Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) Help/Tips/Tricks Setting up "home base"

Hello folks,

The "Early starting tips" article mentions setting up a "home base" near a bed, shopkeep etc. It also mentions "setting up a few chests". How is this done? I've managed to get a chest in my inventory, but I can't seem to be able to put anything in the chest. When I drag an item on the chest, I get the 'cross' icon, and nothing happens.

What am I doing wrong?
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />
Regards
Mort

Welcome to this forum! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

1. What you are doing wrong is that you must carry the chest to your resting place, and take it out of your inventory to leave it there. Then you can open and fill the chest, as any other chest in the game.

2. I recommend you set up your resting place with two stacks of hay next to a teleporter - it is rather irrelevant which one, except you should clean the area from monsters <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Also, you need to drag items into the chest's window, not onto the chest's icon.

click on it to open, hmmm, death...

Thanks for the quick reply!

/Mort <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hmmm....very interesting never thought of carrying around a couple stacks of hay and a chest. one question when you put items in the chest and lug it around with you do the items in the chest add to yer inventory weight?

Actually I don't know Milord, the idea hadn't occurred to me.
Carrying it around loaded? If it works, it would indeed be a nice "bug"!

What I was trying to say is, that you pick up a chest from somwhere, and carry it to the resting place, and deposit it there!

Only if the chest is open. It's too much of a risk. If you accidently close it and you're over-encumbered, it will vanish! I find it's better to keep the chest at your base and just dump any goods you have trouble selling in it.

There is a bug with putting items in a container in your inventory where the weight is not updated, but the next change in your inventory (moving something, dropping a teleporter stone, etc) will trigger an update. As HandEFood said, this can potentially destroy items;

weight bug and disappearing chests

Hiya. I'm playing DD for the 5th time now and it is still great fun. This time as an Archer, which is a bit tough at times. Here is what I do for setting up a home base:

1st one outside George's House at the beginning of the game.

2nd one outside the first Inn with a bed of straw, one Pyramid, and 2 chests (one for stuff I want to keep; one for stuff to sell).

3rd one at the Marketplace with a bed of straw, one Pyramid, and 3-4 chests. I get that base set up as early in the game as possible because the vendors there will have enough cash to buy all of your items.

Also I carry straw, for beds, to the portals in the forest, and to the sewers. It just makes everything a bit easier.

You can also carry all locked chests to your home base for opening when your Lockpicking skill is high enough to open them.

If you use your Pyramids properly the Marketplace should be your permanent Home Base until you move to the Wastelands.

I also put one barrel outside of the Barracks before entering there, and put 2 chests near the gate to the castle.

Very sophisticated logistic concept, Grim <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

u know i never thought of a base camp!!!!!
was it designed or an accedent?

It was designed in the way that you could buy Malcolm's house in Verdistis. As for all of us setting up camp where ever we pleased, I don't think it was intentional, but they haven't tried to take it away from us.

in the village that captain mitox was stationed, on the far left of the camp (before possesed soldiers) thre is an abandoned house, u have to pick a lock 2 get in. there is another locked door as u walk in (that u cant lock pick) next 2 it is a broken table (not directally next 2 it!) move the package closest to the table there is a key to open the door then u take a chest in there and leave th teleporter pyramid there (when u have the other one) and carry the other one with u (to trasport back whenever)

good idea eh!?

i only use three home bases in the game. at first i use the basement that you start in. and then when i get to Verdistis, i move to Malcom's house. then once in the wastelands, i use the house right next to Zandalor <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mage.gif" alt="" /> and Arhu <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/kitty.gif" alt="" />. i kind of like to have a home base where i can drop all of the stuff that i don't need right at the moment.

Like some others, here, I used the basement, first. Then I moved to the office of the merchant killed by the vamp. Stayed there for the rest of the game, until the desert. I remember taking one of the unused (read: unfinished) houses for mine.

There is a bed in the house to the north of the cursed abbey that you can put in your inventory. It doesn't weight anything. I carry that around and drop it whenever I need to use it. I also set up a home base right next to the teleporter in the market area and leave a teleporter stone there. I have never put my things in a chest though. I just scatter stuff on the ground. Nothing has ever disappeared on me.

