Anyone have a workaround for cables? :: ARK: Survival Evolved General Discussions

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Tryst49

Aug 25, 2015 @ 7:08am

Anyone have a workaround for cables?

Why is it that when I place a cable, the one attaching to the top at 90 degrees to it always wants to go the wrong way? It's frustrating that I want it to run alongside my wall and it wants to run at 90 degrees to the direction I want to go.

Why can't they snap to a wall or existing structure to go in the direction needed as well as to each other? One cable I have goes from the generator along the floor, up the wall and needs to come off at 90 degrees to follow the top of the wall. When I try to snap the horizontal cable in, it always tried to go off in the same direction as the bottom one away from the generator or back to the generator, not at 90 degrees to it. Since I can't stand inside a wall to place the vertical one so the attached horizontal one goes in the direction I want, I finally got one that goes from the wall to the other end of the base but ends up 3 feet inside the base instead of along the wall where I wanted it. It has to go up into a tower and provide a light right at the top as a beacon.

Does anyone have a workaround for it? I have to run cables for power but the cables just refuse to go in the direction required to provide power to the appliances and lights I have.

Last edited by Tryst49; Aug 25, 2015 @ 7:09am

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Showing 1-10 of 10 comments

Lycrus

Aug 25, 2015 @ 7:12am

...use a cross-cable-section...?

Wartai

Aug 25, 2015 @ 8:01am

It would be a little easier if the generator could snap to a cable, then cabling would be easier to get in a line......

What iz

Aug 25, 2015 @ 8:04am

Whoever designed the cableing/irrigation system needs a slap

Vandragorax has ARK: Survival Evolved

Aug 25, 2015 @ 8:05am

Yeah the cables are so horrible. I guess they started with the irrigation system and just used the same system for cables, changing the 'type' and role. Easier and quicker to develop. We can hope they will update the cable system at some point, I'd like to see a "cable gun" where you can point and click 2 points and it will draw a cable between the two, maybe with a little physics slack between :) Would make cabling a lot easier and tidier!

Tryst49

Aug 25, 2015 @ 8:33am

Originally posted by SpionKop:
Whoever designed the cableing/irrigation system needs a slap

I'd agree. Looks like the kind of work a junior programmer would do.

Originally posted by Vandragorax:
We can hope they will update the cable system at some point, I'd like to see a "cable gun" where you can point and click 2 points and it will draw a cable between the two, maybe with a little physics slack between :) Would make cabling a lot easier and tidier!

Now THAT would be a vast improvement. Even if it had to be one of the existing ones to go from the generator to an outlet first and use the cabling gun to connect to the outlet and go where you want it to.

I'd suggest 1 Ingot for the wire and 1 Polymer for the insulation per metre of cable. Gun uses what's in you inventory to make the length you specify if you have the materials available for that length. Automatic pinning every metre so you can see how many metre's you need in the ghost image before placing it, (or a text telling you how many mats you need for it). Maybe an additional 2 Ingots and some wood for 2 junction boxes, one at each end of your run. The only problem I can see is going vertically or horizontally through walls and ceilings, a possible way would be to hold down the right mouse button while you move to the other side of the wall or go to the next level up. All the time you are holding the button, it will keep the snap point to the start and you can trace cables through walls and ceilings to end where you want.

Right click to start the cable, release the button to create the end point. Left click to fix it whch then uses the resources from your inventory. That means, if you keep the gun in your hand, you can grab reaources from a storage box nearby before left clicking if carrying them would make you unable to move. Alternatively, a max length for each run but I'm not keen on junction boxes all over the place.

Possibly even have another engram to use 1 ingot and 4 polymer to create a neater trunking for cables so there's no sagging between the snap points every metre. 3 extra polymer for the trunking over and above the cabling requirement.

The junction boxes serve another purpose for branching several other cables off from it in any direction you want to take the power elsewhere. Of course any cable required to power an appliance has to come from one of those junction boxes to an outlet near the appliance.

From a programming point of view, you are using the equivalent of a pen to draw a straight line that remains completely straight from point A to point B, like you can in any paint package.

How's that for expanding on your idea?

Last edited by Tryst49; Aug 25, 2015 @ 8:38am

jhulett

Aug 25, 2015 @ 8:43am

they at least need to make it so if you move the green pre-snap section it goes in multiple directions like the fence foundations do, so you can change direction with out a clumsy cross section that you only need for one direction change. If this already exists it is not working for me

Catalyst

Jun 17, 2016 @ 11:07pm

Hm can i add a screenshot to a post or do i have to link it i have an aesthetic problem (not just that my face is ugly and im no georg clooney) with the cables myself and if i dont find a way to do it for sure i dont wanna be wasting a 100 tries to get the angle just right. Id need it to snap in the exact center of the wall so it goes through the pillars underneath the walkway.
Like nice & tidy, any output cables would be under the actual housing blocks itself.
However the angle is off

it snaps 90 degrees straight from the genny, or 180 whatever you wanna call it but the genny itself does not snap to an exact center position.

ANYBODY ? pl0x