Allow connection to named servers and saving of server names/IPs into a list for easy access

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rsethc
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Allow connection to named servers and saving of server names/IPs into a list for easy access

Post by rsethc »

TL;DR: "Multiplayer" -> "Connect To Server" address field should support host names, not just raw IP addresses.

It appears that Factorio's "Multiplayer" -> "Connect to Server" feature does not allow domain names as a valid host to enter for the server's location, only seems that an IP address is allowed. The server browser seems to usually work very well and makes this perhaps a little bit unnecessary, but even so it would still be very convenient when for some reason the server browser isn't working. I could be wrong, but it looks like it is not terribly complicated to resolve a host name to an address [seems `getaddrinfo` function does this operation, and it exists both on Windows and Linux], and since the "Connect to Server" UI already exists, I think it might as well be able to take more friendly-looking host name strings too. Currently if I tell my friends to connect to my server using this, I need to go lookup my IP address and tell what it is. If I were able to simply say "just do Connect to Server and then type glassbladegames.com" then (1) it would be very convenient for me and look a bit nicer, and (2) when my IP address occasionally changes due to DHCP, I would not have to deal with everyone assuming that I took my server down just because they are trying to connect to the old, no-longer-valid IP address. Since I already pay for a domain anyway, I would love to be able to also use it for this purpose.



TL;DR: In addition to the above, "Multiplayer" -> "Connect To Server" storing multiple previously-used addresses would be a nice feature.

As an addition beyond this, it would be very nice if the Connect to Server menu showed previously-used addresses in a list below the existing GUI components, perhaps with the option to modify/delete entries, where clicking one would either directly cause a connection attempt, or at least paste the stored address into the existing address input box. I'm not sure how complicated it would be to make this extra UI stuff but if it's not very difficult then it definitely would be a handy feature, for players to not have to frequently re-type server addresses, for example if someone commonly alternates between connecting to each of two servers, using this method of connection for both.

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