DOWNLOAD:

Steam Workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=10785
Nexus: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5312

This plugin will fix soul gems such that, when they are filled with a correctly-sized soul (e.g. a common soul in a common gem, as opposed to a petty soul in a common gem), the charge will 'stick' from that point, so you can drop it on the ground, or put it in a container, and you don't have to worry about it losing its charge. The charged gems will also stack correctly in your inventory. You will notice the value of the gem has increased as well, to the same as a filled gem you find in the world - in effect what this mod does is to replace the gem with an instance of the filled gems you would find in loot or whatever, once it has been filled with the correct soul. It will do this regardless of how the soul got there, whether through the soul trap spell, a bound weapon with the soul stealer perk, or a weapon enchanted with soul trap.

This mod does not change the behavior of soul gems that are not 'fully filled'. If your gem has an entry in your inventory like 'Common Soul Gem (Petty)' or 'Greater Soul Gem (Lesser)' this mod Will Not Do Anything. At All. You will still lose the charge in that gem if you drop it on the ground, and you will still probably lose the charge if you place it in a container. If on the other hand your soul gem has an entry like 'Common Soul Gem (Common)' or 'Greater Soul Gem (Greater)' then you are good to go. The gem will not lose its charge.

In v2.0, additional functionality has been added which ensures that you will only trap souls into gems of *exactly* the right size. For example, if the only empty gems you possess are grand gems and you trap a creature with a common soul, when that creature dies the soul will escape rather than fill your grand gem with a common soul (wasting it, some would say). Same for, say, trying to trap a petty soul with only lesser gems available to it, etc. You will never "partially fill" a gem again. This also in effect fixes black soul gems and the black star so that they only trap the black souls of humans and elves, which is what the game lore says they should do. Finally, an exception to all this exists for Azura's Star, so you can continue to partially fill it and use it to charge weapons, etc.

Those familiar with Smart Souls will notice v2.0 does the same thing. The only differences are this does not require SKSE, and this does not make changes to the notifications you get when you trap a soul.

That's all 2.0 does that 1.0 doesn't, so if you want to use Smart Souls instead, or don't want the extended functionality, you can continue to use the old version.

excellent work.

yay! Thanks!

Bump for updated to 2.0. Duplicates most of the functionality of Smart Souls, including the Azura's Star exception of the latest version, without requiring SKSE. The only thing it doesn't do is change the notifications, since those are (I think?) hard-coded.

That's all it does though, so if you prefer to use Smart Souls or don't like the selective trapping mechanic you can continue to use the old version.

Can I assume from the lack of feedback that either no one is using the new version, or that it works perfectly?

What exactly are the advantages of this over Smart Souls or vice versa?

If I used this instead of Smart Souls what would I be missing?

As far as I know the only thing you would be missing are the improved notifications which tell you the size of the soul you trapped, or tried to trap. Those are hard-coded into the game and can't be modified.

Everything else is there. The chief advantage this has over Smart Souls is it won't require an update after the next patch. For now I suppose it's mainly for people who don't use SKSE.

OK thanks - so just no messages.

Just throwing this out there (not a request really more of a comment about the game). I've always disliked soul gems. I first heard of the term http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Warlock (I'll bet that was the inspiration). Where do they come from - or how are they made?

Spirit gems seem more the appropriate term for anyone even casually versed in metaphysics of such things. Souls being atomic and monadic.

Game mechanic wise it would seem that the user would have to hold a gem to even be able to cast soul trap ... a cantrip/slash tool for using the spell. Weapons could then be socketed.

... anyway just some thoughts.

Just when I think i've gotten enough mods for a good start here comes another "must have." Thank you for your time!

I'm sort of the same way. I find keeping constant vigil over the status of the gems I'm carrying in order to make sure my weapons are powered, and always having to remember to trap the things I fight, to be really tedious. This mod attempts to alleviate some of that tedium. I like the way they work for creating new enchanted items, though.

You might be interested in http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1346276-wip-soulfire-use-magicka-to-power-weapons-and-staffs/, another mod of mine which merges an enchanted weapon's power with its owner's magicka. Bear in mind it's just a proof-of-concept at this point and has some bugs that can't be fixed until a particular function is added to SKSE.

If you use a follower and have a decent enchanting skill it might be worthwhile to give them a weapon with soul trap. That's what I do and I never have to worry about soul management.

The default soul gem system is incredibly tedious, to the point of having to check my inventory every time I'm about to soul trap something to make sure I'll have a soul gem in correct size with the creature.
I really thought Bethesda would have done something about this themselves going from Oblivion to Skyrim, I was shocked to find out it was the same deal again.
Luckily there are modders that share my frustration, thanks for this mod. I prefer not having to use SKSE so this is very helpful.

SKSE-free smart soul gems, yes! Now I can kill random mudcrabs with complete freedom without worrying about the buggers messing up my soul gems.