Controls Guide: Inventory, Belts & Modifiers

Controls in Dyson Sphere Program let you manage inventory, interact with buildings and conveyor belts, and perform bulk actions efficiently. This page summarizes the core input methods and modifiers you will use during play.

Basic inventory interaction

• Click an item slot to pick up that stack and move it with the cursor.
• While holding an item stack, move to a valid placement location and left-click to place it (this works for building placement as well as putting items into storage or other UI slots).
• You can deposit items directly into a building's UI by dragging the stack over the appropriate slot in that UI and releasing.

Picking up and moving multiple items

• Hold Shift or Ctrl modifiers in various combinations to change transfer behaviors (these modifiers are used throughout the game UI for convenience). Specific modifier behaviors vary by context; the general pattern is:
  • Use Shift for stacking/continuous placement (e.g., place more than one of the same item without reselecting).
  • Use Ctrl for precise single-item pickup or bulk deletion actions (see belt deletion below).
• To pick up multiple loose items on the ground or on belts, hold the pickup modifier (default: Left Ctrl) while left-clicking an item. Keep the modifier and mouse button held while walking or dragging to pick up additional items sequentially.

Direct interaction with conveyor belts

• Mouse over a belt segment until a white box appears, then click the box to open the belt interaction dialog. The dialog shows a circular port that displays the item currently on that belt segment.
• Use that port to:
  • Remove an item from the belt by clicking/taking it into your cursor.
  • Place an item from your inventory onto that belt segment by dragging the item into the port.
• To place multiple identical items onto the belt, hold the left mouse button while dragging the item into the belt port; you do not need to click for each item.

Mass deletion and bulk edits for belts

• To delete an entire belt (within your build range) in one action, hold the deletion modifier (default: Left Ctrl) while clicking a belt segment. This removes connected belt pieces in bulk rather than deleting a single tile at a time.

Tips and expected workflows

• Use direct belt interaction to insert or remove items when debugging jams, seeding a belt line, or retrieving stranded items.
• Combine modifier keys with drag-and-drop for fast inventory management: e.g., pick up a stack, hold Shift to place multiple, or drag into a storage UI to refill a container quickly.
• When dismantling belt networks for redesign, use the mass-deletion modifier to clear long runs efficiently.

This page covers the core controls for item manipulation and belt interactions; these inputs are consistent across building UIs and world interactions.