Transmute To Gold spell effect script help

[greatgiginthesky]

I'm such a compulsive TES player, that if I leave more than a few hundred gold's worth of items behind because of their weight, I often go back for them. I want a way to avoid this second trip, so I thought I'd try making a spell which you can cast on items which removes the item but gives the player some fraction of its base value in gold. For the longest time, I thought I was doing something wrong, but it seems that my script just isn't executing when the spell's target is an item. It works on doors and containers and presumably actors, (currently just printing the result of OBSE's GetGoldValue in a message) - but it has no effect on items like weapons, armor, books, etc.

 

I'd like an alternative method to achieve the same end result. The first thing that comes to mind is having the spell bring up a merchant window, although I don't know how complicated that might become with all the moving parts, ie are merchant dialog boxes always attached to an NPC? can you bring one up via script? Can you use an alternate method of calculating value besides disposition/mercantile/haggling?

 

The other thing that comes to mind, which I've seen used in other scripts, is bringing up a container dialog when the spell is cast. The player could add items from their inventory, and when the dialog is closed, do some calculation to figure out how much gold they receive, and the items inside are removed so the container is empty for the next time they use the spell.

 

Which of these methods sounds easiest to implement? Does anyone know which functions I should investigate? Currently using latest stable OBSE and Oblivion 1.2 patch.

[Hickory]

I can see your point, but since you are asking, in effect, for a cheat, why not just use the Bag Of Holding?

 

My preference is Tamriel Travellers, which adds travelling merchants all around Tamriel -- on roads, in inns, towns etc. One of the best benefits of this is they work 24hrs, so you come across them at 3 o'clock in the morning, when all else is quiet.

[greatgiginthesky]

Well I really don't intend to use it as a cheat. Even the player had 100 in the skills I'll use to calculate (alteration probably, maybe alchemy) - they'd still only get about 25% of the base value. Someone like me who's a novice in that skill might get 5%. I take your meaning though, I guess it does sit right on the line between cheating and legitimate.

 

edit:

Having read a few semi-informative wiki posts, I have a better understanding of how I may have to do this. Could any readers who know correct me if I'm wrong?

 

create a new container item in construction set with a unique name

create a new cell in construction set and place that container inside so there is at least one instance of it in-game.

create a spell in construction set which runs a script

use that script to access the container when the spell is cast, like:

myContainer.MoveTo Player 0 0 -50

myContainer.Activate Player

-- right in here I get lost...?

somehow affect the contents of the container when it is closed, removing all items and giving some gold to the player