Easy Inventory mod by default

It's not intuitive though... (check my comment further down for an explanation)

@Outfrost : its really easy to get atleast the core of the mod, in general you only need two things : shift + rightklick for assembler queue and rightclick for dragging items.

It adds ALOT Quality of Life to the game and "should" add almost 0 perfomance impact on the game when properly implemented, as it only skips/does things that clients would have done the same

For me this mod and the Auto Ore Collector would make the start of the game SO much easier and therefor for alot of new players getting into the game more easier...

Please read here: https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers/general/topic/easy-inventory-mod-by-default#comment-122

Gimme gimme, I love this mod, Like, I really love this mod.

Gimme gimme, I love this mod, Like, I really love this mod.

If only i could click upvote twice, No, white (true) {

this.getThread().getPost(0).upVote();

} // if only...

@Outfrost:

yeah i read your post before already and can't agree at all. I will explain you why,

1) you just need the block and rightclick, so easy you even find it accidentially or by simple trying

2) it feels even better with this mod, like good engineering, it's like your suit and station now also properly interact through this kind of mod(if there would be an animation where the player types in this stuff into his bracelet and so the station delivers the stuff, it would be also explainable pretty good!)

it's just horrible in any bigger grid with more than 10 containers to find the things you need, even when you have a sorted base , things can be ontop or on the bottom of the cargo inventory list, which makes it more confusing to find things

3)you will still need welding ships for large grids(especially on lower inventory sizes like 1 for example!), especially cause they are easy to handle, you fill it once and have everything ready to go

For number 1: I've already explained why that's beside the point. But if you insist on the supposed simplicity of it, go ahead. Download Arch Linux, boot the live image, then open a text file (e.g. some config file in /etc) using vi or vim, and try to exit the editor. You just need to press a key! I'm sure you'll find it accidentally or by simple trying.

I really don't know what you're getting at with number 2, you might have to try to explain it better.

For grids with lots of inventories, even horribly messy ones where noone cares to sort the items into appropriate containers, remember you have the search bar. I don't even play SE that much compared to a lot of people here, and it's easy enough for me to quickly type a few letters of the item name into the search bar without having to move my hands around. I know, however, that it's far from a perfect solution, which is why I recommended a possible new alternative in the post further down below.

@Outfrost :

well, I know linux good and could do that, so It's a bad example for me, but I know the difficulty in using vim, but thats something UNINTUITIV cause it's a key(it's q for quit but you also need to know to open the command parameters with !, so it's real bad for beginners) while only rightclicking is very INTUITIVE compared from the actions,especially for the simple windows user that has a mouse with only 3 core buttons ;P..

yeah i know the searchbar, but due to sorting mechanisms and stuff you might need to enter things a thousand times and it just get's annoying.

in general : This mod would increase the Quality of Life, especially for experienced Space Engineers and also could save some beginners some headaches with using the search functions (too often) ;P

It's a futuristic game.

Though options are always nice.

Personally, I disagree that it's unintuitive. However, I do like your last idea. Flicking between the inventory screen and looking at the block blueprint is part of the frustration. If these could be displayed at the same time, it would be much nicer.

To add to the point about unintuitiveness: Special cases for game controls are hardly ever a good idea. Easy Inventory is a textbook example of special case controls (i.e., keybindings already in use doing different things in a certain situation, or new keybindings solely for that particular situation that don't correspond to a human character action), and it undermines the devs' efforts to make the game feel coherent and play organically.

I fully disagree with you point of view,

• This game is set in the future.
• Nuclear reactors are smaller than a backpack.
• Refineries can isolate all types of metal from other materials.
• There is a half-bus size machine that manufactures all kinds of components.
• The assembler already has option to manufacture all the components of 1 block without having to memorize each component of it.

So what's the problem of asking a machine to send you all the items to build a particular block?

There isn't too much of an issue with asking a machine to give you all the components to build a particular block. Most of the problem at hand revolves around how Easy Inventory is doing that. I'm definitely not arguing against an inclusion of Easy Inventory for the sake of "well that's unrealistic", "well IRL you'd have to do that yourself", or anything like that. I'm against it mostly from a game design perspective, as I have outlined in the two posts above. In my mind, if a feature is to be included in the game, it has to fit the game, not just a use case.

I wholeheartedly disagree with it being bad from a "game design perspective", it's simply a quality of life feature. You say you're not arguing against it because of realism, yet your original reply does that very thing.

I really don't see how this is in any way, shape or form unintuitive. You simply click a key combination to withdraw necessary components to build the current block you're holding? How on earth is that unintuitive?

You can add a text promp that tells you how many components were withdrawn and still available in the grid's cargo.

I do also like your suggestion to have it displayed in the inventory screen, at least something has to be done because this is a huge bother.

