Dynamic Inventory Size [Better Wall of Text]

[Buczkowski 36]

But I still see no difference between a hotbar that adds a slot every time you pick something up, up to 9 slots, and a hotbar that always has 9 slots.

[halfmaster1 77]

A hotbar that always has nine slots cannot hold more than nine slots, and can have a ridiculous amount of items in it.

[bsb23 303]

Better yet if we want a hotbar and we want things to make a little more sense, why not reduce it two or one depending on what you are carrying (map/anvil/pick/other two handed items need to be one slotted). Now we have something here. Bags would have the mechanic stated by halfmaster. This also forces a bit of organization as well for instance if you pour your seed collection into your backpack you probably aren't going to find things quite as easily as you had hoped.

But wait, before you complain about wanting a bigger hotbar, we already have the solution! Sheaths, quivers and other easy access storage-like things all add slots to your hotbar, as they are easily reachable.

Now what am I missing?

[halfmaster1 77]

2 slots? That is great!

Yes!

[dockwithme 76]

But wait, before you complain about wanting a bigger hotbar, we already have the solution! Sheaths, quivers and other easy access storage-like things all add slots to your hotbar, as they are easily reachable.

Gosh, I should be bludgeoned for posting without reading the WHOLE thread (I read most), but I like the idea of sheaths/quivers/backpacks/sacks --> specialized personal storage vs specialized external storage (which is what I hear is making it's way into the game). Start with a small inventory, create portable, personal storage to carry things around that are specialized in what they can carry.

If someone already stated this in a post I didn't read, count this as a vote for that!

Oh, could you possibly drop these backpacks/sacks to the ground? I would imagine you could do that with sacks of dirt, sand, etc. Wouldn't that make them alternatives to the external permanent storage?

Are they simple to make? Are they a necessity?

--> After thinking about this for awhile, I wonder where the fine line between believable and monotonous is going to be.

[weylin 36]

Wurm Online has a somewhat believable inventory system.

The number of items doesn't matter, what does matter is the weight and size. You could carry a hundred different types of seeds, or a few logs.

Wurm also has solutions to these things, though, like wooden carts, which make the transportation of really really heavy stuff much easier.

To top it off, items of the same type, but which differ in quality, damage, special effect, and temperature, they all combine into an expandable drop-down.

I highly suggest checking out Wurm Online, it has many things in common with this mod (but several significant differences as well)

[Buczkowski 36]

A hotbar that always has nine slots cannot hold more than nine slots, and can have a ridiculous amount of items in it.

That makes no sense.

A hotbar that always has nine slots will always be able to hold exactly the same number of items as a hotbar that starts with one slot, and then adds another slot whenever something is added to the hotbar, up to a limit of nine slots.

[halfmaster1 77]

That makes no sense.

A hotbar that always has nine slots will always be able to hold exactly the same number of items as a hotbar that starts with one slot, and then adds another slot whenever something is added to the hotbar, up to a limit of nine slots.

Nope. You have completely misunderstood this idea. Please go read the OP again, and if you don't understand, I will try to fix it.

[Buczkowski 36]

I don't object to the inventory idea in the slightest, I just see no benefit to the hotbar suggestion. I doesn't make the hotbar more believable than it already is, and adds nothing over the hotbar setup as it is.

I'm not saying the whole idea is a waste of effort, just the hotbar expanding/contracting for no reason.

The idea, in general is a good one, and I support it.

[bsb23 303]

Two hands=two hotbar slots. Something that is easily reachable ie a sword in its sheath is also quickly usable and therefore on the hotbar.

[dockwithme 76]

Two hands=two hotbar slots. Something that is easily reachable ie a sword in its sheath is also quickly usable and therefore on the hotbar.

Like metal gear solid UI?

[bsb23 303]

Not sure, I have never played, unless Super Smash Bros counts.

