Set active blueprint without scrolling

Post your ideas and suggestions how to improve the game.

Moderator: ickputzdirwech

User avatar
moon69
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2016 6:53 pm
Contact:

Set active blueprint without scrolling

Post by moon69 »

TL;DR
Change the active blueprint whilst browsing an open blueprint book without scrolling through them all.
What ?
Currently the only way to select the active blueprint is by scolling through them all with shift-mousewheel.
I would like some method to set the active blueprint without scrolling.
My preferred implementation would be to middle-click the required blueprint in the book or perhaps a hotkey while hovering over it.

An alternative could be an option to copy the blueprint on clicking in the book rather than moving it. Then I can just destroy the copy once I've finished with it (or an addon could automatically delete it).
Why ?
I sometime play on laptop with a very clunky mousewheel alternative.
Even with a mousewheel, it's painful scrolling through hundreds of blueprints, particularly if they are not sorted.

slippycheeze
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 587
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2019 10:40 pm
Contact:

Re: Set active blueprint without scrolling

Post by slippycheeze »

moon69 wrote:
Sat Jul 27, 2019 4:47 pm
Currently the only way to select the active blueprint is by scolling through them all with shift-mousewheel.
You can change this using the standard keybinding controls in the vanilla game. It is not restricted in any way, so it can be assigned to other mouse buttons, or to keyboard keys, as your heart desires.

wild_dog
Inserter
Inserter
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:07 pm
Contact:

(middle) click select the active blueprint in a book

Post by wild_dog »

TL;DR
Click select active blueprint in the book
What ?
Basically, the same as suggested here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=73727&p=445572&hili ... nt#p445572

Being able to select a blueprint(book) in a blueprint book directly withouth needing to cycle through them.
Simply clicking (middle mouse for example) to select which is active while hovering over the cidered blueprint(sub-book) while you have a book open would be much more convenient.

Please see: https://youtu.be/7PYwVHXI9vc

Why ?
Even though this is a duplicate suggestion, the other is now +1 year old.
With the new nested blueprint books, the amount of blueprints in the "main" book, categorized by the nested books, is likely to expand dramatically.
This can mean the amount of blueprints, and the scrolling needed to reach the ones you want, can be very tedious.
I've already run into this.

I have a Blueprint book for belts.
It has 12 sub books:
  • Balancer books (1 to 1, 2 to 1, etc. untill 8 to 8, 64+ in total)
  • Ballencers adendum (10)
  • Belt split-off designs (26)
  • other usefull belt constructions (5+)
for each of the 3 types of belts.
This is around 300 blueprints total.

While browsing the blueprint books, like they are directories, is easy to find which BP I want.
However, the only way to select a blueprint as active (so withouth taking it out of the book) is to cycle over all of them untill the desired BP is reached.
Even if you open a sub book and scroll to select the active blueprint of that sub book, the only way to select that sub book in the main book is to perform more scrolling, which goes through all of the blueprints in the currently active sub books before switching to other sub books.
With the example book, it is very cumbersome to cycle through all of them.

Koub
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 7744
Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 8:54 am
Contact:

Re: (middle) click select the active blueprint in a book

Post by Koub »

wild_dog wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:14 pm
Even though this is a duplicate suggestion, the other is now +1 year old.
Fear not, this is not an issue, I have seen suggestions pop again and again for years, and still be requested :). As long as the subject is still open, it's not necro if you say no necro.
[Koub] Merged into older topic with same suggestion.
Koub - Please consider English is not my native language.

User avatar
ssilk
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 12889
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Set active blueprint without scrolling

Post by ssilk »

This is a mess to select the right bp with touchpad.

From handling there are alternative ways:

- when scrolling, it changes the display and shows the icons instead of bp. Reason for that is that I have bps, which look quite similar.
- in this mode the next and previous one (or better two) bps are shown (as smaller icons) to the right/left.
Cool suggestion: Eatable MOUSE-pointers.
Have you used the Advanced Search today?
Need help, question? FAQ - Wiki - Forum help
I still like small signatures...

Koub
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 7744
Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 8:54 am
Contact:

Re: Set active blueprint without scrolling

Post by Koub »

ssilk wrote:
Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:34 am
This is a mess to select the right bp with touchpad.
TBH, I'd see playing with a touchpad to be a singularly masochistic move, for most games I can think of.
Koub - Please consider English is not my native language.

User avatar
ssilk
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 12889
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Set active blueprint without scrolling

Post by ssilk »

For Factorio it’s not so bad as you (obviously) think. :D The implementation of a MacBook touchpad is far better than any PC notebook I know. And for that moves that are bad (thanks to the configurable keys), this is in most situations a simple layout change.

But there are just (physical) limits in how sensitive this must be tuned.

An alternative suggestion would be for those keys that control a value (like here) that the sensibility of the slider can be configured.

Post Reply

Return to “Ideas and Suggestions”