Magic item creation still hard to understand

[Vixeryz]

Looking at the formulae its still overly confusing to try to figure out how much something will cost.

I want to make something like an amulet of darkness. I have darkvision and I'm not a spellcaster but I want to be able to make it dark at will so that I can get the jump on people.

So Either cast darkness/permanency on something or get a "use activated" object.
I tried to calculate the cost- but "Darkness" isnt on the list of Permanency spells and (if I did this right...) according to the "magic item creation" table, it will cost 12k to make such a thing?
Somehow I dont think this is right...I've seen way more powerful things for 12k on the regular, "prebuilt" magic item section.

What gives? Hasn't someone developed a program for auto-calculating magic item costs? (at least for the spell-trigger ones)

BTW- how much would it cost for an item that gives me the ability to make darkness anytime anywhere? Not a wand or any other charged item please, I plan to use it ALOT. Altho, I probly could step it down to
"usable 5x/day" ...

[Vixeryz]

X/.5 = x*2 correct?

[Mike J]

I could be wrong on this, but I think for an "on command" item that produces Darkness, the cost of the item is 24k (spell level (2) x caster level (3) x 2,000 gp x 2 for 1/min per level duration spell). If the item works only once per day, the cost drops to 4,800 gp (24k/5)and I expect the duration would be 3 minutes. Each additional daily use will increase the price by 4,800 gp. Keep in mind that the formulas are a general guideline and other factors can influence price.

Darkness can be very powerful (total concealment) against the right foes. Having to pay 24k to have that on demand doesn't seem all that crazy to me. Granted, it is irrelevant to most of the monster types out there...