FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

TL;DR: Using (stuff like opening chests) and building are two seperate actions which are clumsily bound to the same key. This results in some annoyances and I suggest to change this.


You can both use a block and build with the right mouse button.

This results in a problem: It it not possible to directly build next to a block which is usable.

Example: Imagine you point a chest on its top and you wield dirt.
Click with the right mouse button. The chest menu opens.
Now what can you to to place the dirt on top of the chest directly?
Well, it seems this is simply not possible.

Yes, I know, it is possible to work around this by placing other nodes as a support but this approach is annoying and hacky.

Therefore, I suggest to split using and building to two key bindings.
Right click should mean building. Ideally, it means always building; if possible the meaning of this key binding should not be overwritten by anything.
And [E] (or whatever key the player chose) should mean using and only using.

“Using” here means “do something with the pointed node, I don’t know exactly what, it depends on the node type what I do here”.
Using is used (haha!) in the default subgame / game for opening doors, chests, furnaces, changing sign texts and so on. Most nodes can not be used. In this case, the use key should do nothing here when pressed.

Example under my proposal: Imagine you point a chest on its top and you wield dirt. This shall happen:

• You press E (=the use key). The chest menu opens.
• You press the right mouse button (=the build button). The dirt gets built on the chest.

I also suggest the node callback “on_use”. It shall get called when a player presses the use key while pointing the node. It shall do nothing by default.

The callback “on_rightclick” could probably stay for a while but I think it should be dropped in the future because it’s just clumsy in my opinion. Right click is already used for building stuff, letting nodes override this breaks stuff (see 1st example).

Strangely, I saw a key binding for “use” in the config menu but it does mean something different. The only thing this key does is letting you walk faster in fast mode and as an alternative key binding for climbing down. This is not what I mean with “use”.

Wuzzy wrote:Example: Imagine you point a chest on its top and you wield dirt.
Click with the right mouse button. The chest menu opens.
Now what can you to to place the dirt on top of the chest directly?
Well, it seems this is simply not possible.

Just hold shift while rightclicking.

WTF? Oh my dawg, this actually works. I wasn’t aware of this. Thanks. I’ll update the wiki accordingly.

This makes the situation even stranger:

You press the sneak and build key simutanously to build.
And you press the build key alone to use.
Oh dawg, why? This does not make any sense but it works at least. But it’s still slightly clumsy in my opinion.

Well, it works at least. Better than nothing.

Edit: I updated the wiki page. :-)

I did not know this about the shift and right mouse key to build on a usable node. That's cool and something I will have to try and remember.

Some mods such as homedecor, moreblocks, and perhaps others use 'sneak' while placing some blocks to force a certain orientation of the block (e.g. a wall-oriented slab placed on the ground, a door forced to hinge/open to the right, etc).