Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post your ideas and suggestions how to improve the game.

Moderator: ickputzdirwech

Post Reply
User avatar
eradicator
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 5206
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2016 9:03 am
Contact:

Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by eradicator »

What?
Make the black tile grid shown in pause mode or via debug view show between terrain and buildings instead of above everything.

Wut?I'm sure everyone knows and loves the terrain grid for precise placement and easy measurement of distances. Currently the only way to show it without pausing the game is using the debug options. Personally i play a lot of the time with the grid enabled, roughly 30% of my time in factorio is spent with the grid visible. But personally i think it would be much more easy to use/view if it was displayed below buildings. Which i think could be improved by having the render order something like this instead:
  1. Tiles
  2. Decoratives
  3. Rocks, Trees
  4. Tile Grid
  5. Shadows
  6. Buildings
  7. Cables
As almost all buildings are smaller than the tiles they occupy this would only "hide" the bits of the grid that are directly below a building, while still being able to clearly see the frame around it.
Also due to the overall darkish theme of factorio i'd sometimes really like a white grid. So an option to set a custom color (rgb?) for the grid would also be pretty awesome.

TL;DR:
  • Make the grid a standard (non-debug) feature.
  • Allow chosing a custom grid color (moddable only or via confic.ini would be enough...)
  • Render the grid between landscape and buildings.
Example:
(Mockup. Grass should be below grid instead of above)
grid_below_01.jpg
grid_below_01.jpg (1.09 MiB) Viewed 4248 times
Thoughts, Opinions?
Last edited by eradicator on Mon Jan 22, 2018 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Author of: Belt Planner, Hand Crank Generator, Screenshot Maker, /sudo and more.
Mod support languages: 日本語, Deutsch, English
My code in the post above is dedicated to the public domain under CC0.

User avatar
Impatient
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 880
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 2:51 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by Impatient »

imo a visible grid would be helpful when in placing mode.

how often have i misplaced assemblers just 2 tiles apart instead of 3, because i misjudged the visible gap? how often didn't i know the distance when building underground belts? several hundred times.

with a grid shown, when having buildings on the cursor ready for placement, this would stop forever. make a menu option for this, or a key to enable/disable grid when placing buildings.

my 2 cents.

Skeletpiece
Long Handed Inserter
Long Handed Inserter
Posts: 82
Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2017 6:26 pm
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by Skeletpiece »

I do not like in-game grid (Placing correctly is more practice) but, I think this could be easy using a toggle button (Use it only when you want to see, in that moment)

Koub
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 7175
Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 8:54 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by Koub »

My preference would go to an option to "show grid upon entity placement"
Koub - Please consider English is not my native language.

mp0011
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 216
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:17 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by mp0011 »

Maybe, just maybe - building ghosts could have own grid, eg. white, displayed over regular grid, highlighting everything within 5-10 tiles? With light blue dotted lines extending building outline in each direction? Just like placing Train Stop highlight wagon positions, placing any building could highlight eg. matching inserters and other buildings alignment, using the same, already existing part of code.
Attachments
Example
Example
Untitled-1.jpg (262.21 KiB) Viewed 4270 times

Engimage
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 1067
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2016 10:02 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by Engimage »

Yes I do agree we need A LOT of placement UI modifications.
Optional grid is very welcome. I also like the idea of highlighting already placed entities when placing something.

Have to add a related link here
[0.16.4]Placement Aid when drills are in-hand.

User avatar
eradicator
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 5206
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2016 9:03 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by eradicator »

@mp0011:
I really like those blue dotted lines. That would be immensely helpful. Not so sure about the white square highlights. Though drawing an non-opaque box around everything that's the same type as the building being placed might be useful (i.e. when placing fast insterers highlight other fast inserters. And maybe a secondary (less prominent) highlight for other inserters).

@Koub:
Personally i often want the grid on even when i'm not actively holding something in hand. So dynamic highlighting maybe only for those blue dotted lines invented by @mp0011? I guess one could always keep a "show always toggle" button even with dynamic grid showing...

@all
I've added an example of what i mean by grid below buildings to the opening post. Here's another one:
(It's made my manually hardprinting a grid onto the terrain tile graphics, so grass is still above the grid even though it shouldn't.)
grid_below_02.jpg
grid_below_02.jpg (442.15 KiB) Viewed 4248 times
I do think that all of this should always be optional though, as the GUI is already quite busy, and not everyone wants or needs a ruler when they just want to draw a picture so to speak :).
Author of: Belt Planner, Hand Crank Generator, Screenshot Maker, /sudo and more.
Mod support languages: 日本語, Deutsch, English
My code in the post above is dedicated to the public domain under CC0.

mp0011
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 216
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:17 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by mp0011 »

eradicator wrote:@mp0011:
I really like those blue dotted lines. That would be immensely helpful. Not so sure about the white square highlights.
It's there, because without grids, with fake and non-consistent pseudo-3d graphics perspective I never know where building "ends", and I often build another 1 tile to close. With squares, it is easier to spot. It may, however, be reduced to just only four corners. The guidelines suppose to work independently from grid, similar to interface that is present when placing anything and highlighting electric poles. So basically, this is already partially implemented, just need some development.

