The Meta Mansion

[Ultimo]

So, I've been designing a base that's meant to be something like the X-Mansion, or Avengers Mansion, or what have you.  I'm kind of happy with how it's working so far, but there is an issue.  There are many alcoves that are meant to be ROOMS.  Ideally, there would be wall segments I could fill the opening with, that have normal sized DOORS in them.  Obviously there's no such thing in the game... so I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions?

 

The base entry code is "MetaMansion-30895" if anyone wants to look around... I'm delighted to get some feedback.

 

[ShardWarrior]

Nice work so far!  😊

 

Building walls and doorways to fill that space is not that difficult.  The tricky part is finding something to match with the wall texture you are using in the rest of your base.  Here is a very quick and dirty example using the following pieces;

 

• Large Concrete & Wood pieces found in the Dividers tab
• Short Wall 8 piece found in the Dividers tab
• Freedom Phalanx Door found in the Doors tab
• Wall Corner piece found in the Dividers tab (for the door frame)
• Miscellaneous other things like the wall sconces and paintings. 

 

You can rotate the doors to be open or closed, or slightly move them to the sides as if they are sliding doors.  

 

Hope that gives you some ideas!

 

Edited August 4 by ShardWarrior

[Ultimo]

What I find with all those pieces is that:

1. They don't match the walls.  Unavoidable, nothing does.

2. They don't reach the ceiling, which means putting additional ones ON the ceiling, which results in...

3. The clipping pieces cause a peculiar kind of distortion where each piece seems to be trying to be the visible piece.

 

It's not really the solution I'm hoping for, but there may not BE any such solution.

[Ultimo]

So, I've been doing a fair bit of work on the mansion, so if anyone would like to visit it, then leave some feedback or ideas, I'd love to hear it!

[ShardWarrior]

On 8/4/2025 at 7:45 PM, Ultimo said:

What I find with all those pieces is that:

1. They don't match the walls.  Unavoidable, nothing does.

2. They don't reach the ceiling, which means putting additional ones ON the ceiling, which results in...

3. The clipping pieces cause a peculiar kind of distortion where each piece seems to be trying to be the visible piece.

 

It's not really the solution I'm hoping for, but there may not BE any such solution.

 

Yes, unfortunately most of the "wall" object do not match the textures/skins for the actual base walls.  To get around this, you can use the Large Concrete & Wood pieces to build walls instead of using the normal base ones.  This is of course much more work, but would create a uniform style.

 

Clipping should be avoidable.  You may need to adjust your snap values (I usually use 1/4 or none) and with careful placement, there should be no clipping.  Again, this does add work.  Unfortunately, we do not have object that match the textures for the base walls and ceiling.  

[Ultimo]

7 hours ago, ShardWarrior said:

 

Yes, unfortunately most of the "wall" object do not match the textures/skins for the actual base walls.  To get around this, you can use the Large Concrete & Wood pieces to build walls instead of using the normal base ones.  This is of course much more work, but would create a uniform style.

 

Clipping should be avoidable.  You may need to adjust your snap values (I usually use 1/4 or none) and with careful placement, there should be no clipping.  Again, this does add work.  Unfortunately, we do not have object that match the textures for the base walls and ceiling.  

I Just put walls in with doors on them, but left the tops open so if you want to go IN the relevant room, you just hop over the top.  Far from ideal, but it's sufficient until they provide us with the tools to do it properly.

[Techwright]

On 8/4/2025 at 3:20 AM, Ultimo said:

So, I've been designing a base that's meant to be something like the X-Mansion, or Avengers Mansion, or what have you.  I'm kind of happy with how it's working so far, but there is an issue.  There are many alcoves that are meant to be ROOMS.  Ideally, there would be wall segments I could fill the opening with, that have normal sized DOORS in them.  Obviously there's no such thing in the game... so I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions?

 

The base entry code is "MetaMansion-30895" if anyone wants to look around... I'm delighted to get some feedback.

 

 

Which server is this?

[Ultimo]

3 hours ago, Techwright said:

 

Which server is this?

I should have said, apologies.  I play on Excelsior.

[Techwright]

2 hours ago, Ultimo said:

I should have said, apologies.  I play on Excelsior.

 

Thanks for that.

 

I took a very quick look around, and realized quite quickly that you've likely run out of internal portals for moving between rooms and floors.   I'd like to suggest an alternative to putting up a static door, and leaving a gap up top to fly over to see the next room.

