Ruck Master — Advanced Inventory Sorting Mod for STALKER 2

Ruck Master is an advanced, fully configurable inventory sorting system for
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, implemented as a UE4SS C++ mod.

It replaces the game's internal comparator with a modular, rule-based sorting pipeline
that is fully customizable in real time via an ImGui UI panel.

This project provides:

• A complete re-implementation of the game’s item comparator in C++
• Modular sorting rules with deterministic ordering
• Drag-and-drop reordering of rules and item type priorities
• Live configuration via ImGui (accessible through UE4SS Debug Tools)
• Optional function call logging and original-comparator fallback
• Config presets (Vanilla, CoP-style, Custom) with runtime switching
• Saving/loading of the Custom preset via .ini file

Motivation

The default inventory sorting in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has several issues that make the inventory feel messy and inefficient.

Most importantly:

• After sorting, noticeable “holes” appear inside the grid.
• Large items often end up placed between smaller ones, which in turn prevents optimal packing and creates even more gaps.
• The resulting layout feels inconsistent and wastes inventory space.

I remembered that S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat did not suffer from this problem — its sorting logic was far more structured and predictable.
This led to the idea of porting CoP’s comparator logic into STALKER 2, rebuilding it from scratch, and extending it into a modular, configurable system.

For reference, CoP’s original comparator can be found here.

The mod’s name, Ruck Master, is a direct homage to this classic implementation.

Features

Modular Sorting Rules

Each comparison step is an independent rule:

• Sort by size
• Prioritize quest items
• Prioritize by type
• Group ammo by caliber
• Sort by secondary key (durability, ammo metadata)
• Sort by name

You can reorder these rules freely, enable or disable each one individually,
and instantly see the changes in the game's inventory UI.

Type Priority Control

When "Prioritize by type" is enabled, a second list becomes active, allowing
drag-and-drop reordering of all item type categories (weapon, ammo, artifact, etc).

Presets

Three built-in presets:

• Vanilla — matches STALKER 2’s sorting
• CoP — Call of Pripyat–style behavior
• Custom — fully editable; saved to ruck_master.ini

INI-based Persistence

Your custom configuration is saved automatically and restored on game load.

Build Instructions

1. Install Visual Studio 2022 with C++ and Windows SDK.
2. Clone the repo:

   git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/kacejot/s2-ruck-master

3. Configure CMake project:

   cd s2-ruck-master
   mkdir build && cd build
   cmake ..

4. After that locate .sln or .slnx file in your build folder, open it via VS2022 and build in Release

Installation

1. Install UE4SS (Latest experimental release)

Download here: https://github.com/UE4SS-RE/RE-UE4SS/releases

Make sure UE4SS loads correctly before installing the mod.

2. Install Ruck Master

Create the mod folder structure:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl\Stalker2\Binaries\Win64\ue4ss\Mods\s2-ruck-master\dlls

Now place the mod DLL:

main.dll -> S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl\Stalker2\Binaries\Win64\ue4ss\Mods\s2-ruck-master\dlls

3. Place the configuration file

The mod will load and save configuration from:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl\Stalker2\Binaries\Win64\ruck_master.ini

4. Enable the mod in UE4SS

Open:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl\Stalker2\Binaries\Win64\ue4ss\Mods\mods.txt

And add there a line with content:

s2-ruck-master: 1

So your file looks like this:

KismetDebuggerMod : 1
CheatManagerEnablerMod : 1
ActorDumperMod : 0
ConsoleCommandsMod : 1
ConsoleEnablerMod : 1
SplitScreenMod : 0
LineTraceMod : 1
BPML_GenericFunctions : 1
BPModLoaderMod : 1
jsbLuaProfilerMod : 0
s2-ruck-master: 1

; Built-in keybinds, do not move up!
Keybinds : 1

Screenshots

Vanilla does have gaps between items, because item size is ignored.

So I added comparing by size from CoP and preset of the same name.
And gaps are gone. But CoP ignored quest flag of the items.

If you want to change the order or enable/disable the rules, you still can do this in Custom preset:

Credits

Reverse engineering, mod architecture, comparator design, UI, and implementation by kacejot.
Analysis, naming, refactoring, and architectural guidance assisted by ChatGPT.

License

MIT License — free to modify, fork, or integrate into other UE4SS mods.