Bag/pouch inception, Holster/Sling, Ammo+Mag & inventory management

[CallmeMerry 3]

While these are not all entirely new ideas, but more of a compilation of some of the more common complaints that I think can all be boiled down to one subject: inventory management. The solution (or one possible solution) is the idea of bags within bags. By playing a little bit of inventory inception, several issues can be addressed.

First is additional bag space as it is the most simple. At times, players need to carry a ton of supplies (as we should all be aware of). Adding pouches can relieve some of this stress. There can be one size, or several sizes that range from 2-5 slots. Each pouch will use one slot, giving a play 1-4 additional slots, but have to be opened in the inventory like your backpack. By making them less common than bags will allow players who are not lucky enough to find a coyote pack or alice pack the ability to carry enough supplies to survive, but not enough room to be completely comfortable.

Secondly, the idea of having a holster and/or a sling into the tool bag section. Holsters work with pistols, slings with rifles/shotguns. They grant the ability to carry a secondary pistol and rifle at the cost of 1 gear slot each (maybe two gear slots for a sling). The player would still have to be responsible for carrying ammo, however. There is also a benefit with the current setup: the hatchet. At times, it can be tedious trying to switch to a melee weapon, but by having an available sling, by right-clicking on your rifle, clicking "sling weapon", your weapon would be unequipped, quickly allowing you to remove the hatchet from your tool bag. If the crowbar is added to the tool bag, then it will work as well for a relatively quick weapon switch. At the current moment, I carry a G17 and an M1911 and there have been more than one occasion where I have considered dropping my M1911 just to get the 4 inventory slots, but I would have been more than happy keeping it if it used up 1 slot.

The final piece is the idea of ammo and magazines being separate entities. The easiest way to explain would be using an example; the M1911 and the Revolver (.45 ACP). These two ammo types share the same model in game (the ammo box) and the magazines can be converted into the other. If this is switched so that players have an ammo pouch (using the same principal of adding it to the tool bag or using one inventory slot allowing the player to carry a set amount of ammo), instead of giving one mag, the box will give 25 rounds into the ammo pouch. Then the player will have to find a magazine and reload it from the ammo pouch. This would allow 1 ammo box to be equivalent to 4 revolver mags of ammo and taking up less inventory space. Having magazines will also change the feel of the game (I believe for the better). I currently have an AKM with 11 mags (330 rounds) which has made general play much less stressful than before as I can easily get through some zombie spawns that should challenge me. If I were to only have 2 full mags (60 rounds), even if the other 270 rounds were in my ammo pouch, a few bad pulls could wreck me as I may not have time to reload a magazine from the pouch. This would help retain the stressful feeling later in the game. Also, if a player were to find some generic 9mm ammo, it would work in any 9mm weapon, as long as the player has a magazine needed for the gun (and assuming each gun spawns with a magazine in it so they always have at least 1). For example, an M9 SD mag works in the G17, M9, and M9 SD. However an M9 mag does not work in the M9 SD and the G17 mags do not work in either M9 or M9 SD. All three weapons would only need to find the one ammo type, but would have to rely on the magazines they have.

I think these changes would certainly help smooth out some of the issues some players have and all rely on the same idea of having inventory pouches in bags for various items. What do you guys think? Anything you would change or add/remove?

P.S. Keep up the great stuff Rocket.

Edited August 6, 2012 by CallmeMerry

[Grodenn 53]

Interesting idea about the ammo could be a nice change but I really don't think we need more backpack slots if anything we should have less, or add a weight system to items that decide how much you can carry.

[Golgo82 28]

The problem with the current system is the slot-System itself. In most instances it just doesnt make sense. The MP5SD takes the same amount of slots(space) in a backpack as an AS50/M107/MK48/M240/M249 which doesnt make sense...at all. Like apples and pumpkins.

The ACE² Mod has a volume system as far as I know, which would be the best fit for DayZ in my opinion. Every Player has Volume of x for Primary Inventory and Backpacks have their own amount of ccm of storage space. Then you could add on top of that and make Micromanagement a bigger factor.

Currently we have more toolslots than tools, that should change as well.

Make tools of different sizes use up different amounts of toolspace, or add items like toolbelts that have varying amounts of Storage space for tools and such.

Make it so you have to either have luck finding a big enough toolbelt to take(almost) everything or let people decide which tools they might need most.

This would also fit in nicely with the Ammo-Pouch/Bag Idea, which could be a new toolbelt item with a fixed amount of volume you can put into, restricted to ammunition of course.

This would also make it more so that heavy ammunition like .50 BMG(12.7x99mm Nato) would have a bigger volume and therefore restrict how much of that stuff you could carry around at a time.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Golgo82

[CallmeMerry 3]

The main goal of this concept is that it should be a relatively easy and quick idea to implement, assuming Rocket agrees with anything here. I agree with either/both a weight and volumetric system, but both of those require the addition of new stats on every item and changing the slot system would require a complete redesign of the inventory. With a potential standalone coming, not everything will be in the mod as people will not buy the standalone if we can play via ARMA and have the same experience.

