Quality of life improvement request

This is probably something that would be simple to implement, and would really be a massive benefit to anally retentive OCD people like me who have to have everything lined up perfectly.

Would it be possible to have a key which I can press and hold down, and as I now move my mouse, it restricts it so I can only move it along the grid in one of the 4 directions from the square I was on when I pressed it (or alternately highlights all the squares in the grid in all 4 directions from where I pressed it)? That way, if I want to make sure something lines up with something else, I can just move my mouse to the first one, hold down a key, and I can drag my mouse knowing that I am keeping it in a straight line and I wont end up a single square off and have to scream and reload my game that I forgot to save for the last 4 in-game days so I lose a ton of progress etc - you get the idea :smile:

Any possibility of that, Devs?

5 Likes

as one of your OCD brethren, I am absolutely onboard with a tool that helps me keep things perfectly aligned… I’m not entirely sure I understood your example, but I get the overall gist of your idea… :+1:

I guess I didn’t explain it properly. When you’re close up, you can see the individual voxel squares, right? And you can move the mouse around freely.

I want to be able to hold down a key with will constrain my mouse so I can only move it directly away from the square I was on when I pressed the key in one of the 4 cardinal directions, maintaining a straight line. This constraint will stop when I release the key. This means that if I want to build a new stockpile (say) which is aligned with an existing one, I just move the mouse to the corner of the existing one, hold down the key, and when I then move the mouse to where I will start a new stockpile, it will be level with the existing one.

Alternately, you could do it without restraint but on-screen indicators could pop up (like in photoshop) showing me how many squares away I am from the square I was in when I started holding down the button. So as I move away from the corner of the original stockpile, I’m looking for the readout to be zero on one of the two axis, so I know I’m aligned. This may even be better, because I can then check spacing as well as alignment.

Any clearer?

2 Likes

crystal … and I still concur… :smile:

For now, you can use the road tool as measuring tool, or line too. It’s what I do. when you want something perfectly aligned start at the square outside what your building to the square next to your next build. Then remove the phantom road.

2 Likes

You could also enable debug mode and press…F1 I believed? It shows chunks and I think it shows the individual voxels as well… I know that there is a visual in debug mode that could help!

depending what your placing down you can move it after its placed, if its a stockpile you could remove it and then place it again.

edit i also think this is a great idea, as im usually to lazy to check distance and stuff :wink: