QoL: Add shortcut to copy/paste to blueprint strings directly
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2024 5:45 am
TL;DR
Add shortcut to copy/cut/paste from the world to blueprint strings (and vice versa) directly.I suggest CTRL+SHIFT+C, CTRL+SHIFT+X and CTRL+SHIFT+V respectively as default shortcuts.
What ?
A simplified way to do what can currently be achieved with:- Use copy/cut tool (CTRL+C or CTRL+X, then select area)
- open created blueprint (necessitate placing hand content in an inventory, eg E, then click on empty spot, then right-click on blueprint)
- click on "Export to string"
- click on "Copy" (alternatively select blueprint string then CTRL+C)
- close the Blueprint string dialog.
- click on "Destroy blueprint" (because the created blueprint was supposed to be temporary)
Similarly, a simplified way to do what can currently be achieved with:
- click on "Import string" tool (there is currently no shortcut for that)
- CTRL+V (there is currently no "Paste" button)
- click on "Import"
- Use paste tool (CTRL+V, then click as many times as desired)
- Delete blueprint if not placed intentionally in an inventory (like the temporary blueprint in cursor when using copy/cut/paste tool)
- open created blueprint (necessitate placing hand content in an inventory, eg E, then click on empty spot, then right-click on blueprint)
- click on "Destroy blueprint"
This suggestion is similar to viewtopic.php?f=6&t=77225 but not quite. Making it a different shortcut avoid messing up the clipboard unintentionally.
Why ?
I think I have emphasized enough how the current process is tedious and that a "single-click" replacement would be welcomed. But for what usage you might ask?I recently got into developing some external tools to generate/view/edit blueprint strings (I won't share the code soon as I consider it not clean enough ). Getting blueprint string into/out of the game have become the bottleneck now. I literally could see myself using that feature daily.
I am happy to see that Factorio is taking a route where blueprint offer more versatility, as per the last update FFF-392, and in that sense using external tools is the most Factorio* way to play the game and push it to its limits (* I mean "automated").
People also could use this feature to quickly import designs from the internet without polluting their inventory with unnecessary blueprints.