Time for NEI? / Inventory Search Bar

[motytheultimate]

This "Inventory Search Bar" is joined. Exceptional this is the former article, so this post comes before the originating article. Hope, nobody gets confused. ßilk

Good day everyone,

I wanted to ask if it were possible to add a small search bar to your inventory so that you can search for the names of buildings and so on

That would be really nice

[Qcor]

I've been playing vanilla Factorio for quite some time and just recently decided that it's time to try some mod packs. My choice was ShadowMegaModpack to be precise but that is beside the point - this problem is universal too all big mod packs.

After playing for about 12h one thing became painfully obvious: the right part of inventory window (I mean crafting section) is just a giant MESS. Please don't get me wrong - I don't blame mod authors because they obviously try their best to group items into categories.
My point is, despite of their efforts, sooner or later we will get to a point where number of items/crafting recipes will be so huge that we will just drown in it.... and IMHO we already reached that point.

Currently used method of grouping items "is" (or rather "WAS") good enough for lets say 3 big.. maybe 6 small mods. If fact this reminds me of early days of Minecraft... and guess what - today instead of 3-6 mods in a pack we have ones containing well above 120 mods.
Now think for a second about how our crafting window would look like with so many mods (and lets hope that Factorio modding scene will come to that point of growth ). Finding anything would be virtually impossible without in-depth knowledge of every single mod.

Finally - to the point, and why I mention NEI in the title.
For those of you who doesn't know what is this "NEI" please read spoiler section below.

NEI is one of the mods for Minecraft. One which basically is included in every single mod pack because playing without it would be just horrible.
Here you have some random spotlight of it to get an idea of what it actually is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcOAfK7891M

Sooo.. In my honest opinion this is exactly what we need now to solve that problem. Pretty much every functionality of NEI would be GREAT to have in factorio. To be precise:

1) ability to search items (ALL items, not just ones already researched) by typing words. And I mean search not only within item name but also its tooltip etc.

Example:
I'm new to a modpack, I just started and I'm interested what are my options in terms of generating power. So I type in "generat" and I can see ALL types of lets say " Steam generator MK XX" but (what's even more important) also "Wind turbine" because in its tooltip contains lets say "Generates XX up to YY power depending on wind strength"
And there you have it - one simple "query" and I know all my options.. now I can easily
a) check recipes and determine which options are good to start with as in viable in early game
b) compare those options in terms of efficiency etc without clicking back and forth between tabs/groups/whatever
c) plan my research direction based on above comparisons

2) ability to search where item/fluid X can be used.

Example:
Again, I'm new to a modpack. It's the first time I see lets say LAVA. I type in 'lava' and click it - booom, I can see ALL recipes in which lava is used, all generators which accept lava, all machines which can extract it etc.. you see my point here.
It's like having a tutorial without actually writing one by mod author.

3) ability to search all possible ways of getting an item (all recipes)

Example:
Something simple, lets say iron plate. In vanilla it was simple, mine it->smelt it. Now as it turns out you can actually mine->wash->smelt, or mine->centrifuge->smelt ooor mine->crush-smelt and god knows what else.. I had no idea... if I did I'd plan my base in other way. Not to mention that at this moment you not only have no idea about all those options but also you can't even compare them in a civilized way


ALL THAT without even knowing any of the installed mods. This kind of 'quality of life' improvement is just mind blowing. Because lets be honest - when you have 5 mods installed you can expect players to read forum guides or watch a spotlights of all 5 mods. When you have 10+ it's just no longer an option. Player MUST have an option to easily navigate between tons of items/recipes.


Bottom line is - in my opinion it is the only way to go. No amount of tabs/groups will fix this problem. In the end the amount of time needed to click thru all tabs to find a recipe will just exceed the time needed to do it by typing in the name of the item you seek... and honestly this kind of improvement is IMO so important that it should be a part of vanilla functionality, not even a mod, but that is another story.

So.. what do YOU think?
And also am I the only crazy one here who spent first hour of gameplay clicking like madman thru whole research tree trying to figure out what is new in the pack and where to start? Then finally was like "oookkk, I think I get it now" only to play for the next few hours just to realize the sad fact that 'You know NOTHING John..."

[L0771]

I think is a very hard work, is possible with a new GUI (starting with [player].openedself), main inventory will be useless, but you can't change the order of recipes only with the game started.
The problem is, begin to craft when you click in the item ([player].craftingqueuesize is only readable).
i think can work with Test mode, with a version without creative-mode (or can be toggle in the game)

Finding anything would be virtually impossible without in-depth knowledge of every single mod.

This is the sad truth.

[orzelek]

I'd propose moving this to ideas/suggestions forum.
Feature like this would need to be integrated into game on C++ level.

And I agree that it would be very useful.

