is downloaded. Also after reading a few comments on his page it appears that he won't offer support for content that can't be found. Does anyone know of other creators who provide excellent support for lookalike content?

Check out Vecterror