As I mentioned above, Accessories are a problem. There is no solution for now until it fixed by RL (hopefully in the next release).

Two workarounds for now:

One..
1. Detach all accessories from a character
2. Export character with LOD option
3. If necessary LOD props (converted from accessories) with Polygon reduction Object
4. Import character to iClone
5. Send LOD props one by one to iClone and reattach to respective character bones (probably need to keep some standard pose for accessories to match desired coordinates)

Two..
1. Convert each accessory to cloth (Transfer Skin Weight)
2. Edit Skin Weight for each item of converted to cloth accessory, select the bone it used to be attached to and use Add paint brush to give all object vertices 100% influence
3. LOD character and import to iClone

You should not have any problems with failing to open file.

Hi,
Thanks for your reply and suggestions.

Unfortunately, my characters do not have accessories. They are all mainly clothed and accessories are converted to cloth.

Please see the screenshots attached. It is a train scene with lots of people on it.

The issue I have is my scene has a crowd of characters. And I think when I added a certain type of character, the problem arises.

It las happened when I added two different characters to the platform people. So, I will check new characters before adding them for accessories. But I think the problem is not just accessories associated.

Not sure if it an LOD remeshing issue or something else?

Either way RL need to get a fix to this asap as it is a very difficult and appalling problem that has cost me days and put huge pressure on my deadline.

If I had known, I would've just used iClone 7 for this project.

Regards,
Sam

Appreciate so much the step-by-step workaround, 4u2ges. This will help those of us who have had this maddening issue to know that our saved projects can actually be secure. 

I have tested all my LOD characters individually by simply loading them in a project, saving it, and then trying to reopen the project. I found that older LOD characters I had created with attached accessories in CC3 actually still were usable in Iclone 8.

 I also found a character with a "Viking Beard" hair element that would cause the problem. I had not realized that the "viking beard" was being read as an accessory. 

I haven't tested extensively, but maybe creating the LOD characters in CC3 with attached accessories would be a quicker solution. It would have to be tested. I will try to get around  to that later today. 

---

Hi Cary B,

I'm in the same boat as you and really hacked off with this error.

Further to your reply. I wonder if this has anything to do with licenses and extended licenses of content?

I am going to test with individual characters too, to see where the problem might be...

Pretty sure it's not related to licenses, Aidemlndi. The avatars themselves can be remeshed without causing the issue. As 4u2ges pointed out, it only happens when the avatar has an attached accessory and goes through the remesh process. 

I had not picked up on that, since I do have some older LOD characters with attached accessories that seem okay. I will test this further in CC3.  

Watch out for accessories that you might not think of as accessories, like the "Viking beard" I had issues with. 

For me, simply taking the avatar by itself and creating the LOD version is probably sufficient. I can then add the original accessory in Iclone and still have a much lower-poly figure.

Good luck with making your deadline. At least you know where the problem lies now, and that is a great relief. 

---

We must have been posting at the same time. I didn't see this post of yours before. 

I see bearded characters in your screenshots. I would test those avatars out first, and see if the hair elements may be causing the same problem as the accessories. 

---

Hi Cary B,

Thanks for the heads up on the beard. But I've noticed the bearded characters do not seem to cause any issues. They load okay.

There must be something that is related to something being classed as an accessory that maybe is not an accessory as we know it.

I am trying character by character against the mass of characters that do work. To find out which characters are problematic.

Regards,
Aidemindi aka Sam

For some distant characters you may save further by using a 2D on Billboards.

https://forum.reallusion.com/357343/Default.aspx

https://forum.reallusion.com/349128/Cheapest-animated-crowd-character-How-to

BTW, the problem with Viking beard is because it categorized as an accessory. In other words it has a bone:

Did some quick testing. Took an avatar with attached accessory into CC3 and used the remesher to created a lower LOD figure. 
Took this remeshed avatar into Iclone 8, saved the project and then reopened it. No "Failed to Load File" issue. 

Tried with a second, different avatar and accessory, same good result. 

So using CC3 looks like a viable option for creating the LOD characters from DAZ imported figures and such. 

---