GameBanshee Forums

In MW, anything you dropped on the ground was going to be there forever, unless you deleted it with a console command. In Oblivion, if you drop something on the ground and a wandering NPC has an interest in an item, it's gone. Apparently, this is true of using chests in cities, too.

But short of buying a house, is there any place to drop your goodies in Oblivion? What about chests in caves? Anybody?

I don't have the game (yet) but I'd say anywhere where npcs dont go...

On top of roofs. Underwater. Can you lock chests/doors? In the countryside.

In Morrowind, I always used to hide stuff in the sewer that you could flood...

No lock-able chests, unfortunately. I'm already operating under the assumption that the further away from NPCs you put goodies, the better. But I'm still not sure how secure that truly is.

In MW, you didn't have to hide stuff, but I can see where you might want to do it for roleplaying reasons.

I'm inclined to doubt the safety of even cave chests, now. I cleaned out a cave system NE of Chorrol, complete with one or two annoying imps per room (this PC's now level 3). After having looted everything, I left behind my weapons and armor in order to take back some expensive and heavy goods for sale. Had to travel outside, then fast travel back--I really miss Mark/Recall.

When I returned later, the room with the chest containing my supplies was now...well, you guessed it: guarded by an imp. Fortunately, I still had my bow with me. I shot him 3 times, then pummeled him to death with my fist, while drinking health potions. My stuff was still there, but I'm not convinced it would necessarily have remained so, considering how quickly the cave started repopulating.

Un-owned containers

So far (touch wood) it seems that containers that are not owned, such as the barrels that lay about in the city, are 'safe'.

The manual notes that if you put something in a container that it owned by someone else it might not be there when you get back. Taking that to heart, I put my Arena armour in a barrel opposite Aragmor's house in Talos Plaza and its still there several days later - I've been back to check a few times.

[QUOTE=Jewel]So far (touch wood) it seems that containers that are not owned, such as the barrels that lay about in the city, are 'safe'.

The manual notes that if you put something in a container that it owned by someone else it might not be there when you get back. Taking that to heart, I put my Arena armour in a barrel opposite Aragmor's house in Talos Plaza and its still there several days later - I've been back to check a few times.[/QUOTE]

Jewel, please keep us updated and let us know if the status changes on this. I might experiment along similar lines--in fact, an experiment is easy to do: put something NPC-attractive in a barrel, walk into another area entirely, then roll forward a week, and check out the barrel, again.

Guilds?

Has anyone tried leaving items in containers within a guild you belong to? I haven't had an opportunity/need to try this yet but plan on it when I'm able to get a little more playing time in.

See above. Any container that is in town and owned would seem to offer the possibilty of NPCs getting into it.

I suspect the best bet is going to be house mods, copying PC script chests, with the respawn flag missing.

Not surprisingly, one of the first mods out there for Oblivion is Guild Storage, which just showed up. It creates a chest in each guild that you can access when you join, and never respawns--meaning it never changes its contents, save when you change it. Unfortunately, the modder also thought it wise to add little perks like hammers and simple potions, which still count as cheats in my book. I'm disregarding them, you may do as you wish. But the mod sounds good.

|| SPOILER WARNING!! Details about housing in a couple of cities. ||

After extensive searching I finally found a cheap house... in Bravil you can get a "shack by the river" for $4,000. My gold usually hovers around there... so I'm going ot let it build up for a bit and then grab a house so I can store my crap in it.

I think this is what Bethesda actually intended... start out with a "shanty" house to keep some low level crap in (mainly I want to dump all my damn alchemy stuff)... then as you gain more money you can move up in the world (there is a mansion in Anvil for $5,000... but it looks kinda crappy... then other houses around for $10,000 and $15,000 that I've found so far).

If someone knows of a cheaper house than $4,000 I'd like to hear about it!

Friedmud

I think this is what Bethesda actually intended... start out with a "shanty" house to keep some low level crap in (mainly I want to dump all my damn alchemy stuff)... then as you gain more money you can move up in the world (there is a mansion in Anvil for $5,000... but it looks kinda crappy... then other houses around for $10,000 and $15,000 that I've found so far).

It's possible, but uncertain at this point that Bethsoft is trying to use this "brute force" approach to get us interested in their in-game real estate. I have heard rumors that some cave chests (in the main plot) are not marked to respawn, which means they would be safe for items--but I haven't opened up the editor yet, to check it out.

On other matters: I have removed a couple of posts, one that took this thread off into a discussion about houses, and another with inaccurate information. Please, guys, lets keep on target. Thanks.

I am actually wondering about the items on the ground vs. those left in chests etc. This is what happened to me - put some items in a barrel and returned two days later, gone. But I left some things on the grass outside of a house (though not in plain view), and a week later it was all there (I went back to check after I came across this thread, remebering the barrel). Also when I did a quest ... the ring of burden ... I dropped everything before going in and quite a few hours later, while I did my thing, everything was there, despite of the NPC who was there from the beginning.

So is the ground safer for some odd reason or perhaps is it how good you hide it?

in the beginning i had a lot of hot stuff and no acces to a fence
to get rid of them i just left everything on the ground near the
gate at the tradersdistrict ( emp city)the gate where u are teleported to
after several weeks , all was still laying where i left it to put it back into
my inventory

I have stored stuff in crates in the Market District, but never for long. So far it has not vanished. I have not yet collected much I wanted to hang onto anyway. If something stays in my inventory unused during a couple of Quests, I sell it.

That shack sounds good!

There are at least half a dozen house mods now that have NO SPAWN flags set, so those offer the same kind of security as official homes. Plus, I'm very fond of the Guild Ownership mod, that puts a security chest for your personal use in the front of each guild hall. It never respawns, either.

I always drop items in the middle of the city, I sometimes see NPC walk over them. But they never ever go away, the items stay there forever until I come and pick them up again.

Vague Spoilers

@ Tank, it really depends on the item, if you drop a quill, not many people need a quill, so they wont pick it up, however if you drop a loaf of bread and they are hungry, they will take it, or if they like shiny objects and you drop an enchanted weapon, bye bye birdy.

Also an update on that shack in Bravil, I can do you one better for only one thousand dollars extra. Thats right folks just across the province in a merry little coastal town named Anvil, there is a fully furnished Mansion for sale for only 5,000 gp. Talk to V. Benirus in the Count's Arms for details. I suggest stocking up on pots, scrolls, spells, and enchanted weapons before settling down for a nice cozy nap in the upstairs master bedroom.

[QUOTE=Babytank]I always drop items in the middle of the city, I sometimes see NPC walk over them. But they never ever go away, the items stay there forever until I come and pick them up again.[/QUOTE]

They disappear when the cell refreshes. Just wait

[QUOTE=Mr.Waesel]They disappear when the cell refreshes. Just wait [/QUOTE]

Babytank, he's right. I have personally seen the boxes refill in the market area, and when that happens, everything in the public areas is reset.

I've left armor an weapons lying on the group for up to 3 days and they never moved. I guess this cell never refreshed or something, or is there a curtain amount of time before it refreshes? Well anyway I'm just saying my armor and weapons didn't go away after 3 days.