LE Carry weight/encumbrance mod.

[Rvrstyxx]

TL:DR:

 

Can't carry stuff if you have no where to put it. Bags are important, size of an item matters as well as weight.

 

Concept:

 

I have an idea for a mod that reworks carry weight/capacity. The basic idea is that rather than storing all those greatswords, books, tents, bear carcasses etc in your ass, how much and what you can carry is determined by what you are wearing. So naked your max carry weight would be low (because how much can you really carry in a loincloth?) Say 0, excluding what you are holding in your hands. Or a little higher if equipped items still have some weight. Wearing a set of regular clothes or armour would give you enough pocket space to carry a small amount, maybe a few food items, potions, a book, a pair of gloves. So your carry weight might be 5, 10 or 20 depending on the clothes/armour, based on what-you-see-is-what-you-get. (Eg, iron armour includes a little pouch, so it might have a few more carry weight - or maybe carry points - than a set of hide armour, which doesn't have very much at all. This would have issues with other mods though, see below.) To carry more you'll need a bag, rucksack, satchel, bergen (which are already added by many mods and in fact the frostfall backpacks were what inspired this whole idea, this mod would add new ones to make it work as a standalone). Obviously equipped items would have no weight (or maybe reduced weight), because you don't need to carry the clothes you're wearing in your pockets.

 

In addition, the mod would change the weight of a lot of items so it reflects not just weight but volume. Bulk, for lack of a better word. So, for example, a greatsword might not actually weight that much, less that 10 lbs, but its huge. So big that there is no way you could stash it even in a massive backpack. The only way you could carry it is by hand or on your body.

 

That covers big items that don't way very much, but what about small items that weigh a lot, like books, meat or bottles of fluids? They would also have to have their "weight" increased, but not so much that carrying a few becomes impossible even with a bag.

 

Zero weight items would have to have an appropriate weight added to them, possibly including money. (I know I'd use that feature, I already use a weighted money mod. And one for arrows.)

 

There would have to be some sort of penalty for carrying a lot of stuff. Maybe above a certain amount you lose stamina when running or even just when walking, even if you are carrying less than your max, and for every additional point over this limit the effect would get more severe, perhaps until you lose stamina just standing. That would also factor in stamina: rather than every 10 stamina increasing max CW by 5 (IIRC), stamina would slow the fatiguing effect of hauling stuff around. Also, rather than a movement penalty when above your max, you would not be able to pick up anything else. The problem there is only weapons can be held in you hands. The first solution that comes to mind to this is have a dialogue box appear that tells you you can't carry the item you tried to pick up, but giving you an option to use/eat/equip the item if it is usable/equipable/edible. Or maybe you could pick it up but be forced to drop it before you can pick up anything else or unsheathe a weapon. Rather like the old solution to being over encumbered but not wanting to drop anything; drop the heaviest thing and "carry" it by holding the activate button.

 

Other random ideas:

 

It could also add "shrink" spells to the alteration tree, giving mages another option. Also enchanted bags with magical capacity. Telekinesis could also factor in here.

 

It would also make horse inventories more useful, rather than making horses handy, rideable chests.

 

Thieves guild armour should have better than average carrying.

 

The extra pockets perk would have to be nerfed quite a lot or it would break the mod.

 

One quiver for all your arrows, not sure how that would work though. Maybe dedicated bags for lots of things.

 

Edit: Just had another thought: this mod would make storing items more important. Maybe limited storage in containers (no putting big stuff in alchemy satchels, chests only hold so much)

 

Issues:

 

The first issue that comes to mind is compatibility. If each item has a tailored "increase carry weight" effect, then mod armours and clothes would have to be patched. The simple solution would be to have a blanket capacity for all clothes and armour, which wouldn't exactly ruin the mod. The weight of every mod-added item would also have to be changed to work with the new system. Compatibility with Equipping Overhaul and similar mods might also be an issue, re equipped items having reduced weight. Also mods that add backpacks might need tweaking of stats to be more compatible.

 

The second issue I can see is that the "increase carry weight" effect probably counts as an enchantment, which would conflict with enchanted weapons and armour, and probably ruin enchanting. I don't know enough about custom mod enchantments/effects to think of a workable solution to this. Maybe a replace the enchantment/effect on the item with a buff when wearing clothes?

 

If not having sufficient capacity would cause you to drop items, you would have to either remove the items before removing the clothing/bag that is "holding" them, or they would all fall out when you remove/drop the bag/clothes. Solution could be that bags work as wearable containers (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50589/?). More compatibility issues there though

 

I'd have a go at making it myself but I wouldn't know where to start. If anyone has any advice on what I would need to know to have a go at making it that would be great :D

 

I think it's an interesting idea (obviously, or wouldn't be posting it :tongue:). I love mods that increase the difficulty of things other than combat, like Frostfall and RNaD, and mods that make things work more like they do in reality. I also think it's pretty feasible given my (very) limited knowledge of what is possible with modding.

 

Thanks for reading, I tried to avoid a wall of text but its difficult to get the idea across properly without one.

Edited July 22, 2014 by Rvrstyxx