Noob inventory and vehicle questions

[thekaj]

I picked this game up during the Steam sale, and have been playing for about a week now, but have a few questions.

 

On the inventory screen, I've noticed that it seems as if people in videos I've watched are able to cycle through various containers in the same room without having to move directly in front of it, by just clicking through the icons on the right side of the window.   I can't seem to do this.  Left click or right click, nothing happens.  I have to physically walk over to each one and have it highlight on screen before the contents pop up.  Is that a bug in my interface, or are people just that good at moving around in the game, and I'm just not seeing them move around the room behind the inventory window?

 

Second inventory question: I set my backpack down on the floor of the room I was in to access the contents.  Went to put it back on, and I can't see it.  It might be behind a chair, but I don't have the tools to disassemble it to find out.  I can see it in the inventory screen and can still access the contents, so it didn't completely disappear.  I don't suppose there's any keyboard shortcut to use in order to grab it?  I've also got an Xbox controller plugged in, in case there's a button combo there to find and grab it.

 

I am wondering if both issues above are part of a general UI bug I'm experiencing.  I also can't change the volume on TVs via clicking on the volume buttons.  The only way I can do it is through the controller interface.  I don't seem to have any other issues left or right clicking on other items.

 

Finally a general vehicle question.  It's only been a few in-game days, but so far I've only found one operable vehicle out of the well over a dozen I've come across.  I'm a burglar, so hotwiring isn't a problem.   The cars just won't turn over when I try to move (I can hear them trying).  Doesn't matter if they're parked or in various states of "accidents".  Is that a pretty standard level of inoperable vehicles?  I haven't bothered trying to check to see what issues each vehicle has preventing them from starting.  I'm just annoyed with myself that the first car I checked, it worked.  So I played "how many zeds can I run over?" before it died, thinking I'd have no trouble finding the next one. 

[Steviefaux]

Just come back after years of not playing.

 

Hold shift and scroll the mouse wheel to switch between inventory boxes in the area.

 

If you have a hammer, stone hammer or ball peen hammer, you should be able to move the object that is in the way via the new pick up tool on the left. I only spotted it recently as I'm sure it never use to be there when I played years ago. Even if the move fails it will destroy the object getting it out the way.

 

For cars I think it might be the settings on your playthrough. For ages I was thinking I wasn't finding any with gas in. Wasn't till I reaf that you need to start a car first to find if it has fuel. I'm thinking you've just been unlucky with the cars or its your playthrough settings. I setup sandbox so I can decide how to play, like turning off zombie respawn. Its great these options are there as I know people want respawn for the challenge but I feel its more realistic that they don't respawn as they'd eventually all die out.

[thekaj]

Ah, thanks!  That just made looting a whole lot let laborious.  And I managed to pick up the backpack.  Just in time for the helicopter to show up and me to get out of dodge.

[Papa Juliet Whiskey]

The shift to scroll can also be mapped to ctrl key, or ctrl+shift. 

I usually set mine to ctrl, because I use rmb for combat stance.

 

But mostly because I run when I don't mean to. Or scroll through things accidentally while running.

 

The issue with the backpack is that it counts as a container, so when you're near it, it'll show its contents as if it were a cupboard or drawer, but you'll have to manually select the floor as the container you want to look at in order to see and equip it.

 

I think you may also right click near anything that's on the ground and it should be visible in the list of items you can grab.

 

There are so many little features the devs have added over the years, but not many of them play nice with each other, or just seem unintuitive.

 

Example - placeable items. There is a place feature tied to furniture and other decorative items, as well as the newer place item feature that allows you to place items from your inventory. 

Then you look at the radio. You can place it as an item that is rendered in 3d, but just sitting uselessly wherever you place it. Or, you can place it as furniture, at which case the radio is a 2d sprite, but now you can interact with it.

 

I am not 100% on this, but I think if you right click a radio in your inventory, it'll have a place item option twice, one for 3d unusable item, and one for the 2d functional radio.

 

I'd like to think the devs will synergize all the systems by the time it is finished, and inject a degree uniformity. But they've got bigger fish to fry at the moment.  

[feral_donkey]

You can pop the hood and check out the car's details.   If the engine is in poor shape the car will turn itself off at times.   If the battery is shot it won't start,  etc.      Anyone can swap a battery.     Mechanic 4 lets you fix engines.

[Ohgodtherats]

If you're having trouble it may be due to having a controller plugged in, controller isn't well supported yet. As other have mentioned to get at the backpack you'll need to select the floor 'container' which is always at the bottom of the list on the right side of the window. You can scroll through containers by mousing over the container list on the right and using the scroll wheel.