Undo button

[vanatteveldt]

Sometimes you do something that you didn't really intend but that can be quite a pain to restore. Examples: replacing an UG with a normal belt which causes items to move onto the wrong belt, deleting a plant which means needing to reset all settings, etc. Especially annoying is if you use long-handed inserters for smelters, where if the smelter is gone the output inserter can grab the ore/coal from the input inserter and move it onto the output belt.

Suggestion: add a little delay timer (2-5 sec) before which an action becomes final and takes effect. This can be seen as construct/deconstruct time, warmup time, whatever. During that time, control+z can undo the action. While the change is not final, it functions like a ghost, i.e. inserters will know not to drop items on it, etc.

(Additional benefit: makes turret creep slightly more difficult)

[<NO_NAME>]

How many times I've placed a belt only to realize 0.2 seconds later that it is wrong direction and now my whole factory is clogged with random items. I'm always pressing Ctrl+Z just by reflex but IT IS NOT WORKING! And fixing that mess is sometimes as bad as fixing mixed fluids in a pipe.

+1

However, I'm not sure about the delay. It would introduce a new mechanic which would cost some UPS so devs probably won't be eager to implement that.
Maybe a new-placed devices should be just marked for deconstruction and removed devices blueprinted back in their place. I know that doen't solve all the problems but it would at least reduce damages because devices market for deconstruction are turned off. It would be also useful in situations where you did mistake with deconstruction or placed blueprint in a wrong place.

[steinio]

There is a shortcut to jump back 5 minutes in time by default.

[dood]

I doubt this is feasible.
You're not painting something in photoshop here, you're interacting with moving parts in real-time so undoing something involves a ton more than just placing the entity back to where you removed it from, you also have to keep track of and reset every single other entity such as belts that have interacted with it in the mean time which creates a ton of overhead.
The best you can hope for is reloading a save.

[vanatteveldt]

I doubt this is feasible.
You're not painting something in photoshop here, you're interacting with moving parts in real-time so undoing something involves a ton more than just placing the entity back to where you removed it from, you also have to keep track of and reset every single other entity such as belts that have interacted with it in the mean time which creates a ton of overhead.
The best you can hope for is reloading a save.

Yeah, that's why I suggested to keep new objects "in limbo" for a couple seconds to allow time for the undo.


I agree it might not be worth the investment in dev time, but it would certainly save me time & frustration

[quyxkh]

Now that async autosave is in I just keep my autosave interval at two minutes and reload after any oops.

[<NO_NAME>]

Now that async autosave is in I just keep my autosave interval at two minutes and reload after any oops.

Now try that on server

[Zavian]

Well try undoing 5 seconds of play on a server with multiple people. I'm sorry, I just don't see how this can work.

[vanatteveldt]

Well try undoing 5 seconds of play on a server with multiple people. I'm sorry, I just don't see how this can work.

As explained above: placing or removing an entity puts it into a limbo/ghost mode, where it blocks everything (belts, inserters, etc) and doesn't go into operation until a couple of seconds. In that time, you can undo it, which means essentially removing the limbo item (or placing it down again, if the action was a removal). Quick replaces (belt -> UG) count as remove+replace, so the new UG is inactive for a couple of seconds. If control+z is pressed during that time, the original belt is placed back. Messing with your inventory (e.g. dumping items in a chest) can prevent undo.

Similarly, actions that result in items being placed on the ground (e.g. taking off your power armor) places these items in a limbo mode as well, they can be seen but not interacted with for a couple of seconds, during which the player can undo the action.

Now, this is not trivial to implement, but I don't see a reason why it wouldn't be possible. And remember, those Wube guys are real smart