[DONE] Mod Idea: Equipment Sets

[pango]

(was: Paperdoll Contexts)
Daggerfall contains a lot of immersive mechanics, and it would make sense from a RP perspective to change outfit at times (say, wear totally different things when in dungeon, in the wilderness, in towns, and when visiting the nobility to name the most obvious). Daggerfall some teasers even mentioned that "people react differently depending on how you look", but that was never implemented...
However this is currently cumbersome and error prone, maybe that could be partially automated?

Here's a suggestion:
- You start with just one context, named say "Default"
- The name of the current context is displayed somewhere near the paperdoll, and when you click on it you get a menu with the list of existing contexts, "New context" and "Delete context". Maybe also "Rename context" for good measure.
- If you select a context from this list, your current armor, weapons and trinkets are saved with your current context, unequipped, and all the armor, weapons and trinkets associated with the context you selected are requipped, if you still have them around;
- "New context" will prompt for a name and clone your current context;
- "Delete context" can be used to remove a context you no longer want; You can't delete current context.

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Maybe "contexts" is too technical... What about "outfits"? Anyway, you get the idea
Time to put on my wilderness high boots...

PS. Where are my hats?

[mikeprichard]

I think equipment "set" or something similar might be more appropriate than "context" (which wouldn't really make sense in this... context ). But I love this idea.

[pango]

"Equipment Sets"? Adopted

"Contexts" term has some history in my mind... At first when I imagined that feature I thought about a Load and Save menu; But then if you equipped some item you'd like to wear every time you go to town (say, a ring of friendship), you'd have to Save your current equipment so this is remembered.
So I was wondering how to avoid that, make sure that anything you (un)equip is immediately effective, and the analogy with CPU context switching gave me the solution above.
But yes, it's not the best term for the released feature.

That mod could have other uses than pure RP by the way. I mentioned a ring of friendship earlier, but for my last character I also wanted a shield with spell reflection enchantment, and the only way to put such powerful advantage on the shield was to also put the "aggravate all humanoids" (or whatever is the exact wording) disadvantage. Very useful item, but not something to carry around in town...

It's not without its own problems. Say you want to equip your brand new improved sword all the time and are using 3 sets, you'll have to equip it 3 times...

[Jay_H]

This exists in Diablo 2 and is a very good gameplay mechanic. The game allows two equipment setups, allowing you to switch between, say, your "bow that increases walking speed" and your "axe and shield for when you get surprised."

In Morrowind I had to bind my armor pieces to hotkeys 2-9 so I could throw them on when I left town, and I'd use the inventory window to take them off in town. This looks much better

[pango]

Well, for only a few, fixed, sets, the interface can be simplified:
- 2 sets: add a "SWAP" button below the paperdoll to switch between current and alternate sets;
- 3 or 4 sets: add as many buttons below the paperdoll, named "A", "B", "C" and "D" or whatever, and somehow highlight the current one.
Not as customizable, but maybe that's sufficient...

[Ralzar]

Well, for only a few, fixed, sets, the interface can be simplified:
- 2 sets: add a "SWAP" button below the paperdoll to switch between current and alternate sets;
- 3 or 4 sets: add as many buttons below the paperdoll, named "A", "B", "C" and "D" or whatever, and somehow highlight the current one.
Not as customizable, but maybe that's sufficient...

This honestly sounds like the way to go. Keep it simple to interact with. Daggerfall is all BIG BUTTONS so it might be best to follow that esthetic

[pango]

This honestly sounds like the way to go. Keep it simple to interact with. Daggerfall is all BIG BUTTONS so it might be best to follow that esthetic

That was a requirement with the resolution of the time (320x200, remember?), personally I wouldn't mind if an UI overhaul made a better use of modern resolutions...

But okay for a simplified interface

[Ralzar]

Ui suggestion:

Have a left arrow button in the upper left corner of the character picture. Have a matching right arrow in the right corner.

Use these two buttons to cycle through setups.

If you want to name the setups, have the name over the characters head and let you edit it by simply clicking on the name.
Allthough, if we are talking only a limited number of sets, like two, name would just be clutter.

Edit: Since there is so litte room for an extra menu, maybe have mousing over one of the arrow buttons have a popup of what the next set is. Not sure how you would name them then though.

[pango]

I do like the UI idea (even if I'd prefer to add cruft at the bottom of the paperdoll instead of the top, but that's mostly personal preference).

I see one difficulty with just flipping thru equipments 'til you find the one you want though: you will equip/unequip more items than strictly required, and without extra logic that could wear "on held" magic items prematurely...

[Leeux]

You could delay the equipment set swap until you close the inventory window, to deal with such case. EDIT: Yeah, is not that simple as it looks... as if you do that, the paperdoll won't reflect the actual equipment set selected... perhaps add an extra button "Apply" that changes to "Save" when you manually modify the equipped items?

Also, to name/display sets, simply identify which pieces are different and show the name of the changing items, i.e. weapon: steel dagger, chest: steel cuirass, etc. Just a tooltip shown when hovering the mouse buttons would work, IMO. Just some formatted text lines, like the ones in the extra stats panel.