I'm sorry, but it shouldn't appear as rocket science to distinguish between coherent game design, a theme-fitting feel of a mechanic, and 'realism'. There are many mechanics in SE that I wouldn't count as 'realistic', yet they fit the game design well.

As for the intuitiveness issue, it's not that the action itself is very complicated in nature. The problem lies within learning about the game and such features - what trick you need to do to access the feature (here: holding a block hologram, for example), what key combination is required to use it, what happens in this that and the other situation in terms of inventory space, available components, etc. You're essentially shifting the player's mind from memorising what components a given block requires - which is laid out plain and simple in front of them, as an essential game mechanic down at the very core - to memorising control combos and special cases - which can only be helped by a piece of text in a help screen somewhere.

Ultimately this feels like a hacky addition, and that's absolutely fine for a mod, and everyone should be free to use it as a mod if they enjoy it, but it's not good enough for a vanila inclusion. I think a vanila solution should be a much more thought-out feature that would integrate well with existing game mechanics and UI.

There's so many blocks in this game, especially when playing with mods - do you really honestly expect people to memorize them? Come on. You're just grasping at straws now.

The mod works very, very well. Hell the first time I encountered it was by accident on a public server, it took me just once doing it by accident to figure out it was a thing. I've used it all the time ever since, it is honestly IMO one of the best mods out there in terms of quality of life changes.

Yes, it may have to be tweaked a bit to better fit vanilla - but the concept of it works really well and is not at all unintuitive,

There's a lot of key combinations in this game that are not directly made apparent to the user, but only via the help menu. Why would this feature have to be different?

You know, I came in here with the intention of disagreeing with you, but you make a great point. I have over 7000 hours in the game at this point. All in Creative. I have no idea whatsoever what goes in to making a refinery or a control panel. I know an armor block needs steel plate. How much? Beats me. People that play survival have all that stuff in their heads, at least for the most common things they make.

I don't think the goal should be to make the game more "accessible" to new players by providing short cuts. Much of the appeal of Space Engineers is that it's not a snap to learn, and finding out things makes you want to find out more things. There ain't a lot of other games that do that. Mostly because somewhere in development someone decided it should be easy for beginners.

1. I don't understand any of your game design criticisms. Right click has no effect in survival mode when holding a block hologram, for example. As far as the "what just happened" factor, the mod has text prompts that tell you what happened. These could be made more detailed, I guess, but I am not sure what else you want.

2. Easy inventory just combines the inventory "google" with the block component tooltip, and eliminates repetitive clicking, dragging, then typing in small numbers. This is not magic at all, it is acting like your scifi spaceship has basic access festures...

3. Easy inventory could be a difficulty setting, like inventory size, to address you concern about progression.

The reality is that the inventory screens in this game are very slow, boring, and tedious to deal with. Especially when you want to build, say, 12 conveyor tubes. Most people consider the fun challenge of survival to be acquiring the components, not constantly googling them to find in their cargo containers. An additional info display would not fit in the current, already extremely busy, inventory panel, and there is no mod out there that has already tested such an idea across thousands of use-cases. Plus, such a panel would still leave me clicking and dragging a hundred times just to make my first welder ship.

So I think this mod should be vanilla, at least as a toggle-able option, because I am not playing survival mode for want of a menu screen simulator.

Except that it tracks partial block progress. This is probably the most confusing part of using the mod.

If your inventory doesn't have enough space for the parts, then it remembers what parts you've already pulled and retrieves remaining parts you need for the block.

replied to wrong post.......

Would be even better if we could carry portable cargo containers around, so that we wouldn't have to run back and forth and could immerse ourselves more in the building :)

You're suppose to make those yourself. An engineering thing.

Yeah, exactly. I also can't see how it would make anything easier for new players.

The mod keeps track of what components you've already taken for that block. When you come back it adds the remaining components up until you don't have room again. It doesn't start over unless you finish withdrawing the parts of that block or choose a different one. Very easy and quick.

I've skimmed though the rest of the comments and see people say that the mod may not be great for vanilla. I think that the functionality would be a boon to the gameplay. They don't need to integrate the mod exactly as it is, or even at all. They could just take the same concept and integrate it their way if they wanted to. I can attest to spending plenty of time in survival or even creative sometimes looking for parts. I agree that the game shouldn't play itself, but removing some unneeded and annoying extra time from the process is a good thing, not a bad thing. You still have to produce and manage the materials, it just takes the monotony out of finding what you want out of the container. I and others I know often just quit playing for a while because of how time consuming and annoying it is to constantly be looking for the right amounts of the right parts. Combine that with some derpy lag and the wrath of Klang, and you get some ragequit. If anyone from Keen sees this, please at least consider it if you haven't already. I honestly would consider it a huge benefit if implemented.

What purpose do 6 components with need to know amount of each needed to build 1 blocks serve? other than wasting time in empty game.

