Choose What's Included in "Alt" vs. Always On

morsk · Post by **morsk** » Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:00 am

TL;DR

: factorio-alt-toggle.png (8.2 KiB) Viewed 2532 times

What ?

I want it to be like the debug options (F4, F5) where we choose what we want always on, vs. what's toggled on.

Why ?

Seeing recipes on machines helps make machines look different. I never don't want to see the recipes. Maybe a dev taking screenshots for promotional art does, but who else does, ever?

But I usually don't want to see the modules. Since my first newbie game, 3 years ago, I've felt it was a tragedy that modules start covering the machines. Today, it's even worse, because Chemical Plants have the cool glass part that gets covered.

The current system doesn't really feel like a toggle that lets me choose "less" vs. "more", but more like "taking a promotional screenshot" vs. "how you want to play". But I do have two different levels of detail I want to see.

5thHorseman · Post by **5thHorseman** » Thu Jun 18, 2020 1:05 am

Love this idea. I'd instantly turn non-alt mode into "alt-mode lite" and alt-mode into everything on.

valneq · Post by **valneq** » Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:15 am

+1
I'd love to turn alt-mode off permanantly. The overlays just obsucre the view on the gorgeous HR graphics.

However, playing without recipes visualized on assembling machines and as well as contents of chests, the game is really difficult.
I don't want recipes on chemplants, nor refineries. I usually feel those are kind of obvious. Plus chemplants have tints for their recipes.

Speaking of which: Were we not supposed to get redesigned assembling machines? If the redesign allows for an identification of both the recipes and the modules used, maybe this suggestion could help me reduce alt-mode to chests only.

Serenity · Post by **Serenity** » Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:29 pm

Great suggestion

And yeah, even more granularity would be good too. With chem plants being color coded now (liquid and smoke) they don't need to show the recipes while assemblers do. Also you just have a lot more assemblers than chem plants.
Furnaces don't really need the icons either once you stop filling them per hand.

Impatient · Post by **Impatient** » Fri Jun 19, 2020 1:22 pm

+1
Oh that is a very smart suggestion. I would turn on everything in ALT-mode, including modules in beacons and fluid type overlay. And maybe still have some infos in the other mode. For most of the time, I am interested in the condensed information on the factory, not so much in nice graphics.

Also, options are always a good thing, as tastes and needs differ, this thread being a good example.

Side note: The word "Always" as mode name, doesn't make sense and in the worst case could lead to misunderstandings, as per your suggestion, what is shown there can be deactivated in ALT-mode. "Normal" or "Non-ALT" would be appropriate imo.

foamy · Post by **foamy** » Sun Jun 21, 2020 8:03 pm

Yes please. I'd love a 'recipes and chest contents only' version of altmode.

(The FF notwithstanding I'd also appreciate it if modules could be integrated into the standard graphics for every entity that supports them and keep them in alt mode for when you're extensively zoomed. The ideal would be to, without having to hit any particular button, know exactly what your factory is making and how it is set up to do so.)

Post by **ssilk** » Sun Jun 21, 2020 11:57 pm

This has a third dimension, if we would distinct between normal view, minimal-view and map-view.

Options ideas
- the current map-things (roboport coverage, pollution, electric network...)
- more stuff like show robots, on map, show rail signals... (currently in debug view)
- new stuff like showing lamps on map...

morsk · Post by **morsk** » Fri Sep 08, 2023 11:47 am

Re-upping this because the "Quality" in the coming expansion adds yet another thing we might want to toggle in/out of. Alt mode could be a useful toggle between 2 ways we like to look at the game.

Nyrrix · Post by **Nyrrix** » Wed Nov 27, 2024 3:32 pm

This feels like a perfect 2.1 suggestion for polishing the game.

I'd specifically like to see an "Quality of entities" toggle (for machines and trains and such) and a "Quality of items" toggle (anything on a belt, in a chest, and etc.). I'd definitely have the entities toggled off 90% of the time.

It also make the alt-toggle far more useful. Currently, I have both the hot-key and the toolbar shortcut hidden for alt-mode and only ever use the little menu button in the toggle list for hot-bar shortcuts to enable alt mode or not. Having a permanent on feature would get me to use alt mode as a custom x-ray sight.

Peevester · Post by **Peevester** » Wed Nov 27, 2024 6:33 pm

Add wiring to this dialogue too. I would love to hide wires when not wiring something up.

Tinyboss · Post by **Tinyboss** » Wed Nov 27, 2024 7:27 pm

Yes. I would really love a third mode as well. We could cycle between them with alt.

I'd have pretty much nothing but recipes in my alt mode, and literally everything in super-alt. But I don't want to give up the clean mode either.

Or if that's too complicated, let me see every possible thing while alt is held.

Clair · Post by **Clair** » Thu Nov 28, 2024 7:21 am

Surprised "quality" isn't in that toggle list, cause lemme tell you... it gets bad.

The funniest thing is that a chest's quality actually draws over the bottom-left item in the chest if there's 4 items.

Taken from reddit:

: chrome_2024-11-28_01-19-19.png (507.64 KiB) Viewed 188 times

typecasto · Post by **typecasto** » Sat Dec 07, 2024 12:13 am

Seeing recipes on machines helps make machines look different. I never don't want to see the recipes. Maybe a dev taking screenshots for promotional art does, but who else does, ever?

I often do this because it's easier to see if a machine is working or not, I turn alt mode off and look at my factory and I can see which machines aren't animating at a glance.

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