Important question about controls (especially for disabled people)

[MrBrain]

Hello! I'm disabled and current keyboard+mouse control is very inconvienent for me, think I am not the only one with health problems and many healthy people also would like to use slternative control schemes, also i think that this game should have RTS or RPG like controls, current half shooter controls is pretty strange. Here what i thought can be done pretty easy without big changes, i couldn't play a lot so i may be wrong in some cases:

1. Mouse only controls:

a) Walking may be done by holding or clicking rmb, may be toggled in options.
b) Delete buildings by toggle a new button, like in RTS, may also be done by mmb.
c) Button to toggle autofire, may also be done by mmb if not set as b).
d) Close button to all windows, actually i don't know why it is not already here.
e) Rotating may be done by wheel when you hold or point on an object, may also be done by mmb if not set as b) or c).
d) Button to toggle inventory, like in RPG.
All these things may be added separately if not possible to add all at once for now.

2. Gamepad support

Actually i haven't seen any things yet which can't be done via gamepad, one stick to move, another to point cursor.

I posted this suggestions on steam and factorio forums but looks like devs haven't seen them and now the game is close to release I want to ask:

1. Someone heard that they have some plans to improve current controls or add alternative controls?
2. How can I write these suuggestions and questions to them personally so I can be sure that devs at least will know about this "flaw" and maybe think about it?
3. Maybe there is a mod that do something like that?

[REZ₪NIK]

Go to r/factorio and speak with the devs directly.

[piccolo255]

Ways to contact the devs are described on https://www.factorio.com/contact

You could try sending them an email to [e-mail] and explaining your situation. It may prod them to reconsider alternative control schemes.

Though if they didn't respond to the suggestion on official forums, your chances may be slim.

[MrBrain]

Thx! I'll try both methods and if devs answer me i'll update my post. I think that so popular game may be planned for other platforms later and devs maybe have some plans on it already, they just not very important now for them.

[piccolo255]

Originally posted by MrBrain:

Thx! I'll try both methods and if devs answer me i'll update my post. I think that so popular game may be planned for other platforms later and devs maybe have some plans on it already, they just not very important now for them.

I may be misremembering, but IIRC the devs have explicitly said that no other platforms are planned because controls would be a nightmare... I hope I'm misremembering, because that would also mean that your request is unlikely to be implemented, which would in turn mean disabled people won't be able to play this gem. Fingers crossed for my bad memory, eh?

[vts6482]

Originally posted by piccolo255:

I may be misremembering, but IIRC the devs have explicitly said that no other platforms are planned because controls would be a nightmare...

Unless you are comfortable with using a few dozen buttons on a mouse, playing without a keyboard would indeed be a "nightmare". But adding a "move to cursor" binding wouldn't hurt - several people have asked for it.

[MrBrain]

Originally posted by vts6482:

Originally posted by piccolo255:

I may be misremembering, but IIRC the devs have explicitly said that no other platforms are planned because controls would be a nightmare...

Unless you are comfortable with using a few dozen buttons on a mouse, playing without a keyboard would indeed be a "nightmare". But adding a "move to cursor" binding wouldn't hurt - several people have asked for it.

But so much as i played i haven't seen any core function except move that can be done only on keyboard and cannot be done by 1-2 extra mouse buttons, all actions can be done even with 2 buttons by adding some new interface elements as i wrote above.

Anyway, only by adding ability to move with mouse game will become be played with mouse only + virtual keyboard and some other people i think would like this addition.

And speaking of other platforms, even Kerbal space program and Cities: skylines go to other platforms so nothing is impossible =)

[TNTFTB]

I have the same problem, can only use the mouse. 2 Years ago tried the demo unsuccessfull. Maybe there are any mods?

[vts6482]

Originally posted by MrBrain:

Originally posted by vts6482:

Unless you are comfortable with using a few dozen buttons on a mouse, playing without a keyboard would indeed be a "nightmare". But adding a "move to cursor" binding wouldn't hurt - several people have asked for it.

But so much as i played i haven't seen any core function except move that can be done only on keyboard and cannot be done by 1-2 extra mouse buttons, all actions can be done even with 2 buttons by adding some new interface elements as i wrote above.

Anyway, only by adding ability to move with mouse game will become be played with mouse only + virtual keyboard and some other people i think would like this addition.