[Qcor]

Well I suspected that much. If it was easy someone would probably already done it.

But I'm sure the Factorio DEVs are aware of that and probably would listen to reason. If it is hard/impossible to do such an important thing then well.. it's a design flaw and should be fixed.

I realize that I sound harsh and even like an angry kid sth along the lines of "You MUST do it because I say so! .. NOW!" but please bare with me for a second and I'll do my best to defend that statement.

We live in times where the success of the game, ESPECIALLY of sandbox-type, is measured mainly by its potential for modding and how good MP it has. I'm sure most of ppl will agree with me on that.
Lets be honest - the vanilla Factorio is great and will be even better when it will launch into space and all that fun stuff BUT its replay potential is still very low. Ofc each time you can generate different world and change difficulty to some degree but it is still the same game.
That is why the strong modding community is absolutely crucial to keep it alive on the market.
For that to become true you need to meet certain requirements as a game developer. Among those requirements you will find
1) good groundwork (which I believe Factorio already has)
2) easy and robust modding possibilities ( which from what I understand is still not good enough )


Please don't yell at me for bringing Minecraft as an example here but I will do it anyway, simply because IMHO it is a great example of how even really really basic and boring vanilla gameplay was enough to make huge success on the market simply only because of modding community. It is just mind blowing what mod devs do these days BUT ONLY IF YOU ALLOW THEM and give them PROPER TOOLS to do so.

So again - I'm certain that Factorio devs are aware of those things and they will be willing to help you (modders) in any way they can. Probably all you have to do is to ask them nicely .. really .
Just tell them ' Hey, we are at a point where this interface is just not good enough and we have trouble making a new one because of XX and YY. Could you make it easier for us?' I just can't imagine them saying "NO" to this.

No one from staff will probably read this but maybe someone closer to them will read this and relay the message.

[ssilk]

Well, I really don't understand, why you are posting it in Ideas and Requests For Mods. That are requests for MODs. What you want is a change in the game. I'll link this to suggestions.

The things you are looking for are already there: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=69

That needs to be implemented somehow.

I want surely not need to type something obscure. My opinion.

[Flextt]

Qcor, I think you should have explained the functionality of "Not Enough Items", instead of leaving it to some youtube video.

At its core, NEI is a quality of life tool used in Minecraft and modded Minecraft. It is a crafting recipe database, which is capable of displaying the recipe for each item, modded or not. Items are organized in a grid to the right of the inventory screen. Because you can only fit so many items on that screen section, they are organized by pages. To improve its usability, NEI is equipped with a search bar, allowing quick and easy searches for specific items and access to their recipes. The recipes also cross-reference each other. Left-click allows you to see an item's recipe and its required resources, Right-click allows you to see an item's use in its more advanced recipes.

Why is this useful? Because the volume of recipes and items in Factorio is probably going to grow. So is the amount of mods, as OP said.

However, Minecraft is not a game where you need huge volumes of items per time. A pure recipe-database would probably be lacking in game like Factorio, since most players use well-equipped busses and can easily supply common materials. The difficulty lies in balancing in- and outputs. A NEI-equivalent should therefore include some sort of breakdown of a recipes required resources (e. g. x iron per time, y cogs per time, ...)

[ssilk]

You can be sure: If Factorio needs to group recipes in pages of ... 100 (?) per page, I'm the first, that leaves this game.

This is wrong, completely wrong, to have for each "tier" a new item. Well, many mods do it like so, but I believe, that is not the right way. Think for cars: I can have a car, for example a Mercedes 500 SL. Internally it is equipped with different types of motor, air-condition, wheels, color, .... thousand of more things. And this is not only working for cars, it is with nearly everything like so.

I'm researching into this direction now for some month. Kovarex told me, when I was in Prague: Items, which contains items would be a minimal change.

That's the way I want to go: Things change behavior when equipped with other things, for example equipped with modules (to keep in Factorio language). My opinion.

[Qcor]

@Flextt - Very nice explanation, thx.

@Ssilk - you are probably right in that too many items is not a good thing in general. It would be nice to go more in a 'modular' item types of items instead of simply adding more items, that's for sure.

But the main point here is not the ability to put all items into scrollable tabs but the ability to
1) search and filter items
2) easy navigation thru crafting recipes, back and forth as Flextt described it.

I'll try to explain what I mean exactly. The problem lies in lets call it "number of operations required to learn how to make certain item".
What I mean by that, to simply put it, is how much time and clicks does it 'cost' me to learn the production chain.

