What a mess!
Okay, so your inventory is a mess. Who’s isn’t?
ANSWER: Me.
I’m not saying that my system will work for you. Everyone’s brain works differently, assuming it works at all. So you might organize things with a different taxonomy. But maybe my method and effort will inspire you to clean up and tame your own inventory.
Simplicity
My main folders are rather simple…
The less clutter, the less panic.
Debauche outfits
You’ll see that I keep my Debauche outfits in the ###Dance folder.
I build drafts in the DRAFTS folder, arrival outfits in the SHOW ARRIVAL folder, Crystal Edge outfits in Crystal Edge, and dump finished routines in the top level folder. The ### prefix makes the folders float to the top of the list.
In case you’re wondering about those codes in the folder name…
M53 = Maitreya Lara 5.3 body
L34 = Lelutka 3.4 head
#diva – The mover number of the diva spot.
#NAME – Any other interesting mover spots.
CA – Wear the Costume Assistant!
/## – Special outfit notes.
(As for acts with couples snogging on each other or paired up Centerfold, Straight to Number One, etc. I put the pairings there too.)
When I get the weekend’s show notecards, I check for each routine. If I don’t have an current version of that routine built already, I copy the the #Template M53L34 folder and make the new routine folder in ### DRAFTS. After I test the outfit in rehearsal, I move it out of ### DRAFTS into the main ###Dance folder.
I also separate out the arrival outfits into their own ### SHOW ARRIVAL folder:
I also put notecards in each folder to remind me of the outfit’s RLV folders, stocking or other applier layers, and the outfit notecard:
That way, when one of you doesn’t have the right stockings or tights on, I can copy the name of it and tell you what it is. And then yell at the screen WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?
Sort This Shit?
Any time I shop or get new things, I drop it into the Sort This Shit folder:
That way I don’t have junk cluttering my Objects, Received Items, or main folders. And I know that I need to get those items sorted and put where they belong.
Once a week, I create subfolders with each creator’s name. Then I drag items by that creator into the appropriate subfolder.
When I’ve put everything in Sort This Shit into subfolders, I’m ready to move it out.
Clean the folders
I strip out landmarks, holding scripts, group joiner scripts, and other useless junk from the folder. No need to clutter my inventory with that garbage.
Use the Landmarks filter in the Inventory window to help locate all of the stray landmarks:
Just delete them or drag the landmarks into the Landmarks folder.
This is useful for finding and deleting useless store promo notecards or bag-holding and inventory giver scripts, too.
Create a new Inventory window
Control-Shift-I will open another Inventory window.
You can drag and drop things from one Inventory window to another. This is useful for searching for things in one window and dragging or building them up in another.
Body Parts, Clothing, Objects, Textures
I then drag the creator folder into the appropriate main folder based on what’s in there.
Wearable stuff goes into Clothing, textures go into Textures, furniture and props go into Objects, and hair and skin and other body parts go into Body Parts.
Because I don’t want my main folders to get all cluttered, I have a subfolder called Sorted By Name. It has an asterisk in front of it so it floats to the top of the list for easy access. (You’ll notice that I use asterisks, pound symbols, and dashes a lot to mess with sorting order.)
I drag the creator’s folder into there.
What if a creator makes clothing and body parts?
Create separate creator folders for them and drag them into the appropriate main folder.
Subfolders for Body Parts
I treat Body Parts differently than the others. I divide it up by hair, body, tattoos, and other parts:
And then I drag the creator folder in there.
What about duplicates?
Okay, so I buy a lot of hair from Ayashi. Which means I’ll end up with multiple Ayashi folders after several rounds of Sort This Shit sorting.
So, every month, I go through Body Parts, Clothing, Objects, and Textures. I look for duplicate creator folders. Then I move everything into a single creator folder. Finally, I delete the empty ones.
Hair
Okay, I do something special with hair.
Since it’s a royal pain to hunt down hair from each folder, I collect up links of it into an Outfits folder:
That’s over 500 hairstyles. Seriously, I have a problem. Stop me. Help. Now.
I don’t know what each looks like, so I made a Flickr album with front, side, and back shots of each style:
Now I can quickly add a hairstyle by opening my Outfits folder and the Hair outfit, then scrolling to the right hairstyle. Or I can search for it in Inventory.
Toys
I do the same thing with my silly props and toys. I keep folders for drinks, food, toys, and pets in separate Stupid Shit outfit folders.
That way, I don’t have to hunt for them in my Objects main folder.
Just pick out what I want and add it.
So, how do I clean up my mess now?
Create a main Sort This Shit folder.
Then create a Sorted By Name folder in each of the Body Parts, Clothing, Objects, and Textures folders.
Drag some stuff into Sort This Shit.
Make creator folders and drag the appropriate items into them.
Then drag the creator folders into the appropriate Sorted By Name folder under Body Parts, Clothing, Objects, or Textures.
Drag more stuff into Sort This Shit and sort it out.
Repeat until all your shit is sorted.
One useful cheat
Okay, so let’s say that you own a lot of Ayashi hair.
Create a creator folder for Ayashi.
Then, do an inventory search for Ayashi.
Drag everything that isn’t in a dance outfit folder to that Ayashi creator folder. (If you drag things from a dance outfit folder, you’ll mess up that outfit and go bald for that routine.)
Ta-da. Everything Ayashi has been sorted.
This works great for creators with unique names like Ayashi, Limerence, no.match, Wasabi, Truth, and so on. It’s especially useful with creators who have a unique way of branding their items.
This will take forever!
Yes, it will. So, in addition to everything new you get, do 25 old items a day.
You’ll notice a difference after a while, and you’ll want to clean up more.