[TC] Fast Sector selection on Universe Map

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nponoBegHuk
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[TC] Fast Sector selection on Universe Map

Post by nponoBegHuk » Fri, 11. Dec 09, 05:52

There was always one thing that annoyed me a lot in X3, reaching lower sectors in universe map was awfully slow. You can't zoom out too far on universe map, mouse scrolling is ridiculously slow and repeatedly pressing right and down arrow keys just didn't seem right. I decided to do a bit of research and deploy a list of keycombos that would efficiently target the sector I need in a few keypresses.

The basics are:
  • If you open the universe map and press any letter, it will target the first sector which name starts with that letter.
  • If you press that key repeatedly it will scroll between all the sectors that start with that letter (left to right, up to down)
  • If you switch to some sector by using other means than it's first letter key (for instance the arrow keys) and then press it will switch to the next sector that starts with that letter (for instance, you can reach Merchant Haven by Pressing L (Light of Heart), DownArrow (Montalaar), M (Merchant Haven)
Quick Q&A:

Q: What is it good for?
A: You are not supposed to know every shortcuts for all sectors, but knowing some will definitely help. Say you wanna dock some ship on your hub... Reaching that sector is a pain unless you know the trick... press I, right arrow, right arrow, and you're there! You might just want to learn few of them for a sectors where you frequently have to look in, because of industry, or whatever.


Q: That sounds great, what if I find a typo/shortcut not working/shorter keycombo? Or I find that your combo is difficult to perform and there is a same length combo but easier to remember/type?
A: Post it here. I just finished this it's still mostly in a "beta stage", I will update accordingly


Q: Your syntax is sometimes difficult to read/remember!
A: Probably it is. I'm open to suggestions on that matter


Current Stats on spreadsheet:

Code: Select all

version				 1.04			 1.11beta		1.20		    1.30

Total keys reduced  141			  144			  144			  145
Maximum Length		5				 5				 5				 5
Average Length		2,90		    2,88		    2,88		    2,88
6-press combos		0				 0				 0				 0
5-press combos		14				10				10				10
4-press combos		59				61				61				62
3-press combos		72				76				76				76
2-press combos		59				59				59				59
1-press combos		25				25				25				25

Game Version        X3:TC 2.5  	X3:TC 2.71  	X3:TC 3.1    X3:TC 3.11 + Steam DLC
Download Link:
v1.30 Excel 2007+ (You don't need to enable macros for this one)
[ external image ]


v1.30 Excel 97-2003 (not tested)
[ external image ]


Changelog:
  • 1.30 Added shortcuts for Homily of Perpetuity Steam DLC sector.
  • 1.20 A bug in shortcut discovery algorithm fixed (additonal combos added). The shortcuts are now sorted according to their ease of use (further info on the "UNIVERSE" sheet, check column J.
  • 1.11 The algorithm selects up to 7 key combinations with the shortest length to be displayed in the drop down menus. The selection is pretty random so full list of solutions can be checked in the "UNIVERSE" sheet. For instance, Rhonkar's Trial has 27 5-key solutions.
  • 1.10 Removed the bloat out of the main sheet. Added support for ANH sector. Added a possibility to choose your favorite shortcut via dropdown menus for each sector. Found shorter combinations for several sectors in the southern universe (Heaven's Assertion in 3 presses? I've got it!)
  • 1.04 Changed several shortcuts to more intuitive ones. Corrected post-plot completion key combinations for Terran Unknown Sectors.
  • 1.03 Added simplified shortcuts to a core sectors over a universe map. Corrected errors in a few sectors.
  • 1.02 Corrected typo in Home of Light
  • 1.01 Corrected typo in Hatikvah's Faith, corrected universe map layout
Known bugs: Dropdown shortcut values have to be changed manually for ANH sector and other affected sectors (Cho's Defeat) upon changing the name of ANH sector
Last edited by nponoBegHuk on Sat, 1. Oct 11, 02:14, edited 14 times in total.