 

These are two shots from my competition base, Action Figures, from earlier this year.  By the time I got to creating the On-Call team dorm, I was running low on internal portals.  So I created these.  The format does take a bit longer to construct, and you have to deal with the gap above the doors (the walls, and a higher, crossing wall form the passage framework), but it does allow for characters to slip into the next room while also suggesting a closable door for privacy.

 

 

If I may also point out, you've done a great job of placing your zone portals close to the base portal for quick access, but then you have to run inside and around in order to get your vendors.  Consider placing copies of your vendors in, or close to that little front garden.  You'll not have as much running around.   Likewise, try to find some way of disguising other interactables either in the front courtyard, or close to it indoors, so you'll have everything handy.  Some items have a limited number, admittedly, like salvage storage, but those that can work with duplicates might make your pathing a lot easier if a copy is near the front porch.

[Ultimo]

4 hours ago, Techwright said:

 

Thanks for that.

 

I took a very quick look around, and realized quite quickly that you've likely run out of internal portals for moving between rooms and floors.   I'd like to suggest an alternative to putting up a static door, and leaving a gap up top to fly over to see the next room.

 

These are two shots from my competition base, Action Figures, from earlier this year.  By the time I got to creating the On-Call team dorm, I was running low on internal portals.  So I created these.  The format does take a bit longer to construct, and you have to deal with the gap above the doors (the walls, and a higher, crossing wall form the passage framework), but it does allow for characters to slip into the next room while also suggesting a closable door for privacy.

 

 

If I may also point out, you've done a great job of placing your zone portals close to the base portal for quick access, but then you have to run inside and around in order to get your vendors.  Consider placing copies of your vendors in, or close to that little front garden.  You'll not have as much running around.   Likewise, try to find some way of disguising other interactables either in the front courtyard, or close to it indoors, so you'll have everything handy.  Some items have a limited number, admittedly, like salvage storage, but those that can work with duplicates might make your pathing a lot easier if a copy is near the front porch.

Thanks for the tips!  The lack of a proper wall section with a doorway in it is an egregious oversight by the developers (the original ones, I mean... the Homecoming guys have had more important things on their plates), and my efforts to make them manually have always ended up looking terrible.  The current system of a wall with a static door and a gap above is kind of a temporary measure.

 

I thought about putting the vendors out in the parking area, but they seemed kind of out of place, so I put them not too far into the house, kind of the reception/administration area (the X-Mansion was a school, after all).  I think they're all there.  I put extras in places I thought were appropriate (eg. a nurse in the medical area, a trainer in the classroom).

 

I'm still trying to decide what to do with the "danger room" area in the basement.  I would love to be able to put targeting dummies in there, or better yet, spawnable enemies to actually fight (similar to the testing area in Champions Online), but that might be a lot to ask.  It's fine as it is for now... the suggestion of a danger room is sufficient for now.

 

I did have one other minor concern, the order that the floors are listed when interacting with the doors to the "stairs" is a bit borked.

 

So, when you go in the front door, the door in front of you is the "stairwell," going UP to Beth Point (2nd floor) and DOWN to Lamedh Point (basement).

Of course, from the basement, your only option is the 1st floor, Aleph Point.

However, if you're on the 2nd floor, it lists Aleph Point (1st floor) first, then Kaph point (attic) second.  This makes it look like Kaph point is LOWER.  I would rather Kaph Point be listed ABOVE Aleph, but I don't know how to make it do that.

[Techwright]

9 hours ago, Ultimo said:

However, if you're on the 2nd floor, it lists Aleph Point (1st floor) first, then Kaph point (attic) second.  This makes it look like Kaph point is LOWER.  I would rather Kaph Point be listed ABOVE Aleph, but I don't know how to make it do that.

 

Hmm, so far, I've only had to work with a one-to-one connection.   For whatever reason, it's my understanding that portal lists, be they zone portals or interior portals, follow the game's design (poor as it may be) rather than any pattern the player would attempt.  Assuming that information given to me is accurate,  I'd suggest laying out all the portals that will eventually represent each level onto the floor close to the activation point, first. Then tie them all to the activation point.  This should give you the game's demanded listing of order, top to bottom.  Once you know that order, pick up each portal and take it to the corresponding level to be used as the door there.  You may have to forgo Aleph as the ground floor, but a visitor will see the right pattern.  Then, theoretically, you should be able to add the access points for other levels on each floor, and the game will sort it into the same order it showed before using the ground floor access point.   Of course, I've never had to try this.  It's possible the game's design is so borked that you get a differently-ordered list with each access point.  If that is the case, there's not much you can really do except add a floor directory next to each stairwell door.