Base Building

[WanderingAries]

Hold down Alt to rotate the piece in shorter increments. And use shift+control to lower/raise the item in relation to the floor.

 

I KNEW there was a way to do this (that I'd forgotten)!

[WanderingAries]

What's the button that lets you place a duplicate? Helped a ton when placing same items over an d over.

[Impish Kat]

What's the button that lets you place a duplicate? Helped a ton when placing same items over an d over.

 

Haven't come across any mention of that as of yet.  Keep us posted if you figure it out!

[Erydanus]

I think that's a trick in one of the Sims games, not here... but it would be useful.

 

I will say if you are placing the same item over again (in my case: shoji lantern -- I ambient light with them like crazy) if you type it in the new search bubble, then you'll just have it on your item list and it'll be a lot easier to draw from.

 

Some thoughts on the skies effect. A couple of them that look very cool at first unfortunately impact the whole base and bring atmospheric elements into it like yellow clouds or fog. However, if you want to have a fog-filled base you can do it. I think it's worth trying them all out for yourself just to see what happens with the atmosphere and lighting, even if your base is supposed to be underground without a view of the sky.

 

[Blood Speaker]

Question: how do I get the small "Room Section" window (where you can set room floor/ceiling levels) in the editor to come back, if I accidentally closed it, WITHOUT leaving and re-entering base?

[Erydanus]

That's the object mode display for a room square. When you're in that you can directly set what height floor and ceiling and even apply it to the whole room.

 

Sorry I can't tell you where to click without the game open in front of me, but if you're in the style picking system, look for object tab.

[momentarygrace]

Hold down Alt to rotate the piece in shorter increments. And use shift+control to lower/raise the item in relation to the floor.

 

This doesn't work for me. I don't know what I am doing incorrectly, but click on object, hold down alt, and right click, I still get only 90 degree turns.

 

Clues welcome!

 

While I am at it, stating upfront I am a base nano-neophyte, I did create a couple of little bitty tiny bases Back in the Day for my little bitty SGs - just me, my alts, my partner (now wife) and her alts. Never generated enough inf to do complicated things, never really needed to. But now with all the Free Stuff, I am having fun experimenting, but am far outside my knowledge level.

 

Here's the simple thing I don't know how to do and would love to know: how do you put items on other objects? Like all those bottles, and books, how do you get them on a table?

 

This probably seems obvious to those who know how but I have no idea at all.

 

Thanks for any input!

[WanderingAries]

Hold down Alt to rotate the piece in shorter increments. And use shift+control to lower/raise the item in relation to the floor.

 

This doesn't work for me. I don't know what I am doing incorrectly, but click on object, hold down alt, and right click, I still get only 90 degree turns.

 

The way I remember it, holding Alt and moving the cursor is how that worked.

[Kaleiope]

Okay, I have a base building stumper.

 

So, building on top of a base section works fine. However, the skybox options (Under Place Objects > Skies) seem specifically locked to the height of the base, so you can't Z-axis them up to the "second story". If anyone has snuck around this, please let me know - my spaceship is not actually in "space" yet.

 

 

[Impish Kat]

Here's the simple thing I don't know how to do and would love to know: how do you put items on other objects? Like all those bottles, and books, how do you get them on a table?

 

This probably seems obvious to those who know how but I have no idea at all.

 

Thanks for any input!

Select the item you want.  Place it on the floor. 

Then, use the following commands while click/holding the item to move it as you need:

 

SHIFT = vertical

CTRL = horizontal (on any level plane)

ALT = spin on y (vertical) axis

CNTRL+ALT = flip object on x (horizontal) axis

 

Okay, I have a base building stumper.

 

So, building on top of a base section works fine. However, the skybox options (Under Place Objects > Skies) seem specifically locked to the height of the base, so you can't Z-axis them up to the "second story". If anyone has snuck around this, please let me know - my spaceship is not actually in "space" yet.

 

The base building itself has "hard boundaries".  So, even with the skybox ceiling open, you cannot go beyond it.

What you want to do is build on top of the building.

 

To do this, you need to enable the new function of "room clipping" (F3)

Then, you will want to fill the area you want to build on with solid floor to ceiling walls. This will create a solid "roof" area that will act like a "floor" outside.

For easy access, you may want to move your entrance portal to the outside roof area.

 

Set your outside sky to Spaaaaaace, by using the new command /base_default_sky 15

You should be able to build as vertically high as you like, though I'm not sure about how far you can go horizontally.

 

Once you have your "rooftop" base built, you can go into the building and delete all the walls.

You will need to set up internal base tps with the new beacons & tp points to move between the inside and the rooftop base. 

 

All this information has been discussed extensively in the Discord channel.  Hopefully we'll get some guides pulled together in the near future.

[momentarygrace]

Hold down Alt to rotate the piece in shorter increments. And use shift+control to lower/raise the item in relation to the floor.

 

This doesn't work for me. I don't know what I am doing incorrectly, but click on object, hold down alt, and right click, I still get only 90 degree turns.

 

The way I remember it, holding Alt and moving the cursor is how that worked.

 

Thanks for the clue. I'm guessing I'm not the only person who ends up with object hovering slightly above a table or desk. :D

 

[Erydanus]

For the scenario described by Kaleiope definitely just set the default sky. The skybox items have a very limited boundary - and they're not even as big as some big rooms. Maybe 10x10? I tried putting the very largest room on the base and papering it with multiple of the same skybox and the sky effect faded as I crossed from one to another. You'd have to overlap them aggressively to create a sky over just 1 large room. At a guess, they were intended to allow you to have a skylight in one room with a different view from the rest.

