Walking with the left mouse button

[overridetzx]

I had the idea that walking on the battlefield with the left mouse button might be more intuitive and give a smoother feel to the control of the game.

I created a bug on the tracker to open up some testing on this. If you'd like to try out the modification that enables this feature, please go here and replace your cl_actor.c with the version attached to the bug.

Tell us if it's good or bad

Thanks  

[Hoehrer]

I like the patch and it seems to work ok.

Just one suggestion: if we now can do everything with the left (1.) mouse button i suggest that we use the right (2.) one for changing the direction the soldier is facing (turn) that is currently assigned to the middle (3.) mouse button. So we can use it for other things like zoom/pan etc...

Just my 2c.
Hoehrer

[overridetzx]

How about:

MMB click and drag up / down = cycle through levels
Wheel up / down                       = zoom in / out
MMB click                                = cycle team members

RMB click and drag                  = pan
RMB click                                 = turn team member around

And while we're talking about movement, when confirm_action is true, instead of (or as well as?) pressing Enter on the keyboard also have the option to click a second time on the target to confirm/execute the action.

[Mattn]

sounds good - but keep it bindable through scriptinginterface :-D

[Hoehrer]

We already had a similar discussion and there even exists a feature-request tracker for it:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1446464&group_id=157793&atid=805245

Now that selection is possible with LMB the bindings could be like this (IMO):

• moving, selecting, fireing, etc... (generally an 'action'). -> LMB
• turn soldier -> RMB
• Scroll/pan the camera -> Use the cursor keys or move the

mouse cursor to the edge of the screen. [an alternative would be press+hold RMB and move the mouse, but how to implement this with the "turn soldier" function?]

• Rotate the camera -> Press and hold ALT/MMB, then move the

mouse left or right.  [Alternatively use the numpad cursors
left/right]

• Zoom -> Press and hold ALT/MMB, and move the mouse

up or down. [Alternatively, use the mouse wheel or Home/End]

• Switch Levels -> currently only via PgUp/PgDown
• Tilt the camera up/down -> currently only via Ins/Del.
• General: Use the MMB as an alternative to the ALT modifier key

mentioned above (prevents using two devices for one single
action if it's available).

• General: Use no more then one (ALT=MMB) key as a modifier key.[/b]
  (e.g. do not use CTRL in combination with the ALT modifier)
  

EDIT: I like that idea:

And while we're talking about movement, when confirm_action is true, instead of (or as well as?) pressing Enter on the keyboard also have the option to click a second time on the target to confirm/execute the action.

What do you think?

Just my 2c,
Werner

LMB = left mouse button (1.)
RMB = right mouse button (2.)
MMB = middle mouse button (3.)

[Level]

I agree with Hoehrer except I think ALT/MMB + move the mouse up/down should be tilt and the mouse wheel should be zoom.

More then one modifier key should be allowed even if not default.

Additionally the RMB can be used to cancel when confirm_action is true and to open doors if they are ever implemented.

[Galsiah]

Personally I preferred it when the LMB selected, but did not move.

I agree that LMB move + select is the more intuitive method (particularly since that's how XCOM games worked). However, probably the most common way for one of my soldiers to die needlessly in UFO was through moving, when I meant to select.

Say your team is split between two areas of cover, and you've currently selected a soldier in one of these areas. Now you want to select a particular guy in the other area, so you go to select him with the LMB. Most of the time you'll click the guy correctly, but occasionally you won't [you'll click an adjacent square]. Perhaps that'll be 2% of the time, perhaps 0.1% of the time - but eventually it'll happen.

At this point the soldier you had previously selected (and carefully positioned in cover) goes dashing out into the open - often to his death.

When I played the 0.12 beta, I took a few minutes to get used to the RMB move, but I got used to it soon enough. Once I had, I was pleased to note that I could happily select any of my soldiers without worrying about their running across the map, or my needing to be careful to avoid this.

LMB moving makes this an issue again. It's not a big deal, but I definitely think it was better beforehand.

I know that it's quite possible to avoid the above issue, so long as you're careful - but as a player, I don't want to be consciously thinking about the user interface at all. With RMB moving, I can comfortably forget about it and play; with LMB moving I either need to be careful, or to use the buttons rather than click selection. That's not ideal.