Catra
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Post by Catra » Fri, 11. Dec 09, 06:46

respect for the work mate :D

and i noticed that for the US hub sector, that ianamus zura and interworlds are both 2 spaces apart from it XD (as in interworlds left left, or IZ right right XD),
Last edited by Catra on Fri, 11. Dec 09, 08:21, edited 2 times in total.

dillpickle
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Post by dillpickle » Fri, 11. Dec 09, 07:00

Catra wrote:....and this is an -extreme- nitpick...but the fastest way to the xenon hub is O(for omicron) arrow down, but w/e its just 1 key less :p
Not wen you have to press 'O' five times to get to Omicron Lyrae via Oort Cloud, Ocean of Fantasy, Olmancketslat's and Ore Belt....

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Post by Ulan Dhor » Fri, 11. Dec 09, 07:55

I usually press just "i" once or twice and then click, as this brings me to nearly all game-relevant sectors in X3TC (Omicron Lyrae, Elysium of Light, Argon M148, Hub sector, Aldrin). If I want to go into the far southeast, twice "q" seems to be the easiest. "v" is for everything in the NE Terran corner.

I don't think I will learn any other shortcuts, although I like the list.

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Gswine
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Post by Gswine » Fri, 11. Dec 09, 11:43

This is pretty much all you need to get around the galaxy map. You should only be a couple of key strokes from any sector.

K - kingdom End R - Rolks drift S - Sizewell F - Family Whi

G - Getsu Fune O - Ocean of Fantasy

Z - Zyarthes Dominon H - Herrons Nebula D - Danas Chance

E - Elanas Fortune 2x Elysium of Light L - Light of Heart

I - Ianimus Zura 2x Inter-Worlds W - Wastelands 2x Wretched Skies

Q - Queens Space - 2x Queens Retribution (TC)

I dont spend much time in Terran space so not included but E points to Earth first then Elanas Fortune then Elysium of Light and that makes it really annoying in my book but any way...
She was right. Selection B4, His most recent hit, 'Nowhere Nuthin' ****-up,' a sentimental number.

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nponoBegHuk
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Post by nponoBegHuk » Fri, 11. Dec 09, 15:18

Gswine wrote:This is pretty much all you need to get around the galaxy map. You should only be a couple of key strokes from any sector.

K - kingdom End R - Rolks drift S - Sizewell F - Family Whi

G - Getsu Fune O - Ocean of Fantasy

Z - Zyarthes Dominon H - Herrons Nebula D - Danas Chance

E - Elanas Fortune 2x Elysium of Light L - Light of Heart

I - Ianimus Zura 2x Inter-Worlds W - Wastelands 2x Wretched Skies

Q - Queens Space - 2x Queens Retribution (TC)

I dont spend much time in Terran space so not included but E points to Earth first then Elanas Fortune then Elysium of Light and that makes it really annoying in my book but any way...
Going to the core sectors within few keypresses and then navigating with arrows from there is the most comfortable option, no doubt. Adding this to a spreadsheet now, Thanks for the feedback!

I'm adding few more options to that list, so everyone just chooses the ones they are comfortable with.

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Post by Alan Phipps » Fri, 11. Dec 09, 15:31

If I recall correctly, if you are in a sector that starts with the same letter as for the sector you press a key to get to first, you actually start by going somewhere else in the ordered list of sectors with that initial letter (ie to the one that lists after the sector you are already in).

pmenso57
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Post by pmenso57 » Fri, 11. Dec 09, 17:55

Great idea.

When weighting various options, you should count multiple keystrokes of the same letter as worse because the game appears to disable response to the key for a time after it is pressed.

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Gswine
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Post by Gswine » Fri, 11. Dec 09, 18:30

@nponoBegHuk

I missed your link when I first posted. That’s a lot of work there!

You must have the patience of a saint. :D
She was right. Selection B4, His most recent hit, 'Nowhere Nuthin' ****-up,' a sentimental number.

