accidental deconstruction - makes me sad - possible solutions

[Citizen10Bears]

How many times have I deconstructed something one end of the map, then travelled home and thought of other things to do, I go to the crafter and click it to open the menu, and it deconstructs! And to compound the problem my inventory was alreadu full so the resources spill all over the floor. I have to store what I was carrying in containers, then pick up the dropped bits, then recreate the crafter, then go back and pick up what I was carrying previously, and finally craft what I needed in the first place.

Yeh, a long and boring paragraph, I'm trying to share my pain with you.

Possible solutions...

1) when in deconstruct mode, click once to select the item and then again to confirm

or

2) make deconstruct mode switch back to normal mode after each use



Is it just me? Do other people have this same problem?

[Coops]

or
3) switch out of the deconstruct tool right after you use it.

[Mordtziel]

I would hate both of your solutions if they were default. I'd recommend always swapping away from deconstruction immediately after you're done deconstructing.

[calmari71]

Something that made it more visible that you were in decon mode would be ideal. If you look at games like Satisfactory or Foundry, when you are in decon you highlight the machines in a different color when you target them. It's a big, clear warning to the player that you are in that mode.

Making extra steps to deconstruct isn't player friendly, Making it clearer what mode you are in is.

[Wiawyr]

Originally posted by Coops:

or
3) switch out of the deconstruct tool right after you use it.

This is the most reliable solution, and is generally the procedure for handling dangerous objects. Get to where you were going, 'safety' off, zap stuff, 'safety' on. Treating it like trigger discipline has kept me from ever disassembling by accident in PC.

[GreyBeard512]

Switching out of deconstruct mode is best, but sometimes I forget. I accept having to rebuild when that happens, with two exceptions.

The launchpad (the largest structure in the game) has (or at least used to have) a build hit box bigger than the hit box once built. As a result, if you accidentally deconstruct it, you usually can't rebuild it without deconstructing several other items to make room for it. I'd love to see a confirm pop up to deconstruct the launchpad.

Deconstructing the top of a ladder can be a pain. At a minimum you have to run around to get to the room below to rebuild it. You might even be trapped with no doors or exits and have to F4 your way out. Ladders should not be deconstructable from the top.

[EleventhStar]

Originally posted by Wiawyr:

Originally posted by Coops:

or
3) switch out of the deconstruct tool right after you use it.

This is the most reliable solution, and is generally the procedure for handling dangerous objects. Get to where you were going, 'safety' off, zap stuff, 'safety' on. Treating it like trigger discipline has kept me from ever disassembling by accident in PC.

no it's not. that is exactly the cause of the problem.

everybody learns the habit of switching out of the deconstruct tool since it prevents you from doing anything else.

hence when you accidentally forget to switch out of it, you accidentally deconstruct something, accidentally frustrating you.

that's why it's an accidental deconstruct, you never intended it, you thought you were in the normal tool.


they should just have copy pasted the way subnautica does it. add a keybinding for deconstruct and you never have to toggle tools again. make it a hold down instead of press down if you want to further reduce chances of accidents, but that's probably overkill.

[Gecko-[GER]]

Originally posted by calmari71:

Something that made it more visible that you were in decon mode would be ideal. If you look at games like Satisfactory or Foundry, when you are in decon you highlight the machines in a different color when you target them. It's a big, clear warning to the player that you are in that mode.

Making extra steps to deconstruct isn't player friendly, Making it clearer what mode you are in is.

This.

[Citizen10Bears]

Reading the comments I tend to agree that extra steps are painful, and visual clues are better.
And for those who have learned to switch back after each deconstruction, I'm going to guess that you've only learned to do this because you've been burned at least once, indicating that it is a real issue and it's not just me being dim.

[S199]

deconstruction is the most frustrating stuff ever, i deleted stuff by mistake a million time ://///
just turn the "gun" screen all RED or something when in deconstruction mode (?)

[Coops]

Like I hate in real life when I have the car in reverse and stomp on the accelerator and go BACKWARDS into the car behind me. They should make it so I have to put it in reverse then push a button to confirm I want to go backwards. You mean like that?/s

[Citizen10Bears]

Originally posted by Coops:

Like I hate in real life when I have the car in reverse and stomp on the accelerator and go BACKWARDS into the car behind me. They should make it so I have to put it in reverse then push a button to confirm I want to go backwards. You mean like that?

You wouldn't hit the car behind you as you would get some physical feedback that you are moving the wrong direction, allowing you to stop the action before it's too late. If you want to use the same method in the game that's fine - let the deconstruction take a couple of seconds and if you let go of the button before the 2 seconds is up, the deconstruction is cancelled. You have provided an excellent solution, thank you :-)

[Coops]

Actually, that's not a bad idea. Have the object dissolve over a few seconds so you can stop it.

[EleventhStar]

Originally posted by Coops:

Actually, that's not a bad idea. Have the object dissolve over a few seconds so you can stop it.

the funny/sad part is that's how it works in subnautica, the game they were obviously inspired by :D

[Wiawyr]

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

Originally posted by Wiawyr:

This is the most reliable solution, and is generally the procedure for handling dangerous objects. Get to where you were going, 'safety' off, zap stuff, 'safety' on. Treating it like trigger discipline has kept me from ever disassembling by accident in PC.

no it's not. that is exactly the cause of the problem.

everybody learns the habit of switching out of the deconstruct tool since it prevents you from doing anything else.

"Everybody" is not how you say "I".

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

hence when you accidentally forget to switch out of it, you accidentally deconstruct something, accidentally frustrating you.

That's just carelessness. Think of it like trigger discipline, like I said.

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

that's why it's an accidental deconstruct, you never intended it, you thought you were in the normal tool.

There are already multiple visual cues that you're in deconstruct mode. There's the icon on the multi-tool. There's the warning text pop-up when your reticule is over something. There's the increased range at which the deconstruction warning is visible compared to the interaction pop-up. There's the warning text pop-up popping up on things you can't interact with.

You have to ignore all of those in order to accidentally deconstruct something. If you need even more warnings that you're in deconstruct mode, then sure, adding obnoxiously huge WARNING letters on the screen while it flashes fast enough to cause a seizure and alarm klaxons blare loud enough to wake the dead might help you. So long as it's on a toggle that other players can turn off if they feel like, then by all means let's have it added to the game. Having the start of Mega Man X boss fights would even be nostalgic for some people.

Just don't pretend this is anything but carelessness.

[wavetrex]

Easy solution: If deconstructing something would result in inventory overflow, ask for confirmation. If not, just deconstruct directly.