Disable Multi-Version and Multi-Edition

Plex Media Server Metadata & Adding Files
1

Server Version#: 1.28.2.6151
Player Version#: 4.91.2

i need a way to disable Multi-Version and Multi-Edition support on the server. prior to the current support, which i could list multiple help areas where its broken and/or not working right, i was able to put versions into two different folders and tell Plex that they were different, and it accepted it as such. now with the new support, it merges all of my content like this. so i break it apart. the moment i ‘split apart’ the versions, they become matched as editions. this is the same problem but presented in a different way. so at that point, all i can do is ‘fix match’ or ‘unmatch’ followed by ‘match’. this works fine when the versions have their own unique metadata from IMDB or wherever, but if they don’t, they just lump themselves back together. the only solutions i can come up with is:

  1. just leaving them as unmatched and deal with not having any metadata on it.
  2. intentionally wrong match the title and have wrong metadata, which is objectively worse than no metadata.
  3. roll back to a version Plex before the multi-edition support rolled out and disable updates.

if you know how to actually disable Multi-Version and Multi-Edition support, please share.

2

Why do you want multiple versions of the same thing separate?

3

well, for starters, Plex has been unable to correctly and consistently auto merge versions. there are other reasons why, too, but not a single reason why really matters in connection with the request to be able to separate them.
if you want an example of Plex not doing it correctly, it has merged all of the Animatrix shorts into a single merged title. there are other movies that that it’s done this too, as well. there are some times that it works correctly, but there are others that are multiple versions that it hasn’t detected as multi-version and left separate. bottom line is, i hate HATE the feature as it currently stands and want it to be disabled.

4

There is no issue when you add them as a tv show, properly named and organized as such.
I did this and they show up just fine.
(make sure to match it against TheTVDB: The Animatrix - TheTVDB.com )

grafik
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If you want to add the Animatrix as a movie, you need to string all the episodes together, so you get them into 1 file.
Plex’s “multi-files” feature is limited to 8 files per movie. https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-movie-media-files#toc-3
But the Animatrix has 9 episodes, so you can’t use that.

5

how can the multi-version and multi-edition feature(s) be disabled? that is the OP question. but to answer the new comments…

i am not wanting to add them all as a single movie. specifically dealing with the animatrix, i am wanting them all to be their own ‘short’ movie. in general, yet specifically, i want every video file in its own folder to be its own movie.

AnimatrixExample
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in this example, I have three different versions of the original trilogy. i originally had then named differently and showing different artwork. now, two of the three merged all three versions but the third only merged two of the three versions. this is only an example, but it shows the feature isn’t constant and that is the main reason why i don’t want the feature enabled!

StarWarsExample
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6

To Answer your Question you cannot disable them.

In the case of the Animatrix, It is actually a TV Show and not several short movies, That is why you are having issues with it

For Star Wars the Proper way would be to use the editions. Either tag file name in your folders or manually add the edition name. What you are trying to do is what editions is for.

My Star Wars EP 4 files look like this
image

Which Gives me this in the Movie Library
image

So in summary what you want is to use Editions to get exactly what you wanted in the first place.

The Split function still works you just need to make sure to set the edition tag so they don’t get remerged as versions by mistake.

7

this is how my “info” looks for Star Wars IV

StarWarsInfo
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this is how my ‘Tags’ look for Star Wars IV

StarWarsTags
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this is how my movie library looks for Star Wars IV
StarWarsMerged

what you are showing for your movie library is what i would like to see, but it just doesn’t. can you provide instructions, or a doc that’s already written, to make my files show separately like how yours are showing?

8

Follow the instructions to use editions. the link below has the specific instructions you need to follow. you can use either the file rename and let the scanner figure it out or split then set the edition. The link below tells you how and gives file name examples

Multiple Editions | Plex Support

edit: you can also look at my folder structure for Star Wars Ep4 in my screen shot above.

9

Basically, what appears in your file names in parentheses is the edition. (Original), (VHS)…
Just replace that with the required syntax for editions {edition-Original}, {edition-VHS}, etc.

10

thank you for the help on this. i was missing that the brackets weren’t actually Parentheses but Curly brackets. as the saying goes, “The Devil is in the details.”