Half of my inventory, gone!!

[Carolyna Bikergrrl]

Hi guys!

All of over sudden, at a relog, my inventory has about 10,000 items missing! Many many many folders are only empty now and without any warning or notice. They only thing I did different lately was cleaning my hard disk. Thats the only thing I can attribute to it. You have any ideas where theycould be gone and more than anything, how I could get them back...? If its because of my cleaning, why those items and not others? Thanks guys to be there

[Cyzicus Xue]

I cant tell you what the reason is, but I can tell you it wasnt from anything you did to your hard disk.  Your inventory is stored online, not on your hard drive.  I connect to SL from different locations and always have the same inventory each time.

[Unklebob Hotaling]

Hope this helps, it's what LL suggests in the case of inventory loss:

Inventory: Complete recovery steps and information about perceived loss

This article contains a list of steps you can take in order to retrieve lost inventory. While some of the steps presented may not appear to be relevant to your type of inventory loss, you should read through the entire article and follow all applicable steps. None of the procedures here can damage your inventory, so when in doubt, try them all!

COMMON SOLUTIONS

Clearing Second Life's cache

Second Life® uses hard drive space on your computer to store data, including a list of items in your inventory. If this cache becomes corrupted or your Viewer did not completely fetch your inventory, items in your inventory may erroneously appear to be missing. In many cases, your items are not lost and will reappear after you clear Second Life's cache:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences on the menu bar.
2. Click the Network tab.
3. Click the Clear Cache button.
4. Exit Second Life.
5. Log back into Second Life.
6. Wait in place for 5 minutes; Second Life needs to reload much of your previously cached information.

 

 

Object Missing From Database Error Message

 

If you get an "Object Missing From Database" error message when you rez an item from your inventory, don't panic! Sometimes Second Life is able to automatically recover your missing object. To see if Second Life was able to recover your missing object, you should wait one hour, clear your cache as described above, logout and then log back into Second Life and look in your Inventory window to see if the item has reappeared.

Region issues

The Region you are in may experience technical difficulties, especially in high traffic areas. This behavior can prevent you from rezzing items from your inventory. If you are unable to escape to another Region, exit Second Life and log back into a different Region:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences on the menu bar.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Turn on the option Show Start Location on Login Screen.
4. Exit Second Life.
5. Launch Second Life, but don't login yet.
6. Enter Sandbox Newcomb, or another known Region name, into Start Location.
7. Click Log In.

 

Try to find a Region with a low Traffic score and relatively few objects- such Regions generally experience less strain, and are less likely to exhibit symptoms like inventory loss.

PERCEIVED INVENTORY LOSS

Sometimes it may appear that you have lost part of your inventory because outside forces can prevent Second Life from displaying your inventory properly. Remember, common solutions and search techniques can often solve a case of perceived inventory loss!

Connectivity problems

An unstable Internet connection can lead to apparent inventory loss in Second Life. High packet loss may cause your inventory to fail to retrieve a complete list of items from Second Life's servers. Wireless and satellite connections are unsupported for this reason, and other types of connectivity may yield similar results.

You may also experience a temporary problem with Second Life or your connection to the Internet. If the list of items in your inventory usually loads without incident, temporary inventory loss may go away within 24 hours. In addition, clear your cache as described in Clearing Second Life's cache, log out and then log back in and look in your Inventory window to see if the items have reappeared.

Inventory Item Count

 

The Item Count in the Inventory window is not always precise. It represents the number of items that have been successfully downloaded to your Viewer. Thus, when the number changes it does not mean you have actually lost or gained inventory items. If you notice the number has dropped significantly and the Viewer has finished fetching your items then try Clearing Second Life's cache, log out and then log back in and look in your Inventory window to see if the items have reappeared.

SEARCH TECHNIQUES

Did the objects vanish after being returned?

The Coalesce feature may cause confusion by making it appear that objects have vanished instead of being returned to your inventory. When a group of objects gets returned, they are merged into a single coalesced listing, in your inventory's Lost and Found folder. This happens when you or the owner of a parcel exercises their ability to return objects to their owner.

For example, imagine you have a living room. Inside the living room there is a television, coffee table, sofa, rug and a remote control. Then, by accident, everything is returned! To locate the returned objects, you search through your inventory, but after searching, the only object you can locate is the remote control. Where did everything else go? The television, coffee table, sofa and rug have been merged with the remote control. Simply drag the remote control from your inventory onto the ground everything else that was returned with the remote control should appear.