Based on that idea = "insane amount" because it succeeds very well in time wasting.

I was just thinking about this the other day -- why should I memorize component requirements (and start components, to place a block) for every block in Space Engineers? The answer I came up with is that games are my Sunday paper. They are how I flex my brain. The more I use my brain in the game, the more accomplished I feel when I complete the thing I set out to do.

Learning what parts you need, loading the right amounts into your inventory, and then building your ship in survival is fulfilling *because* it isn't easy and requires you to engage your brain.

Mind you -- I still play will play with nanobot mod if I'm doing any large builds in survival and I want to still do all the mining & refining.

As I'm typing this, I realized that if I could build a small ship with a flexible connector back to my main station, I wouldn't need nanobots at all (as I still "place" all my blocks from a small ship with cargo and welder so that I can place more than the steel plates which fit into my backpack).

maybe if Vygintas gets his way, we could just have a refinery made up of a single component type called 'stuff'.

Nikolas u can have that. While i would like to building with rational components like some better games have instead of stupid learn 3 digits codes nonsense.

How about ability to build any frame with steel without compromising creative moment.

BTW Human memory is extremely limited at raw symbol saving, and it basically does not expand on learning more numbers. U just forget old ones like old pin code you always knew.... Human memory is ALOT more productive and can be increased alot by storing rational associations that can be used to describe multiple situations. Thats why MOST things is presented as event decribing picture that is standardized, Thats why we have graphical interfaces instead of 80ties dos. Its information management 101. Do we came here to play or waste time learning SPAM symbols that serve no productive purpose.

play SE long enough and the words just roll off your tongue, and you also get to remember the main 4 components needed for nearly all the blocks, with a few exceptions that require girders or a large steel tube to start them off, and then you are just down to remembering if that block needs Motors/metal grids/large tubes, computers just dont matter they take up so little space

At the end of the day, it is a game -- and the components that make up the various blocks (and the ingots, raw ores) are just numbers and "real sounding" stuff that someone at Keen decided was good for game balance. What we are talking about here is removing the need for the user to mentally store something -vs- having the "suit" do it for them. Its really just down to preference, and why I think a mod solves for this just as well, as there is going to be enough players that will say "I don't want that" that it would need to be a toggle feature

Maybe it would be handy to have a "make the game easy for me, but still be in survival" bundle of mods?

I don't think having blocks need different components isn inherently a bad thing, it's just that this game has so many "placeholder" seeming components, that don't make any sense.

What the hell is a "construction component" what's the difference between a "steel plate" and an "interior plate"? Why are there no "cable" or "wire" components? Where is Copper by the way? Why are there two different sizes of tubes? Why can't we just use small tubes for windows instead of girders? When does a block need metal grid? Small grid cargo containers don't, but large grid ones do. What the hell?

See if these components were a more sensible selection of components, then one could easily derive which types of components one might need to build a certain block. Right now, It seems rather randon.

I have not played the game for very long as I just discovered it after the “airtightness” updated, and found it amazing. I racked quite a number of hours since … I started off with one of the “easy mode scenarios” not knowing that what made it “easy” was the x10 multiplier on cargos and in particular on the character cargo. I quickly switched to x1 more and I do enjoy the game a lot more. Survival makes much more sense and the limitations require you to build machinery to mine, build etc .. and you need more space to store stuff.

The drawback of x1 is that one does have to remember how many components are need for various blocks which is harder when the block requirement do not fit into the character inventory and when multiple trips to an inventory are required as one has to keep track what is left and all that. For me having to “remember” the numbers is the least enjoyable part of the game and does slow me down significantly as I often make mistakes. Please note that this is not about being slower it is about enjoyment ..

Some people argued that having to remember these numbers is part of the game and think that making it “easier” is removing something from the game. Granted the fact that we all enjoy different things, I disagree with such statements as this game, in my opinion, is, more about problem solving and spatial awareness than just having to remember odd sequence of numbers which for me is just in the way.

The OP has made a suggestion I’d like to build upon with a new feature proposal. (I did look for something similar but did not find anything ) which perhaps warrants its own thread.

The worklist.

The worklist is a simple list of blocks and their components requirements for completion that can be displayed in the Control Panel when the Character inventory is displayed. (at x1 cargo, the inventory would not be very long … so there would be space under it). It would be good it it could be displayed on the HUD as well.

Once a block is placed (with ctrl-LMB or some other modifier) the component and its requirements for completion is added to the worklist. As the block gets welded the requirements for completion get updated and when the block is completed (or gets destroyed) it is is removed from the worklist automatically The worklist could have a maximum size (say 10 blocks)

Adding to the worklist could be done also by ctrl-LMB with the welder and removing with ctrl-LMB and the grinder.

I think something like this would improve the game experience without affecting balance.

