Just discovered something , Building under and into a trader location.

[gfdublin]

Requires use of dev tools including CM and DM modes.

You can build in and under a trader location. I had wanted to do this but of course could not (the game would not allow it) and basically never tried again. This time I tried (just by happenstance) to tunnel under a trader location with dev tools... and it worked! I guess you all knew that. Anyway I tunneled into (under) the post and then built a stairway up from the tunnel floor to the inside floor of the trader location. What a hoot.

If others are interested or want to know how, I may be able to help. Otherwise I just earned myself a second espresso this morning. ;-)

[cgwildwolf11]

i only tried it once at the very beginning of the game and like you said it dident work so now i am very interested in how it works. also are you able to stay there at night ??

[Mardoin69]

It's only cuz they are using Dev mode / tools. In normal play mode, you cannot build within a traders poi zone... which does not extend indefinitely down or upward btw.

[Lizara]

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

It's only cuz they are using Dev mode / tools. In normal play mode, you cannot build within a traders poi zone... which does not extend indefinitely down or upward btw.

that is true. just like with land claim blocks the area around a trader that is locked and you will be removed from at night is a cube.
still won't recommend building that way as zombies will just destroy your support beams or dig towards you

[seven]

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

It's only cuz they are using Dev mode / tools. In normal play mode, you cannot build within a traders poi zone... which does not extend indefinitely down or upward btw.

Normally, even with debug mode, god mode and the dev tools, you can't destroy any blocks in the trader area. So I think either the save is glitched or trader protection was disabled, which is simple to do.

[gfdublin]

Thanks for the reply's.
1. I built with steel blocks, floor, ceiling and walls. They can be destroyed by the Z's but generally If I am not right there, they don't bother.

2. When I build a habitat under ground I either go deep or I double wall it, again with steel blocks.

3.I have never been able to destroy blocks in a trader area, just the same I built a steel stairway up into the attached garage at the traders location. I did it not by destroying the blocks but by "clearing" them with the fill tool. I created a blue box up into the location and them filled the spaces in the blue box with air. After which I filled the blue box with metal blocks. You have to work a block at a time for the detail work. Working with the metal stairs I had to move the box and fill it one at a time with the stair block. Not a thing of beauty but serviceable.

I would post a picture if I knew how to do that.

[Tanyon]

If you want to build in a location that is impenetrable just turn off zombies.. why are so many people obsessed with doing things like this lol.. like congrats you used dev tools to do something you're not supposed to.. yay.. !!

[gfdublin]

Originally posted by DarthTanyon:

If you want to build in a location that is impenetrable just turn off zombies.. why are so many people obsessed with doing things like this lol.. like congrats you used dev tools to do something you're not supposed to.. yay.. !!

Doing things I'm not supposed to do? I assume you are kidding. This is a great game for a number of reasons. That being for me, a sandbox for creation for whatever I choose to make. I leave Zombies on at their highest count level because it keeps me on my toes. But playing a survivalist is not what I am interested in. I tried it a few years back and it was okay but just not my thing. I like to build and create which is, in my opinion, what this game was made for. So I create tunnel networks (Think underground enclosures with walls/ceilings you can drive a vehicle in) sprawling habitats both on the ground, in the air, and underground or all three, and Bunkers, Forts, and refurbished POIs, fortified for protection. These activities I consider to be entertaining, stimulating, and fun.

I respect your right to play any way you choose but also expect you to provide me the same courtesy. Knowing your opinion of creating, I have to ask why did you drop in to comment?

[gfdublin]

Originally posted by cgwildwolf11:

i only tried it once at the very beginning of the game and like you said it dident work so now i am very interested in how it works. also are you able to stay there at night ??

Absolutely. That's a primary goal. It also has to please the eye, offer various choices as to where I might want to go and safety for rest and leaving the game. I put a campfire in most of the "safe" bed areas with plenty of coal to burn for a long time. The crackling fire lights up the room, feels warm and comfortable, and attracts my zombie friends who never fail to be aggressive. I think that's fun. I build anywhere I think is a challenge. Recently I found an overpass and had a great time building above ground under the bridge. Ended up with three rooms; living quarters with the obligatory campfire, a library, and a store room with the doors leading to the exits (two). The exits go underground. One to the tunnel system and the other comes up a little distance from the bridge in an out of the way place that I thought made sense. Would be hard for someone to find and connect to the rooms under the bridge. I am aware that the zombie algorithm points them to soft spots and doors or doorways. But...so far they have ignored this door. I throw vault doors around here and there to slow them down but they can get through them given some time to do so.

[cgwildwolf11]

gfdublin i am just like you , i love to build in this game ,to create crazy yet beautiful homes to live in and i leave zombies on to keep it interesting . i often wish that there were quests were we could fix up the small towns and have npcs live in them kinda like fallout had were you could build forts for them to live in .

