Archiving outfits.... is it possible?

[Alazarin Mondrian]

My inventory suffers from extreme bloat to the point that when I have to clear my cache I might as well order a pizza and wait while my inventory rebuilds.... it's that slow. Never mind how long it takes to rez items. I'm desperate to slim down my inventory in order to speed things up a bit.

So I had a look into My Outfits folder which must take up about 1/3 of my inventory items. So I thought: 'Why not box up some of my old outfits?' But when I tried to copy / move the outfit links into a prim all I got was the bad old 'No Entry' sign. Same with my attempt to drag them into a notecard.

I assume that's to stop us sharing outfits with other people in order to safeguard content creator IP rights. I can understand that. When I move a no-copy, no-transfer item into a fresh prim it automatically takes on those properties and I can't give it to anyone. Not that I'd want to. It would go straight back into my inventory or else stuck in a storage box buried under my land. But at least I would still be to access those items at a later date even if the proces is a cumbersome and clunky. So why can't we move our outfit links into a prim for storage purposes?

I know some people would suggest to just delete the old outfits if you don't wear them any longer. I've done that with loads of them as well as deleting shedloads of old stuff in my inventory that I'm never going to use. But I'd like to keep some of the old outfits just because they're either quirky or else so craptastically hideous I want to save them for those parties where we wheel out our old avatars and outfits that we thought were so great at the time and have a good old laugh and cringe.

I suppose I could trim my inventory down by just keeping a base avatar outfit in the 'My Outfits' folder and then add/remove clothes as I go along but that defeats the purpose of the Outfits folder [as far as I can see]. I have a varied collection of avatars and outfits and I have got used to be able to change appearance and outfits quickly without having to spend anything up to half an hour at a time faffing around in my inventory looking for stuff.

So, to wrap this up, I'd like to call out to Linden Lab to consider adding some sort of archiving feature to our inventories if it's technically possible.

[Alwin Alcott]

outfits are just links to the real objects in your inventory, it won't clean or make anything smaller.

only deleting old stuff and boxing the real items will help.

 

take a deep breath and delete stuff.... 

[Alazarin Mondrian]

True but those li'l links do seem to count as items on some level as my avatar stays in cloud shape until the last darned link is added to my inventory when it's being rebuilt after clearing the cache. I guess I'll have to be a lot more aggressive when it comes to boxing up old stuff.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

The links are just information, not really an inventory item.  Your avatar remains a cloud until the information is downloaded.

Alwin is right, you must save the original outfit items in a box.

[Bobbie Faulds]

Stop clearing your cache. It really doesn't help. Be sure you have the cache for your texture maxed out. 

Once upon a time, clearing you cache was the end all for "fixing" problems from LL. All it does is force your viewer to reload the links to your stuff, which will ultimately temporarily fix problems but it's not going to fix the long term problem of why it happened in the first place. 

As you've noticed, it takes a long time to redo those links, especially if you have a large inventory. 

[Tari Landar]

If you're clearing your cache that often, I'd figure out what the root of whatever problem you're having actually is. There really is no need to clear cache most of the time. It just creates more loading problems.

I have a *very extensive inventory(nearly 200k atm), and I never have to clear cache.

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

Anything copiable you can go through to find the original item to box and store. How much would that help you? If you had an outfit with a storage box and links to a couple of no copy items? It would be a box to open and two folders to wear, essentially. Are there any no-copy items that you only want to keep in one outfit? They could safely go in the archive box too and then you won't accidentally delete them when you're clearing house.

If there's lots of repetition, you could put several of these blast from the past outfits in one box and just write down which items go together in a notecard or on your computer. If it's on your computer, it won't cost any extra to add a photo of the outfit too. Also easier to search your hard drive than boxes within boxes.

Just some ideas in hopes one helps you find solutions.

[Alazarin Mondrian]

Hi! One of the reasons I clear my cache frequently is that on my main account my main avatar is a Dark Spots Designs dragon and for some unknown reason one of my lower legs occasionally attaches itself  to some point that is way to one side of my leg. No idea why but cache clearing does fix it. The new Bento feature 'reset skeleton' doesn't fix it either. I do have 20 alts that never have any inventory problems. Their inventories range from less than 10k items to 30k items. It's just my main account [this one] that is affected. FWIW, my main account inventory is in the 50k - 55k items range.