[Srgnoodles 1,030]

yeah, i dont think a Diablo style inv. system is going to happen, nor do i think a weight system would work,

i personally think, that without a backpack, you should be able to carry 2-3 things, one in each hand and maybe one tucked under your arm, other than that, you just can't carry that much.

you should start off with a basic backpack that has a small inventory and isnt very durrable, then as time progresses, you can upgrade your pack to be bigger and stronger so you can carry more stuff

also, maybe having a full backpack would slow you down a bit especially with the larger ones

[Pakislav 120]

So here's an idea.

First level inventory: Only hotbar.

Second level: Satchel. Half vanilla inventory + hotbar.

Third level: Backpack. Full inventory + hotbar + slowness I/II

And honestly, making the hotbar smaller just doesn't make sense. It would be waaay too much trouble shifting equpment all the time. Remmember that you have to have a weapon, ranged weapon, pickaxe, pro-pick, axe, shovel, torches, food and some building blocks in the hotbar, because that's how the game's played.

[dockwithme 76]

So what your saying is use an encumbrance system like RPGs use (thinking of Skyrim). You can carry a whole world's load of bags of seeds because they are small and weigh less compared to a pile of dirt. Only fill up the first 9 slots of the hotbar -- the only reason you want it to expand/contract is because of the weight limit, if you've reached the limit with 3 items, don't show another slot, am I right? If you have 9 bags of seeds, and can carry more, you can find them in your expanded inventory?) I get all that but I also could see using the 2 slot hotbar -- why are we using 9 slots? Let me explain with some MGS UI controls. I think it COULD translate well, although it would require tweaking to the code of how the inventory works and also to the control system.

This is the original MGS inventory system. Two hotbars, categorized. For us, left would be tools/weapons. Right would be building materials.

In the game, when you hit and hold left trigger, a menu pops up. Hitting up/down will scroll through your items to equip (sort of how you can mousewheel through item in our hotbars now). We could use new keybindings for these (q for left, e for right, then scroll to move through items).

*** This would also mean left click would control left items, right click the right items. This kind of breaks items that use both left and right clicks. ***

[achartran 465]

So here's an idea.

First level inventory: Only hotbar.

Second level: Satchel. Half vanilla inventory + hotbar.

Third level: Backpack. Full inventory + hotbar + slowness I/II

And honestly, making the hotbar smaller just doesn't make sense. It would be waaay too much trouble shifting equpment all the time. Remmember that you have to have a weapon, ranged weapon, pickaxe, pro-pick, axe, shovel, torches, food and some building blocks in the hotbar, because that's how the game's played.

I agree with everything here, but I think backpacks should have at least 2 levels. Each level adds another 9 slot row to your inventory. Same goes for the satchel, instead of half the VMC inventory it should just add another row.

But yes, shrinking the hot bar will be a major pain in the ass. This is where the not realism but game play argument comes into play, you would spend most of your time in the inventory screen getting a new tool or block into your tiny hot bar. That would be very immersion breaking and add immense amounts of tedium.

[Pakislav 120]

Exactly.

But do you think that the satchel should be upgradable or a completly different item that is easier to make?

Because I have a hard time coming up with the restrictions to make the lower tier containers a valid option for use.

And if you want it to add 1 row each, then maybe just add a normal, simple bag as tier 1, then satchel as tier 2 and a backpack as tier 3.

But again, what would make us make a bag and then satchel instead of just making a backpack?

Unless textiles and seweing would be added, maybe a simple bag could be crafted using the chest recipe, but out of leather?

And the other containers would require metal elements and 'hardened leather' or something alike?

Also, another 'down-side' of a backpack compared to smaller containers, could be that you can't acces it's contents directly, and have to perform additional action of opening it before?

[achartran 465]

Exactly.

But do you think that the satchel should be upgradable or a completly different item that is easier to make?

Because I have a hard time coming up with the restrictions to make the lower tier containers a valid option for use.

And if you want it to add 1 row each, then maybe just add a normal, simple bag as tier 1, then satchel as tier 2 and a backpack as tier 3.

But again, what would make us make a bag and then satchel instead of just making a backpack?

Unless textiles and seweing would be added, maybe a simple bag could be crafted using the chest recipe, but out of leather?

And the other containers would require metal elements and 'hardened leather' or something alike?

