Containers & Stacks

[BusterBluth]

If I have a stack of 10 items (e.g., Acid (flask), which are 1 lb each), when I click the bag icon, and select Backpack, only 1 out of the 10 items in the stack are added to the backpack's weight and item count. Is this a legitimate bug or am I doing something wrong?

Furthermore, I don't think container capacity is being considered. I could be wrong about this; I thought that backpacks had capacity of 40 lbs, but I can add over 40 lbs of stuff to mine. Is capacity considered at all by Herolab or will the software left me assign an infinite amount of stuff to a single container?

[Mathias]

I'll figure out what's going on with #1 - thanks for catching that.

The Pathfinder files aren't currently set up to impose container limits.

[BusterBluth]

Can you help me understand why container limits aren't being imposed? Given that the interface handles assigning items to containers so well already, it can't be complex to reduce remaining capacity by the weight of a newly assigned item. Otherwise, I really don't see the point in being able to put, for example, rope in a backpack if the software can't tell you that you're over your limit.

This is a feature that would enormously exapnd the usefulness of your software.

[Mathias]

The reason is simply the time required to write scripts to test container limits, versus the fact that no-one else has asked for it before. It's on my to-do list, but I'm afraid that the Bestiary project, the preview classes, and my other project (we're not ready to announce details on that, yet), will have to come first.

[rob]

Originally Posted by BusterBluth

Can you help me understand why container limits aren't being imposed? Given that the interface handles assigning items to containers so well already, it can't be complex to reduce remaining capacity by the weight of a newly assigned item.

A very large percentage of player don't bother with tracking encumbrance at all. Of those that do, the majority only worry about total encumbrance on the character, without worrying about how much is in one bag versus another bag. So the number of players for whom container limits is valuable is quite small compared to the number of players for whom the preview classes and Bestiary will be valuable. We only have a limited amount of time, so we're trying to do the things first that will benefit the most players. We're not claiming weight limit enforcement is of no value here - only that it's of value to fewer users and therefore lower on our priority list. But it's definitely on the todo list.

Originally Posted by BusterBluth

Otherwise, I really don't see the point in being able to put, for example, rope in a backpack if the software can't tell you that you're over your limit.

That's easy. For all those players out there who track total encumbrance but not individual encumbrance per container, this is quite useful. It means that a backpack with lots of heavy stuff can be instantly dropped on the ground or moved to a horse. If a character with a heavy load faces combat, the character can drop the back and enter combat without all the extra encumbrance. At the end of the combat, the backpack is picked back up and the character moves on, with the new encumbrance levels factored in.

[BusterBluth]

No problem ... I understand the issue w/ available bandwidth. As long as you're adding this feature to "the list", in addition to alerting when a container is over its limit, can Herolab also relay to the user how much capacity remains?

In the meantime, we can always eyeball the weight totals in a container. This is a feature I've always wanted, and other software has never delivered. I remember about 15 years ago, the old AD&D game had character generation software which tracked equipment and it did a little less than Herolab: you could assign items to a container (very cool!), but you couldn't tell if that container was full or how much capacity was left (not so cool). And, it was so frustrating, cause I was thinking ... "If only it's just do the next little step!!!"

So, it's great that you're planning to add this feature, and in the meantime, we can simply eye the weight totals.

[BusterBluth]

Just curious, has the first bug I mentioned been fixed yet on the release from this week? It looks like it's still just adding 1 item out of a stack to a container.