Trivia: Icons are used to represent different types of items in your inventory.  the icons used for objects and coalesced objects are similar, but different.  The object has an icon that looks like a cube, and the coalesced object has an icon that looks like a stack of cubes.

 

Use the steps below to locate objects that have been recently coalesced and returned to your inventory:

1. Click the Inventory button.
2. In the Inventory window, go to Sort > By Date.
3. Locate the Lost and Found folder.
4. From top to bottom, work through the list of objects, dragging each coalesced object onto the ground until you locate the missing objects. Alternatively, look for coalesced objects that you know were returned on the same or similar dates as when you lost your objects.

Inventory Filters

The Filters panel in your Inventory window contains a list of different inventory types. To learn how to use the Filters panel, follow the steps below:

1. Click the Inventory button.
2. Inside the Inventory window, choose File > Reset Filters.
3. Choose File > Show Filters.
   

 

Here, we make adjustments so that we only view Objects (and not textures, animations, etc) in the search results:

1. Click the None button to turn off all filtering type options.
2. Go back and turn on the Objects option.
   

 

To view objects placed into your inventory within the last 7 days:

1. Enter "7" into Days Ago.
2. Press the Enter key.
   

 

 

To find your own filtering style, experiment with the options in the Filters panel. If you ever need to reset all options back to their defaults, simply go to File > Reset Filters.

OTHER TIPS & TRICKS

No Copy Objects

 

No Copy objects will be deleted from your inventory when placed inworld or transferred to another Resident. Objects without the (no copy) tag will remain in your inventory when you place them inworld or give them to another Resident.

Recent Items

 

In the Inventory window, the Recent Items tab allows you to see objects that have been received or edited since the last time you logged off.

Use the Mini-Map to locate your objects

The Mini-Map can be a useful tool to help you locate objects inworld. To activate the Mini-Map, click the Mini-Map button at the bottom of the screen.

Can I re-size the Mini-Map?

Yes. Click and drag the mouse at the bottom-right corner to the Mini-Map window.

Can I zoom in on the Mini-Map?

Yes. Right-click the Mini-Map window and choose Zoom Close. The Mini-Map's default is Zoom Medium. You can also use your mouse wheel to control zoom on the Mini-Map.

What do the different colors mean?

• Cyan (light blue) represents your objects.
• Pink represents objects deeded to a group of which you are a member.
• Gray represents objects that belong to other Residents.
  

 

Select Only My Objects

The Tools menu has a useful option that allows you to select only objects that are owned by you. This can help locate all your objects in the immediate area; they may be hidden by other Residents' objects.

1. Go to Tools > Select Only My Objects on the menu bar.
2. Go to Tools > Select Tool > Edit on the menu bar.
3. Now that the Edit tool is activated, click-and-drag your mouse to make a selection. Only your objects will be highlighted, possibly revealing the object you were unable to see before.
   

 

Locate items lost underground

Objects may be lost underground as the result of an editing mistake or changes in terrain. The following steps provide instructions to help locate objects that may be stuck underground.

1. First, hide the ground: Activate the Advanced menu at the top of the Second Life window. Then, choose Advanced > Rendering > Types > Surface Patch.
2. Press Esc to deactivate any open windows and close the chat box
3. Hold down the Alt key and press Page Up or Page Down. This allows you to rotate your camera, locating any of your objects that may be buried underground.
   

 

Invisible objects

It may be impossible to see some objects if they are invisible. The Highlight Transparent feature allows you to view invisible objects. Transparent objects will turn translucent red once this feature has been enabled.

• Go to View > Highlight Transparent on the menu bar.
  

 

Beacons

Often, objects you are looking for may contain a script. Beacons make it easy to locate any objects that contain a script.

• Go to View > Beacons > Scripted Objects on the menu bar.

If the beacons don't appear to be working, make sure the Render Beacons option is enabled. This draws cross-hairs over any beacons, making them easier to locate.

• Go to View > Beacons > Render Beacons on the menu bar.

There is an option that increases the line width used for beacons, making them easier to view. This is especially useful when Second Life is displayed at a high resolution.

