Prevent accidental save over of 2.79 files when loaded in 2.8
Problem: if you open a 2.79 file in 2.8 is it implicitly converted to 2.8 structures. If you then accidentally save it (for example, because you habitually spam control-s), the 2.79 version is silently overwritten with a 2.8 version and you can't go back to working on it in 2.79.
As 2.8 is used more and more, this has increasing potential to destroy data.
Here are some options to improve this..
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Anytime 2.8 tries to save over a 2.79 file, show a warning dialog. (Though blender is not very warning dialog friendly)
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Have 2.8 treat a 2.79 converted file "read-only" such that any attempt to save triggers the file browser for a new save name. Choosing to save over a v2.79 file would trigger a warning dialog that this will overwrite the old file into version 2.8 which won't be loadable in 2.79)
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Make 2.8 save with a different file extension, so saving the file would never save over the top of the old file. (a bit clunky because blender uses the clean ".blend" extension, but it is common for compatibility breaking changes to use different file extensions)
6 Comments
I think that point 2 seems to be the best solution.
FWIW, due to the way Blender does automatic incremental saves, .blend3 as a file extension would be a very bad idea.
* @Jason van Gumster * This seems true, though as a side-node, doing automatic incremental saves as name.blend## is breaking the extension-as-filetype abstration. Maybe someday auto-saves should be name-##.blend or name-##.blend-autosave
* @David Jeske * The difficulty with making that change is that some people (for some reason) still like to do manual incremental saves. Making that change could easily interfere with that workflow.
It's like this in every application, Blender is no exception to the rule I guess... If it's important, just add the version of Blender in the filename? Or add a empty or something to the scene and name it VERSION2.79!! ;)
* @rob * I don't use any applications that will silently upgrade files to an incompatible new version, and then silently let you save over the old file. Can you name one that does?
Normally when breaking file compatibility occurse, there is a notification on loading the file, such as when Visual Studio warns you that loading the old project will convert it to the new format which won't be loadable in the old version. It then converts it and saves the old version as a backup file.
Sometimes programs which introduce breaking file compatibility issues save with a different file extension, such as how Word switched from .doc to .docx. You can still ask word to save files in .doc, but then it warns you that some features will not save into .doc files.
Personally, I think blender showing you a warning dialog anytime it loads and converts a 2.79 file would be too annoying for common situations. However, we need some way to make the user's decision to blow-away data and compatibility with 2.79 explicit...