namespace ":" only issue

#1

So we got back some files from another company. They reference in our characters model and did a matchmove.
But we get the file back and the characters do not have the usual reference namespaces. No namespace shows in the outliner, just the usual blue diamond reference icon next to the name, so I know it’s a real reference.
The reference editor has “:” as the namespace for each character. Every one, even the duplicate characters. It did, however, add numbering to the duplicate characters in the outliner to differentiate ie bill_grp, bill_grp1, billy_grp2.
The scene freezes if we change the namespace from “:” to anything else.

Anyone see anything like this?
Maya 2014

#2

Yes, I did something very similar, by accident. I wanted to nest referenced characters in another namespace. Now I don’t remember if the scene crashed after I tried to reopen it, or because I monkeyed around in the maya ascii file. Fact is, referenced characters cannot be moved to another namespace.

I ended up saving out the animation with studiolibrary plugin and then importing the animation back and checking in the options to pick the namespace from the selected object. - obviously, i needed an object to be selected

It’s really not like I tried all possible options though, who knows maybe there is a possibility to move references.