lutherslade
patreon
The LutherSlade Content Cleanup Project!
🕑 Added 2024-07-17 03:30:27 +0000 UTCThis post may only make sense for people familiar with working in VAM.
tl;dr - I am going to go back and clean up all of my released scenes. I am going to find any VAMHub missing dependencies (Dependency rot), and I am going to cull their dependency lists to minimize the number of dependencies required (sub-dependency explosion).
As many of you certainly know, VAM has dependency issues. The way I see it, there are two problems with the dependency system which affect the playability and long-term stability of my content: dependency rot, and sub-dependency children explosion. Here's what I mean, and how I intend to address them both.
Dependency rot
Dependency rot happens when a dependency previously freely hosted on VAMHub suddenly disappears. Many of you I'm sure have experienced this yourself, encountering the dreaded red "Not On Hub" button. The older a VAM scene gets, the more likely it is that at least a few of its dependencies will have simply perished from VAMHub. gone forever. If you've loaded up my older scenes and noticed hair, clothing, etc just missing, that's dependency rot.
Sub-dependency children explosion
Sub-dependency children explosion is the inevitable consequence of the somewhat dubious system VAM employs in detecting and cataloguing dependencies. Here is what a typical .var looks like,
If we were to use assets from Bourbon321.Becky.1, even if it were ONLY content located in that .var, VAM considers every single sub-dependency to now be a dependency. If you've ever wondered why it seems like you're missing even more dependencies, after downloading a bunch, this is why. If you're not careful, eventually the entirety of the Hub will be a sub-dependency of a sub-dependency of sub-dependency... the sub-dependency children explosion.
The Cleanup Project
Over the next few weeks, I am going to go back through all of my old scenes and suss out any dead dependencies and see if I can rehost them myself. Unfortunately, this is the only solution, short of me hosting my entire AddonFolders folder...
I will also carefully cull all of my old scenes' dependency lists for any sub-dependencies, keeping only dependencies which actually contain content used in my scenes, also, some of my older scenes mistakenly and frustratingly reference themselves, rather than the original primary dependency.
What's the point?
Ultimately, I would like all of my scenes to remain fully functional, and to play exactly the same way today as they did when they were first released.
Comments
Cody 66
Nice work, this is what I call Feeling of Responsibility for the work and the customers - well done Luther, hope many scenes work for a long time. You earn your patroens i would say!
Jeevz
I didn't know the clean up project entailed you leaving the community completely, it's been a sad couple of months without your releases my friend.
Cadis Etrama Di Raizel
I hope it turns out the way you want. By the way, where's the full version of Nasty Natsumi? XD
er3
HI. just join in your support membership. it seems like I am able to access the game but always mind me there are missing addon packages while I'm playing it . and there is something goes wrong with the model, such as missing hair and wrong model
Jeevz
Removing resources that have turned into a depedancy on the HUB should be illegal. Beyond me why meshedVR allows it, horrible bad practice.
Ben
I can only imagine how much work this will be, as someone who loves playing around with ur scenes in VAM I really appreciate u doing this!
Shylock49
I hope you (and other creators) can schedule a moth or 2 each year where old projects get updated and repaired. Like a known date where this will happen and subscribers know it. Sure that could mean unsubs, or it could mean people who unsubbed because the content they wanted was broken, now subscribe because the content works because of the care given the old projects. I hope everyone does this.
Oysterhead
Thx for the effort, it is appreciated!
Tatonka
VAM is to blame here, not creators, but old dependencies really do get in the way for new users and this is sooo appreciated, thank you!
Critical
You dawg, I heard you like dependencies?
eclipse
So it seems like there's going to be some time before the next full scene gets released. That's cool. My only suggestion is that you don't redo all of your scenes, just do the most recent and complete versions of them. You don't have too many repeats, but the pub scene with the alcohol you have to deliver, just cleanup the most recent release. Know what I mean?