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nponoBegHuk
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Post by nponoBegHuk » Thu, 17. Dec 09, 03:38

Updated version uploaded. Enjoy.

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Alonesmither
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Post by Alonesmither » Thu, 17. Dec 09, 07:23

Nice dude! Good info and tip.... I ones noticed some thing like this - when accidentaly pressed some button and whole galaxy map scrolled some where :P but been not 100% sure why that happend ))) Now i am! Ty! =) :P :)
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KarlHemmings
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Post by KarlHemmings » Thu, 17. Dec 09, 12:23

dillpickle wrote:Not wen you have to press 'O' five times to get to Omicron Lyrae via Oort Cloud, Ocean of Fantasy, Olmancketslat's and Ore Belt....
Is that not J + down arrow three times?

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nponoBegHuk
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Post by nponoBegHuk » Tue, 22. Dec 09, 06:10

KarlHemmings wrote:
dillpickle wrote:Not wen you have to press 'O' five times to get to Omicron Lyrae via Oort Cloud, Ocean of Fantasy, Olmancketslat's and Ore Belt....
Is that not J + down arrow three times?
Actually you would need to press downarrow 4 times to get to Omicron Lyrae through Jupiter. (Something like Jvvvv), Probably would be easier to remember going there through Wastelands: W^<<

You don't have to use the shortest combination possible if you prefer longer but easier to remember one so maybe Jvvvv or OOOOO will be the choice for you. However, if you navigate to some sector very frequently (large complex management or similar), you will eventually find it best to learn the shortest combo since human memory works this way: the more you repeat, the easier it becomes :P

I personally use QQ>H (for Heaven's Assertion) and IIv^> (for Perpetual Sin) all the time (it's where I have 30+ station complexes), while most people will just stick with IIv and then just clicking/scrolling to the sector they need but, again, make your choice, you have both ways to choose among in the spreadsheet :)

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Post by EmperorJon » Sat, 2. Jan 10, 23:31

Has anyone taken into account the unknown sectors near Unholy Descent?

People were saying 'oh there's no shortcut'

V,V,>,> :P
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TTD
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Post by TTD » Sun, 8. Aug 10, 16:22

Just looked at this with the latest OpenOffice.org.

It is full of error messages,sorry.

Otherwise I was hoping it would be useful.
But you can now add

ANH sector = Z/ right arrow /up arrow. :)

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Post by Martox29a » Sun, 8. Aug 10, 18:02

nponoBegHuk your work is absolutely gorgeous!
Thank you. :thumb_up: :thumb_up: :thumb_up:

chinookmike
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Post by chinookmike » Mon, 9. Aug 10, 18:38

One key press that has been very useful for me is.....

W -Wastelands:


- from there - the hub, terran new sectors, player reward sector, aldrin, omicron ..... and several other useful sectors are visible for 1 click go-to's..

Hope this is helpful

Thanks and fly safe....

Astasia
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Post by Astasia » Mon, 9. Aug 10, 21:30

Um, if you click on a sector once, the map centers on it. You only "select" a sector by clicking on it twice. So you don't ever have to hit the arrow keys, it's a waste of time. Just click once on a sector on the edge of the screen, then repeat until you get where you want, shouldn't take more than a few quick clicks at the most.

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Post by Coruskane » Tue, 14. Sep 10, 16:14

A tip (I dont think changing text files modIfies game so this should also work for vanilla):

1) Open up your language file

2) Then, adjust the entry for whatever sectors you need to reach easily to have a "y" as the first letter.

3) There are no vanilla sectors with Y as the frist letter..

Conclusion): Therefore, hitting Y will cycle you through your priority sectors.

For example, I have edited Hub, and a few other sectors where I have major operations. They are now "y Hub" etc...This can be done on existing games..Just exit TC and reload.. (new sectors etc are in page file 300007)

............................................................................................................
EDIT: (ignore the rest of this post if you are vanilla)

Better yet: use an overwrite text file with the correct page number / entry..

loading a custom text file requires a script...so if you are vanilla, stick to editing the main language xml described above.

