Allow letter reassign for spell, skill and mindcraft list
issueid=4885 08-08-2017 07:21 PM
ixi ixi is offline
Junior Member
Number of reported issues by ixi: 51
Allow letter reassign for spell, skill and mindcraft list

Main idea:
Allow users to reassign letter on the skills, spells and mindcraft screens. This would give much more flexibility than current pageable lists with auto-assign and quickmark mechanics.

Preferences should be stored per savegame so that one can have a preset for, say Elementalist and Healer with different letters assigned.
On the other hand default preferences should be stored in config directory as well and saved as soon as game is loaded or letters are reassigned. This would allow to get your last letter set for new games.
If there is no spell or skill to which a letter has been assigned preference should be retained and restored as soon as spell or skill is learned. So that you can assign Earthquake to 'Q' with your Elementalist, use it up, gain a level up and it will be 'Q' already. Or you can die, start over, learn Earthquake as a Wizard and it still will be 'Q' as you used to have.

I'm leaving open the question about ordering these lists: alphabetically by name, letter, chaotically, configured though and option or even don't mind a feature which would allow to reorder items in these lists.

Normally letters should be auto-assigned without a change to existing letter. You can press, say '=' in order to change keybinding. Next you're to select the spell or skill with your mouse or pressing existing keybinding. Afterwards you're to enter new one which supposedly could be anything rather than '=' itself, 'Z', 'z', ESC', 'SPACE' or any other key dedicated to control of this screen already. Cataclysm DDA bionics screen case serve as an example implementation: just chose a profession that has bionics and you're free to experiment.

It might sound complex to implement but it's very intuitive to use and extremely comfortable as soon as you develop your own keybindings.

Motivation to change current mechanics:
  1. It's very inconvenient when letter changes as soon as you learn new skill or spell. At this point you'll probably start mistyping and using now what you wanted to.
  2. Since skill and spell lists are different per game they get different letters assigned each time which make you re-learn the keys.
  3. 1 and 2 forces one to look through the list in order to apply or cast rather than use swift muscular memory and reflexes.
  4. Keys assigned are not quite comfortable. You might have to search the keyboard in order to do whatever you need.
  5. Keys assigned doesn't mnemonically memorable. Well, you might get lucky with Acid Bolt being 'A' and Burning Hands being 'B' but usually that's it.
  6. Lists are pageable hence you might need to look in another page for desired skill or spell which will change all the in-page keybindings again further increasing severity of all the points.

There is already in-game solution: quick-marks. But it has certain limitations:
  • You can quickmark only ten of whatever hence. I admit I use more than 10 skills and definitely more than 10 spells (unless I'm a Mindcrafter) during nearly each game.
  • You can use numbers only which are by nature harder to memorize than letters and which are spread across the keyboard for those who don't have numpad.
  • In case of accidental double-type you risk moving or attacking. Among letters there are not so much instant use commands while all numbers are.

Well, all of this related only a little to mindcraft but if it's going to be done for spells and skills why not to include mindcraft as well?

P.S. I aware that it would take ages to implement and with all due respect I accept that. The Creator was already interested in the idea in another thread hence this out of question too. Hence plz downvote if don't feel like changing your habits, don't like the idea at all or feel like what we have now is batter but not because it's too way long and complex to implement.
Issue Details
Issue Number 4885
Issue Type Feature
Project ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)
Category All
Status Suggested
Priority 6
Suggested Version ADOM 2.3.0 (r73)
Implemented Version (none)
Milestone (none)
Votes for this feature 4
Votes against this feature 0
Assigned Users (none)
Tags (none)




11-09-2018 03:15 PM
Junior Member
Even if this is an older thread i found it while googling for 'mouse spellcasting'.
I very much like the ideas stated in here and also think that using spells is a PITA in it's current form.
Using letters 5-9 for quick marks isn't comfortable for left hand and selecting them with numpad is VERY dangerous, i had 2+ characters die casting magic missile in a corridor on the adjacent wall.
My suggestions are:
1. Assign letter to each spell and make it static, e.g. teleport will always be letter 't' in all games.
2. Instead of quick numbers use quick letters, thus allowing you to reassign spells to letters that you like. Could be also done via a text file, something like....spells.kbd
3. When selecting a spell with a mouse, the game only shows info about the spell and doesn't allow selecting the spell with mouse - have to use keyboard all the time which beats the purpose of mouse.
Allow selecting spells with left click while info would be right click or use some other possible key combinations like shift+click or whatever the game engine allows.

+ Reply