I'm gonna suggest this to feature request (as long as no-one shoots me down) but...

As an idea, how does this sit with you:

One of the problems I've seen people have is that when you buy clothes and save your outfit, the items you bought (since they're no copy) can end up distributed accross several folders by the time you've made your second third or fourth outfit.
Now it seems to me that while creating avatars by organising attachments and body parts in a single folder is quite a simple and elegant idea, there must be a (albeit more complex to code I think, not sure) better way of doing it.
How about this, a new inventory type called Outfit. You'll have Objects, Animations, Guestures etc, and Outfits. When you save an outfit, the SL system creates a new outfit object with the relevant keys of any attachments, clothing bits, attach points etc. No Inventory items are copied or moved, but you now have a single object representing an avatar.
When you make a guesture that uses a no copy animation, it doesn't move that animation anywhere does it? So surely the method of doing something like described above is already feasible.
Of course, there would need to be some system for cracking open an outfit object and changing some of the links, and you probably shouldn't be able to transfer them to other people (copy permission violation looming), but that's not really the point. The point is that moving your content to another folder, then another, and finally the folder it gets lost in is a bit silly, when an outfit object could just link to it and the content stays put.
What would y'all think if this became a feature.

Dave

Yes there is already a more elegant method. If multiple objects are in something the scripter for that vendor or individual sales prim can use llGiveInventoryList() and all the contents will be given lump sum in a single brand new folder. This and other scripting tricks are available via the wiki at http://secondlife.com/badgeo. You can look at the right side and click 'inventory' to see scripts capable of doing this and more.

OH and to address specifically your 'outfit' type that is what a folder is. You can drag a FOLDER icon from inventory straight to your avatar in order to wear all its contents. Including items in subfolders within that folder.

These things I already know. What I was trying to say is that using a folder is indequet (sp argh!).
There is no reason as far as I can see why you have to lump the objects you wear together in a folder. Doing so causes havok (or havok II eventually ) with no-copy parts. What I was suggesting is a new type of object that contains only links to the objects you are wearing so that no actual content gets *moved* when you create an outfit.

In case anyone thinks I might not understand how outfits work at present, I've been second alive for nearly a year, have built avs, bought avs and worked with outfits daily. Not meaning to get at you Seronis but I don't think you got my point. Probably me being unclear. Sorry.

This exact thing is driving me NUTS right now!

I've only been in SL a little under a month now, but I am a pretty organised person (or like to think I am lol). So after piling my little Avie full of freebie boxes and various odds and ends, I set about to get my inventory in order. All went well.

Then I discovered the "Make Outfit" button. Woohoo! I can now create draggable outfit (folder) that I can use to change clothes! And then I started buying clothes and discovered the problem the OP pointed out - that no-copy items get MOVED into the newer outfit folder.

An example would be when you buy an outfit that has a top and 3 different skirts - short, knee, and long. You make one outfit with the top and long, one with top and knee, and then top and short. When you get done, the only outfit the top is actually in is the "top and short" because it was the last one created. The top was moved out of the first outfit into the second, and then out of the second into the last. So if I tried to put on my top and long outfit ... I would just get a long skirt. O.O

It is because of this that I now have various pieces of clothing scattered all over my inventory now, since I didn't discover items were moving until I had gone on a shopping spree and created a bunch of outfits from my new clothes.

One of my plans this weekend is to sit down and try to work out a solution to organise my clothing better.

It's not really a problem that clothes get moved per se. The problem arises when you want to use the same no-copy hair in 3 different looks. It's a nightmare and it shouldn't happen. There's no reason why you can't pickle the set of attachments/body morphs/skins to a single object and to be honest the folder idea seems like a bit of a bodgy workaround.

My $0.02 paid and hopefully received

But still, it also raises the issue with no-copy items being moved... WHY? why on earth must your inventory be reorganised because you've set up a new outfit, when the link/key to that skirt/shirt/hair/pants/socks/skin/eyes can be put into a non trnsferrable object for later use?

Gosh, that's another $0.02. I'm running out of money here...

Like I said, it seems like a hack/bodge and hopefully things will change.

Dave

I like it Dave ! propose it! but also make sure you explain it exhaustively. It would be a sort of saved list of clothing and attachments you are wearing so that later you can wear the outfit and it will put on everything that outfit lists. It would also be nice if you could set it to remove all clothing first, or replace as needed.

It's like a preset. And presets are good things.


I like it.

or allow us to create non-transferable shortcuts to any item provided that item is in our inventory that we can place in a folder.

Take a look, and vote if you agree.

http://secondlife.com/vote/index.php?get_id=1472

Thanks,

Dave

The essence of this idea, having links to objects, sort of like shortcuts, has been proprosed in the forums a number of times.

Me and Chani Nadir are looking for a solution to this quite a long time. Chani tried to script a workaround - but it seems not to be possible.
We have just setup a text with a similar proposal, that we wanted to propose as a new feature - but now we will not do so and support Daves proposal, which basically refers to the same problem.

Please give your votes to Daves proposal if you agree !
Chani and Letho

This is the similar proposal we had in mind before:
===
Inventory: The possibility to create references(pointers) to inventory objects, clothes, bodyparts - so that items can be combined in several ways, in several different outfit folders without(!) copying. This way, usability for individual clothing sets can be increased tremendously.

Today, attaching individual sets of clothes/objects requires navigation to different folders, detaching old clothes/objects and attaching new clothes/objects one by one. Even if this is possible, it is extremely annoying and a shame for usability. I think implementing this feature only affects the client side. It only affects usability, no rights on the inventory items themselve.

With inventory item references, preconfigured folders can be created by the user, holding references to all desired items for this outfit. Such an outfit folder can then be dragged at once onto the avatar. If not already worn/attached, referenced items as well as original items of the folder will attach. All clothes/objects not contained or referenced in the folder will be detached (same behaviour as today).

The pointer has the same state as the original object (e.g. bold letters if worn). If the original (no-copy) item is transferred, sold or lost anyhow, the pointer may be deleted also, to avoid references pointing to NIL.
To prevent dummy actions on the avatar and save performance, it is important not to temporarily detach objects that are already worn/attached and are also referred in the currently dragged folder (e.g. don't temporarily lose your worn hair when changing from one outfit to another with reference to same hair).
===

I've heard (but I wasn't there) that we used to have symbolic links/shortcuts in our inventory to solve exactly these kinds of problems, way back in beta.

But the same person who told me that said they were nerfed because people had trouble understanding them.

/me bashes head against wall.