How do ore detectors work?

[Moon Truther]

No matter what i do it won't detect any ores, i've put an antanna on it so it can broadcast, nope. i've bumped up the range for it, nope.

[River Otter]

Originally posted by I actually beat a nerd to death.:

No matter what i do it won't detect any ores, i've put an antanna on it so it can broadcast, nope. i've bumped up the range for it, nope.

Try hitting the alt key.
And you have to be pretty close to the asteroid in space it seems.

[Kimmaz]

I found out that if you select the mining drill tool, you will be able to see where ore are around you. perhaps the ore detector is working, but you forgot to equip the tool. It does not show for me otherwise.

[Jack Schitt]

Originally posted by Wolf Michael:

They work poorly. They were nerfed into the ground a while back and all mods made to give us back that play-ability have been broken and abandoned.

Small Ore Detectors are 100% useless, never use them, waste of power.

Large Ore Detectors are only 150m. That's about 3% of what they used to be back when they were actually helpful.

As it is now, your only choice is Large Grid Ore Detectors on as small a Large Grid ship as you can possible build (or find on the workshop and blueprint craft)

-(Negative) 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
For these comments. The ore detector works fine. I just left a game less than one minute ago and it is working in my game. Perhaps the reason you think what you said is because you have and use so many mods that that is what's causing it not to work for you. It works in the default game, just fine, perfectly as it's intended to work.

OP: Ignore this persons comments. They're false information.

Originally posted by probablyfishing:

Originally posted by I actually beat a nerd to death.:

No matter what i do it won't detect any ores, i've put an antanna on it so it can broadcast, nope. i've bumped up the range for it, nope.

Try hitting the alt key.
And you have to be pretty close to the asteroid in space it seems.

The alt key by it self does absolutely NOTHING in Space Engineers. Apparently the person who wrote these comments thought they were posting on some RPG game's forums like maybe DDO where the ALT key shows you all the loot that's near your character. That is a different game. Alt by it self in Space Engineers doesn't do anything.

OP: Ignore this persons comments. They're false information.

Originally posted by Kimmaz:

I found out that if you select the mining drill tool, you will be able to see where ore are around you. perhaps the ore detector is working, but you forgot to equip the tool. It does not show for me otherwise.

At least the person who wrote this knows a tiny bit about the game. The ore detector on the hand drill only finds and displays ore it finds in a very small radius in front of you. Not 'all around you'. The hand drill ore detector is also working as intended if you're not using mods that effect how it works (which could be a lot of workshop items, even ones that don't modify the ore detector or hand drill).

I know for a fact that in a game with no mods at all the large ship ore detector works just fine, as intended. If you have mods, especially workshop "mods" (items you're subscribed to and have loaded in the mods screen of the game) remove them. They are probably what's causing it not to work, due to the game updating and the workshop item author not updating.

If you're using workshop items / "mods" that is most likely the problem.
I just exited the game not even 3 minutes ago and used a rover with an ore detector on it and it worked.

[Moon Truther]

Originally posted by Jack Schitt:

Originally posted by Wolf Michael:

They work poorly. They were nerfed into the ground a while back and all mods made to give us back that play-ability have been broken and abandoned.

Small Ore Detectors are 100% useless, never use them, waste of power.

Large Ore Detectors are only 150m. That's about 3% of what they used to be back when they were actually helpful.

As it is now, your only choice is Large Grid Ore Detectors on as small a Large Grid ship as you can possible build (or find on the workshop and blueprint craft)

-(Negative) 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
For these comments. The ore detector works fine. I just left a game less than one minute ago and it is working in my game. Perhaps the reason you think what you said is because you have and use so many mods that that is what's causing it not to work for you. It works in the default game, just fine, perfectly as it's intended to work.

OP: Ignore this persons comments. They're false information.

Originally posted by probablyfishing:

Try hitting the alt key.
And you have to be pretty close to the asteroid in space it seems.

The alt key by it self does absolutely NOTHING in Space Engineers. Apparently the person who wrote these comments thought they were posting on some RPG game's forums like maybe DDO where the ALT key shows you all the loot that's near your character. That is a different game. Alt by it self in Space Engineers doesn't do anything.

OP: Ignore this persons comments. They're false information.

Originally posted by Kimmaz:

I found out that if you select the mining drill tool, you will be able to see where ore are around you. perhaps the ore detector is working, but you forgot to equip the tool. It does not show for me otherwise.

At least the person who wrote this knows a tiny bit about the game. The ore detector on the hand drill only finds and displays ore it finds in a very small radius in front of you. Not 'all around you'. The hand drill ore detector is also working as intended if you're not using mods that effect how it works (which could be a lot of workshop items, even ones that don't modify the ore detector or hand drill).

I know for a fact that in a game with no mods at all the large ship ore detector works just fine, as intended. If you have mods, especially workshop "mods" (items you're subscribed to and have loaded in the mods screen of the game) remove them. They are probably what's causing it not to work, due to the game updating and the workshop item author not updating.

If you're using workshop items / "mods" that is most likely the problem.
I just exited the game not even 3 minutes ago and used a rover with an ore detector on it and it worked.

All i have is exploration mods, like air traffic and stuff.

[Kimmaz]

I was wrong, I could see the "ore" text and distance with any item in "hand". I do remember that this did not work in the past. You had to equip the ore mining tool in the past, even if you used a ore detector on a nearby ship.(not required while sitting inside the ship) The color and icon has also changed since last time I played.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1936090629

As for mods, I use a handfull of scrips, that I can put in those computer blocks. for solar power and container management and stuff.