Also, another 'down-side' of a backpack compared to smaller containers, could be that you can't acces it's contents directly, and have to perform additional action of opening it before?

One way to make sure the satchel is used is to make the backpack require the satchel in the crafting recipe and something else that isn't a raw resource that is easy to get by punching a few cows. Making the satchel a great way to get a little more space while you are still in the stone age, and making the two backpacks only available when a player advances into at least tier 0 metals.

This can, of course, be changed to a better solution once the mechanics you mentioned are (if ever) implemented.

[Pakislav 120]

Yeah, making metal be required to make a backpack makes sure that we will use lower tier containers, at least for some time.

But what do you think about making both the satchel and the backpack usefull throught the game, but for slightly different purposes.

Satchel for fast and light traveling, and a backpack for longer journeys and transportation.

Beyond the slowness debuff for a backpack, would it make sense if we needed to, for example place it on the ground to acces items inside it?

Since it's easy to acces the contents of your satchel, but you can't open a backpack that's on your back.

It would add belivability and make both satchel and a backpack more uniquelly usefull instead of just being interchangable.

[Kimbblesrath 503]

Yeah, making metal be required to make a backpack makes sure that we will use lower tier containers, at least for some time.

But what do you think about making both the satchel and the backpack usefull throught the game, but for slightly different purposes.

Satchel for fast and light traveling, and a backpack for longer journeys and transportation.

Beyond the slowness debuff for a backpack, would it make sense if we needed to, for example place it on the ground to acces items inside it?

Since it's easy to acces the contents of your satchel, but you can't open a backpack that's on your back.

It would add belivability and make both satchel and a backpack more uniquelly usefull instead of just being interchangable.

How about this:

Satchel is opened with right click, but backpack has to be placed like you said.

It shouldn't have to (the back pack) use too much metal though. This is where metal strip comes in. The metal strip would be a multi use thing having many, many uses. Like trimming for decoratives, for barrels, for blowguns(look in the blowgun thread, wherever it went) and now, backpacks. An ingot could make maybe make 2 to 4 metal strips. You would need two for a backpack. These would function as both reinforcement for the backpack, allowing it to carry heavy objects, and making it require metal. A satchel can carry a max size of small (maybe medium) and a weight limit of medium, and a back pack would have size limit of large and weight limit of heavy. Very heavy, very large, or huge objects would have to be worn(armor) or carried in the hotbar.

[Pakislav 120]

I like your idea.

But I think that the satchel should be able to carry medium sized items at least

[Kimbblesrath 503]

I like your idea.

But I think that the satchel should be able to carry medium sized items at least

Thus the maybe medium. I wasn't sure, so I put maybe. I want more opinions on that. Satchel: Small items or Medium?

[halfmaster1 77]

The problem with that is, again, 9 different seeds maxes out the size.

Buczkowski, The reason it changes sizes is because nine slots isn't enough for an inventory, and your hotbar is all you start with.

However, if you have a lot of big items, then you can't fit even nine of them in. If you want, the display can be locked on nine, but it would be more convenient if it shrunk when it was empty.

[Kimbblesrath 503]

ok then. Satchels have a max slot size of 9, and a max size capacity of 32.

Tiny is a size value of 1

Very Small: 2

Small: 4

Medium: 8

Large: 16

So you can't carry more than 9 items, but you can't carry all medium items. You can only carry 4 medium items, and then, you have reached the weight capacity, and cannot carry anymore. Or you could carry 8 small items. You can carry 2 satchels max on your person.

And the backpack has 18 slots, and it has a weight value of 96.

Therefore, you can carry 7 large items, And that is it. or you can carry all medium, or any combination that has a weight value of 96.

EDIT: Leave feedback on the idea.

[Pakislav 120]

Doesn't weight affect how many items can stack in one inventory slot?

I don't know if the number of slots in inventory should be dependant on weight of items, as it represents the volume the items have, and already limits the number of items you can carry in one slot.

So I am not prone towards the idea.

And about the seeds and stuff, you just have to live with it.

But how about some item-specific inventory items?

Like a "herablists" bag, in which you can carry many different seeds but no other item type?