GLTFLoader Caching Issue in React Application

Based on your description, you're encountering a caching issue with the GLTFLoader when reloading chapters in your React application. This is likely related to how the GLTFLoader handles internal caching, particularly with textures.

Potential Solutions

Since you've already disabled THREE.Cache (with THREE.Cache.enabled = false), but are still experiencing issues, here are some approaches you might try:

1. Create a new GLTFLoader instance for each chapter

Instead of reusing the same GLTFLoader instance, create a fresh one each time a chapter is loaded:

JAVASCRIPTCopied
// Create a new loader for each chapter
const loadChapter = () => {
  const loader = new THREE.GLTFLoader();
  // Configure loader
  return loader.loadAsync(url);
};

2. Clear internal caches manually

You might need to manually clear the internal caches in the GLTFLoader. While there's no direct public API for this, you could try:

JAVASCRIPTCopied
// Create a reusable loader with cache clearing
const createCleanLoader = () => {
  const loader = new THREE.GLTFLoader();
  
  // If you have access to the parser
  if (loader.parser && loader.parser.textureCache) {
    loader.parser.textureCache.clear();
  }
  
  return loader;
};

3. Use URL parameters to prevent caching

Add a unique query parameter to your model URLs to force a fresh load:

JAVASCRIPTCopied
const loadModel = (url) => {
  const cacheBuster = `?t=${Date.now()}`;
  return loader.loadAsync(url + cacheBuster);
};

4. Dispose of resources properly

Make sure you're properly disposing of all Three.js resources when unmounting components:

JAVASCRIPTCopied
// When unmounting a chapter
const cleanupChapter = () => {
  // Dispose of geometries, materials, textures
  scene.traverse(object => {
    if (object.geometry) object.geometry.dispose();
    
    if (object.material) {
      if (Array.isArray(object.material)) {
        object.material.forEach(material => disposeMaterial(material));
      } else {
        disposeMaterial(object.material);
      }
    }
  });
};

const disposeMaterial = (material) => {
  // Dispose of material and its textures
  Object.keys(material).forEach(prop => {
    if (material[prop] && material[prop].isTexture) {
      material[prop].dispose();
    }
  });
  material.dispose();
};

5. Consider using a resource manager

Implement a resource manager that tracks all loaded assets and can properly clean them up between chapter transitions.

The issue with the blob URL containing a UUID suggests that there might be stale references to textures or other resources that have already been garbage collected or removed. Creating fresh loader instances or implementing proper cleanup routines should help address this problem.