And speaking of other platforms, even Kerbal space program and Cities: skylines go to other platforms so nothing is impossible =)

After playing for a while, I regularly use 20-30 of the keyboard shortcuts. Yes, many of those can/could be done with on-screen buttons but those would take too long to mouse over each time. In my mind, it would be very a very ineffective way to play. That said, I agree that a 'move to cursor' binding should be added for those who want it.

[TNTFTB]

@vts6482 it's not a choice

[MrBrain]

Originally posted by vts6482:

After playing for a while, I regularly use 20-30 of the keyboard shortcuts. Yes, many of those can/could be done with on-screen buttons but those would take too long to mouse over each time. In my mind, it would be very a very ineffective way to play. That said, I agree that a 'move to cursor' binding should be added for those who want it.

Of course i played not much but i think it's possible to play and enjoy without many shortcuts, just not on hard modes maybe, like in different RTS.

[Name Lips]

I have a friend who lost an arm in a motercycle accident, and he has many of the same complaints. He basically can't play any computer game that can't be played entirely with the mouse. He used to love the old school original DOOM because you could make one button move forward, and the other one shoot, and that was good enough to play on low difficulty.

At the very least you should consider purchasing a mouse that has a lot of programmable buttons. There are some that have an entire grid of programmable buttons on the side for your thumb, and I knew a guy who programmed them to run his World of Warcraft macros. That should work for a game like factorio -- most of the commands involve simply typing a letter, which should be easy to program to a mouse button.

Click-to-move is a good idea, since putting WASD on the mouse would be a huge pain. I wonder if it's possible to do that via mods.

There is also an internet community based on building alternate controllers for disabled people. They might have some ideas, I know they have modded some one-handed console controllers.

Edit: there is a Factorio mod Long Reach, which isn't a real solution but should still help. It lets you build, click, and interact anywhere on the screen, not just in a tiny radius around your character. This will reduce (but obviously not completely remove) the amount of WASD moving around you are doing.

[Martin Harris]

This is a very good idea, I see how the controls can be very annoying and a clicking based movement system would work very nice.

[MrBrain]

@Name Lips yeah, yeah, i've played some "walking simulators" only with a mouse with 4 extra buttons without any problem, for shooters it is harder but possible too) Of course devs cannot make action games possible to play for everyone, but Factorio is more like RTS/RPG kind of game, that's why i think that more mouse control will fit the game perfectly, make game more comfortable for all, and maybe even some more people will buy it (i bought it anyway, no matter how hard it'll be for me to play).

I haven't heard about special controllers for disabled people, i should search for them, thx! But i can play in all games i want with standart controls, i just cannot play long with K+M and in shooters i usually use 1 key to walk, Factorio is very long game (with learning) and you must use 4 buttons all the time to walk, that's the problem. And thx for mod info too! If devs won't do anything with controls i should use it.

[Killcreek2]

@MrBrain There are some 3rd-party mouse apps you could try, many of them feature advanced keybinding "profiles" you can setup per application. This would allow you to "shadow map" most of the keyboard hotkeys onto various mouse button combinations.

I use a freeware program called "X-mouse button control" ~ Homepage link[www.highrez.co.uk] ~ for various games / windows applications, as I suffer from intermittent shoulder / arm issues which can prevent me using both keyb and mouse at the same time.

This program is rather good imo, & lets you setup "layers" of different control mappings too.
Eg; for use with Factorio, you may have one control layer set to:
left click = A, right = D, thumb 1 = W, thumb 2 = S. (character movement)
With another layer set to left button = Lclick, right = Rclick, thumb 1 = R (rotate item), thumb 2 = Q (pipette tool). (construction)
& so on, with middle mouse (or a keyboard key) always reserved for "layer switching".

It also supports single clicks, double clicks, & sticky repeats / toggles. (I use this last one for chopping trees / deconstructing by hand, as it is often difficult for me to hold a button down and move the mouse ~ one click of thumb button 1, waft mouse around over trees, click again when finished.)


It might be worth investigating as a workaround, until / unless the devs add more accessibility options natively.

[MrBrain]

Originally posted by Killcreek2:

@MrBrain There are some 3rd-party mouse apps...

Thx for such detailed answer, i know this app, but it will made walking even harder than with virtual keyboard =\