Two items in the same slot

[temnix]

I was making a circlet, one that I wanted to apply its effects when put on and disappear. It was an item for the head slot. I remembered making something like that before - an item that replaced itself as soon as it was on the paperdoll, and the crash that resulted. I might have gotten around that by using the replacement effect with the timing Delayed/Permanent, duration 0, instead of Instant/Permanent. Since the game is paused on the inventory screen, the replacement only occurs when exiting, and then there is no problem. I think that's how it went back then. This time, though, I couldn't remove my circlet no matter which opcode I used - Remove Item or Remove Inventory Item, with any timing. (And still can't. If anyone can tell me how to do that, I'll appreciate it.) So I thought I might use Create item in slot instead, to put some dud, disappear-in-a-moment item in place of the circlet. To test, I made it so the circle would create in the head slot a helmet, one from the ready list. It was all the same to me which helmet to use, I clicked and random and picked the Helmet of Charm Protection. How surprised I was to see that the circlet still stayed in the slot, but the helmet appeared on the paperdoll! I could take off the circlet, the helmet would go away too, put it back on - the helmet would return also.

It looks like this:

Notice the icon on the portrait on the right - the helmet's charm protection is working. And my circlet's properties are also playing, out in the windowless world. Right-clicking on the item in the head slot shows the circlet's information, so it's not just an icon somehow superimposed. The timing for Create item is D/P 0, but I bet it would work with other timing modes. I'm happy to have found this! I don't know if it's possible to make it so that the second item "replaces" itself with a third item, and so on, it would then be possible to unfold a whole armory from one, say, glove, but even if that can't work or something crashes, two items, at least, can be combined.

[Jarno Mikkola]

51 minutes ago, temnix said:

Remove Item or Remove Inventory Item, with any timing. (And still can't. If anyone can tell me how to do that, I'll appreciate it.)

Savegame editor like EEKeeper should be able to do this. Or the regular Near Infinity.

[kjeron]

There are a few problems with doing this.

If you pick up another item in the inventory without first removing the helmet -> crash.

If you load the game with the first helmet already equipped -> crash.

The effects of the created item continue to pile up every time you equip the first (though simple to fix, append op321 to the top of the created item's effect list, just as you would a spell).  Otherwise they remain, stacked, until you save&reload.

The item being equipped is protected from removal/drain/drop opcodes while it's effect stack processes.  How or why I do not know, but that is why you are unable to remove it upon equipping it.  The item created with op143 has no such protection, and you can actually drop the created helmet with an op264 on equip.

[subtledoctor]

5 hours ago, temnix said:

This time, though, I couldn't remove my circlet no matter which opcode I used - Remove Item or Remove Inventory Item, with any timing. (And still can't. If anyone can tell me how to do that, I'll appreciate it.)

Might want to try externalizing the item removal to a SPL. Put an equipping effect on the crown with opcode 146, timing mode 1 or 2. (I forget which; might not matter.) Have it cast a spell on self, Remove Item, with timing mode 1 or 9.

[temnix]

I looked into this mechanic some more, and wound a way around a few of the problems. The crashing with picking up items has to do with the replacement - it needs to be done through an SPL, and the issue with effects disappearing on reload comes from their being Instant/While equipped. If you make the secondary them with permanent effects, they stay, but there is no paperdoll representation. The secondary item doesn't close the slot to other items. If you use an SPL to remove the primary item and the secondary item is a copy of it in everything except permanent timing, then the outcome is as if the character has swallowed the helmet, plate suit, gauntlet, shield, sword and absorbed their properties. This suggested to me an idea for a kit. Call it the Self-Made or maybe the Android - or Modulor! With some kit-only filters down on the effects stack to make these exclusive, Weidu can be used to generate a copy of every piece of equipment with permanent modes and a spell for removing the primary item. Characters with this kit could go around snacking on unique items, like Helm of the Noble +1. It gives a Charisma and an Armor Class bonus, and there is only one such in the games. The modulor could eat it up and take both in. I have this arrangement already working - and no crashes. It doesn't seem possible to absorb activated abilities, though.