What would you like to see in Fallout 4? The FO3 and New Vegas system re-used? Something else?

If the old system is to be re-used, there needs to be more filter avaliable in the pip-boy, when selling/buying and when opening a container. For example "Aid: Food-Books-Drugs", "Weapons: Energy-Guns-Melee" "Apparel: Headwear-Light-Medium-Heavy-Power". Also, would a search function be something you'd like to see? It is of no doubt that a search function would be useful, but something about it feels wrong. As if it's immersion or theme-breaking for some reason.

The only way I would feel completely content with the old system, is if the maximum capacity for containers and carry weight were drastically reduced but I doubt that will happen.

Do any of you have any better ideas?

I'd imagine the perfect inventory management system would work remarkably well, all things considered.

The inventory system I would like to see would be tied to encumbrance and have a container system.

1. Encumbrance gets calculated by an equation that takes Strength, Endurance, and the load being carried into consideration.

+ A character with high Strength but low Endurance will be able to pick up and carry heavy loads, but, for only short times with rapid Endurance decay.

+ A character with High Endurance will be able to carry loads much longer.

+ Endurance decay slows the character down gradually over time, and auto-replenishes at higher rate with higher Endurance.

+ Endurance decay would require a character to take a break from hiking across the wasteland. Sleep or Wait functions would replenish Endurance.

+ Endurance decay would effect Strength. If you're too tired and worn out, your Strength losses a point, or two, requiring food and rest.

2. Container system would involve a distinction between items worn and carried proper, and items packed away.

+ Standard inventory category tabs would still apply with directory trees to organize item types by subtypes; weapons ->melee, or weapons->energy, armor->light, etc.

+ Items carried and/or worn by the character could have toggles

+ All items not worn, proper carried by character are in backpack, duffle, or some other container that is technically separate, but, seamlessly part of the total inventory list.

Why?

The old pick-up-a-spoon-suddenly-encumbered system is silly.

With encumbrance calculated as described, stacked with a container system, a character could hot-key drop their backpack for combat to move faster, or hide their backpack away before doing something stealthy (the system could tie into stealth and agility checks), and later, come pick up the bag, and load anything found into the bag.

This way a character can drop a huge bunch of non-essential inventory, even cache it away somewhere, in a portable container without worry about finding a container somewhere, and without littering the wasteland with junk because you had to drop some things just to carry some other new thing.

Containers could be map-marker'd as location caches so, a character could fast-travel back to the location to pick up the errant loot.

That's my thoughts on the subject.

There's a mod for New Vegas that adds an equippable backpack that weighs a fixed amount and can hold a fixed amount of weight (I think it weighs 30 and can hold 100). You can drop it on the ground, open it like any container, and it automatically equips when you pick it up. While equipped, your move speed and aim steadiness are reduced, plus you can't access its contents. The mod itself has a few issues (weight limit for the pack's inventory doesn't work being the major one), but the concept is spot-on. It's streamlined to use, adds a ton of functionality to inventory management (drop excess weight for combat, keep important and sellable stuff separate, etc.), and is a lot more believable than the vanilla inventory system. I'd love to see a more refined version of that in all of Bethesda's games.

However, we all know very well what we're getting: 300 units of carry weight, +10 for every point in Strength, and a handful of perks that add +50.

I did something similar for Oblivion..... Took a backpack, gave it a set weight, and then just added a percentage of the weight contained within. Didn't affect anything else though.

That sounds great. Won't happen, why??? Those are RPG elements.

I liked Fallout 3's system just fine. All it needed was the ability to sort items in weight, value, weight/value ratio, type of item, and maybe other variables like DPS and armour values.

It now has a sort button (great news), but I'm interested to see how that works. I think it'll just be something basic like what the Witcher 3 did though.

I think the FO3/NV was about perfect.

The list got too long...... or, maybe I just pack-ratted too much?

Likely carrying too much. I sometimes carry a bit too much as well but find that it is still one of the best I have played. Main issue I had was with some of the quest related items or quests and quest notes but that was more for New Vegas since that game had a lot more quests.