[Patch] less clicks (r14400)

[sulai]

Hi There,

The game flow of OpenTTD suffers from too many unnecessary mouse clicks. This patch does many things to improve that and make things more consistent within the OTTD GUI.

This patch is all about saving clicks. The player can do the same stuff as before, but with less clicks, which makes gaming experience smoother and less annoying. Best example: you try to build a bus station, consisting of 20 tiles... you have to click that "build bus station" button 20 times: click button - build - click button - build - ... This patch makes the button persistent so all you have to do is: click button - build - build - build - ...

There are many different places in the game where to save clicks. Here a complete list of changes:

Vehicle Orders Window

• - Quick Goto:
  • Go To Button is auto active and persistent;
    - Ctrl+click on station creates a "full load" entry.
    - Ctrl+click on depot creates a "service" order.
    - Ctrl+click on waypoint creates a "stop"/"nonstop" order.
  - modify last given order: You can modify the latest entry you just created in the list. Together with quick goto you can do the following in 5 clicks: open orders window, click on a station A, click on "Full Load", click on station B, click on "Unload".

Station Window
- There is no "Ratings" or "Accepts" button anymore. Instead, both rating and accepted cargo are shown in one window. Window size adapts automatically to the amount of shown ratings.

Building tools
Most building tools are now persistent, like "build roads/tracks" has always been:
- Build buttons for stations, Depots, tunnels, bridges, docks, buoys stay active
- Ctrl-Drag Bridge: instantly build fastest available.
- plant trees: random trees preselected

[planetmaker]

(...saving clicks...)
Building tools
Most building tools are now persistent, like "build roads/tracks" has always been:
- Build stations, Depots, tunnels, bridges, docks, buoys stay active
- Ctrl-Drag Bridge: instantly build fastest available.
- plant trees: random trees preselected

Nice stuff!

I propose to use "build the same bridge type as last time" instead of "fastest". Allows faster eye candy and is no difference, if you seleced a tubular bridge. It's a shameless plug of mine, I know

[sulai]

Here are some in-game screenshots of the patch. I personally like th reorganized station window most. If you open the station window you want to click the "Ratings" button in 80% of all cases. What about a window like this:

gui_station.png (26.33 KiB) Viewed 6852 times

The following screenshot shows how you can modify your last given order entry. no need to click every entry after wards. just click the station and what you want the vehicle to do there:

modify_last_given_order.png (75.1 KiB) Viewed 6830 times

It combines with Quick goto very well.
The "plant tree" buttons is one of many examples where an unnecessary mouse click was saved. Random trees are preselected.

persistent buttons.png (32.92 KiB) Viewed 6824 times

[dbkblk]

That would be a very simple & nice idea for the trunk !

[athanasios]

Nice!
Only I am thinking if we could simplify the station window: Rating and Waiting to get merged somehow.

[PikkaBird]

Fewer.

/grammarnazi

[DaleStan]

Indeed. Clicks are countable.

[MJS]

CTRL-click on a depot might autoselect 'Service at...', maybe.

[SirXavius]

I love this idea, but it could be made even better by combining a vehicle's route and info windows. My normal routine is to build a vehicle, create its route, then name it (i use a numbering system so i can keep up with when the vehicle needs to be replaced). Click to choose route window, click on stations of destinations (or the vehicle whose manifest i will be copying), click on vehicle viewport, click to choose info window, click on "Name", type in vehicle ID and <ENTER>, click to close window. Boy' i'd love to streamline this with a few keystrokes or a couple less clicks for each new vehicle.

You have a good patch. Can you expand it?


BTW, does the windows binaries .zip contain the complete official release with the new patch?

[CommanderZ]

BTW, does the windows binaries .zip contain the complete official release with the new patch?

It surprisingly contains the patched SVN revision (it is the official source code with applied patch, bot any certain release).

[prissi]

This is very important and something I really think is needed.

(Although I feel that the usual commetn on UI improvement like "The are used to do it like this" will come up again. Personally, I still think the UI needs a lot of improvement and the idea here is a good one.)

[SirkoZ]

Beautiful, sulai!

Now to get it into the trunk...

[Gremnon]

Just a little pick, although it might just be my computer.
When a station window is open showing cargo waiting etc, the game slows down a little - and opening several slows it down further. 6 is about enough to almost kill the computers I've tried it on.
Using r14300 with just this patch.

[sulai]

Update to r14400 (see first post)

Just a little pick, although it might just be my computer.
When a station window is open showing cargo waiting etc, the game slows down a little - and opening several slows it down further. 6 is about enough to almost kill the computers I've tried it on.
Using r14300 with just this patch.

The window was set dirty on every paint. I removed this issue.

I share the idea of athanasios and others, that rating and waiting should be merged somehow.

I love this idea, but it could be made even better by combining a vehicle's route and info windows. My normal routine is to build a vehicle, create its route, then name it (i use a numbering system so i can keep up with when the vehicle needs to be replaced). Click to choose route window, click on stations of destinations (or the vehicle whose manifest i will be copying), click on vehicle viewport, click to choose info window, click on "Name", type in vehicle ID and <ENTER>, click to close window. Boy' i'd love to streamline this with a few keystrokes or a couple less clicks for each new vehicle.

You have a good patch. Can you expand it?

A conceptual idea about it: instead of renaming vehicles, put them in groups. Idea for a patch: when a group is selected, somehow say "put new vehicles in this group". This should save a lot of work since you don't need to rename anymore. Just buy and set the vehicle orders.

All changes:
- fixed station gui
- quick goto: ctrl+depot=service, ctrl+waypoint=nonstop

[Youri219]

Having lots of trains with 32 orders (alternating full load/normal) this patch is really amazing. Bridge building is real nice too. Having to deselect depots is something I still need to get used to, but that's only a small price to pay for such a great feature.

[SirXavius]

Note for you Windows 98 users: the .zip file above only works with higher than win9x...

I simply replaced the 2 files present in the .zip into my OTTD folder. Upon starting, i was told the application needs Windows NT or higher, or something to that effect. Would not run under Win98SE...

[sulai]

Note for you Windows 98 users: the .zip file above only works with higher than win9x...

Maybe you can apply the patch using BuildOTTD.

[Terkhen]

I love this patch!. I hope we get a version for latest trunk soon.

[planetmaker]

I like this patch, too (as you might have noted, sulai )
Maybe, it's an idea to break it up into a few patches like the quick goto, a random tree, persistant build tools, station gui.... patches. Did I miss anything? It makes it easier to keep track of the changes and maybe enhances chances for trunk inclusion
EDIT: or keep both, a combined version and the single ones

[sulai]

Nice to hear you like it =) Here are the two missing single patches. All other patches are available somewhere. quickgoto and ctrl+drag bridge have their own forum threads. station_gui is on the first post of this thread.
Isn't persistent building the same like "persistent buttons"?
modify_last_given_order is nice to have it in the game, but it's quite intrusive code.