QoL: More Bags

An area to facilitate free-form feedback on systems (in-game or out) related to Arelith.

Moderators: Forum Moderators, Active DMs, Contributors

Post Reply
User avatar
Rooshi49
Posts: 183
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2018 2:09 pm

QoL: More Bags

Post by Rooshi49 » Wed Sep 12, 2018 3:47 pm

So I play a Fighter who has all the carry capacity in the world, but I find myself struggling very much so with having enough inventory space. I carry alot of essences, wands, and other things that take up my inventory space and I do my utmost to try and manage it efficiently.

But you know what?
Since when has inventory management been the creme dela creme of a fun gaming experience?

I understand that Arelith is a low-magic server, but they don't have to be magical at all. Even if they were just simple rucksacks where people could put stuff into them that'd be great. I don't know if any of this requires hacks, but if its possible can it be done?

It would be nice if there were just more bags, even if they arn't general bags, but instead bags for wands and temp essences, and other things.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

User avatar
Ork
Arelith Gold Supporter
Arelith Gold Supporter
Posts: 2488
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2014 8:30 pm

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Ork » Wed Sep 12, 2018 3:52 pm

Ever since the update to stack objects up to 100, I think it has been fairly easy to keep up with my inventory. Wand bags & potion bags would certainly be awesome, but item management is far from terrible ..as it once was.

User avatar
Rooshi49
Posts: 183
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2018 2:09 pm

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Rooshi49 » Wed Sep 12, 2018 3:57 pm

Yes I know, but it can still be better. The item stacking thing was a definite must.

Bryce Silver-Wind
Posts: 104
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:56 pm

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Bryce Silver-Wind » Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:31 pm

As someone that plays a character with more then 27 wands at anytime in their inventory....something like this "would" in fact be a god send.

User avatar
Sintarius
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:40 am
Location: Denmark

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Sintarius » Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:32 pm

100 stack items help with alot, even Arrows that stack 500!!! But i agree, Herb Bag i see as a good idea to make, even its unmagical, being a Herbalist i use quite the Inventory space for this alone, that would be my only suggestion. Wands and Potions, idk, wands could make sense.
I hope the Herbalist get some love sometime!

Dirac
Posts: 90
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 3:06 pm

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Dirac » Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:38 pm

Not having bags seems to be a conscious design decision by the developers. I wonder what the reason is? I am no item hoarder but I've heard stories of folks lagging areas with their ridiculously vast amount of items. Not sure how accurate that is though.

Nitro
Posts: 2800
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:04 pm

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Nitro » Wed Sep 12, 2018 5:31 pm

Dirac wrote:
Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:38 pm
Not having bags seems to be a conscious design decision by the developers. I wonder what the reason is? I am no item hoarder but I've heard stories of folks lagging areas with their ridiculously vast amount of items. Not sure how accurate that is though.
Not sure if it's the case in the ENHANCED edition, but in vanilla NWN the reason for not including bags were duplication bugs and performance issues from having a lot of bags on the server. That's why headbags, mining bags etc work as they do with a dialogue system instead of being actual bags in the NWN base game.

User avatar
Rooshi49
Posts: 183
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2018 2:09 pm

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Rooshi49 » Wed Sep 12, 2018 5:49 pm

Well, if general bags are an issue with lagging and item duplication, then surely adding more "types" of bags would be a solution of sorts.

ZENAKU
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2018 5:41 am

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by ZENAKU » Wed Sep 12, 2018 5:59 pm

It's forgotten realms. Everyone and their cat has a magical bag of some sort! Arelith is some strange limbo chain of islands that hates magical bags to the point of banning them unless you pay 250x the amount in import tax.

User avatar
Baron Saturday
Posts: 2364
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2014 4:34 am

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Baron Saturday » Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:12 pm

Off the top of my head, scroll cases, book bags, gem pouches and trap containers have all been added in the last year. So there does seem to be a push towards creating more inventory management systems! However, doing this the way it's done in Arelith, as a text-based storage, looks to me to be a fairly tedious and time-consuming process.

Regarding wand bags, I suspect part of the reason we're yet to see them is the issue of charges - how to display them, and how to keep track of them.
Rolled: Helene d'Arque, Sara Lyonall
Shelved: Kels Vetian, Cin ys'Andalis, Saul Haidt
Playing: Oshe Jordain

User avatar
MissEvelyn
Arelith Silver Supporter
Arelith Silver Supporter
Posts: 1584
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:43 pm

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by MissEvelyn » Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:30 pm

I feel like Enhanced Edition could do us one better and give us tabs in our inventory, both for more space, but also for easier management.

