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Please make menu hotkeys toggle windows


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I think the problem here is that the get/inventory window automatically uses letters of the alphabet as abbrevs for picking up items. Come to think of it, that may also be why we have the unfortunate interface decision that when you click on an item to pick it up, it goes straight to your inventory, whereas when you click on an item in inventory, it goes to the cursors.

 

Does anyone actually use the keyboard to pick items up off the floor? Maybe that just needs to go.

Edited by Slartibus
Sniped again. "Sniper" is much stronger on the forums than in the game, clearly.
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I tend to do most everything with the keyboard. Walking around being the exception & even that has only recently (past few games) been done by using the mouse. Prior to that when the only way of finding secret rooms was to bump into every wall space.... sigh.... I used the keyboard to move as for every step forward there had to be 1 to the side into the wall (or 2 if you were in a narrow hall).

 

In the same general ballpark of complaints is the one where it would have been nice if the letter to cast assorted spells stayed the same from one game to the next. I couldn't begin to count the number of times towards the end of the game when I was in a big fight & for my magic user I automatically typed "mt" to whack the big group of powerful enemies with Arcane Blow only to see that I had summoned a giant or some sort of undead being to run around on my side of the battlefield & generally just get in the way (yes I know there is the issue of new lower powered spells being added). Also, heading out of the cities my priest would often try to Dominate one of the gate guards leading to some rather awkward conversations with the local constabulary.... (typing "pp" thinking I was getting the Ward of Elements ("pr") set up like it would in A1EFtP).

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It is annoying to have to constantly stretch your pinky finger over there, especially when you're (like me) hitting "g" every few seconds in a new area to check for items. I could see how some would say this is a nitpick, but there's no good reason not to have these buttons toggle that I can see. (Same deal with the map hotkey.)

 

Regardless, I'm preparing my lawsuit seeking damages from Spiderweb for two decades of unnecessary pinky finger stretching. From reading this thread, I may take it class-action.

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there's no good reason not to have these buttons toggle that I can see.

You may not like the reason, but there are clearly some people who use the keyboard to pick up items. I'm guessing most players don't care one way or the other, but I'm not sure how "I don't want to have to hit (g, escape) instead of (g, g)" is a more compelling reason than "I don't want to have to switch between keyboard and mouse instead of just using keyboard."

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Ah, I forgot the whole issue of "g"/"i" also referring to a specific item to be picked up, and therefore conflicting with the toggle, which is a good reason not to implement the toggle feature. I'll have to find another pretext for a Spiderweb lawsuit that will attract international media coverage.

 

It is not a good reason. As I said before, you could simply exclude 'g' and 'i' from the up-picking-feature, leaving another 24 letters, which should really be more than enough.

 

I use and like the feature to pick up by typing, but I really can't see why leaving these 2 letters out should interfere with it.

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People are used to going through the letters in alphabetical sequence. (Just like you are used to hitting i/i from other games.) I guarantee you that if "g" and/or "i" were removed from that sequence there would be angry complaints here, too.

 

There could always be an option to toggle it, of course. Which sounds great -- but that takes more coding time away from something else.

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But you don't go through the letters in alphabetical order. Either you look which are worth anything and type the letter assigned to it, or if you pick up several items in a row you repeatedly type the same letter, as the items drop down replacing the ones picked up.

 

The time used to code this would be well worth it, I think, as it seems to be the most requested feature for years now.

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People keep saying that. It certainly hasn't been here. Where are you getting that from?

 

Well, I didn't do a statistical analysis - that's why I wrote 'it seems to be' instead of 'it is'. But I still got it from here as a long-time-lurker where I read it again and again. And the people that keep saying that, say it most of the time (if not always) after requesting this feature.

 

But the much more interesting point to me was the necessity of the alphabetical order. I really think the way it works you won't miss these 2 letters. So what about that?

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Does anyone actually use the keyboard to pick items up off the floor?

I honestly didn't remember for several seconds after reading this that there is any other way. I hardly ever use the mouse for anything except moving long distances, or things that require it.

 

People are used to going through the letters in alphabetical sequence. (Just like you are used to hitting i/i from other games.) I guarantee you that if "g" and/or "i" were removed from that sequence there would be angry complaints here, too.

Or! Make use of the almighty numpad, which is currently unuseable even for selecting conversation options, for reasons beyond the ken of either man or beast. Although that would mean showing only the first ten items instead of fifteen, I suppose.

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And the people that keep saying that, say it most of the time (if not always) after requesting this feature.

Yes, "a couple of people" are very focused on this request. Nobody else asks for it at all. There are any number of changes that have been far more widely requested. For example, better chitrach graphics ;)

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Ah, come on! Then it's 'a couple of people', I shouldn't have made that small side-comment. You keep ignoring the actual argument:

 

But you don't go through the letters in alphabetical order. Either you look which are worth anything and type the letter assigned to it, or if you pick up several items in a row you repeatedly type the same letter, as the items drop down replacing the ones picked up.

 

What's wrong about that?

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I don't think there's anything wrong with it, any more than the current system; but I can just as easily see people getting frustrated by that, because they are used to the alphabet in order, have some weird muscle memory interaction, I don't know. But I also don't know what's so awful about having to use escape to close a window.

 

In both cases, I vote for the status quo, because most players don't seem to care and I'd much rather SW's energies get put into improvements that actually matter for the game. Remember, this is essentially a one-programmer outfit, with a remarkably fast production cycle given that fact.

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