Actually, when you use the bed, you don't even need to drop it - you can sleep by simply clicking on it in your inventory

when i am setting up a homebase i always take:

1. a container barrel.chest etc

2. a lot of hay(yeah hay!)

3.a teleporter pyramid by the bed

4. a lot of food nearby(no alcohol!!)

5. healing potions

place up a homebase everywhere you can!


good luck

I never thought you could move chests in your inventory...

There are unopened chests all over the place.
Oh well, I'm in the wastelands now, so...

yeah u can pickup some chests and barrels but it takes up alot of weight so dont carry other stuff! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

ps. and if you wish you can also carry rocks'n'boulders!

i remember finding a barrel of poison and thinking i could carry it for easy making of poison potions... took it out of my inventory, put it on the floor and poof, big poison cloud round me. not nice <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Which is why you put it on the ground near someone else. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

you can also set up a "basecamp" around any, or all teleporters.....
don't worry nobody will touch yer stuff! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

That is exactly what i used to do, lay it out nice and neat and leave it there until i was strong enough or powerful enough to use it.Laid out like a Picnic it was. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

I had a massive weapon stash in the armorers house at the marketplace.
Since I was a mage I couldn't handle most weapons, and all really expensive weapons and armors were dropped there. Then I ended up in the wastelands, leaving 100k of weapons behond...I really reload and sell that stuff before heading out...

really ..."should"... reload <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" />

I use the cursed abby as home base. Never new you could carry chests. all my stuff just laid out. Had to move to the chappel. got too much stuff at one time. chests will really help. thanks.

I keep my base in Joram’s basement.

My bed room and the side room usually ends up looking like a pirates den with all of the chests that I take with me.
Mainly due to me not having enough Lock Pick Skill to open them, so I save them for later. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

So, since I am still playing this in 2020...

I think leaving so many houses to choose from, the makers of the game did have in mind for us to use them. If you have a faible for decorating and roleplaying, it is possible to create a really sophisticated house. Rather like animal crossing. :) My favorite locations were:

1: Abandoned House (Aleroth, north) - It has a table to set, a bed, and a built-in storage box. Some prefer the one further to the right, because it has a cellar.
2: Shop (Aleroth, south) - It has a bookshelf, and, being a shop, a complete storage room. Not as much dust as the abandoned houses. I also set up a corner for kitty.
3: Jeremias Hut at the River (by the Cursed Abbey) - Very peaceful location with a haystack and cellar as hiding places. You find the only movable bed of the game here.
4: Bar (by the Dwarven Inn, lockpick it and chase the ghost out) - Everyone wants to own a bar, and there's free ale. I added the bed from Jeremias hut to the next room.
5: House of Timmy's Family (by the Archer Guild) - Finally real furniture and framed pictures, a kitchen and a tub of water outside.
6: House you can buy (Verdistis) - So far we have only been squatting; this is our very first properly owned house! (Don't leave anything there before buying, or stuff might disappear.)
7. Backpack (Sack of Wheat with Hay Bed inside) - I also like having a "backpack" with me for camping outside. Just put two bunches of hay inside a sack of wheat to create a hay bed in it (instruction: unravel one stack and then put the second bundle on it). To your own content, add a pillow and blanket (both with no weight), some food and a drinking mug. You can later create a lighter and more classy one from a book with a hidden compartment (found in the thief guild). Put in a bed, the rug from the con artist at the blue boar in, and a glass of chianti. :)

It would have been fun seeing screenshots of all of the suggestions so far, just to compare how others set up their base. :)

I gave a screenshot and description of my base in the topic Houses And their owners; I stayed in Joram's house for the first part of the game, then moved to the back of the council hall.

screenshot: home base (32KB)

Ooh, Raze, were you using one of those ornate chests? Weren't those buggy and prone to disappearing when you closed the lid, taking all of the stuff with them? (The dark brown ones with the elaborate carving.) I had this happen in my Steam version and read that some others did, too. As I remember, it was the reason I quit one of my playthroughs.

I had a couple of those, but predominantly used other styles. It ones that seemed more likely to disappear were the ones that had a weight of zero when open.

weight bug and disappearing chests