Auto-grouping of multiple items - please be wary

[Incognito]

A code issue which is best demonstrated by this brief example:

>get boots
You pick up a pair of tattered silk boots.

You are carrying:
a pair of tattered silk boots {1st pair of boots picked up}

>get boots corpse
You get your your pair of leather footpads from the corpse of a dead elf.

You are carrying:
a pair of footpads {2nd pair of boots picked up - becomes 1.boots or the defaults "boots" target}
a pair of tattered silk boots {1st pair of boots picked up - becomes 2.boots}

>get boots 2.corpse
You get your pair of tattered silk boots from the corpse of another dead elf.

You are carrying:
a pair of footpads {2nd pair of boots picked up - stays 1.boots or the default "boots" target}
a couple of pairs of tattered silk boots {1st pair of boots picked up - becomes 3.boots and 3rd pair of boots picked up - becomes 2.boots} [Due to grouping]

Green colored text - just for demonstration purpose - you are not actually checking your inventory every time you pick something up.

>think Hmm, I already have these, I dont need them.

>drop boots [You wanted to drop the pair of boots you picked up last]
You drop a pair of footpads. [What ends up happening is - you actually drop the 2nd pair of boots that you picked up]
Shown to the room as:
A pair of very soft, dark leather boots are lying here.

The living scavenging NPC elf picks up a pair of footpads. [If you're in a zone where scavengers or other PCs are around - there is a chance you could lose the item that you did not mean to drop]



This isn't a big issue - and I am sure Staff (if available online) would consider helping resolve a case of mistargetted item.

But until this issue is addressed/resolved, just putting it up here so everyone is aware of it.

There is a chance you might drop/lose a critical and/or life-saving item - and end up in serious trouble, or, just drop a really valuable item and have it picked up by an NPC in a spot from where you might not be able to recover it from the NPC.

[Lizzie]

I wonder if NPCs can have sort restrictions put on them, so they can *not* try to pick up certain types of things.

Like a +flag no-take [light_source_item]
and +flag no-take [ticket item]
(since everyone knows that these NPCs never go to shops to try and turn in those tickets anyway)

[ibusoe]

I agree that this is broken.  It's caused me a moderate amount of angst in the past few months.  The overall system design isn't at all bad, it just needs a bit more consistency.  Principle of least surprise, right?

The problem is even worse with mounts.  Look, keyword and hitch are inconsistent with respect to individual referents. 

[Eurynomos]

The amount of effort needed to tweak the code is trumped by the typical reasonable understanding a Staffer might have. It's worth wishing up to see if the item can be replaced. Or, in dire need of said item or mount ticket, filing a reimbursement request. Keyword is your friend.

[Armaddict]

The similar issue is the 'I'm carrying 3 packs and moving things between them', and every time you put something into a pack/bag it changes the order of the bags to make that recently used bag the 1st bag.  This has resulted in junked bags for me that actually spilled all my shit all over the floor and the tiny bag that I was wanting to junk not being large enough to hold it all.

Hilariously, this has happened to me as a burglar in someone's apartment.  Which is like...negative theft, when I had to leave things of mine behind.

[ibusoe]

The similar issue is the 'I'm carrying 3 packs and moving things between them', and every time you put something into a pack/bag it changes the order of the bags to make that recently used bag the 1st bag.  This has resulted in junked bags for me that actually spilled all my shit all over the floor and the tiny bag that I was wanting to junk not being large enough to hold it all.

Hilariously, this has happened to me as a burglar in someone's apartment.  Which is like...negative theft, when I had to leave things of mine behind.

ROTFL, funniest thing I've read in a couple of days.