But that would be something to suggest over at Beamdog's forums =)

Also I agree with Herbalists being so tedious. A giant chunk of salt just to cook a few meals? That feels a bit too much.


Drakkenstien
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2018 5:38 pm

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Drakkenstien » Thu Sep 13, 2018 5:35 am

Baron Saturday wrote:
Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:12 pm
Off the top of my head, scroll cases, book bags, gem pouches and trap containers have all been added in the last year. So there does seem to be a push towards creating more inventory management systems! However, doing this the way it's done in Arelith, as a text-based storage, looks to me to be a fairly tedious and time-consuming process.

Regarding wand bags, I suspect part of the reason we're yet to see them is the issue of charges - how to display them, and how to keep track of them.
I'd wonder at the impact to the server and database for each bag that is stored and used by a variety of characters. That has to be measured as well. For items with custom properties, each time you pull out a custom item out of a bag or place it in, it would have every custom property saved, along with descriptions, names, and potentially its look (if it was an armor or weapon) saved each time, as well as create or destroy the item in question. And, it has to do this with extreme accuracy, which is something that's painfully lacking in many NWN features, either due to lag issues, "Enhancements", or just general client instability that has always existed. Not being accurate could lead to unintentional duping or complete destruction of an item, both of which are no bueno to players.

This isn't an issue with scrolls, since each spell exists on a 1:1 basis with scroll items already in the game, which have their own descriptions and things that can be accessed client-side. Or jewelry, which saves all non-magic jewelry that have nothing but a base name and description that doesn't change no matter how many time you get it. Or any of the other items that can be stored in the game at this time.

That doesn't mean it won't happen, I think it's going to take a lot more work to implement than our current bags that are already in place in the game.

User avatar
Dragonfyre
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 5:18 pm
Location: East coast, USA

Re: QoL: More Bags

Post by Dragonfyre » Sat Sep 22, 2018 1:53 am

I tried making a suggestion post a few months back, but it got buried over time (currently sitting on page 16, as of this writing).

To illustrate just how many herbalism items there are (talk about inventory management!), I'm quoting that post here:
24 May 2018 04:59, Dragonfyre wrote: As it stands right now, storage bags (i.e. mining bags, gem bags, hunting bags, etc.) exist for the majority of crafting components for just about every crafting profession except herbalism. Dedicated herbalists currently need to either use personal storage (quarter storage chest/vaults) to store their crafting ingredients, or risk being bogged down in both weight and inventory space if they want to stock up on their crafting supplies. There are some things, such as meat of varying sizes, salt, and a few "animal byproducts" like beholder eyes that can be put into the various already-existing storage bags. However, the vast majority of herbalism components have no such options.

I went through both the wiki and the in-game Herbalism crafting menu to get a list of just how many crafting components there are for herbalism, most of which can't be stored anywhere but in a character's inventory or quarter/vault storage chests. And here they are:
  • Fruit
    Berries
    Nuts
    Yarrow Leaves
    Mintspear Leaf
    Strideleaf
    Lady's Tear
    King's Crown
    Sweetberry
    Mandrake Root
    Ripplebark Fungus
    Strychnine Seeds
    Belladonna
    Sassone Leaves
    Harnak Seeds
    Bloodroot Stalk
    Malyss Root
    Wolfsbane
    Striped Toadstool Flesh
    Nitharit
    *Cotton? (can't be stored in any other storage bag, but comes from a plant so may fit here?)
And that's before getting into the various other components required for making poisons. Some of those could, alternately, go into hunting bags, to go along with herbalism components already there, such as stinger barbs, beholder eyes, illithid's tentacles, fairy dust, carrion crawler brainstems, and such:
  • Spider Venom, Deadly
    Venom Sack (Aranea)
    Venom Sack (Asp)
    Venom Sack (Bebiltih)
    Venom Sack (Black Slaad)
    Myconid Fungi Essence
    Ichor
    Fish
    Scarfinned Flatfish
There are also two other items I found which were left off the lists above due to having other uses - those being Holy Water and Leaves of the Dreaming Tree, respectively. Aside from the above two lists, herbalists also have to store other items, such as Glass Bottles, Glass Vials, Empty Wine Bottles, Empty Ale Steins, and such to make potions, wine, beer, tanning acid, and more.

But, as you can see, there are quite a few herbalism components which take up, collectively, a large amount of inventory/storage space which could be rectified with the implementation of another type of storage bag. Whether or not "magical" versions of said storage bags could be made available as well (because omg that stuff gets heavy), at the very least might we be able to get something us poor herbalists can use to store our crafting components in, please?
Active character(s): Emelina Selizar - A Slave No More

Others: Shea Webber (Retired and wandering the wilds with her beloved Xellree)

Post Reply