Hidden features
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Climates · Towns · Industries · Economy · Disasters · Tips · Hidden features · Hotkeys · Console · Game mechanics · Multiplayer · Scenario editor · Online content
There are many features within OpenTTD with no GUI buttons or easily accessible to operate. To most inexperienced users, these are Hidden Features.
Here is a list of the hidden features, which are helpful, but not necessarily obvious even to experienced players. Feel free to complete this list.
This page does not list hotkeys, see there for information.
Ctrl features
The Ctrl key can be very useful. Holding it down while clicking can make tedious tasks much faster.
| Action | Command |
|---|---|
| Borrow/Repay maximum cash | Finances window -> Ctrl + click Borrow/Repay button |
| Copy orders | Orders window -> Go To -> click a vehicle |
| Assign shared orders | Orders window -> Go To -> Ctrl + click a vehicle |
| Clone a vehicle with shared orders | Depot window -> Clone Vehicle -> Ctrl + click a vehicle |
| Drag multiple train parts in depot | Depot window -> Ctrl + move wagon |
| View location of order | Orders window -> Ctrl + click an order |
| View current vehicle destination (r19216 / 1.0) | Vehicle window -> Ctrl + click the Start-Stop/Status bar |
| Start/stop vehicle (r19714 / 1.1) | Ctrl + click vehicle on the map to start/stop it |
| View location in viewport | Ctrl + click on a Location button shows the location in a new viewport instead of scrolling the main view there |
| Place semaphores | Railway construction -> Build signal -> Ctrl + click plain railroad track |
| Place pre-signals | Railway construction -> Build signal -> Ctrl + click already existing signal |
| Signal autocomplete (0.6.0) |
Railway construction -> Build signal -> Ctrl + drag over plain railroad track. Works for remove too. |
| Place Adjacent Station | Hold Ctrl and place a station next to an existing one to create a new one instead of enlarging the existing. Needs Advanced Setting "adjacent_stations" set. |
| Join with existing station (r14919 / 0.7.0) |
Hold Ctrl while building a station to get a list of nearby stations to choose from which station the new one should be joined with. You can still choose to create a new (adjacent) station. |
| Remove desert in scenario editor | Landscape -> Desert tool -> Ctrl + click tile |
| Reverse engine direction | Ctrl + click on an engine in depot window [only if supported by NewGRF] |
| Auto service | Ctrl + click goto depot icon |
| Follow vehicle | Ctrl + click "Center on vehicle" in vehicle window (normal zoom only) |
| Remove Function | Build road/rail tool -> Hold Ctrl to toggle removing (except for signals - use R for that). |
| Lock transparency (0.6.0) |
Transparency settings -> Ctrl + click button to lock transparency option ('x' will not toggle it anymore) |
| Show time table instead of orders | Ctrl+click the orders button |
| Show other type of vehicle group window than the default | Hold Ctrl while opening a player's train/road vehicle/aircraft/ship list |
| Remove your own sign (r13501 / 0.6.2) |
Ctrl + click on the sign |
| Build last built bridge type if possible (r14805 / 0.7.0) |
Ctrl + build bridge |
| Order Modifiers (r14827 / 0.7.0) |
Orders window -> Go to -> Hold Ctrl while clicking on a...
|
| Non-destructive timetable autofill (r14592 / 0.7.0) |
Hold Ctrl while clicking on an autofill button |
| Quick start new game (r15690 / 0.7.0) |
Hold Ctrl while clicking on "New Game" in the main menu to directly start a game without opening the "World Generation" window |
| Add all vehicles with a shared order list to a group (r24138) |
Group window -> Hold Ctrl while dragging a vehicle to a group |
More features
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Chat Auto Complete | Use Tab to toggle through player and town names |
| Chat Window | Shift+Enter (Shift+T) sends a message to all players, Ctrl+Enter (Ctrl+T) sends a message to all team mates and Enter (T) is customizable |
| Cancel Build | When you click and drag to build an object but it is in the wrong place, it will be built when you release the mouse button. Instead hold the mouse button and press Esc to cancel the build. |
| Cost Estimation | Hold Shift key while performing a build action. Works almost everywhere. Also allows you to cancel construction if you have already clicked (eg. about to build track in wrong place, just hold down Shift and release mouse button). |
| View location in small map | After using a location button to scroll the main window to that location click again to scroll the small map to the same location. |
| Roll up/down window | Mouse wheel up/down while hovering the cursor on a window's titlebar. |
- Mouse wheel for list scrolling or map zooming
- Bridge upgrades: Build a new bridge over the old bridge to upgrade it. You can't change the type, e.g. road to rail, this way. If upgrading a town bridge the new bridge must have a higher top speed, but otherwise it can be anything you like. (0.6.0)
- NewGRF developer tools (1.1.0)
- For AI developers: break on log message (1.1.0)
