Fixed issue where variables would be renamed when importing slides into another project file

Oct 09, 2015

Manfred Gerlach
By Manfred Gerlach

Hi all

I am working on a Project which requires me to reference a number of variables which change when moving from scene to scene.  For the first scene I have created the changeable variables with the prefix "varScene1" then the Variable Name.  In the first slide in the scene I have set up a slide trigger to load the changeable variables into a common set of variables.  These common variables are then used to manage user interactions throughout the rest of the scene.  I can now go ahead and create a second and subsequent scenes by duplicating, but I would need to create a new set of variables and change all of the trigger references on the introduction slide.

I thought of using the Import function to save time.  Firstly I imported the Scene1 Introduction Slide to a new project.  Then renamed the variables to have the prefix Scene2.  Finally, I imported the slide from the new project back into the main story.  Unfortunately, this process did not create new variables and triggers for Scene2, but instead renamed the variables for Scene1.

From reading the support notes I see that the renaming of variables when importing slides when importing slides into another project file was fixed in Update 7.  I have recently downloaded the latest version, but am wondering if there is something else I need to do the achieve what I want.  That is to import new (adjusted) variable and triggers. 

Any assistance or advice would be greatly appreciated.

6 Replies
Manfred Gerlach
over 8 years ago10/09/15 at 9:43 pm (UTC)

Hi

Thank you for your reply. Since my post I have discovered that if I create new variables and triggers in a new project they will import as new to my existing project. When I tried to rename the newly created variables to import a new scene again these do not come across. I am thinking that there is an internal I'd that is staying with the variables and the import function is working similar to the translate function by and assigning the new name to the existing variable rather than creating a new one. Unfortunately the import function is not providing a prompt even if the variable name is the same. Maybe the internal variable name is like the code in the do not use column of the translate word file. But then I don't know how this could be guaranteed to be unique?

I have see a few older posts seeking to find a way of importing new variables from a file. Variables are very powerful tool but it is time consuming to created them without being able to do copy and paste or find and replace commands in the variable editor. It is a big limit for me in being able to use what otherwise is a very good package.

The existing project I am working on is quite developed but was first created using the current version update 7.

Is the functionality meant to give option of renaming or creating new variables on importing?  If so maybe there is a process that needs to be followed to get this to work?

Regards
Manfred

Manfred Gerlach
over 8 years ago10/10/15 at 12:51 am (UTC)

Hi Matthew.  Thanks.  Yes this did bring up the option.  I would have expected (hoped) that the same option would have come up again when I then imported the same file a second time.  Unfortunately though this does not happen and the import routine automatically elects to do a merge of the variables.  I am assuming that the check for duplicates is including the internal variable id (rather than just looking at the variable name).  Looking at my original objective, this means that I cannot use the import functionality to import a new set of variables to manage the interaction of each scene (ie. Scene1Variable, Scene2Variable....) without entering each as new variables and then recoding all of the triggers for each scene :(.  I am wondering if this is maybe a residual bug in terms of how Storyline handles importing of variables which are the same name?  Do you know how I would go about raising this as an issue?

I really appreciate the help.

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