More Multiplayer Servers Search Filters Options

[UpsideDownEye]

TL;DR

Add more options to the "search filters" tab in the "browse public games" menu.

Story (feel free to skip this)

Picture this situation: You join a public multiplayer game (after finishing Gelba in your single-player save so you are tired of space age) only to be met with space age game after space age game (or you don't have space age and want to filter these servers out). After finding a server without space age (finally), it has a ups of 15 and because of this, you decide to do something I legally cannot say. Once you have finished your grand escape from the FBI, you try again. This time you found a server with a ups above 45 and it isn't running space age (after a few hours). It takes a full minute to connect, but you don't think anything of it. Upon typing "hi" in the chat, your message does not appear. 3 seconds later, your message has appeared. The ups is 60 the game seems to be running fine, however upon asking the server owner how good their wi-fi is... they reply by talking about how amazing their mobile hotspot wi-fi is (it sucks). One quick trip to your therapist later (and an extended session), you try again at finding an at least uncommon quality multiplayer game. After 4 days straight (no sleep no eating no bathroom breaks) of searching for a good game, you find one that meets all your previous criteria for a good game, but nobody there speaks your language. 1 day later and people are beginning to make reservations to attend your funeral.

What?

I suggest 6 new filters for the "search filters" tab in the "browse public games" menu.
1. Space Age
2. Ups (Max) (includes box to type in (numbers only))
3. Ping (Max) (includes box to type in (numbers only))
4. Region (99% sure people are going to get mad at me for including this, but I'm going to mention this anyway (before you ask, its the honor system, no region lock or anything either).)
5. Host Uses Your Language (if the host's game language = what your game language is set to) (could also be a drop down menu)
6. Achievements (not in image cause this was a late thought and I don't have time to update the image for it) (more a no /editor check than anything else)

Incase it isn't clear what I'm pointing to...

11-16-2024, 20-46-05.png (8.26 KiB) Viewed 314 times

New(trademark) search filters tab!

factorioserverfindsuggestion.PNG (18.17 KiB) Viewed 314 times

The server create screen would also have to be updated to include regions if people are okay with it.

factorioserverfindsuggestionbooting.PNG (76.77 KiB) Viewed 314 times

Why?

I feel as if though I've lived through the aforementioned story many times in my Factorio experience (okay maybe not to the level of exaggeration I may have written but my point still stands). It feels as if though searching for a good server in public multiplayer is more tedious than quick. Sometimes I want to be able to click a button and learn there aren't any servers that meet my demands instead of manually going in and checking 1 by 1. Should I hit you with numbers on how much time this has taken out of my life? No?! Too bad I'm doing it anyway. I typically spend on average, 3h once I've found a game and revisit it 2 times. It takes me about 5m to change mods, reboot up the game, join the server, and then look around. About 75% of servers are space age right now (but if I filter to no mods that fixes it (but that also then excludes games running QOL mods)), 25% have mods I'm not happy with, 20% have UPS problems, 33% have ping issues, 50% don't speak a language I know, and another 50% just straight up suck for a different reason or another (these numbers are chosen based on how often i feel these happen). 75%+25%+20%+33%+50%+50%=97.5% (or 1/40) chance of me finding a server I'm not happy with. This means I spend 40*5=200 minutes each time I try to find a good game in Factorio multiplayer sifting through servers. 3(2+1)(60)/200=2.7:1 ratio of my time spent actually playing Factorio : time finding a good multiplayer server... Maybe I should just be thankful we have any filters at all.