Linked objects disappear when opened on another PC #37240

%%%--- Operating System, Graphics card ---
Windows 7 64 bit, GeForce GTX 770

- Blender version with error, and version that worked ---

Blender 2.68a fails, I checked 2.60a and it seemed to work correctly.

- Short description of error ---

Linked objects disappear when opened on another PC

- Steps for others to reproduce the error (preferably based on attached .blend file) ---

I create this folder and file structure:

Project
Assets\monkey.blend
Scenes\scene1.blend

monkey.blend just has a default monkey head.
scene1 has a link to the monkey head. Relative path was selected during linking. when i save this file 'use relative' is also checked.

Now if I copy this folder structure to a flash drive, and open scene1.blend it looks fine. But if I take the flash drive to another PC (I have tried 2 PC's, both with the same version of blender) and open scene1.blend, the linked object is gone. If I made a proxy from the link then I have an empty with the same name in its place.
%%%

Changed status to: 'Open'

%%%Please always attach files which demonstrates the issue. In this case it's monkey.blend and scene1.blend%%%

%%%monkey.blend - http://www.pasteall.org/blend/24901
scene1.blend - http://www.pasteall.org/blend/24902

if my testing is correct scene1.blend will be pretty much an empty blend file for you (just a camera and lamp).%%%

%%%The paths in your files are absolute. You might see it if you run blender from the command line.

What are exact steps of reproducing this? Paths are always relative here if you use relative option for sure.%%%

%%%Open Blender, delete default cube.
File -> Link, select the monkey in the other file. By default 'Relative Path' is checked.
File -> Save As, name it scene1.blend and save. By default 'Remap Relative is checked.
Now move monkey.blend and scene1.blend to another location on the hard drive. It should still work. Then put it on a flash drive and try it on another PC.%%%

%%%Hello Wade,

I believe I know the issue that you ran into. When you link in an object into a file that has NOT been saved yet, Blender doesn't know how to create the relative path (to the yet not existing .blend file on disk). In this case, even if 'Relative Path' is set, Blender has to store the absolute path and this will break if you move it to another computer.
This is a known limitation
The situation is this: The .blend file on your flash drive contains the absolute path to the file which still exists on your computer, but when you move it to a different computer, it will not be found anymore.

Now what you can do to solve the issue is first, make sure that the .blend file is saved before you link in stuff, then the relative path will work fine.
To fix the existing .blend file, open it and choose File -> External Data -> Make all paths relative.
After saving the file again it should be possible to safely copy it to your flash drive and open it fine on another computer.

Andrea
%%%

%%%Hello Campbell,
I'm attaching a patch that fixes the issue, but would like you to take a look before I commit, because
a) might make the code still a bit more confused, so maybe we should do a larger rewrite of the file saving flags?
b) might have subtle effects, especially changing the remap relative in the normal save operator (not the save over)
From my analysis, the issue might have been cause by rev. 53011, since the detection of whether we are saving for the first time was dependent on the G.main->name being empty.
Andrea%%%

This issue was referenced by blender/blender-addons-contrib@95bf31e4fe

This issue was referenced by 95bf31e4fe

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Resolved'

Closed by commit 95bf31e4fe.

Committed alternative workaround, when saving an unsaved blend will enable path-remapping.
also don't disable path-remapping when saving from an unsaved blend file.

Download

What's New

Blender Studio

Manual

Developers Blog

Documentation

Benchmark

Blender Conference

Development Fund

One-time Donations

Linked objects disappear when opened on another PC #37240