First asset creation (a chair) - how to manage it with materials avoiding missing textures problem

Hi,

I’ve imported a nice chair I’ve made to UE4.11 editor. I’ve pulled it from OBJ and it created some materials in the starter scene for me, I’ve hooked up the textures and saved project, dragged it to another folder so that all the materials/textures for this asset only are organised there.

And bang… whenever I reopened the project file, my textures were missing! I’ve found out online my mistake might have been to move it to a subfolder (using windows explorer) within the ‘Content’ folder. Now I’m keeping all of that in the Content folder root, but it’s a mess of 10 textures and materials.

My question is: what is the orthodox way to keep it organised:

  • I wan’t to have my furniture model + it’s 10 materials + it’s 10 or more textures kept in organised place, so that I can just paste a piece of furniture into another project in the future and have materials and textures come in with it.
  • I also don’t want it to clutter the ‘Content’ folder.

I’ve looked in the docs, but they are not that clear about it.
Many thanks,

Did you use the windows explorer to move the content?
If so, the redirectors are broken.
As assets reference each other, like static meshes reference materials; materials reference textures, etc, redirectors are created when the item is moved.
That is, if you move them via the UE content browser.
Dont use the explorer :slight_smile:

You need to use the migrate command or that.
Click on an asset in the content browser and choose Asset Actions>Migrate.
It will copy all referenced assets to the new project.

Can they be fixed by copying from Content Browser? Given assets reference each other, can I select just my model and copy (using Content Browser) and count on the rest (the referenced materials, textures) being copied with proper redirectors?

Are “redirectors” UE4 parlance for paths? Or is it a more complex mechanic, like symbolic folder links or something?

Does this mean I have to open old projects to send (“migrate”) desired assets to a new one? Thanks!

Redirectors are used when assets are moved.
Imagine a material asset that references a texture in …Content\Textures.
That reference is stored in the material asset file.
Now, if you move the texture to a different location, the material does not any longer know where to find it.

If you do the move with the content browser, a redirector is created that basically tells the material: Hey, Im not the texture actually, but here you can find it…
As redirectors pile up (if yopu move stuff around a lot), you can use the “Fix up redirectors” command from the content browser context menu.
This opens all assets and set the “new” correct paths.

Yup. That pretty much nails it. :slight_smile: