Main features
-
for
facedirandcolorfacedirnodes:- rotate any node in a predictable manner regardless its current rotation
- rotation memory: optionally, place any new node with the same rotation as the last rotated node
-
for
wallmountedandcolorwallmountednodes:- cycle through valid rotations in the same way as the built-in screwdriver would
Why yet another screwdriver?
The default screwdriver included in minetest_game, as well as any other screwdriver mod I have found, operate differently depending on the node's direction and rotation. This means that any given click on a node may produce different results which you cannot predict at a glance.
The Rhotator Screwdriver uses a different approach: the direction and orientation of the node make absolutely no difference.
These are the factors that affect the results of a click:
- the face you point at
- where on that face you point
- what button you click
- whether or not you hold down the sneak key
You will always be able to predict exactly the effect of the Rhotator Screwdriver.
Four consecutive clicks of the same button on the same position will always bring the node back to its original direction / orientation.
Video presentation! Woohoo
Click here to see the silly 30 minutes clunky video.
Click here to see the 5 minutes recap/update video for v1.4
See more details in the Github repo
New concept is exciting but limited
Initially I was very excited to see this mod and the new concept seemed so obviously better. For normal full cubes, this is clearly superior. Yes, the MTG screwdriver indeed has bad usability, so an improvement is so much needed.
But then I noticed a huge problem: Rotating becomes hard and inconvenient again if you have to deal with complex selection boxes. Because with complex selection boxes (like a toilet), you have to hit not only correct side, but also a side which faces the right way. Since this will change drastically after every click, you can no longer spam-click a node to quickly get to the correct rotation, but you must always move the mouse and concentrate to hit the right "side" of the selection box. Faces that face the wrong way willl be frequently exposed so it is easy to hit them and screw up. That's a problem because it means you still need to think when rotating.
And the push method might sometimes be useless if the selection box face is very small (like only on the right side, meaning you can't push to the left) and you must walk to a different side.
This issue could be mostly circumvented by games by simplifying their selection boxes but sometimes that's not what you want …
For many games, this will still be a massive improvement, but they can't have complex selection boxses.
Overall, this mod is still a thumbs up, because it is an improvement over the MTG screwdriver. I appreciate all new concepts of rotation.