Accessibility ModandClaude Opus 5
ce0f375a10
The research tree spoke only the node's name and whether you could afford
it. Everything that tells you whether it is worth affording -- the
knowledge cost, the recipes it unlocks, the description -- is drawn in
the hint windows beside the tree and was never spoken, so "cannot afford"
gave no way to find out what was missing or by how much.
states/research.lua now implements details(), the same = / Shift+= hook
the item grids use: cost with the shortfall spelled out, what it unlocks,
then the description, one block each so [ and ] walk them back. Shift+=
adds the name line and the whole knowledge purse across all four types.
The focus line also takes its name from the node's title instead of
humanising the id, so it is "Sewing techniques", not "sewing techniques".
Everything is read from the state's currentNode upvalue -- the display
table updateCurrentNode() assembles for the hint window -- rather than
models/research.lua, whose nodes table is file-local and whose unlocks
are recipe ids, which would have named the recipe instead of the item it
produces. The shortfall is computed against journalModel.knowledge,
required lazily because models.journal drags in much of the game.
The tree has no hotkey and the prologue may hold no writing desk, so the
testbed enters it the way the desk does: ingame.interface("research"),
the exact call in the desk's tryInteractFunction. Require it as
"states/ingame" and not "states.ingame" -- states.lua uses the slash
form, and the dot form loads a second copy of the module whose
levelWindow is nil, which research.draw indexes on its first frame.
98 testbed checks, 0 failures.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
278 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
278 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
# Accessibility mod — Sulphur Memories: Alchemist
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Blind-accessibility mod adding screen-reader speech, an object tracker, tile
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exploration and directional wall tones.
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Speech goes through **Tolk**, so it uses your running screen reader (NVDA, JAWS,
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System Access) and falls back to SAPI 5 if none is running.
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## Running
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```
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"C:\Program Files\LOVE\love.exe" "D:\code\Sulphur Memories Alchemist 0.4.2 sanctified"
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```
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Use `lovec.exe` instead of `love.exe` to get a console window — every spoken line
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is mirrored there, which is useful for reporting bugs.
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The TTS libraries live in `accessibility/lib/` and are loaded by absolute path,
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so nothing needs installing or copying into Program Files.
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If speech does not work, check the console for the startup self-test:
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```
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[accessibility] TTS: available
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[accessibility] speech channel: yes
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```
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`speech channel: NO` means Tolk loaded but found no screen reader and no SAPI.
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---
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## Keys added by the mod
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All of these are **in addition to** the game's own controls, and none of them
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replace a key the game uses.
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### Reading the message log
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| Key | Action |
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|---|---|
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| `[` | Previous message |
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| `]` | Next message |
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| `Shift+[` | Oldest message |
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| `Shift+]` | Newest message (and resume following new messages) |
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| `\` | Repeat the current message |
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| `Shift+\` | Copy the current message to the clipboard |
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New messages are spoken automatically. Pressing any key that does something in
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the game cancels whatever is still queued, so you are never stuck listening to a
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backlog. While you are moving through the history, new messages do **not** drag
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the cursor away — press `Shift+]` to return to the newest.
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### Looking around
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| Key | Action |
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|---|---|
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| `/` | Scan all eight neighbouring tiles, clockwise from north |
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| `Shift+/` | Cycle automatic announcements of what comes in and out of view |
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| `;` | Where am I — area name, in-game date and time, coordinates |
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| `Ctrl` + numpad `1`–`9` | Describe the tile in that direction without moving |
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| `Ctrl` + numpad `5` | Describe the tile you are standing on |
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#### Announcing things as they come into view (`Shift+/`)
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`/` tells you what is around you *now*. `Shift+/` decides how much of that
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happens by itself as you walk, cycling three settings:
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- **View announcements when you stop** *(the default)* — changes pile up while
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you are moving and are read out once you have stood still for a moment. A
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single step reports as soon as the step lands. A ten-tile walk gives you **one
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combined summary at the end** rather than ten reports on top of each other,
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and it is a *net* change: something that came into view halfway along and went
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out again before you stopped is not mentioned.