[gfdublin]

Originally posted by cgwildwolf11:

gfdublin i am just like you , i love to build in this game ,to create crazy yet beautiful homes to live in and i leave zombies on to keep it interesting . i often wish that there were quests were we could fix up the small towns and have npcs live in them kinda like fallout had were you could build forts for them to live in .

That's an idea WildWolf.

I must have a creative bug that I didn't know about. I started trying different things and now look back at the 100's of hours I put into this game. It's easy because it's fun. I was sad to loose all that work in an eariler version when A21 came out but I still learned a lot and am using the better stuff I learned now in this new version. Some ideas just don't work so I leave those and move on. On two occasions I got into some sandy areas and started building a tunnel too close to the surface. I ended up spending time repairing some POIs that fell into the trench I created making what I thought would be a tunnel. lol

Are you working with the console and the dev tools? If so , are you using the clear and fill functions for larger sized work? If not, FYI you can make a substantial sized base underground in minutes (provided a square or rectangle will work for you to get started).

You may know, you can't set a starting blue square when underground, however you can put one down on the surface and then just move it down under the surface and with one square you can expand it to be quite large. Then connect your ladders or tunnels later as you wish. By the way, I never start with the hatch, and ladder when building underground, I make the facility or the basics of it and then connect it up to the surface and other underground facilities.

[EtherealChaos]

Hi, gfdublin,

I like using the dm & cm and the past many hours have been practicing my builds in an "empty" world, except for zombies. Partly I wanted to learn building mechanics, as I've only ever played fantasy RPG (Diablo, Divinity series, Gothic 3, etc), and then study of how zombies function.

Have you had zombies spawn in where they shouldn't, for example, within the LCB boundaries, whether above or below ground? I just had a screamer spawn well within my LCB boundaries, within a steel & concrete fence that entirely surrounds the house I built.

Also, have you had mysterious or inexplicable changes to your builds, such as misplaced "blocks" where you did not place them?

These are a couple of things I've just had happen in my "empty" world; some was around my fenced house property and the other was by my 2nd "horde base."

Thanks for sharing your dm & cm ideas! I might give building under a trader a try, because that sounds fun.

[gfdublin]

Originally posted by EtherealChaos:

Hi, gfdublin,

I like using the dm & cm and the past many hours have been practicing my builds in an "empty" world, except for zombies. Partly I wanted to learn building mechanics, as I've only ever played fantasy RPG (Diablo, Divinity series, Gothic 3, etc), and then study of how zombies function.

Have you had zombies spawn in where they shouldn't, for example, within the LCB boundaries, whether above or below ground? I just had a screamer spawn well within my LCB boundaries, within a steel & concrete fence that entirely surrounds the house I built.

Also, have you had mysterious or inexplicable changes to your builds, such as misplaced "blocks" where you did not place them?

These are a couple of things I've just had happen in my "empty" world; some was around my fenced house property and the other was by my 2nd "horde base."

Thanks for sharing your dm & cm ideas! I might give building under a trader a try, because that sounds fun.

Thanks for the response E-Chaos


Interesting you should ask. Zombie spawning does occur. I don't know on what basis but others here do I am sure. I built one of my favorite places in a "girder construction site". You know the one. It's filled with zombies and stands 7-8 stories high but is only girders and concrete. The sign says * name here* Brothers Construction. It's a standard POI. Anyway after clearing it out except for the lower two floors, I built a set of four rooms at the top but not the highest point, with a terrace and an outside corner balcony. When I come back to this place I usually find 4-5 zombies in semi-hibernation. I enclosed existing zombie spawn points apparently, It happens. You can (but I haven not tried) to set and clear zombie spawn points, You might want to experiment with that, if they are giving you trouble.



On the missing/changed blocks. I have accidentally triggered "re-chunk" (sp?) and watched in frustration as the game started a kind of roll over process where my work is erased in something like a wave and replaced with the original layout. I managed to stop it but then later when I traveled to other locations I previously worked on, I found them completely erased.

Another function I don't understand is something that happens accidentally when I trigger it with my keystrokes. This one has happened on a more regular basis. i.e. I have a long tunnel under construction and am clearing the long blue box to follow up with blocks. I accidentally hit a key (?) on the qwerty side of the KB and suddenly the blue tube makes a 90 degree turn and starts, on it's own, to clear another area of the same size and length that I was working on. Key mapping is the culprit I think but I haven't solved that issue yet.

Either way these are two of the events that lead to changing what I made without my direct involvement.

Is your server closed to outside traffic? Could you be "on line" and not know it? The only other thing I can think of would be how stable your constructs are. Do you check building stability from time to time?

I had the game create a unique (?) world for my building but I prefer having a world with POIs complete so I can, when I want, find something interesting and then change it as I see fit. Rollbar

[cgwildwolf11]

gfdublin i just use creative mode , i have no idea how to use dev tools and i play on pc with an xbox controller, i am not very good with teck stuff but still love the game.