For non-vanilla, use a text-file with structure from below. Then load your text-file with a setup.XXXXX script, with two lines in it:

load text: id=XXXX
return=null

ok, for those who dont have want to extract .PCKs language file to find the sector id etc..use the following syntax in an xml file and stick it in your t-file directory:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<language id="44">
<page id="7" title="Boardcomp. Sectornames" descr="">
<t id="1020000">Unknown Sector</t>
<t id="1020101">Kingdom End</t>
<t id="1020102">Rolk's Drift</t>
<t id="1020103">Queen's Space</t>
<t id="1020104">Menelaus' Frontier</t>
<t id="1020105">Ceo's Buckzoid</t>
<t id="1020106">Teladi Gain</t>
<t id="1020107">Family Whi</t>
<t id="1020114">The Vault</t>
<t id="1020117">{7,1020000}</t>
<t id="1020118">Xenon Sector 534</t>
<t id="1020120">Xenon Sector 596</t>
<t id="1020201">Three Worlds</t>
<t id="1020202">Power Circle</t>
<t id="1020203">Antigone Memorial</t>
<t id="1020204">Rolk's Fate</t>
<t id="1020205">Profit Share</t>
<t id="1020206">Seizewell</t>
<t id="1020207">Family Zein</t>
<t id="1020214">Shareholder's Fortune</t>
<t id="1020215">Mines Of Fortune</t>
<t id="1020218">Getsu Fune</t>
<t id="1020219">Menelaus' Paradise</t>
<t id="1020220">Xenon Sector 597</t>
<t id="1020301">Cloudbase North West</t>
<t id="1020302">Herron's Nebula</t>
<t id="1020303">The Hole</t>
<t id="1020304">Atreus' Clouds</t>
<t id="1020305">Spaceweed Drift</t>
<t id="1020306">Greater Profit</t>
<t id="1020307">Thuruk's Pride</t>
<t id="1020308">Family Pride</t>
<t id="1020310">Patriarch's Retreat</t>
<t id="1020315">Home Of Opportunity</t>
<t id="1020319">Bluish Snout</t>
<t id="1020401">Ringo Moon</t>
<t id="1020402">Argon Prime</t>
<t id="1020403">The Wall</t>
<t id="1020404">Farnham's Legend</t>
<t id="1020405">Bala Gi's Joy</t>
<t id="1020406">Blue Profit</t>
<t id="1020407">Rhonkar's Fire</t>
<t id="1020408">Rhonkar's Clouds</t>
<t id="1020409">Tharka's Sun</t>
<t id="1020410">Cho's Defeat</t>
<t id="1020415">Family Tkr</t>
<t id="1020416">Tkr's Deprivation</t>
<t id="1020417">Ghinn's Escape</t>
<t id="1020418">Hila's Joy</t>
<t id="1020419">Ocean of Fantasy</t>
<t id="1020501">Red Light</t>
<t id="1020502">Home of Light</t>
<t id="1020503">President's End</t>
<t id="1020504">Elena's Fortune</t>
<t id="1020505">Olmancketslat's Treaty</t>
<t id="1020506">Ceo's Sprite</t>
<t id="1020507">Family Rhonkar</t>
<t id="1020510">Patriarch's Keep</t>
<t id="1020511">Two Grand</t>
<t id="1020517">Family Njy</t>
<t id="1020518">Njy's Deception</t>
<t id="1020519">Family Ryk</t>
<t id="1020601">Cloudbase South West</t>
<t id="1020602">Ore Belt</t>
<t id="1020603">Cloudbase South East</t>
<t id="1020604">Split Fire</t>
<t id="1020605">Brennan's Triumph</t>
<t id="1020606">Company Pride</t>
<t id="1020607">Thuruk's Beard</t>
<t id="1020611">Profit Center Alpha</t>
<t id="1020612">PTNI Headquarters</t>
<t id="1020614">Circle Of Labour</t>
<t id="1020616">Xenon Sector 472</t>
