Reverse engineering the Power Armor frame

[adb3nj]

I would like to be able to store items inside the workshop stores – Weapons Emporium, Surgery Center, Restaurant, etc – and have them be visible in the store, as when you add pieces of Power Armor to a Power Armor frame. I've established the keyword that makes adding pieces of Power Armor possible is FurnitureTypePowerArmor, but it doesn't seem possible to modify it to allow the addition of other items. Am I right in thinking it's hardcoded?

The alternative to achieve the same effect would be using the script that the Bobblehead Stand and Magazine Racks use, but that only seems to work on containers, whereas the workshop stores are technically furniture. (I've not looked into it in much depth, but I assume converting them to containers would deprive them of the ability to actually function as stores.)

So the final option is, leave the stores as they are but add a dummy container, overlapping the store, which the items get added to. I guess I could create a quest that generates a container whenever a store is created, but is there a way to link them so the container moves with the store? Or am I attempting the impossible without the ability to create plugins?

[LarannKiar]

5 hours ago, adb3nj said:

I would like to be able to store items inside the workshop stores – Weapons Emporium, Surgery Center, Restaurant, etc – and have them be visible in the store, as when you add pieces of Power Armor to a Power Armor frame.

Take a look at how Weapon Racks are implemented (both their script and 3D mesh). They support inventory item placement (without F4SE).

5 hours ago, adb3nj said:

The alternative to achieve the same effect would be using the script that the Bobblehead Stand and Magazine Racks use, but that only seems to work on containers, whereas the workshop stores are technically furniture. (I've not looked into it in much depth, but I assume converting them to containers would deprive them of the ability to actually function as stores.)

Keep the Furniture design if you want to keep them "activatable" (i.e. NPCs and the player can use them).

5 hours ago, adb3nj said:

So the final option is, leave the stores as they are but add a dummy container, overlapping the store, which the items get added to. I guess I could create a quest that generates a container whenever a store is created, but is there a way to link them so the container moves with the store?

Overlapping objects should be avoided.

They may block the:

         - furniture entry markers which makes it impossible for NPCs and the player to activate (i.e. use) it

         - furniture itself which makes it impossible for NPCs to actually access it (i.e. they can't path to it)

         - (keywords like FurnitureAllowEnterThroughGeometry can help with these issues)

5 hours ago, adb3nj said:

Or am I attempting the impossible without the ability to create plugins?

It is possible but the Power Armor code is hardcoded indeed. (Conceptually it can't be very different from Weapon Racks).

[adb3nj]

Power Armor is scriptless (in this context) and uses attach points rather than nodes. Weapon Racks essentially use the same script as the Bobblehead Stand and Magazine Racks. They also all have BlockWorkshopInteractionKeyword, which I'm guessing stop settlers trying to use them, therefore gives them no reason to path to them. My intent would be for the containers to be smaller than the stores, and lie within them, so they don't block pathing. And then I've got OnWorkshopObjectPlaced / OnWorkshopObjectMoved events. Off the top of my head though, I'd have to use a quest alias to identify the reference coordinates, and I'm so rubbish with aliases

Edited May 26 by adb3nj