I was never a big fan of cache clearing but at the moment, it's the only 'fix' I can find for ongoing avatar issues. One of my alts also has a Dark Spots Designs dragon avatar and has never had the 'broken' leg' problem. I have no idea why it happens. If their was another less drastic fix, I'd love to know what it is.

[ChinRey]

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Alazarin Mondrian wrote:

Hi! One of the reasons I clear my cache frequently is that on my main account my main avatar is a Dark Spots Designs dragon and for some unknown reason one of my lower legs occasionally attaches itself  to some point that is way to one side of my leg. No idea why but cache clearing does fix it.

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It is almost certainly related to the inventory issues you have with your main. It is hard to see why your main have inventory problems and not your alts though. 50k-55k items is definitely too much to be ideal but it shouldn't be enough to cause issues like the ones you describe.

This is a shot in the dark but somebody (I think it was Rolig or Lindal) mentioned recently that a long friends list can give some of the same problems as a bloated inventory. I'm not sure if the explanation lies there but it's worth looking at.

Speaking of the friends list, you did remember to remove duplicate calling cards when you cleaned your inventory, didn't you? they can contribute a lot to inventory bloating and many people overlook them.

Bitsy and Alwin already mentioned this but I'm not sure if they made it clear enough: there is a way to box up old outfits you don't use but don't want to loose: box up copies of the originals of the items, not the links in the outfits folder. As long as there are no no-copy items involved, you can have as many boxed copies of the same thing as you like so one box for each outfit. You should be able to save a lot of inventory space that way.

 

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Amethyst Jetaime wrote:

The links are just information, not really an inventory item.

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Not quite. A link counts for just as much in the inventory as any other items there. In a sense all items in the inventory are links. Some are internal links to other inventory listings, some are external links to entries in the assets database and both kinds take up the same amount of space in the inventory list.

[Alazarin Mondrian]

I've just removed all my duplicate calling cards I hope it makes a difference. BTW, have you ever noticed how they seen to keep reproducing in your inventory? Mine do. I have culled duplicates before and they keep coming back.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

If you or your friend delete each other from your friends list and then re-friend, that gives you another card, possibly a duplicate of one you had.  If you delete a calling card of a friend it will reappear in your inventory if you don't defriend them too.  Otherwise you shouldn't have cards reappearing after you delete them, unless it's a SL glitch.

If someone is on your friend list and you or your friend defriend each other, the card stays in your inventory until you delete it.  You can always look up their profile using search if you need to, so unless you have a specific reason for keeping those cards,  delete them too.  Same goes for any friend that left SL.  Defriend them and delete their card. 

[ChinRey]

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Amethyst Jetaime wrote:

If you or your friend delete each other from your friends list and then re-friend, that gives you another card, possibly a duplicate of one you had.

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When you add somebody to your friends list, not one but two calling cards to them are created. When you un-friend somebody, only one of the cards is deleted.

 

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Amethyst Jetaime wrote:

Otherwise you shouldn't have cards reappearing after you delete them, unless it's a SL glitch.

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There have been at least two bugs fairly recently that caused calling cards to be duplicated en masse. They have both been fixed now but if you haven't cleaned out the mess since then, you're going to have a mountain of duplicate calling cards in your inventory.

Edit: unless you have added calling cards manually, the easiest way to clean up that folder is simply to delete everything in it. Your own calling card and cards to people on your friends list will be recreated next time you log on but this time with only one copy of each.

[Christin73]

My suggestion would be to simply delete old stuff you no longer use. With that you might find your inventory a bit lighter.

[Bobbie Faulds]

If it's any help, Bright Corp has a program you can put in a box that you box stuff up in and wear the box to get out an item you've put in it. The only limitation is the stuff has to be copiable so you can just delete that box since you still have a copy in your inventory. The program is free.

[Alazarin Mondrian]

Thank you to eveyone who has commented and thrown their ideas and suggestions into the pot.