How to use FILLER BLOCKS

What is the FILLER BLOCK actually doing and not doing?

- Filler Block are converted into "terrain" when a POI, containing these blocks, is spawned at game start / by the game
- A Filler Block is NOT removing terrain. It cannot be used to actually cut through terrain (if used alone; see usecases 3 and 4 below on how to use this anyhow!)
- You can place Harvestable PLANTS on top of a Filler Block without the need of a growing plot (see usecase 1 below )

Does the FILLER BLOCK offer different shapes?

- No. The Filler Block is not a 'Building Block' per se.
- The Filler Blocks will not offer shapes in the forseeable future as well, because the conversion of a Filler Block and its placement will always enclose the full m³ volume, eg. the Filler block is not made to "shape" the terrain. This might be a property of to-be-added "dirt blocks" in the future.

Does the FILLER BLOCK have technical constraints?
- The conversion of FILLER BLOCK > TERRAIN does NOT work when a base is placed manually! Everything described in THIS thread is only working when the Structure is placed as a POI (by the game / on game start)

- It won't work on fixed POIs

- When using the Blueprint-Group Setting "Keep Top Soil" there will be a small gap between solid blocks (base blocks) and filler blocks, because the terrain voxels will try to interpolate the height starting from the block-base.

Note: This is not likely to change anytime soon as this would mean to make changes on the voxel engine itself. For now, these gaps are small, so they can be covered in a creative way, similar (but even with smaller blocks) than demonstrated here:


Where can i find the FILLER BLOCK

- In creative only. Open the H-Menu and search for "Filler"

What is the Setting KEEP TOP SOIL doing in conjunction with FILLER BLOCKS?
The new Blueprint Group setting was introduced alongside the updated Mechnic. It gives you a choice - when working with Filler Blocks or even when NOT! - to keep the texture of the ground around the surface of your POI placement area.

Example without KEEP TOP SOIL ticked: (using a different texture for POI area)


Example with KEEP TOP SOIL ticked: (using the surrounding terrain texture for POI area)

 

USECASE 1: Build natural-looking areas, eg. for a Farm

Setup:

• The "baseplate" is made from Filler Blocks.
• Plants are directly added on top of some Filler Block (will not decay and can be harvested; find the plants in the Creative-Menu as well! You do not need Growing plots!)

Blueprint Menu Setup (F2 > doubleclick on entry in the list on the left)

• Blueprint Flatten Ground: [X]
• Terrain Removal: [ ]
• Keep Top Soil: [ ]
• Offset: -2 (means that the 1-layer thick baseplate is sunk into ground 2m = level with terrain)

LEFT = Placed | RIGHT = Prefab Creative


Harvestable Plants

 

USECASE 2: Avoiding a massive baseplate, making settlements look more natural

Setup:

• The "baseplate" is made from a mix of Filler and Material-Building Blocks.
• The walkways are the only elements of the base-plate that are build with Material-Building Blocks (in order to texture them in an appropriate stone or paveway look)

Advantages:
- Blends into the area where the base is situated
- Looks natural for terrain areas (quite often painted concrete is/was used to fake terrain inside a large base plate area)


Blueprint Menu Setup (F2 > doubleclick on entry in the list on the left)

• Blueprint Flatten Ground: [X]
• Terrain Removal: [ ]
• Keep Top Soil: [ ]
• Offset: -2 (means that the 1-layer thick baseplate is sunk into ground 2m = level with terrain)

POI placed ingame


POI in Creative Mode

 

USECASE 3: Build Bases with a larger underground area than overground

Up to now, if you build a POI that has a larger underground area than its overground structures, this would always lead to the situations that the cutout in the X-Z plane was always the area of the most extreme X and Z coordinates. You simply could not make a Bunker, whithout exposing ALL the surface ... what is something that a bunker should not do at all.

Also, the cutout was ALWAYS rectangular. So even if you wanted to shape the area that was exposed different, this would lead to issues and resulting in gaps when the POI got placed.

With the updated FILLER BLOCKS Mechanic both problems are solved.

Setup:

• The base is build with a horizontal "terrain" border in mind
• The Filler blocks are filled UP to this level on top of the whole sub-terrain area

Advantages:
- Blends into terrain with no massive exposure of the baseplate required
- The underground area can be of any size or shape as long as the Filler Blocks fill in the gaps up to the terrain level

Blueprint Menu Setup (F2 > doubleclick on entry in the list on the left)

1. Blueprint Flatten Ground: [X]
2. Terrain Removal: [X]
3. Keep Top Soil: [X]

POI placed ingame


POI in Creative Mod
(Note that the top most "rectangular surface" that is now made from Filler Blocks, would have been to be exposed in the old system )

 

USECASE 4: Underground Tunnels and Caves

As detailed above, the Filler Block can NOT remove terrain, it only converts itself into terrain. BUT with the updated Filler block mechanic there is now a way to create Tunnels and Caves!

Howto: Similar like you would build a tunnel or an underground room by encircling/enclosing the where area where you want to walk/drive through with material-building blocks, use the Filler Blocks in the same way to outline the Volume that you want to keep free of terrain! Simple as that.

(Note that caves and areas that are not sealed with building blocks are NOT airtight/do not level temperature!)

The Setup for a Cave or Tunnel is the same than for USECASE 3

Blueprint Menu Setup (F2 > doubleclick on entry in the list on the left)

1. Blueprint Flatten Ground: [X]
2. Terrain Removal: [X]
3. Keep Top Soil: [X]

Example how to set up a Tunnel between two points:

1. Underground View of the desired result: An elevator down, then a tunnel to the base.


2. Creative Setup: Enclosed the tunnel with Filler Blocks
Note: We are clipped into the blocks in the next picture, so you only the the "faces" of the filler blocks that are directly adjacent to the Tunnel we want to create between the Ouside Entry and the Base.


3. View into the tunnel after ingame placement


Creating a real CAVE works the same way - simply make the enclosed area larger

Please note: there is a workaround on using Asteroids and spawning them as a Blueprint. Please keep in mind that the NPCs cannot path on the Asteroid-material yet (Any NPC actually CAN walk between normal terrain and base blocks!). So an underground Cave combinded with Asteroid Material will not allow the NPCs to walk on that body at the moment.

 

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