Smart stacks: inventory management solution

[Devilofether]

Like minecraft, the inventory system is stack-based, which makes it very easy to sort and store items; but becomes cumbersome once there are many variants of items, since they each are counted separately in terms of inventory storage. there aren't a ton of items yet compared to minecraft, but it can quickly escalate exponentially, and in some cases, it already has. this system is a part of an mmo minecraft-like called boundless which I played for a short time which grouped equivalent items into a single "smart stack" which really helped inventory management (its also similar to the bundles about to be released in minecraft. I would like to see this feature as a mod if it does not fit with the developer's vision.

Smart stacks are basically mini inventories that will only accept items of the right type, and han only hold items up to the stack size, so for example, can hold 16 oak logs, 16 birch logs, or 8 of each in a single stack (or any other combination). All logs are interchangeable in terms of functionality, so its a perfect candidate for smart stacks. Alternatively, firewood and peat have different levels of effectiveness, and are not great candidates. There are some items I would personally consider to be good candidates because their differences are minor enough, such as stones; where some of them can be knapped, or even turned into lime, but unless you are farming them specifically for those purposes, its just more materials for cobblestone. I would propose the different qualities of ore you can extract should also be a smart stack, since ultimately its the same material; and inventory space is valuable.

Here is a list of some of the smart stacks I would propose (non-exhaustive)

Logs- all log variants including aged; Stones- all variants possibly including rock salt, and obsidian; all quarried and polished stone; all shells; all flowers; all cobblestone, wood planks, and bricks- seperate stacks for slabs and stairs; rich and poor soil- possibly including muddy gravel, compost and terra preta; all gravel; all sand; etc...

This feature would make aesthetic content much easier to justify since it won't bloat the inventory whenever a new material is used. certain mods (like the more variants mod, or the neolithic mod) can add as many items as they like (within reason) without requiring more inventory spaces than in vanilla.

Thank you for reading through my post, and I look forward to your feedback.

[Allen]

This would be really nice, especially when you're hunting for seashells because you don't have an easy source of lime near your base.

Alternatively, I think something similar to skyrim's weight system would be cool too. Not something exactly like it, but something like giving items a value like say, 'bulk' and having your inventory limited not by slots, but by the total 'bulk' you can carry.

Either way, it'd be really nice to have a way to not get your inventory cluttered by a bunch of tiny items, especially when a good number of them are 'this thing, but minorly different'.