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[Sajiky]

Is that possible? To select say a hematite tile and have them mine out all the hematite connected with that tile? I'm in a situation I'd rather do that than square off a large area so the end up getting a bunch of stone as well. I'm probably going to have to go through and build a bunch more walls after if I go that way.

[Leonidas]

DFHack will do it. It's built in to the Lazy Newb Pack.

[Sajiky]

Cool, thanks.

Actually just now getting around to reading the DFHack documentation and realizing just how much useful stuff is in there.  Thinking if I can figure out how to use it right, I'll remove about 80% of the functional dysfunction frustration from the game. 

I just might finally get into as much as I've really wanted to, trying ever so often and failing to fully immerse, off and on for over 10 years now. lol.

[anewaname]

There are functions like this in vanilla DF, available on the 'd'esignate menu.

See the image of the designations menu on the wiki page; at the bottom of that image, "a: Designating All" is the default. Hit 'a' and it will change to the option that you want (as ore is dug out, newly exposed ore is also designated, and stone is ignored).

There are four options in the 'a' submenu, so consider changing it back to "Designate All" as soon as you are done, or you will swear a lot later on.

[Leonidas]

There are functions like this in vanilla DF, available on the 'd'esignate menu.

Oh, my mistake! I thought that was from DFHack. I've been using the LNP so long, I've lost track of which features come from where.

Ctrl-M for tracking mechanism links still doesn't come with vanilla, right?

[Ziusudra]

dfhack additions are labeled as such in game, either by having the key displayed in red or explicitly.

[Schmaven]

Some DFHack extras are a bit stealthy.  Like the list sorting.  Or the counter on the bottom right showing how many happy / unhappy dwarves are in the fort.

[Ziusudra]

Ah, yes, I was refering to diaplayed menu options specifically.

[Fleeting Frames]

Though in this case there is the dfhack option predating that bit by years: digv (default keybinding Ctrl-V) that actlually designates the whole vein instead of designating new bits of vein until it hits wet/warm/designated stone. I guess it can be useful for planning bedrooms to take advantage o the greater value, at least.

[Starver]

The DFHack functionality was added as being something then missing from Vanilla, and thus implemented as 'a bit of a cheat', as if Revealed, the vein painstakingly designated over[1] then Unrevealed. Given that anything you do in DF is only 'cheaty' if you yourself consider it 'cheaty', that's perfectly legitimate for many who'd use it, and has the 'compensating factor' of perhaps leading you into breaking into a bit of cavern you (still) don't know about, while your back is metaphorically turned.

But it is more useful than micromanaging it (I say this as an obsessive micromanager myself, who rarely uses DFH features), manually going in, following the miner(s) and making a spot-decision as each removed ore reveals any continuations of that ore (same risk of breaking through somewhere you didn't want to, at least you're there to realise it and react, rather than perhaps relyibg on a Notification configuration and its Zoom) but that isn't for everyone and so it became obvious enough to add into the expansion of the Vanilla feature expansion. But as an 'automated micromanager' version, rather than Reveal-powered.

(Though the game knows at least as much about what you'd probably dig through as the utility, it makes less sense to suddenly become a Revealing tool, effectively, than to just have it such that each miner guided to cut down a given base wall-type thinks it part of her task to mentally add any new instances she reveals beyond that tile into the same job-queue she is following. Though it puts you back in 'unmonitored breakthrough' territory, again, without precautions.)

Not that this really adds much to the "how to do it", but as part of the trick to getting on with DF is to get your mindset compatible with what it does with what you tell it to do, I find it's nice to align your mind with the internal design philosophy. Or at least know where your pitfalls are likely to be located.


[1] Though if you were doing this manually, you might make slightly less congruent 'painting' to not (immediately) mine some ore, perhaps shave into non-ore tiles in other places.