I'm more than open to suggestions on how

[thick salmon]

So nice of you to ask (wasn't aware that some dsa5 expert would jump to aid so spontaneously....). I'd really love to post my wishes/ideas. Is this the right place here for "change requests" ? Or should I do this in another channel?

[silk spoke]

Here is fine, I guess 😄

I am the Item Piles developer, so any suggestions are welcome

[thick salmon]

Well, I cam probably only talk sincerely about dsa5, because I had only a very brief glimpse at Item Pile. Maybe I should give it another more closer look first, before asking dull questions.
But very briefly, to rush a bit ahead) - my primary obstacles I am having with dsa5 are:

• Being forced to always use an actor as "shopholder" forces me to place every shop actor in the scene and then have my players walk near them to be able to interact
• In dsa5, specifically, trading is done with the same mechanism as transferring items between characters. This appears very clumsy
• There is practically no way for the GM to control transactions (like locking or hiding items, or adjusting prices).
  As said, maybe Item Pile isn't really bad at theses things. Just didn't check thoroughly.
  Now, in comparison, Monk's Journal offers a really EXCITING vision of shops SHOULD work IMO, like:
• there's no actor, just a "journal entry" as wrapper instead
• this means that you can place a shop visually much more icely in the scene. Just have a look at my dwarven underground basar scene (meant to be in "2d feel", with no need to move your token anywhere near any sign - just have to click any shop you like to enter it). That's why I love that "actor-less" approach so much!
• furthermore, the trading is simply dragging and dropping (both as the GM for stacking items into the shop as well as for players when they want to sell anything)
• the GM can lock/unlock specific items for sale
• the GM can intercept and moderate any purchase or sell requests, adjust prices etc.
• the shop interface is not just some "reused inventory", but it offers descriptions, images, background audio etc. Everything very charming with high potential for immersive play

Maybe you catch my drift what I'd love to have to stuff my "marketplace" with a nice "shopping mall" feel 😄

If only it would be working as advertised by Monk, of course 🤣

It's a biiiig pile of wishes. But if you'd find it interesting to pick some of it up as inspiration for Item Pile, I'd be very happy.

Btw, as you can see in the second screen: In Monk's mod, players can even write down their PERSONAL notes for each shop!

[thick salmon]

Alright... having a better look now at your video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4oFFpMNCT8, it seems that I've clearly overlooked some of your features. I'll give it another try 🙂

[thick salmon]

Ok, it's embarrassing... there seems to be a lot in your mod of what I've been looking for! Just missed most of it. Even though it's not natively dsa5 compatible and I am still guessing some settings, a lot of things seem to work. The only critical thing right now is that all items appear as "free", having no clue, why that is. (I didn't flag anything as "free").

[silk spoke]

You may need to configure your system: https://fantasycomputer.works/FoundryVTT-ItemPiles/#/configuring-item-piles

Item Piles supports all game systems, but you need to tell it how to interact with it 😄

[thick salmon]

Yes, I'm already experimenting with those mapping settings (a very thoughtful solution btw! albeit a bit challenging ). Somehow I can't get my dsa5 system to link its currency properly yet. Given that I'll manage that, I am quite intrigued by your mod by now. Should have definitely given it a bit more patience the first time!

[silk spoke]

Yeah, it's the best solution for a difficult problem. I wouldn't know how to support you there though, given the system is a paid one

[thick salmon]

Meanwhile I got a BIG step further - it seems to be the missing currency definition that was turning all my prices into "free" offers.
Now I've did some guesswork on how to reflect dsa5's default currency definitions correctly in your settings, as shown in screenshot1.
Now I receive actual prices - hurray! Only that they aren't calculated correctly.
See the "Cloth Doll" example in screenshot 2: According to the item details, it is worth 1 unit of "Silverthaler", which is the default currency both in the system as in the mod settings I configured in Item Piles.
But the merchant lists it at exactly half that price (5 Halers = 0.5 Silverthaler). But I am quite sure that I haven't set any price settings or whatever (see screenshots 3+4).
What could possibly go wrong here?

Just as a cross-check to be sure, I cut all the conversion rates under currency settings in half, with the result that the shop prices are now calculated correctly. So there must be some unintended 0.5 factor being applied somewhere.

[thick salmon]

But... unfortunately, there are some more really game-breaking issues: Transactions cause console errors, and the money doesn't get withdrawn from the buyer's account (it works very sporadically, but most times it fails). I am very sorry to state this, but like that, adapting this mod to my dsa5 game turns out to become way more complex than with Monk's (where I just finished fixing broken transactions myself).