I assume that player is not familiar with installed mods aka he/she doesn't know the recipes. At this moment the algorithm for doing that looks like this:
1) I want to make item A. I can see that it requires item X, Y and Z.
2) Now I have to find how to make items X, Y and Z... so how to find them?? I have to search thru MANY many icons (and btw some of them are grayed out to make things worse).
On top of that I'm not even sure if it is there (maybe I haven't researched it yet)
..and on top of that I'm not sure in which tab to look for it
.... and on top of that even if I finally find it I'm not sure if that is the only way/recipe to get this item because 2 mods might provide 2 different recipes for it...
..so finally I end up clicking like mad thru most of the tabs.

And now repeat step 1) and 2) as many times as needed (which may be like 10 times EASILY). By the time you get to the bottom of the tree you already forgot was needed in the beginning... and that's only to learn about ONE ITEM.

Now imagine how much easier and faster would it be to do it like Flextt described it:

... a search bar, allowing quick and easy searches for specific items and access to their recipes. The recipes also cross-reference each other. Left-click allows you to see an item's recipe and its required resources, Right-click allows you to see an item's use in its more advanced recipes

Once again, just to let it be clear - this is a problem only in modded game. Number of items and their complexity in vanilla is still low enough that current gui is good enough.

[SHiRKiT]

I "think" I remember seeing somewhere in the past year that they plan to add a better menu interface that would solve things like this. IF they will implement it it's another topic, but I'm pretty sure they have a plan to do so. I remember that it was a discussion around the Foreman tool.

[slpwnd]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I agree that this is quite important. Namely:

1) To be able to find the recipe reasonably fast.

2) To be able to get good information about the recipe. This would include the ability to "click" on references mentioned in the recipe (at the moment not possible because the recipe info is shown only in the tooltip).

We have plans for improving the Technology tree for 0.13. This is actually kind of related in a sense of organising the information better. So I have put it on our Ideas list and there is a good possibility we will to do something about it soon (meaning after 0.12).

[Qcor]

AWESOME news!

Wow, you guys rock! I didn't even think that anyone from staff will read that wall of text.
That level of developer <-> community interaction is just the_best_thing_ever!

[ssilk]

Moved to Ready for Implementation

[hideki_elko]

For the inventory there should be some kind of quick find bar for typing that will highlight the items related to the search, for crafting there should be the same thing to make finding things much easier, and for the research, it should be able to be divided into science pack requirements with buttons that you can toggle such as red green blue purple and having the red only one clicked will only show research that requires only red science packs if you click red and green then it should show only research that require red and green science packs and so on.

[ssilk]

Joined previous post.

[Maxer]

Joined -- ssilk

Hello Factorians!
It is my first post on forums, in game over 200+ hours.

First idea is to implement Search box to the Creation window like i presented in the screenshot.
Player would type in search box the name or letter of item he needs and maching items would sort underneath by the key-word given:
I got to this idea because it takes too much time to get to the right item when you have many mods installed and many items researched.

Second idea is to make a box with 5 last clicked created items, logistic system items.
Example 1: Created items
It would speed up the building of factiories when you often use same items on one build and do not have to click on 5 different categories and search for the same item to build (f.eg. chest, inserter, transport belt, assembling machine)

Example 2: Logistic System
When using smart inserter you have to search for the same item two times when you want to set the item to be picked and the condition for the item ( > < = ).

These are my ideas after long game, they would surely give more gameplay and fun to the game and less time in searching the menus for the right item.

Pozdrawiam
Maxer

[aka13]

Nice bump, see first article: This was older. Exceptional joined in this order. ßilk

Good day everyone,

I wanted to ask if it were possible to add a small search bar to your inventory so that you can search for the names of buildings and so on

That would be really nice

Bump, this feature would be nice.

[voyta]

I'm aware following is not exactly what you are looking for, but there are other approaches to "find specific item":
in vanilla factorio, there isn't that many items, and in inventory they always sort in the same order. you can also find the item in crafting menu (always on the same spot), mouse over it, and if you have any items of that type in your inventory or toolbelt, they will all keep flashing.

[netmc]

One of the things I've run in to related to this and mods, is that sometimes, you aren't exactly sure what exactly is shown in the tooltip. When learning a new mod, it's sometimes hard to tell exactly what machine is required to make the item, and what the product inputs and outputs exactly are. The icons are shown, but when learning a mod, one doesn't always know what that white spikey blob is.

Right now, you have to place down one of the supposed machines, then select the recipe (if you have researched it), then place the tooltip over the input and output slots to discover what items you actually need, then follow the chain back to what you have, and repeating everything for each step. I would love to see some kind of recipe lookup that will let you see the in-game recipe as well as bring up the details in the tooltip so you can see the specifics of what machine you need as well as the input and output items without having to actually place one of the said machines in-game and selecting the recipe.

[ssilk]

It was mentioned in http://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-131 under Roadmap for 0.13: "Search field (recipes, technologies, filters, stations and maybe more)"

So we can assume it's implemented for 0.13 now.