Factorio Forums

It would be super helpful if there were a search function on the main map (M command) for train stop names. For example, I could search for "Sir Otterlot" and it would focus on my home base in the same way it focuses on an alert when you click the alert. If there is more than one train stop on the map with the same name, such as "Remote Artillery" on my map, I could cycle through them in a similar way to cycling through alerts of the same priority.

Another thing that would be useful is an "Open in map" button on stops that when you clicked it, opened the map over that station (or one of them anyway...)
Edit:
I see that you made that suggestion in a separate thread

TL;DR

Would be helpful to have map search for things that have a name. Specifically, for train stops and tags

What ?

Map search option for tags and train station.

Why ?

At some point a base grows big enough, that it becomes difficult to find a station a tag that you need. Not only there are many names on the map, but also, station names and tags start overlapping

YES ! From my perspective it sounds like somewhat of a detail in average game, but for some particular setup like in example it would be a GREAT tool.

But :

How should it react ?

You press something like Ctrl+F, type the begining of a station name, and then the map view highlight them ? ( color ? blinking ?)
Or the camera re-center around the closest result ? what if several station have same name ?

or something different you had in mind ?

( also you could replace "delivery" with "d" to reduce the overlapping which is what i'm usually trying to do )

It made me think about this : viewtopic.php?p=472439 which is also a suggestion that could help reduce the overlapping and ease the management of dense train network.

I would imagine, a player presses ctrl+f in the map, and the map becomes much darker, except for things that have a name. As the player types, things that do not fit the description, become darker as well and go back.

Additionally, could be, if the player presses enter, the map centers on the first object and dimming disappears

i learned the word dimming.

The option of map getting darker is the one that make more sense to me in case there are several things named the same the game wouldn't know toward which one it should center the view.

but as you say "additionnaly" the other one is a faster process in case the game centers map view on the closest item fitting the string of text.

+1 for me

When should the search stop? I mean: maps can be really, really big and the way to search would be to look into chunks in a spiral (like radar), and ina chunk into every entity. That can be many hundred thousands. I estimate searching an area of 20x20 chunks could take between 1 and 5 seconds.

When should the search stop?

ssilk wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2020 2:22 am When should the search stop? I mean: maps can be really, really big and the way to search would be to look into chunks in a spiral (like radar), and ina chunk into every entity. That can be many hundred thousands. I estimate searching an area of 20x20 chunks could take between 1 and 5 seconds.

When should the search stop?

When making the suggestion, I was imagining that the game would have all map tags and train stations in a list together with their map coordinates (having assembling recipes in the list would probably be good too). And the search would be executed just over the list (not over the map). Even in the biggest games, I doubt that the list will contain more than 10000-20000 elements.

Ok, I thought you want also to find trains, radars, and everything else, that can have names. And AFAIK there are no such lists (but I might be corrected: when I was searching all trains for the train radar mod, I need an initial scan over all terrain and after that I made my own list by hooking into the events of creating and destruction of entities; but that might have changed since then).

I'd like to be able to type, say, "Iron Ore Pickup" into a search box and have all the train stops that match be highlighted on the map.

NOTE: I have many train stops with the same name.

...Though sometimes it'd just be nice to see where the train stop that I named with creative whimsy is, in the big mess of 100s of trainstops that eventually strouted "from out of nowhere!"

I trust the Factorio UI folk to get the details right; I just want to be able to find my @#$% train stops!

Thanks!

+1
Yeah with a small to medium base, you can just turn on train stop names and find the one you are looking for. When base gets bigger and bigger, being able to search becomes more and more useful. Searching for a map label would also be a handy little addition...

moved to similar thread

There is also other threads
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=84421 Optional smarter search

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=57860 [0.16.23] Search for train stops by name in the map

TL;DR

Add a filter to the train staion names on the map.

What ?

As when you're adding a train stop to a train schedule, add a filter to show on the map only station names that match the filter text.

If item names are included in the station name it's easier to find the sources / sinks of that particular item.

If route names are used, it's easier to see all the stops on that route.

mmmPI wrote: ↑Sat Apr 11, 2020 1:02 am also you could replace "delivery" with "d" to reduce the overlapping which is what i'm usually trying to do

I find that

[
img=
<“item” or “fluid”>
.
<prototype name like“iron-plate”>
]

Works great. It is only 4 characters, not language specific, easy to see/recognize, and looks good.

AmericanPatriot wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2020 5:03 pm

[
img=
<“item” or “fluid”>
.
<prototype name like“iron-plate”>
]

Works great. It is only 4 characters, not language specific, easy to see/recognize, and looks good.

And how do you see if the station is opened or closed ?

mmmPI wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2020 9:27 pm And how do you see if the station is opened or closed ?

The "[L/U]" turns red

(Is there no way just do a raw string? bracket U bracket tries to underline)

AmericanPatriot wrote: ↑Tue Oct 27, 2020 5:03 pm I find that

[
img=
<“item” or “fluid”>
.
<prototype name like“iron-plate”>
]

Works great. It is only 4 characters, not language specific, easy to see/recognize, and looks good.

I’m not 100% sure about the context you are talking here. Is that the name of a train station? Can you give an example?

ssilk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:16 am I’m not 100% sure about the context you are talking here. Is that the name of a train station? Can you give an example?

Yes, train stations in the context of visibility.

I really wish there was some kind of map search. It is such a pain to manage grid based bases. And the existing train search is just not enough when you have several stations with the same name.