Paid asset being reference when creating scene VAR but not used

[VamBlaster]

Hey guys I'm preparing a scene for my first public release but running into a problem I can't seem to fix. When preparing the VAR with the package manager it's flagging an asset as paid content, but it's not being used at all. I combed the reference list and don't see it being referenced. It's not being used at all on the person, even checking and unchecking it doesn't seem to remove the flag.

Any ideas what's causing this or a known way to fix this kind of issue?

See screenshot

 

[Hedgepig]

I just tried exactly the same thing this morning, and encountered the same problem.

I had paid content in the scene but removed it before trying to make a .var file. However, as is the case in your situation, the paid content kept showing up in the package manager.

Here's what fixed it for me:

I tried two things one: was close the scene and reopen it minus the paid content.

The other was to save the scene without the paid content as a entirely new scene.

Eventually after much dicking about the paid content disappeared in the package manager.

I applied the file fix and that worked.

I then tested by opening the file in Windows Explorer and found a file called 'Saved'.

I then finalized the procedure in the package manager.

After all that, I sent the file to the guys who needed it. Yay, huge surge of relief! But guess what? Lol, after four hours of my trial and error in package manager, the guys who needed the .var file told me its not a .var file. So, sorry, I can't help you at this stage. But that's how I got rid of the paid content from my scene in the package manager. If you discover how to make the actual .var file after working through the above procedure, please post the answer.

 

[VamBlaster]

Thanks for that detail. I did happen to fix my issue.

The problem was that the XRW nighty which you can see in the screenshot (first row on the reference list) somehow embedded the Hunting Succubus eyes and shadow, even though they weren't being used when equipping the nighty.

Simply removing the nighty and using something else in place fixed the issue, the PC no longer was referenced.

So this looks like a case of one dependency depending on another even though it's not actually used. The XRW creator should have caught this before distributing, because it's a free asset with a paid content flag attached.

It would help alot though if VAM had better dependency checking for creators.

 

[Hedgepig]

Great you solved the problem. !

I just found this for you and everyone else. It might help clarify some details with the how-to with the package manager.

VAM-Tutorial #17 - Creation & usage of VAR files - all mysteries of new packaging system uncovered - YouTube

 

[VamBlaster]

Oh boy I'm seeing the same issue again. This time I'm seeing "MacGruber.Life.12" which is paid content early access being referenced somehow with this character. I've removed all clothing, all textures, and put the character in a blank state environment (jaccuzi apt). Somehow this is being referenced and don't know how/where.

I've attached the VAR if anyone can assist. Load the var and prep a new package to see the license being mentioned.

@MacGruber would you be able to take a quick look as well? Thanks!

 

[MacGruber]

@MacGruber would you be able to take a quick look as well? Thanks!

Just open the meta.json inside the VAR with some text editor:

   "dependencies" : {
      "A1X.Brownie.latest" : {
         "licenseType" : "CC BY",
         "dependencies" : {
            "MacGruber.Life.12" : {
               "licenseType" : "PC EA",
               "dependencies" : {
               }
            }
         }
      },
      "vecterror._Morphs2021.latest" : {
         "licenseType" : "FC",
         "dependencies" : {
         }
      }
   },

So the reference comes from some package named "A1X.Brownie", seems to be some Look. This one I guess. The way for @A1X to avoid the issue here would have been to release two packages: One package with just the actual asset, in this case the Appearance preset, probably skin textures and so on but no dependencies. Then a second package containing the demo scene, of course depending on the first package. The benefit is that in the second package to can use whatever dependencies you like, for example clothing, some environment or plugins like Life, without burdening whoever is using your Appearance preset with those dependencies, if they don't actually need them.
An example for this is actually Life itself, it's split into Life and LifeDemo packages. The demo depends on Glance, IdlePoser and LogicBricks plugins, but you are not forced to include those in your scene if you just need Life itself. Added benefit is that you don't clutter peoples scene browser.

