"No Empty space to place block" but there is nothing there

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Bansheedragon, Jun 29, 2020.

  1. Bansheedragon

    Bansheedragon Commander

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    I was trying to expand my base today when I encountered this issue.
    At first I thought it was the ground being too high, but after digging out the ground there is still something invisible blocking placement.
    Also when I use the mining tool to dig it out I get the message saying I cant use that tool on whatever is there, same goes for the multitool.
    I have no idea what is blocking the placement and no idea how to clear it or if I even can.
    Anyone have an idea how to fix this?
     

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  2. Scoob

    Scoob Rear Admiral

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    I experience this from time to time in my Single Player games. The only "fix" is to do a save and the reload. Obviously as this sorts the issue, there's not way to demonstrate the issue for recreation via a save.

    Note: I can have this issue when placing blocks that don't clip (or come close) the terrain too, but I notice it most in terrain clipping situations. I've had it where the blocking terrain (even though it looks like it shouldn't block) then cannot be drilled and shows as "Contain 50 /50" when I point at it with the Drill.

    Weird and quite rare glitch that I cannot recreate at will.

    Scoob.
     
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  3. Bansheedragon

    Bansheedragon Commander

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    You described it better than I did.
    The terrain around it was fine even the one past that block which was lover in the ground, but that one block I could not place as if there was something there and I think there is.
    It would not let me mine it either as if there was something blocking.

    At one point I got a message at the top of my screen indication there was something harvestable there.
    When I pressed "F" to harvest it selected something on my hotbar, but nothing appeared in my inventory.
    Since I was in build mode I had a container linked where I had the building materials, I noticed later that there was some nutrient stuff in the container.
    This leads me to believe that there was in fact a harvestable plant there, but which was for some reason not visible
     
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  4. russak

    russak Lieutenant

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    When I've seen this happen, in A12, it's uniformly been because there is some buried element of a POI that needs uncovering and then salvaging out of the way. If it's a plant that's in the way, the survival tool on "Defense" will get rid of the thing, I believe. So perhaps cycle your survival tool through all three modes and see which one works, to find out what it is that is blocking you.

    Note that destroying plants might have Reputation effects with Factions in some cases.
     
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  5. Bansheedragon

    Bansheedragon Commander

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    Now I know for a fact there is an invisible plant there, I was able to pick up some natural stimulant.
    Unfortunately the survival tool on defense don't work, "You cannot damage the target with this weapon".
     
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  6. Scoob

    Scoob Rear Admiral

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    Definitely no plant / rock etc. getting in the way for me. I see it when placing blocks near a vertical wall of terrain when I'm excavating a base. This is in fact my most recent example of this bug - solved by a save reload. I was building up the back wall on my Base with concrete blocks and some would not place, despite no terrain visually preventing block placement. I went to remove more terrain anyway, but I could not do this as the drill would not work and the rock was showing as "Container 50 / 50". This was fairly deep under ground, so no plants or surface rocks would be present. Plus a Save / Reload fixed it with NO more terrain needing to be removed.

    Not saying invisible plants and surface rocks don't happen, I know they do, but there's more to this bug than just that. I think this is more likely to occur during a longer play session. Numerous things go screwy during longer sessions I find, from this block placement issue, to Turrets becoming very unresponsive and even, seemingly, things spawning right on top of the player that should have spawned in as the player approached a location, rather than when they'd already been standing there for a short while.

    Scoob.
     
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  7. russak

    russak Lieutenant

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    "Container 50/50" sounds like a block. Did you try and salvage it, rather than dig it? While the fact it went away sounds like a bug to me too, it would be interesting to know whether salvaging got a result or not.
     
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  8. Scoob

    Scoob Rear Admiral

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    It's a bug that's been around for ages in one form or another. You get it sometimes when looking at surface rocks as well as terrain. If a Save / Reload fixes it, with no other player action, then it's certainly a bug of some sort. When it occurs you'll be unable to Drill that surface rock, the same as you cannot Drill terrain or place blocks when it happens on regular terrain.

    Scoob.
     
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  9. BoxMan509

    BoxMan509 Ensign

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    See this link for a related problem: https://empyriononline.com/threads/basebuilding-on-planets-not-possible-07055.91552/
     
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  10. SnowdogJJJ

    SnowdogJJJ Commander

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    I have overcome this a few times by using the drag block build method, try placing 4 or 5 blocks at the same time (drag and drop method of building) rather than placing a single block at a time. Hope that made sense
     
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  11. IndigoWyrd

    IndigoWyrd Rear Admiral

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    I've found a few of these in the Official Vanilla server. Probably a creature-spawner or resource node at that specific location.
     
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  12. Bansheedragon

    Bansheedragon Commander

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    Already tired that, it did not help.
    As long as the game thinks there is something blocking the location it will not place the block.
    In this particular case I found that the problem was an invisible and invincible plant.
    I was able to harvest resources from it somehow, but I was unable to destroy it.
     
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  13. El_Globo

    El_Globo Commander

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  14. PickleJar

    PickleJar Lieutenant

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    Whether you kill the game and restart it, or you respawn the blueprint, the same process takes place. The game has to "recalculate" the block locations and the relative collisions with the surrounding terrain.

    So the problem comes in when it is dynamically calculating that as you build. Some value is calculated incorrectly over time leading to the inevitable (but rare) whoopsie! And the game thinks a block which is free and clear will actually contact terrain.

    How much you want to bet someone's storing an accumulated value in a float somewhere??? (I have no proof of this...just a hunch based on the purely circumstantial evidence I've seen and experienced myself, along with an understanding of how floating point values tend to drift over time when used to store accumulations of integers)
     
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  15. El_Globo

    El_Globo Commander

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    "Whether you kill the game and restart it". If you meant exit the game and reload the saved game, No. In that case, the problem was still there. Only the new instance of the blueprint solved the problem.
     
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  16. RazzleWin

    RazzleWin Rear Admiral

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    Most the time this happens to me I use a chainsaw on the ground most the time I cut some plant down and get logs back :)
     
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  17. SightedNZ

    SightedNZ Commander

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    I've had this happen as on a few occasions and was able to clear the obstructions with explosives.
     
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  18. PickleJar

    PickleJar Lieutenant

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    Weird. For me, when this has happened, the problem has resolved by doing the old "turn it off and then on again" trick. Meaning, the game.

    But then again I wasn't specifically trying to fix it, I just noticed that it was fixed. I had a block that wouldn't let me place, I ignored it and moved on, then on a subsequent play session I was able to place a block there with absolutely no other changes made when I was showing someone else how I couldn't place a block there. ... Cue me looking dumb when the block placed no problem.
     
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  19. IndigoWyrd

    IndigoWyrd Rear Admiral

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    I suspect some of those invisible nothings that prevent block placement might be creature spawners. I had a base with a garden, but couldn't place the corner block of the garden. I also had a recurring blob I named Bob that always hung out in my garden, so I suspect the place I wanted to place a block but could not was where Bob kept coming from.
     
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  20. Thor'sHammer

    Thor'sHammer Commander

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    I resent that. I most certainly am NOT a BLOB and I've never been much of a gardener so I'm NOT hanging out in YOURS.

    Sheeze. The nerve of some people. Bob's are people too you know. Bob Lives Matter. :D

    I just had an "invisible monster" start slashing me when I was near The Old Tower POI. Nothing there to shoot, but there he was, slashing the heck out of me. I saved and reloaded and he was gone. Kinda similar to the invisible block thing ... except an invisible block won't kill you.
     
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