Caves

[SolarCenturion]

Anybody have tips for making caves? I've seen a couple of nice ones but no idea how to build one.

[ShardWarrior]

I built a cave for the Everlasting Server Community Base. Definitely not as difficult as you might think.

 

In that one, I built inside the base, not above the plot.  I saved the exterior above the base for "phase II".  🙂

 

In the base editor, search for "Cave" in the search box.  You'll find a number of cave rock items that are long and flat (the exact names escape me at the moment).  Those flat objects can be used as floors, rotated to use for walls or ceilings.  Just place one then fiddle with the F5 button to where you will want to place it (eg. floor, ceiling etc.)  and move it into position.  Items like the Cave 1 through Cave 5 worked well for walls. 

 

Takes a bit of fiddling but it isn't hard to do.  I recommend watching the video guides @Dacy posted for pro tips on placing and manipulating objects.

 

 

[SolarCenturion]

Thanks! That will help a lot!

[Dacy]

Thanks, @ShardWarrior! 🙂

 

The two categories with rocks are Landscape and Nature (farther back in Nature, those are newer items). There is a surprising divergence in color choice for rocks: some are mostly white, with black markings, some are grey toned, some are dark, some are brown, some are tan. Some can be tinted.

 

I haven't done a guide yet on building a cave, but it would be similar to  building a room, only, using rocks. I'd lay the floor first, decide where you want things and how much space you're going to give them, and then put in walls. Ceilings are best left until last, because they interfere with your camera view, and can hinder item placement, but otoh, you often can get your camera view from inside the rock. It's not like they're actually solid...and  your view is clear because the polygon is only one sided. And then...just make it look like you imagine a cave to look! Typically, caves don't have much by the way of right angles and smooth walls, so the main focus of placement will be making sure you still have enough room in the cave. I'd try to stay within the same color family; there are some rocks that blend well with other sets, but some definitely stand out if placed with a different type. Cliff Rocks, in Landscape, have a nice size variety. Angle them a bit to blend sides to ceiling, and you should be good to go.

 

-Dacy

[ShardWarrior]

One thing to keep in mind - not all rock items have complete textures.  Some of them only have it on part of the item, so if you rotate them you'll just see a blank space.