Toggle ghost mode explicitly

[ikarikeiji]

So now we have the ghost placement from toolbar without needing to hold the item it got me thinking.

We have this suggestion: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65822 Automatically switch from ghost to real item (in hand) when one becomes available

We all need to be able to place a) actual items, and b) ghosts. Currently which one depends on whether we had any items when we selected the toolbar slot, and we use shift it it gave us a real item and we want a ghost.

This makes sense from a pre-0.17 perspective, but I would suggest the following...

Toolbar click always selects that entity, without selecting whether it should be real or ghost.
A separate button in the new action bar, like the alt toggle, toggles whether to place real or ghost entities.
Clicking in real mode always either places a real item, or gives an error, if you have none left. Placing the last real item does NOT cancel the cursor.
Clicking in ghost mode always places ghosts.
Shift left click to place ghost is no longer needed and can be removed.
Similarly, when in ghost mode, right click would instantly mark a single entity for deconstruction, and would not mine anything.
Ghost mode toggle state would be remembered regardless of picking up or placing or selecting items, or any other action.

I think this would make building a lot easier, it would be easier to keep track of what mode you are in.

[neolithos]

The shift key, can toggle the prefered state. Early game vs. late game.

Currently, 1.17.4 it is realy enoying if you are running out of the selected item.

[ikarikeiji]

Yes, I'm aware of that.

My suggestion involves removing the shift toggle and replacing it with an explicit one.

[clements]

I think there should be a hotkey and a shortcut bar icon that when pressed puts the player into ghost building mode. In this mode, placing ghost entities rather than real entities is the default behaviour when you left-click. Shift + left-click would place a real entity.

Designing the factory using ghosts is a real pleasure. You can instantly delete ghosts if you make a mistake. The cut, copy and paste tools are excellent. You can design without having the entity in your inventory, then count everything you will need by making a blueprint. You don't have to worry about your reach.

Currently, when I design a big new part of my base, I build a few chests and deposit my entire inventory in them, so that I can place loads of ghosts without holding down shift the entire time. Having a ghost building mode would be super convenient and encourage players to try out all the awesome ghost building features.

[Koub]

Oh so you want a toggle switch Real Entity Mode <=> Ghost Mode, in order not to keep Shift pressed all the time you build ghosts (a bit like Caps Lock and Shift work), right ?

[clements]

Yes, exactly right!

[kristapsa]

Hi!

TL;DR

A hotkey to toggle ghost mode on/off as alternative to holding down Shift key

What?

Using Shift key to place ghosts (while items are in inventory) is fine and all but it quickly gets tedious when planning out a 1000+ block outpost. I would love for the ghost placement mode to have a toggle in addition to the "hold" mode via Shift key. It could be toggled by the Caps Lock key or by double-tapping Shift, and probably have some sort of indication in the quickbar shortcuts section.

Alternatively it could be a Hold/Toggle setting like in many FPS/TPS games -- do you want Ghost placement mode with Shift key to require holding it down, or do you want it to be a toggle?

Why?

There seem to be a few other proposals and mods for "planning modes" and all sorts of things but those are of much bigger scope than this suggestion, and an overkill for me personally. I like the existing Ghost placement mode just fine, I just don't want to keep holding the Shift key down for several minutes at a time -- hence the toggle suggestion.

I tried looking at the mods but didn't find anything that would do this -- only found some with heavyweight planning modes which isn't what I'm looking for.

Thanks!

[Koub]

[Koub] Merged topics with same suggestion.

[ctrlaltdel02]

I'm here for same idea, +1 from me.

[ssilk]

This is a bit off-topic.

The need for that shows me that your playstyle is mainly building on new ground. Me prints mainly over existing stuff. And when I think over it I found it very important to have the feedback of “is there something which is in the way”.

I need to see WHAT is in the way. And WHERE (ridiculous difficult with larger blueprints). Because a single belt in the wrong direction can ruin my nicely printed (with shift) blueprint completely. But that can be overseen very quickly (meanwhile I use the map view very often, to look where the colliding items areM which is +1 better than before, but still quite complicated).

Nevertheless, I really need to quickly switch between these two modes and I fear that if this suggestion gets implemented, that this need could be quite cumbersome to achieve.

[mekhami]

Adding a shortcut to toggle between ghost and regular mode instead of requiring the player to hold down the shift key would be a huge boon. A lot of people design entirely in ghost mode before placing things with bots, and the requirement to constantly hold shift with the weakest finger on your hand is a repetitive stress injury nightmare.

Similarly, Minecraft (finally!) implemented the ability to toggle between sneak/walk/run and it's glorious. Less RSI is better!

[Koub]

[Koub] Merged into older thread with same suggestion.

[mrvn]

Adding a shortcut to toggle between ghost and regular mode instead of requiring the player to hold down the shift key would be a huge boon. A lot of people design entirely in ghost mode before placing things with bots, and the requirement to constantly hold shift with the weakest finger on your hand is a repetitive stress injury nightmare.

Similarly, Minecraft (finally!) implemented the ability to toggle between sneak/walk/run and it's glorious. Less RSI is better!

In Minecraft this is a setting. Depending on your playstyle you can set it to toggle or hold. I think that would work well for factorio too.

My suggestion would be to keep the current behavior that the game automatically switches to ghosts when you are out of items. Pressing shift when holding a real item goes to ghost mode. But extend that so that pressing shift while in ghost mode switches to the real item if possible.

And then have a player setting whether pressing shift toggles the mode or needs to be held for the mode change.

Pressing "q" on an item and "Q" could also give different modes. "q" like now and "Q" for ghosts.

[ssilk]

I for example use https://mods.factorio.com/mod/CursorEnhancements for automatic ghost transitions.

[mpgoodwin2]

I have no idea of the work involved, and I have no idea if it would even be attractive to play, but I would so like to be able to look at my factory from a "board game" perspective...

I have in excess of 3000 hours in my factories, but have noticed that some keyboard shortcuts get quite painful when getting to the later stages of the game (I will more or less continually be holding down left shift), and that is perhaps where I think being able to switch mode would be nice.

Perhaps it could all be fixed by being able to remap the blueprint shortcuts to not involve always using my little finger.

/G

[ssilk]

joined with existing topic

In my eyes the shift-lock-key would be the ideal candidate for this kind of switching.

[Warmed]

joined with existing topic

In my eyes the shift-lock-key would be the ideal candidate for this kind of switching.

True !
Maybe a better option would be to add an explicit keybind in the "Control" section in the Menu,
for both the current ghost mode (Shift by default) and "continuous" ghost mode (ShiftLock by default).

We already have Toggle "Alt-Mode" wich is bind to Alt by default,
why can't we have "Ghost Mode" and "Toggle Ghost Mode" ?
Or am I missing something ?