The player would need to do the same number of trips to a cargo container and to manually move components to its inventory, it does not automate anything it just gets rid of most of the remembering, and for me at least a lot of frustration as I struggle remembering more than 3 numbers :(

(BTW: this is what I already do with a simple notepad)

You have the best comment in this thread I have seen so far.

Part of the need for this can be avoided by changing the 1st component for all blocks to Girders. At least laying out a base before trying to weld blocks would be much less annoying. see:https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers/publictest/topic/public-survival-test-change-blocks-1st-component-to-girders

I can see where you are coming from and generally agree that slow start makes achievements more rewarding. But I see EI as paper saver (no need to write down if you do not want run several times) than real obstacle remover. Game by itself could have more obstacles, i.e. challenges coming from nature. Having EI in vanilla for me sounds like having more user friendly UI.

comment moved to correct reply target..

I agree, it likely helps the gameplay that you can find an engineering solution to work around. Welders are one solution. My other solution was to make an assembler specifically to make only components for the one block I need now and send it to an easy to access place. On the other hand if it's too frustrating at first, people may give up, so it's a tricky balance.

I actually like having to work out what components I need myself.. if you need that much help with components you may as well be building in creative. leave this sort of thing to clever script writers and mod creators,

I would really love to have an easy inventory mod done by default.

With the progression system the easy inventory could be added into the later stages of the unlock tree. This way, everyone wins.

first thing on every server i miss when it's not there: easy inventory

so heavily needed especially for the start, just adds so much quality of life, and the endless pain of searching always the same stuff, if you like doing the same things over and over, it's quite insane

@kill2die then ou must reconsider your gamestyle. Have you heard about welding ships? 3d printers? projections? these all ingame to make ya life abit easier if you USE them actually

denseacat Easy Inventory doesnt affect building ships with welders or ships, in fact it helps that even more!,

Are you thinking of Nanites maybe?

The 3 features I use from easy inventory is:

1. with the desired block in hand, right click on a container to retrieve components needed for the block. If you cannot hold everything that is fine. It remembers the current block progress till another right click command with a different block is used.

2. Alt-Right click on a port to empty out inventory of everything except tools/gun.

3. Control-Right click on a port with a desired block to queue up all components needed to create the block.

I would love to see this added, possibly with some extra features, like a UI to move the correct amount of components to welding ships.

Hello Space Engineers Community and Devs,

There is a lot I do not understand about modding (Over 50 and only learned to program old TRS80s in BASIC, and an old fortran version in high school)

Having said this I run a server through G-Portal and all my players feel the quality of life this mod {Easy Inventory} affords, is fantastic. I am all for it as far as grabbing the right matts for the various items.

Game on.

Didn't mean to reply to this thread

BuildPlanner is not nearly as nice as the EI. couple of keystrokes / mouse options i have it all set, plus it remembers what i was able to draw the last time for that item and provides the remainer, its one of those things that would have been best if they had just implemented it straight into the game vs modifications because reasons. Now the mod that was the best implementation is marked Obsolete, its like you had a choice of mnt dew / mellow yellow (soda/ pop of choices) and you are now left only with Sprite, because that was the choice left. you could argue that all are citrus flavored, but those who prefer the taste of Mnt. Dew dont like the taste of the Mellow yellow and now are likely to see this as being a normal business decision that ignores the common complaints because the business knows best. If i am going to be forced to use the BuildPlanner - please have an added option allowing me to move the key binding to EI, also can we switch the name back to Easy Inventory so that the original is honored.

What is it you feel EI provides that the BP doesn't? I was an avid user of EI and I find the BP can do everything the EI could, but also more. It does remember what you were able to draw last - for more than one block, which is more than the EI could do. Might it be that you haven't learned how to use it properly yet? I mean, it's not like it's any more documented than the other stuff...

Personally, I think EI is more immediate for whoever is used to it. For a new player however the way it is working would be confusing. I understand why Keen has decided to implement the Build Planner the way it did. The game is being adjusted to be usable on a console, and to do that you need to have a mean to access each feature through the UI. But I'll probably keep on using the Easy Inventory mod, as long as it keeps working.

But it has the same shortcuts. You can use it the same way, using middle-click with a block in hand to enqueue it into the build planner, as long as the planner is already empty.

Middle click without remapping is the most wrong way. Mouse scrolling is not intended for frequent use and after 100-200 clicks it is a really painful game.

HellArea you can remap it. There's a Build Planner key binding, which defaults to MMB.

There's a Build Planner key binding

- WHERE is it? I have quested about 50 people, no one can answer.

Key bindings, Block Placement, Build Planner

I like the way this is implemented for player inventory, but this is a bit problematic when I want to order large amount of components into current ship from the one I'm docked to. We have the option to show only current's ships inventory, perhaps we need one to show everything but current? Or grid-based filter.

I still use easy inventory because the solution they implemented for this is bunk...

It is, it's called "Build Planner."