Dynamic VAE Selector

Ten dropdowns (vae_1 through vae_10, each defaulting to "none", each populated from your models/vae folder) that fold down into two outputs: a comma-separated STRING of whatever you selected, and a LIST of the same names. It doesn't load anything - this is the names half of a VAE workflow, meant to feed comparison or sweep pipelines, not to replace a VAE Loader.

What it's actually for

Say you want to compare how three or four different VAEs handle the same latent - a common enough check when you're chasing down washed-out colors or artifacting and suspect the VAE, not the checkpoint, is the culprit. Wiring up four separate VAE Loader nodes and four separate decode branches by hand works, but it's tedious and doesn't scale if you want to add a fifth candidate later. This node gives you one place to pick your candidate set - up to ten slots - and hands the selection onward as data (a string for labeling, a list for anything downstream built to consume this pack's LIST type, like List Combiner or Count List).

It fits the same XYZ-plot mold as the rest of this pack: build your axis of "which VAE" once here, then let whatever drives your actual sweep iterate over it.

The inputs and outputs

• vae_1 through vae_10 (each an enum, default "none") - pick as many as you need; leave the rest at their default and they simply don't contribute a real entry.
• Output STRING - your selections joined into one comma-separated string, handy for a label or a filename.
• Output LIST - the same selections as a list, for feeding this pack's other list-consuming nodes.

Nothing here loads a VAE into memory. To actually decode with any of the names you pick, you still need a VAE Loader (or whatever loads by name in your setup) reading from this node's output further down the chain.

How to install it

ComfyUI Manager: search DemonAlone-nodes-ComfyUI, install, restart. Manual:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/DemonAlone/DemonAlone-nodes-ComfyUI

then restart. No extra dependencies - it reads the same models/vae folder ComfyUI's stock VAE loader already reads, nothing new to download.

Common issues & troubleshooting

All ten dropdowns show only "none." This node populates its choices from models/vae the same way the stock VAE loader does. If that folder is empty, or your setup redirects model paths elsewhere (extra_model_paths.yaml, or a hosted environment with a platform-managed catalog), you'll see nothing real to pick. Check that a plain VAE Loader sees your files first - if it doesn't either, the fix is your model path, not this node.

My LIST output includes "none" entries I didn't want. Since unused slots default to "none" rather than being omitted, don't assume every slot is a real selection - pair this with Count List if you need to sanity-check how many genuine picks made it through versus how many slots you left untouched.

Nothing actually decodes differently when I change a selection here. That's expected on its own - this node only produces names and doesn't perform any decoding. Confirm those names are actually reaching a real VAE Loader (or equivalent) downstream, not just sitting in a string nobody reads.