1. Go to View > Beacons > Beacon Width on the menu bar.
2. Select "4" or a higher value.
   

 

Request a replacement

Many merchants understand that items may be lost during unique circumstances. If recovery efforts fail, contact the merchant and request a replacement.

How many items are in your inventory?

Keeping your inventory tidy is always a good idea. If your inventory has more than 10,000 items, it may not load in a timely fashion. To make sure your inventory loads quickly and properly, go through the list of items in your inventory and remove any items you no longer want or need. Moving objects into folders is easier when using a second Inventory window. From Inventory, go to File > New Window. Drag inventory from one window to another.

COMMON CAUSES OF INVENTORY LOSS

Inventory offers declined while in Busy Mode

Any inventory offers to your avatar while in Busy Mode are automatically declined. To locate items that have been declined, search your Trash folder; all declined inventory offers go to your Trash.

Is a friend allowed to modify your objects?

Friends who have modify rights to your objects can move them around, possibly to a location where someone may return or delete them. Modify rights also allow friends to take copies of objects that are copyable. When a friend with modify rights takes a copy of your object, next owner permissions are applied to the copied object.

Land owned by a Resident

A Resident who owns a parcel of land can return or delete any objects placed onto their land. Second Life sends notifications when objects are returned, but not for objects that have been deleted.

Land deeded to a group

A group member with the ability to return objects can return or delete objects placed on group-owned land. Typically, Owners and Officers of a group have this ability.

Second Life sends notifications when objects are returned, but not for objects that have been deleted.

Shared or deeded to group

An object that is shared or deeded to group can be manipulated or possibly taken by group members with the Manipulate (move, copy, modify) group-owned objects ability. Typically, Owners and Officers of a group have this ability.

Shared or deeded objects may have been taken or moved to another location and later returned or deleted.

Objects which are Shared with group and taken by a group member who does not own the object, will have next owner permissions applied. This can possibly restrict your ability to modify or copy them. Best practice: Make sure you have a copy of your own object before setting it to Share with group.

 

Objects which are deeded to group can only be moved or taken by group members with the Manipulate (move, copy, modify) group-owned objects ability.

Private Regions

Objects located on a Private Region (a Region owned by a Resident) can be returned by the Region owner or an Estate Manager. Second Life sends notifications when objects are returned.

Autoreturn

Objects not owned by the land owner, or not set to the group to which the land is deeded, will be returned after a set time limit if About Land > Objects > Autoreturn is enabled. Returned objects can be found in your Lost and Found folder and may be coalesced.

Decrease in available prims

The number of primitives a land parcel supports is calculated by the total square meters of land owned by a resident or group in a Region. If the total square meters of land decreases, the parcel may no longer support the primitives on the land, resulting in the return of any excess objects.

Example: Larry owns two parcels of land in a Region. Each parcel of land is 512 square meters. The total square meters of land owned by Larry is 1024 square meters. Normally, 512 square meters of land supports 117 primitives and 1024 square meters of land 234 primitives. Larry can place all 234 primitives on one of his parcels. However, if Larry deeds one of these parcels to a group or sells it to another resident, the remaining parcel will only support 117 primitives. Any extra primitives will be returned according to how long they have been on the parcel, youngest age first.

Inventory accidentally placed into an object

Items may have been accidentally dragged from your Inventory window and placed into an object.

Items like notecards and sounds cannot be rezzed inworld. If you drag them from the Inventory window onto an inworld object, they will be placed into that object. An object can be placed into another inworld object if the CTRL key is pressed while dragging an object from the Inventory window onto the inworld object.

To see the contents of an inworld object, and possibly locate any inventory accidentally placed into it, right click the object and choose Edit. Then, in the Edit window, click the Content tab.

Items accidentally given to another avatar

It is possible your items may have been given to another Resident. There are three ways this can happen. If you:

• Drag items from your Inventory window onto an avatar inworld.
• Drag items from your Inventory window onto someone else's profile window.
• Drag items from your Inventory window into an open IM window.
  

ACTUAL INVENTORY LOSS

Inventory never received

A malfunction or Region issue may cause a scripted vendor to fail to deliver purchased items. Unfortunately, there is nothing Second Life Support can do to help recover items that were never received.

