Using Arrow Keys for Instant Item Direction; In Addition to Rotating with R and Shift-R

ohmyfactorio · Post by **ohmyfactorio** » Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:12 pm

TL;DR

A quicker way to point things (assemblers, miners, belts, etc.) to the direction you want, using the arrow keys, which is currently unused.

What ?

Since things in factorio points towards 4 directions, North, South, East, West, I've always wanted to have a quicker way to point an item immediately to the direction I desire, instead of pressing R or Shift-R multiple times.

Since Up, Down, Right, Left naturally correspond with North, South, East, West, I think pressing Up should allow me to point an item North. Down, to point an item South. Etc.

We can keep the R and Shift-R. Just add the arrows.

Why ?

There are no mods for it, and no way to change the keyboard bindings. I think this would be useful and more intuitive for play. It's not difficult to use as moving the hand from the mouse to the patch of arrow keys is quite fast. You can continue to move about with WASD, select an item with the mouse, and then point it to the direction you want with the arrow keys, and shift the hand back to the mouse. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Impatient · Post by **Impatient** » Sun Mar 03, 2019 6:24 pm

That is an interesting idea. That would finally solve this pesky thinking before rotating a piece of belt into the correct direction.

+1

Darinth · Post by **Darinth** » Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:01 pm

In concept I like it, though I worry it'll mess with existing keybinds. While ctrl-w may not have an explicit keybinding, my brain is telling me that walking while holding ctrl and clicking on things might do something. I really like this idea, it seems like it's a way simpler way to handle object rotation. Is anybody able to confirm that it's not going to mess with other keybindings?

ohmyfactorio · Post by **ohmyfactorio** » Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:30 am

Or use the arrow keys for object direction. Up, Down, Left, Right, is unused. And it's a simple shift from the mouse to the arrow keys, and back!

Imma change the topic subject and suggestion.

ikarikeiji · Post by **ikarikeiji** » Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:56 pm

What about just adding an option so you always place items in the direction your character is facing? And pressing R would rotate an object to that direction.

I could probably get on board with that myself.

ohmyfactorio · Post by **ohmyfactorio** » Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:52 pm

ikarikeiji wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:56 pm
What about just adding an option so you always place items in the direction your character is facing? And pressing R would rotate an object to that direction.

I could probably get on board with that myself.

Because sometimes you want something to face north (e.g. placing 5 north facing assemblers for red science) while you're running east. Or, you might want to place belts that move northward, while you're running south.

Let's assume you're starting from the exact position you want to place something.

Using your method would require more than 2 button presses.
1. WASD to point the character to direction you want the object to face. You'll run a few steps in the direction you choose, and you're a few squares off the position you wanted to place the thing in the first place.
2. R to point the object towards that direction.
3. WASD to course correct and move the character back to the point wanted to start from.
4. Then WASD for the direction you want to move eventually.

With the instant item direction of the arrows, you only press 2 buttons:
1. Arrow keys for the direction you want the object to face.
2. WASD to run in the direction you want to move.

ikarikeiji · Post by **ikarikeiji** » Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:52 am

Ok, agreed, it was a silly idea, I hadn't thought of that. Arrow keys works I guess!

cybersteel8 · Post by **cybersteel8** » Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:59 am

Very convenient idea. I always end up pressing R repeatedly because I forget which way I need to rotate the thing, and if I go past it I spam R some more. I should really be using Shift-R more often, and also not missing the correct rotation. The arrow keys are an absolute, no-mistake solution to my blunders. I want it to face North, so I press the button for North. Good idea.

Trebor · Post by **Trebor** » Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:13 pm

As long as it’s not the default, I remap the arrow keys for movement.

Post by **ssilk** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 3:28 pm

In my opinion this would be a really simple mod.

And I have doubts if this is really useful, cause you need constantly to swap between mouse and keyboard.
Would be much simpler to press a modifier (alt) and one of WASD. But it seems to be a good idea to experiment around with this ideas.

BlueTemplar · Post by **BlueTemplar** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 3:41 pm

The thing is : if you're using mods, you're likely to use Picker Extended.
And arrow keys in Picker Extended move entities (except belts) in that direction !
(So, yeah, you'd have to think hard about which keybindings are the most appropriate...)

Anyone · Post by **Anyone** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 7:02 pm

If I use WASD to move and my left mouse button to place an entity... I don't have enough arms/hands for this.

Impatient · Post by **Impatient** » Sat Mar 09, 2019 8:05 pm

Returning to think about this suggestion and topic, I would like to have this functionality but not bound to any keys. players would have to select their own keys to the orientation functionality. Eg. I would bind it to the arrow keys. Then I could decide if I want to use R or Shift+R or if I want to reach over to the arrow keys and press one of them. For other players this might be of differing importance and they may bind the keys to nothing at all or something they can work faster with.

Anyways, haveing a quick orientation functionality in the game, could really save time.

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