Interesting idea about the ammo could be a nice change but I really don't think we need more backpack slots if anything we should have less, or add a weight system to items that decide how much you can carry.

I think there are usually more than enough inventory slots later in the game but the beginning feels a bit inconsistent. By this I mean, I have had experiences finding a hatchet and a rifle with no ammo (or very little). With the starter 8 slot coyote pack, the rifle immediately fills that if the player wants to hold onto it, but still wants to use the hatchet. Being able to use the hatchet in melee without equipping it would be another solution, but that would require introducing a dedicated melee button. I have just seen several complaints about struggling to switch between the hatchet and a rifle, and the sling specifically is a method to (help) fix both problems (like I described in the original post). In the late game, the sling will allow for the option to carry a second rifle which may be more common (like my friend who uses a hatchet in an attempt to preserve AS50 mags). That way a player can use a 1866 or something for general play and pull out the heavy hitter when expecting a firefight.

As for the pouches, they aren't really a major concern, but just an easy way to demonstrate this concept (like the ammo pouch).

Edited August 6, 2012 by CallmeMerry

[necroslord 73]

This is way too much. Huge inventories are a lame thing. I have never had storage issues wth the main inventory plus initial backpack. What you need to survive are 2-3 sodas, 1-2 cans of food, 1-2 painkillers, 2-3 bandages, some ammo, 1-2 morphine shots and you are good to go until you find a place to resupply. You just need to calm down and not hoard items for a lifetime from the start. Also the sling idea for carrying multiple weapons just like that is a horrible idea. What I actually would appreciate is to have a special slot for the flashlight and a special slot for the axe so I don't have to throw my handgun or rifle to use them. Rifle already has a sling and handgun has a holster so this would be reasonable.

[wtfosaurus 30]

Great ideas! Something like the sling idea where you could carry a second primary weapon as you carry your primary weapon now when you are using your handgun. With the pouches maybe have a limit of 2 or something and only have them compatible with specific bags.

not too sure how easily this would be able to be implemented into the mod currently though.

Edited August 6, 2012 by wtfosaurus

[L0G!N (DayZ) 149]

My personal preference in regards to the inventory system is the following:

- Do away with primairy/secondary slots and relate the amount of inventory slots to clothing pockets. Then start us off in truely civilian clothing (sneakers, jeans, shirt, jacket) and relate the amount of 'starter' slots to this outfit. Then obviously the player could find all sorts of clothing through-out the world, that amoungst other stats, have inventory slots related to them.

- Start us off without a bagpack, and basically implement this thread: http://dayzmod.com/f...nventory-space/

- Use the toolbelt for the additional bags as suggested in the OP, and more elaborately in this thread: http://dayzmod.com/f...sions-teamwork/

- Then i must say that i prefer slots to volume, this mostly has to do with convenience, as you don't have to check the volume of every item, you just need to know which items take up more slots. But i do think weight should be added, and influence the character's speed, basically this thread: http://dayzmod.com/f...eight-on-items/

- Then i also agree on the 'sling' and the 'holster', though obviously you wouldn't start out with a holster, you just use your belt to stach a pistol behind it. The holster is included in the toolbelt bags suggestion though ;)

Put all of this together in one interface and you end up with something looking like, the interface that is displayed in the thread in my signature... (humbugs i can't insert a picture that is an attachment to some other thread, and the space is so damned limited, so if you want to know how it can look and you disabled signature (which i don't blame you for), check this thread: http://dayzmod.com/f...tions-for-dayz/ )

Edited August 7, 2012 by L0GIN

[CoRuPtioN 0]

I would like to see a overloaded option, where you cant run but can move eg. Elder scrolls

[RaxUK 61]

I like this idea. You should be able to pick up pouches ranging from assault to coyote holding from 2-5 items. The drawback of these is that they should take up a slot in your active inventory.

[MGreenwald 49]

I'd rather inv. be based on weight. So if i want to i can carry multiple pistols and one rifle, be even better if i could equip both pistols and draw one based on a button i push. So i can swich quickly between a silenced 9mm and a 1911.

[deemoowoor (DayZ) 1]

Main weapon slot could be used for carrying an extra bag or another bulky item (like engine parts or main rotor assembly). Of course, meaning you won't be carrying a weapon at the same time.

And what if existing slots were 'overloaded' slots? I.e. if you fill those, you're automatically overloaded.

When overloaded, you can run, but, say, you then have a 1% chance of tripping and falling (could be scripted with forcing user to go prone for a second), checked every second or so, same as with low-blood conscience loss?