Highlight Overlay
A QoL mod for visualizing things that in some way relate to the selected object.
1. Select an object(any object on the map)
2. Turn on the Highlight Overlay
(2.5.) You can close the selected object’s details screen so that it doesn’t overlap with the overlay menu
3. Configure the things that should be highlighted (and how to highlight them) in the overlay menu
As said above, this mod lets you find and visualize things that relate to the selected object. The relation types include (but are not limited to):
• copies of this object (all its occurences on the map)
• consumers of this object (if it can be consumed)
• producers of this object
• consumable materials of this object (if this object can consume things)
• produce of this object
You may also apply filters to only highlight things of some specific kind. For example, if you want to highlight all coal debris that is laying on the floor, you can select coal (either debris or the natural tile) and highlight its copies. Then you can configure the Highlight Filters to only highlight items that lay on the floor – and voila!
To prevent the game from lagging, this mod only scans the whole map once and then highlights all the appropriate things. This means that the highlighting doesn’t update if gas moves around the room, steam condenses to water, a new building gets built etc. That’s why per default the overlay is only functionable while the game is paused – so that nothing on the map changes. You can disable this function in mod’s config, but be aware that the information this mod shows will get incorrect over time as you let the simulation run for some time.
To give a grasp of how versatile this tool is, here is a couple of concrete examples of what can be highlighted:
• all coal debris laying on the floor
• all lockers/storage buildings that contain coal
• all possible sources of polluted oxygen (polluted water, sublimation station etc.)
• all logic wires made of gold
• all plants with the same mutation (Spaced Out! DLC)
• all food that a specific duplicant may eat (as specified in the consumables menu)
• all buildings that a specific duplicant may work on (based on the dupe’s skills)
• all elements that a specific building produces (f.e. electrolyzer -> oxygen & hydrogen)
• all things a specific critter may eat
…and much more!
Here is some more specific information for people that really want to squeeze all the functionality out of this mod.
All the highlight options starting with "consider" (consider aggregate state etc.) apply also if the selected object is of a kind that doesn’t have this consider-option. For example, if you select any element and check the "consider aggregate state" option and then select a building (let’s say a glass forge) and highlight its produce, then the elements it produces will only be highlighted if they are in the same aggregate state as the ones that exit this building (in case with glass forge – only liquid glass will be highlighted).
The "Keep Highlighting" option also preserves the highlighting objects if you close the overlay. If you unpause the game however, it will still erase all the information (unless you enabled the overlay usage while the game is not paused in mod config).
You can select objects that are located in a storage/building and highlight things that relate to them. To do this, select the storage bin (or whatever other building) and scroll down its details menu until you see the "Contents" tab. There you can click on any entry and select that stored item!
If you want to highlight some very specific set of items, you can use a storage bin to do so. Select an empty storage bin and set its storage filters to whatever things you want to highlight. Then simply highlight its "consumables".
…to Peter Han for his PLib that made the creation of the overlay menu easier!
…to all modders at the ONI’s discord community for answering all my questions!
You can find the source code on my GitHub[github.com].
If you encounter any issues/bugs, please start an issue[github.com] with the error message(if present), the Player.log file and a description of how to reproduce the bug.
If you would like to provide a translation to this mod, feel free to send me the translation .po file via an issue or a pull request (on GitHub).
Do you like my mods and want to thank me? I would not mind if you would buy me a coffee[buymeacoffee.com] ;D
