Give the permissions system and GUI a buff

[DRY411S]

TL;DR

Group permissions by 'capability' rather than alphabetically. Add more default groups at start. Make it easier to setup at start of new map.

What ?

• Display permissions by tab instead of alphabetically. For example Blueprints, Crafting, Combinators & wires, Trains, GUI, Logistics, etc.
• Have more than just the default group preset settings to limit functionality. For example, Owner, Admin, Spectator, Banned
• Store the settings in a separate (json?) file, instead of the map, so they are ready to use on the next map.
• Add tooltips to every option
• Document it in the wiki

Why ?

The multiplayer permissions system has dozens of entries (about 150 in 0.15), no tooltip text. There's also no documentation and no wiki.
I'm sure many would be useful to restrict people and have hierarchies of trust, but the GUI is too disorganised and not helpful.
It's a pain having to set them up from scratch on every new map.

[DRY411S]

As a quick fix for being able setup multiplayer permissions before starting a game, it would be great if the permissions system was included in the map editor.

[Impatient]

I +1 this because i recently asked on the forum if there exists a documentation on the various permissions. The answer was: no.

[Bilka]

I +1 this because i recently asked on the forum if there exists a documentation on the various permissions. The answer was: no.

There does exist a documentation of it: http://lua-api.factorio.com/latest/defi ... put_action though it's not very helpful.

[Impatient]

Hi Bilka,
yes you are right. And it was you, who answered that question of mine. Though "Not very helpful" is just two levels above "not existent".

In that part of the range of helpfulnes, from better to worse, the levels are:
.
.
.
not very helpful
confusing
not existent
deceiving

;D

[DRY411S]

I +1 this because i recently asked on the forum if there exists a documentation on the various permissions. The answer was: no.

There does exist a documentation of it: http://lua-api.factorio.com/latest/defi ... put_action though it's not very helpful.

That's just another list of things that people could try in the game, without any explanation of what they mean. Just like the list in the permissions GUI.

[nazor]

The list definitely needs to be grouped. Unless you're an advanced server admin, setting a new public server greets you with 10 minutes of making sure permissions like 'edit permission group' aren't checked.

Also some permissions should also be grouped under a 'master' permission, like 'Gui checked state changed', 'Gui click', 'Gui selection state changed', 'Gui text changed'. I'm not sure about all four, but 'checked' and 'selection state changed' definitely should be under one master permission, that can either be expanded or broken up when some 'advanced' checkbox is checked.

[Rseding91]

The list definitely needs to be grouped. Unless you're an advanced server admin, setting a new public server greets you with 10 minutes of making sure permissions like 'edit permission group' aren't checked.

Also some permissions should also be grouped under a 'master' permission, like 'Gui checked state changed', 'Gui click', 'Gui selection state changed', 'Gui text changed'. I'm not sure about all four, but 'checked' and 'selection state changed' definitely should be under one master permission, that can either be expanded or broken up when some 'advanced' checkbox is checked.

You can't edit permissions if you're not an admin. You can't even open the GUI to view them without being an admin.

[Rseding91]

The permissions system is a 1-1 mapping of actions that the game recognizes and the ability to execute them and is auto-generated from that list, parsed into words, and then sorted and shown.

It's probably never going to be grouped by what an action does because what a specific action actually does is not fixed and changes based off the context it's run in the game.

As such there is no documentation because it changes too frequently and would almost always be wrong. Additionally actions come and go as we work on each version when we need to send new data into the game from some GUI and constantly adding and removing all of the documentation at this stage in development would take too much time for the utility it provided.

Once 1.0 is much closer to being finalized we'll most likely add descriptions to each.

What I can do is provide a string import/export mechanic for easily setting up permissions in a new game. If people have other reasonable requests I can look into those.

Finally: the permissions system is meant to be a power-user feature. It's hidden behind a console command that you have to specifically know about so there's always going to be some level of knowledge you need to know before you try to use it outside of what the game is going to tell you.

[DRY411S]

<snip>
Once 1.0 is much closer to being finalized we'll most likely add descriptions to each.

What I can do is provide a string import/export mechanic for easily setting up permissions in a new game. If people have other reasonable requests I can look into those.<snip>

Thank you for considering this request.

I'd welcome a string import/export feature. If it was JSON like and we could have freeform on what order we imported the fields, then it would go some way to us as individuals being able to organise the settings in groups rather than alphabetically.