Contact the Resident that sold the items, and explain that you never received your purchase. If you are unsure who to contact, you may look at your transaction history:

• Visit http://www.secondlife.com/account/transactions.php

Loss of objects as the result of a Region crash

Recently rezzed objects that are missing after a Region crash may likely be lost. A Region rolls back to a previously saved state when it recovers from a crash. Sadly, anything lost as the result of a Region crash cannot be recovered.

SURVEY

Please include the following information when submitting a ticket to Support about your lost inventory:

• What were you doing when your inventory item(s) were lost?

1. Nothing, items disappeared from my inventory and item count is lower.
2. Items were auto-returned from parcel but I never received them.
3. Item was purchased from a vendor but I never received it.
4. Item was taken from land INTO my inventory when it disappeared.
5. Item was being taken OUT of inventory (rezzing into world) when it disappeared.
6. Item was given TO another avatar who never received it.
7. Item was being received FROM another avatar but I never received it.
8. I was wearing the an item/attachment when it disappeared.
9. I was attaching or detaching an item/attachment when it disappeared.
10. The item was sitting on my land when it disappeared.
11. Other, please describe.

• How many items did you lose?

• What were the names of the items? Just list the top 3 using their exact names if possible.

• How many items do you have in your inventory now? Bring up the Inventory window and look at the top of the window. If not visible then click on the Recent Items tab to see.

• Did folders disappear and if so what were their names?

• When did this happen (use PDT/PST Date/Time)?

• What Region did this occur in?

• Was anything happening shortly prior or when you lost your items including:

1. Lots of lag
2. Viewer crash
3. Region Crash
4. Manual Region rollback
5. Rolling restart
6. Second Life Grid problems
7. Teleporting
8. Region crossing
9. Other, please describe

• What type of item was this?

1. Scripted object
2. Non-scripted object
3. Clothing
4. Gesture
5. Texture or image
6. Script
7. Animation
8. Landmark
9. Notecard
10. Bodypart
11. Sound

Please be sure to update the support ticket if you find the item.

[RebeccaLynn Bailey]

Log into SL, go to "Edit", "Prefrences" and I think it's under network, not 100% sure and not in game at the moment, click the "clear cache" button.  Log out and then back in.  You should have all your stuff back.

[Kitty Beery]

I agree with Unklebob, take a look at this wiki page, all the steps for recovery are over there http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Inventory_Page

Good luck.

[Baeric Constantine]

Alternatively, it is all gone, as happened to someone I know.

[Ellla McMahon]

If all the suggestions in the Inventory Recovery Steps have been tried, then see this Knowledge Base article, I appear to be missing inventory that I know should be there. What do I   do?

Also, you can submit a Ticket with Support at http://support.secondlife.com/

see Ticket Types

Be sure to use the Special Questions - Basic Account or Guest Login ticket type from the dropdown list when entering the information requested.

Basic account holders and Guests can submit tickets for the following issues:

I had rezzed an object inworld, but it has disappeared and I cannot find it: Let us know if you've lost an object inworld that was rezzed.
There was an item in my inventory window, but it isn't working or is missing: Tell us if you've lost or are experiencing problems with an object in your inventory.

Hope this helps

[Stephan Essel]

The same thing has happened to me ..a folder with a lot of my builds has been missing for sometime ..and LL has done nothing as yet..and after some attempts to recover..this is what I recieved

 

Stephan,

Unfortunately I will be unable to help you load all of your items right away.  I have identified this as a known issue that is on our list of bugs to address.  The items are still in your inventory and have not been lost, however until this bug is fixed, you will be unable to load your entire inventory.  At the moment, the only thing I can suggest is to keep an eye on this JIRA case, as helpful information may be added:

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-11537

 

[Carolyna Bikergrrl]

Thank you so much guys for your presence and your compassion!

Yes they were all cached in my knit work...

Nothing compares to you guys! I love you! You made my day!

I just wish everything would be like that also for all of you who never got back there items.

Have a good rl day anyway though!

CU!

[Unklebob Hotaling]

wewt!  good for you, congrats... missing stuff would drive me insane.

[Zigadena Gabardini]

Lost half my inventory during a move from one sim to another early 2009.....25 K items

Afterwards I found out LL were doing something and Sl was unstabel.

Did it all including sending a lot of conversations with LL..its still just gone..

[Indeterminate Schism]

20k for the OP, 25k for Zigadena, hmmm.  What is the most reported common factor with the people reporting 'inventory lost', oh yes, I know ...

