Game Mechanics Better Smart Cursor Behavior

[MegaMage314 🌳]

I would like to preface this by saying that smart cursor works perfectly fine like 90% of the time. It's amazing for digging with how it automatically diggs a tunnel big enough for the player no matter what direction you go, it's great for pretty much every other tool, and it's got a ton of other nice uses for it that most people would never even think of (like automatically finding areas that have room for saplings to grow)

However, there's one area where smart cursor feels a little less smart, and it's when placing platforms:

Spoiler: Oh the pain...

We've all felt this before I'm sure, and it's been around for so long that many players now build their arenas out of planter boxes instead of platforms just because smart cursor works better with them. So I think it's about time this was fixed by simply expanding the area that will place flat platforms.

I'm not the first person to suggest this, but in an effort to hopefully be the last I went one step further, and made my very own mod to try and fix this myself. After digging through Terraria's source code, theory-crafting a bit and spending a week painfully learning how IL editing works, I came up with Smarter Cursor, a mod that does exactly this (see that thread here if you're interested). I'm not sure if my specific is the ideal one to put into the vanilla game, but as a mod at least it works really well and shows how it could be done (which was my primary goal anyway)

Additionally after first creating the mod, I received suggestions of my own to tweak some other aspects of smart cursor. The three suggestions I got were as follows:​

1. Allow smart cursor to replace vines and grass instead of building around them (something that smart cursor already does under most circumstances, just not while placing platforms)​

2. Allow it to build past trees and other non-solid obstacles that are 1 tile wide​

3. Have smart cursor not build past platforms when placing walls, like what it does with solid tiles and open doors​

I ended up updating the mod to have these tweaks as well, and now having tested them I think that these too should be added to the base game, as they all feel appropriately vanilla and I couldn't really think of any reason not to have them. I'd love to be able to play Labor of Love with some if not all of these changes, and I know that I'm not the only one (the mod got surprisingly popular on steam lol).
But I'd love to hear what you guys think! Let me know if you'd also like to see this in Vanilla Terraria, and if you tried my mod I'd love to hear about that as well.​

 

[CallKen]

The first (hidden) gif triggers a deeply felt skybridge/hellbridge trauma in me. Great to learn about your mod, though!

 

[firecat666]

Placing minecart tracks suffers from a slightly different but somehow even more horrendous problem. Or maybe it's the same problem but somehow it feels even more horrendous.

 

[CallKen]

Placing minecart tracks suffers from a slightly different but somehow even more horrendous problem. Or maybe it's the same problem but somehow it feels even more horrendous.

Harpies and Underwold Mobs make it feel more painful at least, that's for sure!

 

[MegaMage314 🌳]

Placing minecart tracks suffers from a slightly different but somehow even more horrendous problem. Or maybe it's the same problem but somehow it feels even more horrendous.

I'm actually not entirely sure what that problem is, though I do know that the method minecarts use to determine slopes would have never worked for placing platforms. There instead of choosing any valid tile that's closest to the player, it only considers valid tiles based on where the mouse cursor is relative to the player. So if you have the mouse cursor to the right of the player, it will only build rails towards the right, while if you have it left and upwards relative to the player it only builds rails going up and to the left.

It's a bit weird, but I haven't heard anyone else complain about it (plus it does have the advantage that smart cursor will stay consistent no matter how the player moves and only considers mouse movement)

 

[firecat666]

I've always had problems with tracks when placing them close to the cursor while in a moving cart. If I'm trying to place them in a straight line but move my cursor just a little, it sometimes places a track in the wrong height and the cart immediately enters that track, which moves the cursor position relative to the world, which places more tracks in the wrong place again and so on. Smart cursor sometimes also places diagonal tracks with 2 block width, which gets all messy and can't move the cart in any direction properly.

I also NEVER seem to be able to start a diagonal track slope where I want to with smart cursor, I always have to place a few manually then go from there. I also have this problem with platforms. I noticed that moving the cursor far from the character helps with building straight tracks, whether horizontal or diagonal, but I can't imagine being able to create a precise configuration of tracks, like a hexagon, with smart cursor without having to stop to place some tracks manually where you want them to change their inclination.

 

[TheSeunger]

I always hated that walls are placed past the platforms when there isn't a proper roof or floor. The third gif definitely put a reassuring smile on my face.
Definitely a smarter smart cursor for sure!

I also NEVER seem to be able to start a diagonal track slope where I want to with smart cursor, I always have to place a few manually then go from there. I also have this problem with platforms.

I'll be honest, I always make my platforms manually; I just don't rely on smart cursor to do its job properly to save me the hassle. Especially when not under the effects of Builder Potions and Bricklayer accessory... and I know I probably should but I always neglected to do so. Every. Single. Time. And mostly because the Travelling Merchant NEVER shows up! BAH!

 

[firecat666]

I use smart cursor to place long horizontal platforms or horizontal tracks. Works really well for tracks (except at the left/right edges of the world) since you can maintain a constant speed on the minecart, but that really is, for me, the only situation where it works really well. Placing platforms isn't too bad but you can't pick a speed that corresponds to your block placement speed like with minecarts. I guess it works fine for walls too, except for the problem with platforms mentioned in the OP. But in every other situation it's too finnicky, clunky or outright unreliable.

I also wish smart cursor had the ability fill a hole with blocks easily instead of you needing to click on nearly every empty spot manually.