[wimver]

I have had major problems with mxm files which were renamed, moved, altered etc.
I try to organize things, but cannot decide what is the best way to do it.
should I put all mxm in 1 folder, and textures in the same folder, or should I sort the mxm's in subfolders? if so, should I restrict to the 5 folders which Maxwell can allocate the searchpaths for?

tnx
wim

[Mihai]

If the textures/ior/r2 files used in the mxm are in the same folder it doesn't matter.

MXCL/Studio will look first in the materials already set path for the files, if it doesn't find them there it will look in the same folder as the mxm. If it still can't find them it will look in the paths set in prefs.

[Bubbaloo]

I put them all in one folder, with a naming convention used for organization. It has worked well so far.

[Becco_UK]

My .mxm files go into specific project folders.

[wimver]

Becco,

does the nature of your work imply that you have different materials for every new project then, or do you refer to other project's mxm folders sometimes?
because that is how I work now, it grew that way, and it is a complete mess now, I have duplicate mxm's, of which I edit one, and mostly I don't remember which is the correct one after a while, etc etc.

I like the idea of bubbaloo, but I will have lots and lots of mxm's over time, and it might get cluttered as well... on the other hand, putting them in separate folders is tedious too, when a project is moved to another workstation, I find myself searching textures and updating when opening the file, there comes no end to it sometimes.

wim

[Becco_UK]

wimver: I develop new materials for each project. If a material is really the same I rename it and save it to its project folder. My method of duplicating materials is not the most efficent but I prefer having things saved in project folders. There is no right or wrong way - just organise files to suit your own requirements.

[Rickyx]

I agree with Becco_UK, duplicating materials is not at all a good way to optimize hard disk space but it leads to a really clean order.

If you are on Linux or (I think) Vista you can create a symbolic link and have one copy of the Mxm folder.