@VamBlaster Note that your VAR includes A LOT of morphs and other assets in your VAR that should be referenced from their respective VAR packages instead. Do not unpack VAR packages, unless you know precisely what you are doing and why. Certainly not for redistribution. Be careful to not violate package licenses that way as well. For example you could not do that with my content as I'm using CC-BY-SA license for most things, but you release as FC.

 

[A1X]

thanks for telling. i delete my old files were i can use and didn't mention your resourses. sorry for that situation.

 

[VamBlaster]

Just open the meta.json inside the VAR with some text editor:

   "dependencies" : {
      "A1X.Brownie.latest" : {
         "licenseType" : "CC BY",
         "dependencies" : {
            "MacGruber.Life.12" : {
               "licenseType" : "PC EA",
               "dependencies" : {
               }
            }
         }
      },
      "vecterror._Morphs2021.latest" : {
         "licenseType" : "FC",
         "dependencies" : {
         }
      }
   },

So the reference comes from some package named "A1X.Brownie", seems to be some Look. This one I guess. The way for @A1X to avoid the issue here would have been to release two packages: One package with just the actual asset, in this case the Appearance preset, probably skin textures and so on but no dependencies. Then a second package containing the demo scene, of course depending on the first package. The benefit is that in the second package to can use whatever dependencies you like, for example clothing, some environment or plugins like Life, without burdening whoever is using your Appearance preset with those dependencies, if they don't actually need them.
An example for this is actually Life itself, it's split into Life and LifeDemo packages. The demo depends on Glance, IdlePoser and LogicBricks plugins, but you are not forced to include those in your scene if you just need Life itself. Added benefit is that you don't clutter peoples scene browser.

@VamBlaster Note that your VAR includes A LOT of morphs and other assets in your VAR that should be referenced from their respective VAR packages instead. Do not unpack VAR packages, unless you know precisely what you are doing and why. Certainly not for redistribution. Be careful to not violate package licenses that way as well. For example you could not do that with my content as I'm using CC-BY-SA license for most things, but you release as FC.

Thanks for the input! Now I know how to check the file for these references.

The morphs is what I'm going to figure out next. My folder is quite huge so I have a large morph collection, from before VARs even existed and it was only VAC. I never paid for any morph so they should all be free, but I have to check the licenses as you said.

 

[MacGruber]

i delete my old files were i can use and didn't mention your resourses. sorry for that situation.

The benefit of VAR dependencies is that "credit" is automatic, so there is nothing wrong from that perspective. Sure, being mentioned for a simple case like this is nice, but not required. (I didn't actually look at the resource, but assuming you didn't do anything funky, it should be fine )

However, note that deleting the old version might break scenes by other creators that use it, simply because users can't find the package anymore. Hub resources have a versioning system, so you can just upload a new version for any resource. It keeps the old version for those who specifically need them, anyone watching the resource gets notified and you keep all likes and reviews. E.g. you can get old version via the history tab:

Plugins - Life - History

hub.virtamate.com

 

[VamBlaster]

I looked into this further. I'm still a bit confused by what's going on.

I checked the "Brownie" appearance being referenced and it's not a starting look I used to build the final character.

However, I did notice that there are specific morphs tied to A1X Brownie like this one that is used:
A1X.Brownie.1.var\Custom\Atom\Person\Morphs\female\ReloadedMorphs\Eyes_Reloaded-Lite\Eyes outer up.vmi

I don't know how A1XBrownie got associated with the character but the Reloaded morphs are already freely available (Lite 1 and Lite 2 packages) and I have them.


That is, until I checked my female morphs. It turns out I have duplicate entries for this morph and I ended up using the one associated with A1X's package instead of the original (see screenshot). In fact there's other packages that use the exact same morph, even paid ones like VamX. That actually explains how VamX paid content was somehow associated with one of my other characters despite not using anything related (or so I thought).

I think this is a huge flaw with the current VAR system, or am I doing something wrong here. Should I even have duplicates in the first place or is there a way to suppress them?

I have some really good scenes that I want to share for free but these licensing systems are making it hard lol.