Question How to manage var package?

[vvs123]

I've already cleaned up the duplicate var files, but unfortunately, many same assets have been separately packaged into different var files. Should I extract them?

 

[atani]

No. Even without understanding what you mean, don't extract stuff, you'll easily make a huge mess.

What do you want to do and why?

 

[vvs123]

No. Even without understanding what you mean, don't extract stuff, you'll easily make a huge mess.

What do you want to do and why?

For example.I get two character from different creator,but both creator packed same oufit in different var package,so they all appear in VAM. This happened so many times and there were a lot of the same things in the list.I needed to clean them up because my VAM was slowing down

 

[atani]

Unfortunately some creators force people to download a lot of unneeded stuff, or worse, put resources that should be dependencies inside the VAR itself.
What is your situation with those VARs? Is the outfit used as a dependency/ies (outfit in its own VAR(s)) or is it inside the VARs of the characters as files?

If you want to know more about VARs:

anatomy of a VAR - Guides -

This guide means to show what makes a VAR a VAR A VAR is the prefered way to share content between VaM users, with the Hub hosting thousands of them as I write this guide. Yet, this file only exists from VaM version 1.20, if not mistaken, and...

hub.virtamate.com

 

[vvs123]

Unfortunately some creators force people to download a lot of unneeded stuff, or worse, put resources that should be dependencies inside the VAR itself.
What is your situation with those VARs? Is the outfit used as a dependency/ies (outfit in its own VAR(s)) or is it inside the VARs of the characters as files?

If you want to know more about VARs:

anatomy of a VAR - Guides -

This guide means to show what makes a VAR a VAR A VAR is the prefered way to share content between VaM users, with the Hub hosting thousands of them as I write this guide. Yet, this file only exists from VaM version 1.20, if not mistaken, and...

hub.virtamate.com

Most of them are inside var package of the characters or scenes.My idea is unzip them so that they can cover each other.But it seems that the files will be more difficult to manage because of the lack of relevant tools,and if they're in different names folders,it's won't work

 

[atani]

If there's clothes inside what is meant to be only a character VAR, and you don't want the clothes, you can open the VAR and delete the clothes. This will break other content that expects these clothes to be there, if there is any, so if you're confident you don't have anything needing those clothes, go ahead and delete them from the VAR.
You don't need to unpack, most zip managers handle file managing when you open the VAR with it. If yours doesn't, I use nanazip, 7-zip also works, etc.

 

[vvs123]

If there's clothes inside what is meant to be only a character VAR, and you don't want the clothes, you can open the VAR and delete the clothes. This will break other content that expects these clothes to be there, if there is any, so if you're confident you don't have anything needing those clothes, go ahead and delete them from the VAR.
You don't need to unpack, most zip managers handle file managing when you open the VAR with it. If yours doesn't, I use nanazip, 7-zip also works, etc.

So I can delete duplicate clothes in the var package until only one is left? Then, theoretically, a character var package only needs morph files and texture files. I can extract the clothes and hair to the custom folder (because their paths are usually fixed) or repackage them into a new VAR file. Can I do that?

 

[SlimerJSpud]

You will be setting yourself up for a lot of problems if you do this. Some other var you download may have a dependency from one of the vars you deleted things from. This is a known flaw in Vam that it allows duplicate content in multiple vars. There is no clean solution.

 

[atani]

So I can delete duplicate clothes in the var package until only one is left? Then, theoretically, a character var package only needs morph files and texture files. I can extract the clothes and hair to the custom folder (because their paths are usually fixed) or repackage them into a new VAR file. Can I do that?

As @SlimerJSpud says, there's no clean solution because people can pack in different ways, some better than others, and anything you do or not do will have it pros and cons. It's a matter of risk analysis.
I don't think it's a VaM flaw, perhaps the packaging process could have been tweaked a bit to provide more information about the resource being packaged, and especially early documentation and good practices that were not done, and many of these problems could have been avoided. Still, people will just do whatever they want to do.

I do a lot of VAR editing, really go in depth with it, and it depends on what you have and plan to have. But also not doing anything is a choice taken with its pros and cons.
For example, you have a couple of characters that have clothes you don't want, and probably shouldn't be inside the VAR in the first place as they should have been just dependencies. What are the chances that such characher clothes are essential to some scene in the future? Probably pretty slim. I would delete the clothes. Worst case scenario you'd find a scene you want and that needs them, you could just download the character's VAR again.

 

[vvs123]

You will be setting yourself up for a lot of problems if you do this. Some other var you download may have a dependency from one of the vars you deleted things from. This is a known flaw in Vam that it allows duplicate content in multiple vars. There is no clean solution.

Thank you for explaining the potential risks of doing this. I need to test it and see if the risks are something I can accept.

 

[vvs123]

As @SlimerJSpud says, there's no clean solution because people can pack in different ways, some better than others, and anything you do or not do will have it pros and cons. It's a matter of risk analysis.
I don't think it's a VaM flaw, perhaps the packaging process could have been tweaked a bit to provide more information about the resource being packaged, and especially early documentation and good practices that were not done, and many of these problems could have been avoided. Still, people will just do whatever they want to do.

I do a lot of VAR editing, really go in depth with it, and it depends on what you have and plan to have. But also not doing anything is a choice taken with its pros and cons.
For example, you have a couple of characters that have clothes you don't want, and probably shouldn't be inside the VAR in the first place as they should have been just dependencies. What are the chances that such characher clothes are essential to some scene in the future? Probably pretty slim. I would delete the clothes. Worst case scenario you'd find a scene you want and that needs them, you could just download the character's VAR again.

Thank you for your help. I think I need to test it to see how much it affects the scenes I currently need and whether I can accept that. I understand why the creators package VAR files this way, it makes things more convenient for their subscribers.

 

[atani]

Thank you for your help. I think I need to test it to see how much it affects the scenes I currently need and whether I can accept that. I understand why the creators package VAR files this way, it makes things more convenient for their subscribers.

Maybe convenience for noobie users who don't know how to do anything, but creates a massive problem for them later.
Considering that popular creators with many subscribers can pack well and share their VARs without all the bloat, seems like a fake excuse that it's for the sake of beginners.