Color building tints are green in buildings can be connected with inserters (so the gap is 1,2,or 3 tiles, ale buildings are aligned.

Belts are highlighted in similar way -

FuryoftheStars
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2485
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:01 pm
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by FuryoftheStars »

I like this idea a lot and would love to see something like this added. Would definitely make things easier, imo.
My Mods: Classic Factorio Basic Oil Processing | Sulfur Production from Oils | Wood to Oil Processing | Infinite Resources - Normal Yield | Tree Saplings (Redux) | Alien Biomes Tweaked | Restrictions on Artificial Tiles

Skeletpiece
Long Handed Inserter
Long Handed Inserter
Posts: 82
Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2017 6:26 pm
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by Skeletpiece »

+1 blue dotted lines :!:
;)

User avatar
Impatient
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 880
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 2:51 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by Impatient »

From a modding perspective, it would be cool, if mods could bring in their own UI improvements to the placing mode. .... if the modding API would allow to display colored overlays (in your case "under"lays) or colored lines if conditions are met or something triggers.
Example
I think there would be very interesting UI helper mods if the modding API would allow for that and also would ensure that those lines, over- and underlays are handled in an UPS friendly manner.

mrvn
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 5682
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:10 am
Contact:

Have a less intrusive show-tile-grid option please

Post by mrvn »

TL;DR
Have an option to draw the tile grid between the tiles layers and entity layers and draw a chunk grid when zoomed out.
What ?
When you turn on show-tile-grid the grid is drawn as the top layer over everything. I'm asking for an option to draw it further down between the tiles and entities. It would also be good to only draw lines between chunks when zoomed out a lot like this:
tile-grid-zoom.png
tile-grid-zoom.png (28.72 KiB) Viewed 2820 times
Can you tell what is in the picture at all?
Why ?
The tile grid is great to align structures when building or placing blueprints. But it destroys a lot of the look of the factory. When zooming out it makes it hard to see entities. So I keep having to turn it on and off.

Having the tile grid below the entities would reduce the disruptive effect the tile grid has a lot while still allowing its use to align new builds and placing blueprints. In combination with infinizoom the lines between tiles also become too much when zooming out. When a single tile is only 2x2 pixels then having the tile grid use 3 of them makes no sense.

Koub
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 7175
Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 8:54 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by Koub »

[Koub] Merged into older thread with same suggestion.
Koub - Please consider English is not my native language.

mrvn
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 5682
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:10 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by mrvn »

Args, sorry. I was searching for "below entity", not "below building".

It's nearly 4 years old. Any chance it will get looked at?

Koub
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 7175
Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 8:54 am
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by Koub »

mrvn wrote:
Sat Oct 30, 2021 2:01 am
Args, sorry. I was searching for "below entity", not "below building".
Hahaha it's OK :) I usually have a thing finding the right keywords for a search.
mrvn wrote:
Sat Oct 30, 2021 2:01 am
It's nearly 4 years old. Any chance it will get looked at?
Honestly, one can't tell. Some suggestions took a long time for the devs to implement :
- blueprint mirror flip was requested for 6 years before it was implemented
- Search by train stop name on map, 3 years
- Hotkey for the train GUI (shy of 4 years)
- Reordering stops in the train management GUI : around 3 years

It depends on many things. Showing renewed or continuous interest in a subject is one of those things. Sometimes, it's just a matter of timing :).
Koub - Please consider English is not my native language.

FuryoftheStars
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2485
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:01 pm
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by FuryoftheStars »

Koub wrote:
Sat Oct 30, 2021 5:51 am
It depends on many things. Showing renewed or continuous interest in a subject is one of those things. Sometimes, it's just a matter of timing :).
Well, I for one continue to support this idea.
My Mods: Classic Factorio Basic Oil Processing | Sulfur Production from Oils | Wood to Oil Processing | Infinite Resources - Normal Yield | Tree Saplings (Redux) | Alien Biomes Tweaked | Restrictions on Artificial Tiles

aka13
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 671
Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:18 pm
Contact:

Re: Show tile grid below buildings instead of above.

Post by aka13 »

I would enjoy such a feature as well, sometimes it is really hard to hit the right square.
Pony/Furfag avatar? Opinion discarded.

Post Reply

Return to “Ideas and Suggestions”