Project patchers cannot access included Project dependencies

Hi there,

after some years working with projects in Max I still don't seem to understand correctly how file dependencies are being handled and how best to set it up for different usecases.

I have projects which contain many different sub-setups in form of patchers which I want to open separately, say, using a [umenu] or [chooser]. This works fine, however, when doing so, using the following method

; max launchbrowser file://[included patcher]

the patch in question opens without providing the absolute path but other dependencies of the project (like pattrstorage files) cannot be accessed and need to be provided with a full path.

when instead using the following method

; max openfile [unique name] [included patcher]

The dependencies are found, however, this patch I shouldn't close if I want to reopen it later, unless I generate a pseudo-unique name every time, or, unless I set thispatcher window to noclose and provide a button to do so using the closefile command to Max. This is not very practical, besides, the [onecopy] object does not do what I hoped it would: prevent duplicates from opening using this method.

Whether I consolidate the Project (which is another hairy discussion in its own right) or not, the dependencies are never found using the first, easy method. Is there a way to achieve solid and reliable Project behaviour regarding dependencies? Obviously I cannot keep the dependencies all in the same directory ('patchers/') since the project will reorganise the files and relocate them…

Many thanks for any hints!