About Structural Integrity

[Fat7i Bonané]

So I I've been building for a while in survival mode in ME now and I would like the community's input on how structural integrity works. From what I gathered it's just a matter of how many 'free' blocks are put on top of each other that makes a building stand, counting from the bottommost one that's anchored in voxels. I suppose material counts as well and building on top of stone is better than wood but I haven't tried yet (not playing in creative).

Is there anything more to it like distribution of mass or anything alse?

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, it's when playing/testing in creative where we can see the SI (N) that I learned more.

>> By testing different buildings, walls, height, Block+height, etch ... I needed to see how it goes and that gave me good tips.
>> but at the end = I always have to do some testing cause it's not the same for all kinds of structures.

So > Making a Large base + light weight on top for walls should help to go higher, above 8 blocks high.

Making Pyramids gave me more XP, too... It was a cool challenge ;)


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SI Official Wiki = http://www.medievalengineerswiki.com/index.php?title=Structural_Integrity

[Fat7i Bonané]

OK thanks a lot. I looked at some picture on the game's wiki . I kinda hoped I could reach 10 but if you say 8 I should be careful... But yeah i'll have to do some testing in creative I suppose...

Also, I didn't know Lord Clang was also in ME until he messed up my main tower :(

[Dan2D3D]

Do some testing, 10 should be fine with specific walls.

14 blocks high on this one with SI ON, Aztec Pyramid :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1245067061

Normal Pyramid = 10 blocks high :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1223530928

[Fat7i Bonané]

Wow really cool pyramids you built there ! In the Aztec pyramid it seemed you could build even higher no?

[Dan2D3D]

One member made Wall/towers at 35 blocks high < That I did not tetsted, should be in my future challenges ;)

[Fat7i Bonané]

No way he did it without voxel support. Or it simply means the mechanics behing SI is more complex than I imagined.

I'm actually going for a kind of Disney castle on top of a very high mountain, hence my annoyment if everything collapses when I put the last pointy roof on the last tower

[Dan2D3D]

Use the "Save as"!

I use a lot when creating, I just add a new number at the end world name so I know where I'm at.

Using the save as in-game = will "teleport" your character in the new save and leave to original intact.

This way I can load the previous save if something goes wrong.

[k]

Hello Moss,

for example you can put I guess 13 or 14 cubes on top of each other without having a support and they will stay. The SI will be on the edge tho.
Best way is to have autosave turned on and if anything goes wrong, use last save or backup, which is automatically created if you have it turned ON.
Sometimes there is a bug when you add a support which should help but it will destroy couple blocks instead. So autosave with automatic backups really helps with this.

And btw of course it is on our list of things needs to be fixed. Its just really complex issue which we need to be very careful with fixing.

[Fat7i Bonané]

Yeah I noticed the things you mentionned and despite the few bugs I encountered ME is like SE which is nothing short of a masterpiece.

It's really nice that you can pile up to 14 blocks tbh because any less than that would feel very horizontal in a building sense and it would exclude building cool things on mountains like I am right now.

The backup save system is also VERY clever but it would nice to mention in the tooltip the default directory to find them. I used it when clang slapped me and my beautiful wagon in the face with a surprise sapling but it was just a single occurence albeit an annoying one.

As for the weird support bug, well, it's a bit bothersome but I guess you'll fix it eventually so no problem here.

I'm waiting for next update like a kid on christmas :D

[Vargali]

sadly SI is still in need of tweaking here and there... from what ive seen in videos and tested myself.. there are times when SI works as intended and others where you do the same thing that has worked before and everything collapes around you.. likewise ive seen things that should never work stay standing one time and collapse other times.. its kind of like pot luck to me... but hey.. maybe one day it will be fixed and work all the time.." even the cheaty times where we use voxels to hold things up..."....

[kcs123]

Searching for info didn't bring much result, so have to ask, how structural integrity works with "dirt" voxels ? Does it always provide infinite number of SI, or it will colapse under load ?

For example, if I diging below surface and have only one block of dirt above head, or even that is damaged to half of block, would such tiny block of dirt colapse if you build something on it or just step on it ?

[Dan2D3D]

@kcs123

>> No.

Also I can add very small parts of Voxel hidded inside walls and the block will not bother with the SI.
(good cheat)

[kcs123]

Thanks for info. Yep, feels like too cheaty. I thought that dirt need at least one large big voxel block of stone/dirt on sides and under it to be able to support weight above, something similar to 7 days to die system.

Thanks for answer, regardless.

[Dan2D3D]

Cheaty indeed and sometimes, if too close to Voxel, the building will not fall even after diging out all the soil under it.