Inventory Organization Tips Part 2

Lots of discussion this morning in the group IM about using boxes to store your inventory to cut the over all volume. Linden Labs^® recommends that you rez a cube, name it, and stuff inventory into it. Then you take the cube into your Inventory which is now cleaner, sleeker, and prevents butt sag. Until you go to open the cube and find all your stuff (or a portion of it) "Missing From Database."

Nearly all my 2007 Halloween and Christmas items stored thusly cannot be retrieved by the usual recommend means (Web) or through the special intervention the Lindens (several have tried). Some items I bought but many I made so the support crew is really stumped by the loss though they admitted it happens.

What about commercially made storage boxes like those from THiNC (SLurl)? Some of my lost items were in simple cubes (well, nicely decorated and I added hover text so I would know what the box was without editing when it was rezzed) and some were in these Inventory Organizers. Like the cubes I made, these have hover text to describe the contents, but they actually show item names as you use little arrows to "scroll" through the box's contents. No more right-clicking and choosing Open from the pie menu. Golly what a time saver! When the item you want is shown, simply click the box and it copies the item you want into your inventory. Honestly, if you are used to editing the contents of a prim, you can save money and time over the commercially made boxes. Read more about the boxes on the Web and make up your own mind, though.

Regardless of the method you choose, though, take this advice:

(1) Keep the box contents to fewer than 80 items. THiNC recommends under 100. The more you have inside the greater the strain on the database servers.

(2) Regularly unpack and repack the boxes. Or at least look inside them. Inventory is based on UUID codes and those can be stripped off if an item isn't seen for a while. This could happen more often as new asset server protocols come into effect (Web).

(3) Try to avoid putting items into boxes then boxing these boxes or more. Like making a photocopy of a photocopy, degradation can occur.

(4) Don't empty your trash then purge your cache, especially if you switch between viewers often (like the official viewer, the RC viewers, the OnRez viewer, or others). They don't necessarily share database information on your computer though they are supposed to do so. Empty then purge during different sessions.

(5) Get some land and rez all your stuff there. Or at least a copy of your stuff. Economically, not the best idea, but if something disappears from your land the Lab has a much easier time recovering it. Maybe rez your storage boxes on that land. Premium accounts can have up to 512m² of land without paying extra. Think how much stuff you could store in 117 prims on such a lot. Talk about a frickin' huge closet! Can't afford land but you work for someone that has some? Ask to use 100 or so prims instead of a portion of your pay. Odds are they can spare some space for well-thought of employees.

(6) Seriously consider an Alt avatar as I mentioned in a previous post (Web). The ultimate storage box and they can wear the clothes you send over.