Factorio Forums

Please add ability to delete the blue squares.

They are empty blueprints, but there is no way to remove them. Even dropping them on the ground leaves a blue square in the inventory.

Moving them to a box leaves a blue square in inventory, only the name is now "Inventory Filter".

To delete them, use them to create a "real" blueprint (of anything) and then delete that.

If there is a better way to do this then someone please tell me because it's clunky.

If there's not, then even though there's a workaround I support this suggestion.

If there is an empty blueprint in your inventory, right click it to edit it, and then click the red delete button in the top corner.

invisus wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:12 am If there is an empty blueprint in your inventory, right click it to edit it, and then click the red delete button in the top corner.

This ^

Make a blueprint book. Put your trash blueprints in the book. Delete the book.

invisus wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:12 am If there is an empty blueprint in your inventory, right click it to edit it, and then click the red delete button in the top corner.

I thought I tried that and it didn't work. I'll try again.

Ever since they (mostly) fixed blueprints to be pseudo items I've only ever had an empty one in my inventory a couple times.

invisus wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:12 am If there is an empty blueprint in your inventory, right click it to edit it, and then click the red delete button in the top corner.

I just tested this and it does not work. Right clicking an empty blueprint picks it up in the same way that left clicking it does.

The blueprint gui that has the delete button only comes up when the blueprint has something in it.

So my previous reply is probably the easiest way to delete a blueprint:

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:12 am To delete them, use them to create a "real" blueprint (of anything) and then delete that.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 4:47 am I just tested this and it does not work.

Wow. I'm sure you're right, I just don't remember this behaving this way. I must have blocked it out.

invisus wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:25 am

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 4:47 am I just tested this and it does not work.

Wow. I'm sure you're right, I just don't remember this behaving this way. I must have blocked it out.

That caught me too. Almost some kind of Mandela effect.

Only populated BP's and books can be deleted that way.

So is there any solution? In every game I have this happen to me... and they accumulate in trash cans...

planetmaker wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:10 pm So is there any solution? In every game I have this happen to me... and they accumulate in trash cans...

There are two solutions:

1. 5thHorseman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:12 am To delete them, use them to create a "real" blueprint (of anything) and then delete that.

2. quyxkh wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:10 am Make a blueprint book. Put your trash blueprints in the book. Delete the book.

Full explanations:

1. 1. Take an empty blueprint in hand.
   2. Drag around anything to turn it into a populated blueprint.
   3. Drop this new blueprint back into your inventory.
   4. Right click the new blueprint to open it
   5. Use the trashcan icon to delete it
2. 1. Create a new blueprint book.
   2. Open your inventory.
   3. Right click to open the new BP book.
   4. Select and Shift+click each of the empty blueprints to move them to the book.
   5. Use the trashcan icon to delete the book and its contents.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:12 am If there is a better way to do this then someone please tell me because it's clunky.

It sure is, and a simple right click to open even an empty blueprint and then delete would be a sensible solution.

[Suggestion]
Give non populated blueprints a default name of "Empty Blueprint" instead of a null value. This may allow it to then be opened and deleted as any other populated BP.

I'm hoping the final Blueprint editor revamp will just make this not even a thing.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 2:05 pm I'm hoping the final Blueprint editor revamp will just make this not even a thing.

I'm still on 0.17 stable, but I'm curious whether the 0.18 experimental branch has addressed this yet?

EnerJi wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2020 5:31 pm

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 2:05 pm I'm hoping the final Blueprint editor revamp will just make this not even a thing.

I'm still on 0.17 stable, but I'm curious whether the 0.18 experimental branch has addressed this yet?

I believe it has as part of the GUI update. It does not seem possible to create a new, empty, blueprint any longer, so only those legacy empty ones might remain. I offer solutions to ridding yourself of those above.

The process now works like this:

1. Create new blueprint from the quickbar or hotkey shortcut to place an empty blueprint in hand.
2. Drag to populate in the normal manner for a new blueprint added to your inventory.
3. Dismiss the empty blueprint in hand using the dropper (Q) key

Manipulation of a created blueprint works exactly as it did before. ie deletion, and editing is possible, and transferring to the shared library is all present.

An added bonus that I've discovered is that by holding shift during the population of the blueprint makes it temporary ie it works like the copy or cut function, but does not add it to the history buffer. Once dropped or dismissed, it is gone for good. All elements and their attributes are copied nonetheless. I'm using this regularly for copies of elements that I don't plan to use again. eg copying the recipe or attributes to something out of reach on say, the map.

Squelch wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2020 7:40 pm It does not seem possible to create a new, empty, blueprint any longer, so only those legacy empty ones might remain.

Blueprints used to automatically take an inventory slot for themselves. now only completed ones do it automatically. But you can drop an empty one in your inventory if you want (I do this, decon planner + scratch blueprint in the toolbar still has a niche).

Keeping a trash-blueprints book in inventory is the easy way, anything you don't want, open you trash-blueprints book and shift-clickclickclick your bad-blueprint-blues away.

quyxkh wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2020 8:54 pm

Squelch wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2020 7:40 pm It does not seem possible to create a new, empty, blueprint any longer, so only those legacy empty ones might remain.

Blueprints used to automatically take an inventory slot for themselves. now only completed ones do it automatically. But you can drop an empty one in your inventory if you want (I do this, decon planner + scratch blueprint in the toolbar still has a niche).

Keeping a trash-blueprints book in inventory is the easy way, anything you don't want, open you trash-blueprints book and shift-clickclickclick your bad-blueprint-blues away.

Good point. I knew I'd missed a use case somewhere, but because I no longer use that regularly, had forgotten. Thanks.

I think that it is fair to say that "unwanted" or "surplus" empty blueprints are a thing of the past now. We have to go out of our way to create them should we desire.