Factorio Forums

TL;DR

Title says it all; rail-like draggable and smooth wall building.

What ?

Walls implemented as rails, which allow for clicking one side of placed wall and dragging it to create angled, rounded, and/or smooth wall sections (but still somewhat 1x1 in size per segment as possible or not) that connect with each other.

Why ?

1. Practicality. All of the turrets have circular range of firing.
2. Convenience. Placing walls one by one most often is done by running in one direction to ensure proper placement and corners are to be either square or awkward, with square not as well covered in terms of range, and awkward looking like pixel art gone wrong.
3. Aesthetics. More options for decoration.

Should it lock horizontally or vertically, or allow Bezier curves?

Kyralessa wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 12, 2024 8:32 am

Should it lock horizontally or vertically, or allow Bezier curves?

What do you mean "horizontally or vertically"?

Also not that dynamic, wouldn't simple segment fragments make do?

They could also use some "look at" time, the shadows don't match with sun position guessed from other buildings as well (just like oil refinery and so on).

Ceigo wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 12, 2024 8:59 pm

What do you mean "horizontally or vertically"?

Also not that dynamic, wouldn't simple segment fragments make do?

They could also use some "look at" time, the shadows don't match with sun position guessed from other buildings as well (just like oil refinery and so on).

The way belts lock, for example, when dragging. In this case, what I mean is, if you drag a wall from point A to point B, should it form a straight horizontal or vertical line between those points, or a straight line no matter the angle?

As for curves, the way I've seen other games (and paint programs) do it is that you drag a straight line between two points, then "pull" on the line in the middle with one or two points to form a curve. This is called a Bezier curve; here's an article that talks about the principle of it: https://pomax.github.io/bezierinfo/#whatis

As far as i understand it you should be able to crate a rail with a hitbox of that rail and add graphics that makes it look like a smooth wall. Maybe take a look at the cargo ships mod wich creates "water rails" for the ships.
Also there is some code in it that prevents normal locomotives being placed on water rails, ships on normal rails and the two rail types being connected with eachother. i think your wall rails need this feature too.

Ceigo wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 11, 2024 6:09 pm

smooth wall sections (but still somewhat 1x1 in size per segment as possible or not) that connect with each other.

There is this Bezierio mod that allow placing walls following bezier curves.

It does 1x1, and you can ask for thicker wall too. But you don't just click just 2 points A and B on the map, you have to give the coordinate using circuits networks, so it takes a bit of fiddling to get used to, the article on bezier curve may help. From the picture and the mod explanation you can understand also that 4 points coordinate will be required to draw a curve.

It's easier to make the blueprint once than to use in game every time you want to place wall i found.

no not the belts thatll look wierd

Brathahn wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 14, 2024 2:30 am

As far as i understand it you should be able to crate a rail with a hitbox of that rail and add graphics that makes it look like a smooth wall. Maybe take a look at the cargo ships mod wich creates "water rails" for the ships.
Also there is some code in it that prevents normal locomotives being placed on water rails, ships on normal rails and the two rail types being connected with eachother. i think your wall rails need this feature too.

Yes, that should do it, thanks for the idea. Perhaps I'll try something with that.

mmmPI wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 14, 2024 3:42 am

There is this Bezierio mod that allow placing walls following bezier curves.

It does 1x1, and you can ask for thicker wall too. But you don't just click just 2 points A and B on the map, you have to give the coordinate using circuits networks, so it takes a bit of fiddling to get used to, the article on bezier curve may help. From the picture and the mod explanation you can understand also that 4 points coordinate will be required to draw a curve.

It's easier to make the blueprint once than to use in game every time you want to place wall i found.

That's also great, thank you.

Definitely blueprinting eases all the hassle with placement, thus even detailed solutions pose no problem. I guess I didn't think it through enough while posting, as I focused on manual wall placement.