[jofury]

Room building question...Once I set a room I have found that sometimes I will click and drag in edit mode which adds columns in the room. I have tried everything I can think of to remove them, but I keep just adding more! I now have these funky rooms with odd columns and projections that come out from the walls. How do I remove them?

 

Also, Impish Kat = Feral Kat? 

[Silk]

Have you tried zooming far out so you can see the top of the column and click it to then remove it? I have done that a few times and with some fiddling around manage to get rid of them  I forget if I have to select object or whatnot...

[Erydanus]

Room building question...Once I set a room I have found that sometimes I will click and drag in edit mode which adds columns in the room. I have tried everything I can think of to remove them, but I keep just adding more!

 

That's governed by what I posted earlier in the thread - you need to click on the square that's filled, go into Object mode and then you can remove the segments you don't want. If the rest of the room is just fine and you've got a couple of solid squares, you can also click on a good square, go into Object mode, and click something like "apply height to room" and it will reset all squares of the room to match that good one.

 

The builder is REALLY touchy about this, I don't remember it doing this so easily back circa I20 so it may be an issue with the current build. But, this is happening to everyone.

[Kheprera]

Just a note for those using the biggest size room for building up: know that if you want rooms to have different styles (arcane, tech, sewer, etc.), then you should plot out your base accordingly so you use the largest room size for the style. If you use the biggest possible room, then it will be restricted to one style.

 

You can use surfaces and dividers and such to build other rooms, but "main walls, floors, & ceilings will be affected.

 

I discovered this as I was building last night. One of my bases is two separate bases plus character housing, all will be accessible from the city built above. One base is all tech, the other is an arcane/tech mix, and the player housings are all different. Using the One Massive Room to maximize the space above affected the asthetic in style and lighting.

[jofury]

Thank you for the helpful replies

[Impish Kat]

Room building question...Once I set a room I have found that sometimes I will click and drag in edit mode which adds columns in the room. I have tried everything I can think of to remove them, but I keep just adding more! I now have these funky rooms with odd columns and projections that come out from the walls. How do I remove them?

 

Also, Impish Kat = Feral Kat? 

 

Others have helped solve your issue, which has actually been pretty common.  I helped one person who had raised the section her entrance was on, completely making her entrance unuseable! 

 

I don't remember if the "drag up to fill" was a feature on live, but it's definitely something we have to be easy with now. 

 

I do actually like having the object, room, and chat tabs on the edit bar.  Since, if you hit one of those popups while moving something, you will be stopped in your tracks!  I like being able to hide and unhide them at will. 

 

Also... If you are building on top (outside) as well as inside, you will probably want to build your outside first, since you need the filled sections to build on top of.  After you've built what you want outside, you can remove the filled sections via the object window and proceed to build inside the base as well. 

 

HOWEVER, as Khep has mentioned, if you are going to want different styles inside, you will need to lay out your rooms before you even begin to build outside.

 

And no, not Feral Kat... I have always been Impish Kat, since 2007

[BABarracus]

I've seen photos of these massive outdoor bases ... how do we do that?

 

you upgrade the plot size and place a huge room. then you have to remove the ceiling

[ectest]

On 5/5/2019 at 12:08 PM, Impish Kat said:

Also, for folks starting out, some commands to help you move and place items...

To move an item, left click, hold, and use these keys as you move:

 

SHIFT = vertical

CTRL = horizontal

ALT = spin

CNTRL+ALT = flip object on axis

Bit of a necro here, but - this doesn't seem to work, were the controls updated?

 

EDIT: nevermind, I'm dumb. It works with already-placed objects, not new ones! 😄

Edited February 23, 2020 by ectest

[PeterDutcher]

On 4/27/2019 at 6:33 PM, JakeyK said:

Can the items still be rotated in 360 degrees instead of just 90 by 90.  I cannot remember the keys for the life of me.

Alt key lets you rotate it.

Shift key moves it up and down

Control key moves it around on the same height

Control + Shift rotates on vertical axis

Control + Alt rotates it on the other vertical axis

Control + Z undoes most recent actions...not sure how many steps back

Control + Y redoes action if you go a step to far in undos

ESC while still holding an item will cancel the action

 

 

Edited February 25, 2020 by PeterDutcher

[Flashtoo]

On 2/25/2020 at 7:20 AM, PeterDutcher said:

 

Control + Z undoes most recent actions...not sure how many steps back

 

I want to say eight.

[Enabling Shenanigans]

On 5/3/2019 at 5:13 PM, Silk said:

Might be nice to have a controls thread/sticky.

Well lookie there!  It is a sticky.  Nearly all of the information you folks are asking about is here: 

 

Dacy did a fantastic job of making what amounts to our Base Builder's Bible in video form.  😄
Impish Kat put together a list of key's and functions. 

 

 

I know it's a lot to take in but it's well organized.  You'll find your answers there with a quick CTRL F way quicker than someone who knows can respond in a thread.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Enabling Shenanigans

[Silk]

On 3/1/2020 at 5:40 PM, Enabling Shenanigans said:

Well lookie there!  It is a sticky.  Nearly all of the information you folks are asking about is here: 

 

Dacy did a fantastic job of making what amounts to our Base Builder's Bible in video form.  😄
Impish Kat put together a list of key's and functions. 

 

 

I know it's a lot to take in but it's well organized.  You'll find your answers there with a quick CTRL F way quicker than someone who knows can respond in a thread.

Nice and handy but please look at the dates before quoting me like as if I was blind.  There was no sticky back when I posted this and the things you link were made AFTER.  You will note the helpful Impish Kat made the cheat sheet a couple days after my post. 😉

 

Thanks!

Edited March 17, 2020 by Silk

[Enabling Shenanigans]

My bad.  Carry on.