<t id="1020617">Thyn's Abyss</t>
<t id="1020701">Emperor Mines</t>
<t id="1020702">Paranid Prime</t>
<t id="1020703">Priest Rings</t>
<t id="1020704">Priest's Pity</t>
<t id="1020705">Danna's Chance</t>
<t id="1020706">Nopileos' Memorial</t>
<t id="1020707">Hatikvah's Faith</t>
<t id="1020708">Aladna Hill</t>
<t id="1020709">Akeela's Beacon</t>
<t id="1020712">Scale Plate Green</t>
<t id="1020713">Nyana's Hideout</t>
<t id="1020714">Omicron Lyrae</t>
<t id="1020715">Treasure Chest</t>
<t id="1020716">Black Hole Sun</t>
<t id="1020802">Empire's Edge</t>
<t id="1020803">Duke's Domain</t>
<t id="1020804">Emperor's Ridge</t>
<t id="1020808">Light of Heart</t>
<t id="1020811">Eighteen Billion</t>
<t id="1020812">Xenon Sector 347</t>
<t id="1020816">Nathan's Voyage</t>
<t id="1020817">Wastelands</t>
<t id="1020818">{7,1020000}</t>
<t id="1020819">{7,1020000}</t>
<t id="1020902">Preacher's Void</t>
<t id="1020904">Pontifex' Realm</t>
<t id="1020906">Light Water</t>
<t id="1020908">Montalaar</t>
<t id="1020910">New Income</t>
<t id="1020911">Ianamus Zura</t>
<t id="1020917">Interworlds</t>
<t id="1021002">Duke's Vision</t>
<t id="1021003">Emperor's Wisdom</t>
<t id="1021004">Trinity Sanctum</t>
<t id="1021005">Preacher's Refuge</t>
<t id="1021006">Shore of Infinity</t>
<t id="1021007">Lucky Planets</t>
<t id="1021008">Rolk's Legacy</t>
<t id="1021009">Great Trench</t>
<t id="1021010">Ceo's Doubt</t>
<t id="1021104">Bad Debt</t>
<t id="1021110">LooManckStrat's Legacy</t>
<t id="1021202">{7,1020000}</t>
<t id="1021203">Rhy's Desire</t>
<t id="1021204">Ministry Of Finance</t>
<t id="1021210">Mi Ton's Refuge</t>
<t id="1021215">Unknown Enemy Sector</t>
<t id="1021217">Unknown Enemy Sector</t>
<t id="1021303">Family Rhy</t>
<t id="1021310">Moo-Kye's Revenge</t>
<t id="1021316">Unknown Enemy Sector</t>
<t id="1021401">Depths Of Silence</t>
<t id="1021402">Dark Waters</t>
<t id="1021403">Reservoir Of Tranquillity</t>
<t id="1021404">Barren Shores</t>
<t id="1021409">Priest Refuge</t>
<t id="1021410">Cardinal's Domain</t>
<t id="1021411">Sacred Relic</t>
<t id="1021415">Unknown Enemy Sector</t>
<t id="1021417">Unknown Enemy Sector</t>
<t id="1021503">Great Reef</t>
<t id="1021509">Spring Of Belief</t>
<t id="1021510">Friar's Retreat</t>
<t id="1021511">Pontifex' Seclusion</t>
</page>
<page id="300007" title="Boardcomp. Sectornames" descr="Names of all sectors (spoken by Boardcomputer)" voice="yes">

* FOR ANH sectors and some others
</page>

<page id="350007" title="Boardcomp. Sectornames" descr="Names of all sectors (spoken by Boardcomputer)" voice="yes">

* FOR TERRAN SECTORS, ANH AND SOME OTHERS
</page>
</language>

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Poobah
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Re: Fast Sector selection on Universe Map

Post by Poobah » Tue, 14. Sep 10, 17:38

nponoBegHuk wrote:AWESOME STUFF HERE
This is great, nice work!
Lead me not into temptation,
For I can find the way myself!

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