[EtherealChaos]

Originally posted by gfdublin:

Originally posted by EtherealChaos:

Hi, gfdublin,

I like using the dm & cm and the past many hours have been practicing my builds in an "empty" world, except for zombies. Partly I wanted to learn building mechanics, as I've only ever played fantasy RPG (Diablo, Divinity series, Gothic 3, etc), and then study of how zombies function.

Have you had zombies spawn in where they shouldn't, for example, within the LCB boundaries, whether above or below ground? I just had a screamer spawn well within my LCB boundaries, within a steel & concrete fence that entirely surrounds the house I built.

Also, have you had mysterious or inexplicable changes to your builds, such as misplaced "blocks" where you did not place them?

These are a couple of things I've just had happen in my "empty" world; some was around my fenced house property and the other was by my 2nd "horde base."

Thanks for sharing your dm & cm ideas! I might give building under a trader a try, because that sounds fun.

Thanks for the response E-Chaos


Interesting you should ask. Zombie spawning does occur. I don't know on what basis but others here do I am sure. I built one of my favorite places in a "girder construction site". You know the one. It's filled with zombies and stands 7-8 stories high but is only girders and concrete. The sign says * name here* Brothers Construction. It's a standard POI. Anyway after clearing it out except for the lower two floors, I built a set of four rooms at the top but not the highest point, with a terrace and an outside corner balcony. When I come back to this place I usually find 4-5 zombies in semi-hibernation. I enclosed existing zombie spawn points apparently, It happens. You can (but I haven not tried) to set and clear zombie spawn points, You might want to experiment with that, if they are giving you trouble.



On the missing/changed blocks. I have accidentally triggered "re-chunk" (sp?) and watched in frustration as the game started a kind of roll over process where my work is erased in something like a wave and replaced with the original layout. I managed to stop it but then later when I traveled to other locations I previously worked on, I found them completely erased.

Another function I don't understand is something that happens accidentally when I trigger it with my keystrokes. This one has happened on a more regular basis. i.e. I have a long tunnel under construction and am clearing the long blue box to follow up with blocks. I accidentally hit a key (?) on the qwerty side of the KB and suddenly the blue tube makes a 90 degree turn and starts, on it's own, to clear another area of the same size and length that I was working on. Key mapping is the culprit I think but I haven't solved that issue yet.

Either way these are two of the events that lead to changing what I made without my direct involvement.

Is your server closed to outside traffic? Could you be "on line" and not know it? The only other thing I can think of would be how stable your constructs are. Do you check building stability from time to time?

I had the game create a unique (?) world for my building but I prefer having a world with POIs complete so I can, when I want, find something interesting and then change it as I see fit. Rollbar

Yes, the chunk resets on POIs can be so irritating! I had a partial "hub" built in an empty field across from a trader on a PREGEN6k map (same map where I had built my first cool dwelling in a field, and same map as where I later demolished a house POI and rebuilt my own); apparently I'd waited too long before returning to that area and so it got reset. Irritated, but not the worst thing to happen, as it was still mostly the movable building blocks. So, after getting my house built on the POI basement foundation, I decided to go to my empty world and design & build another house, but from basement up.

I haven't really used the blue square thing you're talking about. I'm guessing that's the thing that I used to transport the field with a rough horde base design into the empty world (following instructions from a YT video from a couple of years ago). I'm not sure how to use it in the way you describe.

As far as online & public, yes, my game is, but I use AGF's mods & a water bottle mod & my adult son changed a couple of the game files (like to turn off the way too loud sound of the traders opening and closing, so my combat veteran husband wouldn't get triggered), so unless people have those same mods & the altered files, they wouldn't be able to join my game. :)

I've heard others talk about the sleepers and other respawns in LCB & bedroll areas, so I doubt it is the mods or changed files-- I think it's the base game. I hope it gets fixed.

I think I know which construction site you're talking about, because I've been there, but I think I had zombies turned off. I was trying to learn how to read the "map" my son said exists for every POI, that there's a "path" designed for the player to follow when doing a quest. I fell from the top of the crane! Wasn't in God mode, obviously, since I fell, but I did have my parkour maxed and I think I ended up surviving. It was a difficult "path" to follow to get to the top, even without zombies! Ha.

Thanks for sharing some more of you gaming stories. I like reading them and getting ideas for creative things to try. :) Have a great day/night!

[gfdublin]

E Chaos.... I did manage to get some screen shots of my Mountain Top place which I like but may be too simplistic for others, and also the construction Penthouse place which is one of my favorites. I did add an observation platform at the very top of the building. I rarely use black but in this case the entire area I took over with this build is painted black. I am telling you this because I flipped my steam screen shot access to "public" in the event you wanted to see some of the things I was talking about. By the way Cindy and I have four children and eleven grandchildren ranging in age from 18 to 1.5 years. The oldest grandchild is in college and the youngest is learning to talk. Also my youngest son is a combat veteran. He returned from Afghanistan 5 years ago and has finally managed to sort out the demons he acquired there. That has not been easy for him or us. But he is doing well now and we are greatly relieved.