Small blocks cant snap to large blocks?

[Killbro Swaggins]

I just started playing again and trying to build a small block on a large block, it does not attach. It will simply float off. I can't start a small size station either to build off of. Anyone know how to fix?

[ThirtyMileSniper]

Small grids don't connect to big grids in that way. You can join a small grid to a large grid using the rotar parts though.
Start you small grid by selecting the small grid in the g menu. You might be able to start off a small landing gear positioned on the large grid.

[cptsavarus]

Small blocks can only be connected to large blocks by rotors, using a large rotor with a small top part.
2 dissimilar sized armour blocks for instance wont join together directly.
You can place a small block on top of a large one but they wont be connected as one grid.

Sadly there's no way to do exactly what you're asking, though it would be nice.

Small blocks can be made to line up perfectly with large ones but not snap to them.

To do it...
Build / place a large rotor then grind down / delete / detach the top part. Now go into the control panel settings for the rotor and click the button for "Add small top part".
You can now build a small-ship grid on top of the rotor. The centre of the rotor is the centre of a large block, so building out by 2 small blocks in every direction will give you a 5x5 square that's perfectly lined up with the large block beneath it.

If you're building a small ship & want to disconnect it later, just go into the rotor settings & hit "Detach top part"... or grind it away / delete it. Your small grid will then become dynamic & separate from the large grid.

Hope that makes sense.

<EDIT>... @ThirtyMileSniper.... Sorry to repeat what you already said. Your post hadn't shown up when I submitted.

[PcbZorg]

Why the hell does it have to be rotors only? This is an absolutely basic function and not having this ability seems like incredible wasted opportunity. There's a thousand and one reason for this to actually be a feature. In Planet Explorers it works flawlessly. The smaller cubes/shapes just snap to a 4x4 grid on the larger parts. I don't understand why the small & large blocks can't be intermixed. Let's hope it will come in some future update... Although i like the game, i just don't get some of the weird choices. For example the UI feels extremely clunky and hard to navigate. You get used to it after a while, but it still feels like a chore when dealing with larger number of items.

[VanGoghComplex]

Originally posted by PcbZorg:

Why the hell does it have to be rotors only? This is an absolutely basic function and not having this ability seems like incredible wasted opportunity. There's a thousand and one reason for this to actually be a feature. In Planet Explorers it works flawlessly. The smaller cubes/shapes just snap to a 4x4 grid on the larger parts. I don't understand why the small & large blocks can't be intermixed. Let's hope it will come in some future update...

It'll never happen in this game. I agree that it should have happened, but the developers have stated that they won't do this - that they can't do this. Especially now, in "beta," with a freeze on large features.

[Lander1]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=516770964&searchtext=small+to+large+grid

[MysticMalevolence]

Originally posted by PcbZorg:

Why the hell does it have to be rotors only? This is an absolutely basic function and not having this ability seems like incredible wasted opportunity. There's a thousand and one reason for this to actually be a feature.

You say that, but I note you don't really provide many reasons. I know they exist, it's just curious that you didn't actually give them.
Here's some reasons why not to have it: Oxygen on small grids is more intensive to calculate, the devs want to keep certain blocks exclusive to small or large grids respectively, and it allows users to give small fighters a lower top speed than big frigates.

Originally posted by PcbZorg:

In Planet Explorers it works flawlessly. The smaller cubes/shapes just snap to a 4x4 grid on the larger parts.

It works flawlessly. In a game designed for it to do so. Space Engineers is not designed for it to do so.

Originally posted by PcbZorg:

I don't understand why the small & large blocks can't be intermixed.

Because to do so on Space Engineers's engine would mean to make all large-grid blocks into equivalent 5x5x5 cubes of smaller blocks (how it works in Medieval Engineers), which would bog down the game. Furthermore the game already has alternate models for small grid and large grid, so these extra models would need to be scrapped or rebalanced to have a purpose. The large grid timer block, for example, is functionally the same as its small counterpart, but much larger, so the devs would need to be rid of one.
It would also ruin pretty much every ship on the work shop because of this.

I'm not really sure why the developers chose 2.5m and 0.5m block sizes--they are very odd relative to the player. However, it is what we are stuck with, so unfortunately we're going to have to accept large ship/small ship segregation.

[cptsavarus]

Originally posted by PcbZorg:

... Although i like the game, i just don't get some of the weird choices. For example the UI feels extremely clunky and hard to navigate. You get used to it after a while, but it still feels like a chore when dealing with larger number of items.