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- **View announcements on every step** — each step reports its own change. Best
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when you are creeping along carefully; too talkative for crossing a room.
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- **View announcements off**.
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You hear things arriving — `In view: a rat, 4 tiles north-east. barrel, 3,
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nearest 2 tiles east` — and creatures leaving: `Out of view: a rat`. Only
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creatures are reported when they leave. Furniture drops out of sight constantly
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as walls come between you and it, and being told the bed is out of view every
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other step would bury everything useful; a creature you can no longer see is
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worth knowing about.
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These announcements are queued rather than urgent, so anything you asked for
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yourself is spoken first, and any key that acts in the game clears them.
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Nothing outside your current field of view is ever reported.
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#### Seeing inside containers (the game's own `s`)
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The game's tutorial tells you to press **`s`** to see the contents of containers.
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For a sighted player that draws the icon of whatever is inside every chest, sack
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and pile you can see, straight onto the map. Pressing it now **speaks the same
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thing**, nearest first:
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```
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A wooden chest, 2 tiles east, A bunch of ivy leaves, 3, A torch.
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A burlap sack, 5 tiles north-west, Coarse salt
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```
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or `No loot in view` when there is nothing to find, so you can tell the key
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worked rather than wondering whether it was dropped.
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The icons can only show one item per container; you get the **whole list**. Each
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container is also pushed into the message history, so `[`, `]` and `\` walk back
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through a long list after it has been read out.
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This is your own key — whatever you have `Highlight loot` bound to in the game's
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controls, and however you have set *"highlight overlays require holding the
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key"*. Clicking the toolbar icon works too. It also works in examine mode and
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while aiming. Only containers you can currently see are reported.
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The game's own examine mode (**`x`**) is also fully spoken: the arrow keys move a
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cursor around the map and each tile is described with its distance and direction
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from you. Press `f` in examine mode to jump between exits.
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### Object tracker
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Finds everything you have seen, sorted by distance.
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| Key | Action |
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|---|---|
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| `Ctrl+PageUp` / `Ctrl+PageDown` | Previous / next **category** |
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| `PageUp` / `PageDown` | Previous / next **kind** of thing in that category |
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| `Shift+PageUp` / `Shift+PageDown` | Previous / next **instance** of that kind |
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| `Home` | Distance, direction, and number of steps by path |
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| `Ctrl+Home` | Walk to it |
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Categories: Creatures, Items, Alchemy, Interactables, Exits, Terrain features.
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So `Ctrl+PageDown` to reach "Creatures", `PageDown` to move between rat / beetle
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/ guard, and `Shift+PageDown` to step through the individual rats. `Home` gives
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you the walking distance, which indoors is often very different from the
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straight-line distance.
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`Ctrl+Home` does exactly what left-clicking the tile does with a mouse: it queues
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a walk along the game's own path. If the thing itself cannot be stood on — a
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creature, a chest, a bed — you walk to the nearest tile beside it instead, and
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the announcement says "next to" rather than "to". As with a mouse click, the walk
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stops early if something interrupts you, and while an enemy is in view the game
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only ever commits one step at a time.
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Your selection sticks. The list is rebuilt and re-sorted by distance every turn,
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but the tracker follows the thing you picked rather than the slot it was in, so a
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rat you are tracking stays selected as it moves around. It is only let go when it
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genuinely stops being visible.
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The tracker only ever reports things you have actually seen.
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### The journal (`j`)
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The journal has three parts, and all three are spoken:
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| Key | Moves |
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|---|---|
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| `q` / `e` | Between tabs — Quests, Lore, Bestiary, Components, Recipes, Tutorials |
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| Up / Down | Between entries in the current tab |
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| Left / Right | Between pages of the selected entry |
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Selecting an entry reads its title, its position in the list, and then the text
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of the page itself. The tab name is only spoken when you change tabs, and the
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title only when you change entry, so flipping pages doesn't make you sit through
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the heading again.