[Unklebob Hotaling]

Of those link you left there one in there that I replied to, I met the person inworld and solved their issue... just cause they didn't bother returning to mark their question as resolved doesn't mean they are still having a problem, I suspect the same could be true of other links you have provided.

I'm sure you are also aware that many people use third party viewers of their own free will, and LL isn't responsible for screw-ups that happen using viewers that are not their own... so again if LL can't help with some issues it's because the user put themselves at risk of not getting Support with LL clearly saying exactly that - 3rd party ware is not supported.

A last fyi, the ToS clearly states that items kept on their database is their own property, subject to deletion at any time... that might not be proper but it's also something we all agree to upon sign-up.

I don't doubt people have inventory issues, but you paint a rather slanted opinion when you exclude the reasons why some may have this issue, why LL won't help (ie 3rd party viewers) and you exclude the many many posts where said inventory issues have been successfully resolved... it`s pretty troll-ish actually.

[Ansariel Hiller]

Bob, she's only complaining - again - that LL doesn't seem to help her or give her the money back and spamming various threads dealing with inventory problems. Has been the case yesterday already and as they all were removed expect these posts to vanish soon, too.

[Unklebob Hotaling]

ahhhh, ok.

She should`ve read the ToS and known what she was agreeing to before she agreed to it.  LL tells people straight out things can get deleted off the database and LL doesn`t give refunds.  I don`t always agree with stuff LL does but it does seem kinda silly holding LL accountable for giving refunds and such after we`ve already agreed that we`re aware they don`t give refunds and aren`t responsible for any viewer other than their own etc; if someone doesn`t like the rules then don`t play the game.

Hope you`re well Ansariel    *passes a coffee*

[Ansariel Hiller]

See, spammy rant post is gone! Yay!

[Unklebob Hotaling]

lol Ansariel, you're psychic too!

(i understand the personals frustration, but they're just going about 'fixing' their problem the wrong way.  Spamming residents isn't going to solve anything, and it could be their own fault they aren't getting the support they desire but even that could be their doing, ie LL won't help inventory issues if people use 3rd party viewers however like Emerald if that's the case, get ahold of Emerald Support.  Ranting to residents isn't going to get their inventory back)

[Ansariel Hiller]

You don't need to be a clairvoyant to foresee that ARs for a dozend posts all with the same content posted by the same person will cause some action from LL.

[Cynthia Belavidorico]

Thanks Unklebob. That was very useful info! I've had friends who have lost items in their inventories and all I could do is console them, now I actually have useful information I can use to possibly help. I hate having a friend lose something and not know what to do to help .

Have a wonderful day! I hope this was able to help the OP, it sure gave me a wealth of info.

[Cynthia Belavidorico]

YAY! *clapping hands*. So glad you recovered your stuff!

[Unklebob Hotaling]

*waves to Cynthia*

There's another little secret that a Linden told me about when I had an inventory full of empty folders where my stuff used to be... if you move your cache folder and username folder to somewhere else on your computer then relog in to SL - moving the cache folder forces a reinstall of inventory items directly from the LL asset server.  

[Ansariel Hiller]

More easy: Just delete all content from the current cache folder. Does exactly the same.

[Cynthia Belavidorico]

I often read answers you give so that I can learn more about this little place we call SL. You are among a few who really have answers to other residents problems. Out of frustration they rant and sometimes whine but it is their hope that people like you and Unklebob will be kind enough to help them. SL can be very complicated and confusing for those of us who haven't been here very long. Thank you for all that I've learned from reading yours and other kind resident's posts.

Have a wonderful day Ansariel .

[Unklebob Hotaling]

more easy yes, but if there's a problem with the asset server (stranger things have happened lol) and you delete everything, then try forcing a reinstall of inventory from an asset server that's having issues - you're temporarily screwed.  If instead you move the items, you still have them if things do go wrong... better to delete them once you've solved the problem.  Granted just my opinion.

[Ansariel Hiller]

The asset server are several servers for real. The system should be resilient against a single failure. The real problem arises when lots or all of them have some sort of trouble. And in that case having the inventory list won't help you much further than listing what nice stuff you have, but you can't use it anyway.

So, you may make a copy of it first if you think that helps. But as far as I can overview it, it won't make any difference if there is asset server trouble.

[Unklebob Hotaling]

you're a sweetheart.