Granted, it's a complex UI that takes some learning & does feel like a chore sometimes - but it kind of has to be complex. Giving access to that many settings & displaying that much information in a way that's easy to look at is no easy design challenge. And let's not forget how much has been added to the UI since it was designed. It's doing far more now than it was ever intended to do, yet it's still very accessible. To be fair I can't think of a better way to present the UI. If you can then I'll happily hear you out & am not afraid to eat my words!

I agree that we could use a few more tools to navigate the UI, for instance...
-Collapsible navigation "tree" for different block types in control panel instead of one big list.
-Auto select all blocks of a given name / type at once in control panel.
-Display user-specified info on flight seat screens / LCD's without mods or scripts.
-Operate button panels while seated.
-Ability to "associate" control seats with certain blocks so when you hop into a specific seat you're instantly controlling the associated block & don't have to wade through the CP to select it.
-Block highlighter in building mode - for selecting groups of blocks to perform building actions on such as paint / delete / swap for X

...I could write a wish-list as long as your arm & go on for hours with things the game doesn't do or could do better. The chances of anything more getting added now however are extremely low-to-none - but the concept is proven and it's a really good one, so if we get an SE2 at some point (I'd be the first to buy it) then it can be built from the ground up to do all the things that SE1 failed at or did badly.
In that way I'm seeing SE as a kind of R&D prototype - a way to find out what works, what doesn't & how to make a better one... and that's exactly what engineering is!
As for the UI as it stands, well that's a lot like real-world engineering as well, believe it or not... spend an hour having a wail of a time building a thing, then 10 hours sweating & cursing over the details to make it work! It's all fun!

[PcbZorg]

cptsavarus: Oh noes, did i finally purchased the game at a point when active development stopped? That's kinda funny. About the UI - first thing that comes into mind is inventory access from the production tab. I just started playing in an earnest. I mucked about in the game long time ago for a while, but usually just explored what others built. Now i actually started a world with that scenario where you're dropped in a lander on a planet and there you go, go build stuff. Yesterday i built a basic rover with a bit of a help from a YT video. I'm just discovering & learning everything. And again, no need to get defensive, i really like the game, i'm just a bit ovewhelmed and don't yet understand why certain things have to be the way they are.

[VanGoghComplex]

Originally posted by PcbZorg:

Oh noes, did i finally purchased the game at a point when active development stopped?

I wouldn't say that. The devs are still working on the game now - it's just not feature-focused work. They're trying to get it polished enough to call it done.

[PcbZorg]

Btw i already vent through a situation where i flipped the rover and for a while had no clue what to do. Then i learned that that's what pistons are for. :-)

[cptsavarus]

Originally posted by PcbZorg:

cptsavarus: Oh noes, did i finally purchased the game at a point when active development stopped?...

Not at all. Development hasn't stopped. As VanGogh says, it's still very much being worked on - but the devs are now calling it "Feature complete".
People have taken that to mean all sorts of things it probably doesn't mean and KSH *has* been known to backtrack on their words in the past & add things they said they'd definitely never add, so it's pretty much a matter of interpretation and of waiting to see what comes.
Personally I'm taking it to mean "don't expect any more revolutionary new game mechanics" - and nothing more.
Some folk think it also means "no more content will be added" but I don't believe that for a minute.

Apologies if my last came off wrong - I wasn't being defensive. I love the game, sure but I'm not into defending products. No, that was a genuine invite for you to discuss ways to improve the UI. I find parts of it clunky & tedious just like everyone does but try as I might, I honestly can't think of a way to simplify it without reducing the amount of control it affords the player.
That said, I refuse to believe that it can't be improved on, hence all ideas are worth reading... at the very least it might give KSH some inspiration for how to do SE2.

[Boborjan1986]

Guys, this information is outdated, and cause a lot of performance issues on servers. Now you can connect small ships to large simply with the connectors.

[Dan2D3D]

Originally posted by Boborjan1986:

Guys, this information is outdated, and cause a lot of performance issues on servers. Now you can connect small ships to large simply with the connectors.

Better not open "Dead" discussions ;

1 - The game is not the same at all now.

2 - The community will report you for "Necroing"

Read the forum rule about "Necroing" to know more :

https://steamcommunity.com/app/244850/discussions/0/810938810587978916/#c1648791520836243173



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This thread is locked because too old.