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Long entries run to several pages; you are told `page 2 of 3` when there is more
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than one. The page text also goes into the message history, so `[` and `]` will
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walk back through it and `\` re-reads a line — useful for a long lore entry you
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want to take in a piece at a time.
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### The inventory (`i`)
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Moving the cursor reads the item under it, or `empty`, plus the slot number:
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`a torch, slot 3`. `q` / `e` change tab, and the tab name is spoken when it
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changes. An item you are currently wearing, wielding or have switched on is read
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as `equipped`.
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Pressing enter (or `z`) on an item opens a small menu of the things you can do
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with *that* item right now — the list is different for every item, and changes
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with its state. It is read as, for example:
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```
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a torch, actions, Switch on, 1 of 2
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```
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Up and Down move through the actions, enter performs the selected one, and any
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other key closes the menu without doing anything. After the action runs you hear
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the item again, so `Switch on` is followed by `a torch, equipped, slot 3` — that
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is your confirmation it worked.
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Some items have no actions at all (plain crafting reagents, for instance). For
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those, enter does nothing whatsoever in the base game — not even a click — so the
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mod says `a pinch of sulphur, no actions` rather than leaving you wondering
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whether the key registered.
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Common actions include Activate, Wield, Unwield, Wear, Take off, Switch on,
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Switch off, Drink, Eat, Apply, Read, Open, and Prepare for throwing / Pack away.
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**Equipping is done from here** — there is no separate equipment screen.
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### Item details (`=`)
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| Key | Action |
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| `=` | Read the full details of the item under the cursor |
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| `Shift+=` | The same, including the item's name |
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Reading the cursor only tells you *which* item you are on. The details tell you
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what it is: what kind of thing it is, its condition if it can wear out, its
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description, and — the useful part for alchemy — **what it turns into**, listed
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per refinement method:
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```
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It is a raw material. Some fresh green leaves from ivy. They contain weak
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poison. Yields: x1 when ground in a mortar. x0.2 when distilled.
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```
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On the crafting, refining and trading screens the details also read the panel
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beside the grid, which is where the game keeps the things you most need before
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committing: a recipe's components and **whether you can afford them**, what a
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refinement produces and how much of it you already have, and — in a shop — the
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**price**, which appears nowhere else.
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The same key works on the **research tree** at the writing desk, where the focus
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line only tells you the node's name and whether you can afford it. The details
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read the rest of what is on screen: what it costs in knowledge and how much you
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are short by, which recipes it unlocks, and its description. `Shift+=` adds the
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node's name and your full knowledge stock across all four types.
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```
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Costs 5 practical, 2 academic, 2 occult knowledge, short 2 occult. Unlocks
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Sinister gauntlets, Verdant sandals. Clothing with supernatural attributes can
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be created by infusing the weave with magical powers.
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```
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You do not have to press `=` every time. **Stop on an item for about half a
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second and the details are read to you automatically**, which is what the game
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does for a sighted player: its own detail popup only appears after you have
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hovered a slot for a moment. Arrow through a tab quickly and you hear only the
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names, exactly as a sighted player sees only the icons.
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Details also go into the message history, so `[` and `]` walk back through a
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long description a piece at a time and `\` re-reads a line.
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### Your character
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| Key | Action |
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| `'` | Health and active effects |
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| `,` | Currently selected action |
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You are also told automatically when you take damage or are healed.
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### Wall tones
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Each step you take, a tone sounds from the direction of any wall within five
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tiles, positioned in 3D so you can hear where it is. Further walls are louder.
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---
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## Reporting problems
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Run with `lovec.exe` and include the console output. Lines beginning `[speech]`
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show exactly what was spoken and when:
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- `[speech]!` — interrupted whatever was being said
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- `[speech]*` — urgent alert, spoken immediately
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- `[speech] ` — queued normally
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If something is **silent that should not be**, that is the most useful thing to
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report, together with the screen you were on and the key you pressed.
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---
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## For developers
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See `accessibility/docs/` — start with `docs/README.md`, and read
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`docs/scratch.md` first if you are picking the work up mid-stream.
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