[Mike]

Originally posted by Jack Schitt:

-(Negative) 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
For these comments. The ore detector works fine.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's players like you who actually ruin the game lol.

#biggesteyerollintheuniverse

Giving people options is always acceptable. Period.

I find it very narcissistic when people think the way THEY play the game is the only way anyone should ever play it. Especially since we have so many mods that either under-power or over-power the game in one way or another making the game harder or easier.

Obviously there are two teams on this topic; people who want longer range ore detectors and people who like it how it is. The thing is, this isn't football and it's not a competition. People like you, Jack, need to learn this to be a better human overall.

The game could simply add (as they've done before) and option, a box you can tick, that allows you to have "extended ore detection". I would even be happy if this turned off achievements, though that would only be to pacify the narcissists.

Honestly, Jack, ctfo.

[Jack Schitt]

Whatever CTFO[www.google.com] means to you proves your intellect.

The ore detector works fine. If it's not working for you then there's something wrong with your game. There is no reason to flip around insulting me or anyone else because your game is not working right.

Nothing in any of your replies you typed here is even close to accurate or true.

[seronis]

The ore detector does NOT work fine unless you mod them. Vanilla hand drill ore detector and small grid ore detector both have 50 meter range which is worthless except to identify an ore you already found and just wanna see its name. LESS THAN WORTHLESS for finding ore.

The large grid detector only has 150 meter range. STILL WORTHLESS for finding ore and only useful for seeing the name of an ore you already found by sight.

All 3 are a spherical area of effect centered on the player or on the ore detector as appropriate. NONE of them only look in front of you, that is mis-information.

Get one of the ore detector mods like Vas's Ore Detectors for useful ranges.

------------------------

Its also worth noting that an antenna does absolutely nothing to the range of an ore detector. The ore detectors will never see further than their 50m or 150m range. What an antenna does is broadcast that info to people in range. So if you have an antenna with a 50km range then the player can be 50km away from the ore detector, but they will still only see what is within 50/150 eters of the ore detector.

[Kimmaz]

Originally posted by seronis:

The large grid detector only has 150 meter range. STILL WORTHLESS for finding ore and only useful for seeing the name of an ore you already found by sight.

On my mining ship, the ore detector is 40 large blocks forward compared to where I sit. And detect ore around 250meter acording to the HUD (150m from the detector) from where I am in the cockpit. I find it very useful to find ore under a layer of stone. or under a layer of iron.

[Jack Schitt]

Originally posted by seronis:

The ore detector does NOT work fine unless you mod them. Vanilla hand drill ore detector and small grid ore detector both have 50 meter range which is worthless except to identify an ore you already found and just wanna see its name. LESS THAN WORTHLESS for finding ore.

The large grid detector only has 150 meter range. STILL WORTHLESS for finding ore and only useful for seeing the name of an ore you already found by sight.

I don't run any mods at all and I have no problem finding ore using the vanilla ore detector.

Originally posted by seronis:

All 3 are a spherical area of effect centered on the player or on the ore detector as appropriate. NONE of them only look in front of you, that is mis-information.

Incorrect. Your statements contradict them selves. They sure do detect ore right in front of you and they don't detect much of anything that's not right in front of you. They have a little bit of peripheral range but not a lot.

Originally posted by seronis:

ts also worth noting that an antenna does absolutely nothing to the range of an ore detector. The ore detectors will never see further than their 50m or 150m range. What an antenna does is broadcast that info to people in range. So if you have an antenna with a 50km range then the player can be 50km away from the ore detector, but they will still only see what is within 50/150 eters of the ore detector.

Having an antenna on the same ship you have an ore detector is a substantial help not only finding or, but marking it's location so you can return to it. It also helps keep ore the detector has found displayed. Anyone within range that has permission to see what the antenna is broadcasting will see the ore the antenna sees from the detector.

https://youtu.be/amSJY9xEvzU?t=600

[seronis]

I didnt say an antenna has no use, i said what its use is which does not include extending the ore detector range. Many people make a bad assumption that an antenna extends how far an ore detector can work.

And an ore detector DOES NOT see what is in front of you. That would be a cone AOE. Ore detectors are a sphere centered on you. They detect in range of a point which includes side and behind you. They are absolutely not limited to in front of you. Space has no up/down after all

[hippybaker]

I usually find all the ores I need early game by making a small rover with an attached Ore Detector, and driving around a bit. Works pretty good, and it's fun to explore around.

It works even better with a small flying scout with an attached Ore Detector.
I just fly close to the surface with my detector turned up full blast, and ores appear.
An added bonus is from the air, ore deposits are often made obvious by some sort of mild discolouration.

I often trip over ores on my way to Unknown Signals. I always have my Hand Drill out or my Ore Detector on when going to an Unknown Signal Pod...

[hippybaker]

I think it's good to have fun and enjoy exploring and searching for ores in the early game.

Soon, you WILL find ores, and PAM will set you free from the labor, and you will have more than you will ever need.

[Dan2D3D]

@hippybaker

Me too use a tiny small ship scout (about 70 blocks) and I like it but I have a Lot of XP ;)

_____________

@I actually beat a nerd to death = You got a lot of info in so it's up to you now!

> go to the best ore spots to find faster



Edit

Best ore spots to start playing faster =

1 - Ice and sand : Desert Biomes.

2 - Huge flat area of the Earth Moon next to ice Pole.

3 - Uranium at 30Km around the Earth Moon.

[Kimmaz]

I just noticed I detected or 349m away yesterday, So i stopped to see and that was the limit. how do you explain that? And I don't use mods that affect this. The ship is about 50 blocks long, if that matters.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1938294832
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1938298506