Settlement resources questions

[BladeofSharpness]

Hi,

I know that initially (on release) using a resource meant that the workshop would break a junk to extract it and the rest would be lost. Like a jerrycan providing 5 oil, even if you used 1, the 4 would be lost and not stored.
Does this has changed now in 2022?

Second question, or remark. Am I missing something about how this is all working? It seems that the vanilla implementation is totally lacking and sub-par. But I'm using mods degrading junks into their parts so it's all ok.

By that, I mean that in vanilla, you never really know what your workshop has, in terms of resources, as you have only junk. And if you want to transfer some resources from one settlement to another, then you transfer junks, not resources, so you are forced to iterate through junks, realize say that a typewriter provides screws, and then transport them yourself to the settlement where you lack screws?
Is it really that bad, user-interface and user-experience wise? I can't imagine Bethesda felt it was ok! So I'm perhaps missing something, as I'm still new to Settlements gameplay in FA4.

Now as I said, I have 2 different mods where I break junks into resources, providing me with a clear list of what I have! Thanks so much to modders. They are just a boon to so many games!

[steventirey]

Nothing from a junk item gets lost. Whatever isn't required for the project you are doing gets deposited in the workshop (if in a settlement) or the workbench (if using one you find outside of a settlement, so remember to check its inventory before you leave).

As for not knowing what you have, drop it on the ground in a settlement, go into build mode, and scrap it. Now all that junk has been reduced to its base resources. Modding isn't necessary for this, but it does make it far easier to do (usually with a machine of some kind). Also, there is a pipboy option that shows the total amount of components you are carrying (in your own personal inventory, not a settlements) in all your junk items.

[DouglasGrave]

Bethesda really favoured a streamlined approach, where people could just dump junk directly into their workshop and look directly at the reported junk quantities when they go to build something. They didn't include an option to break it down automatically because as far as they were concerned, the system would do that on its own when you needed it.

Later on, they included junk shipments as a more convenient way to buy supplies for separate settlements, backing up the sharing established by setting up provisioner connections with Local Leader.

That said, I still find it efficient to break down junk to its components, because once you get huge amounts of it (as I have with my main character) there can be a noticeable lag accessing the workbench based on the number of different items in it. There's a big difference in that regard between 1,000 units of every junk item in their raw form as a couple of dozen piles of plastic, rubber, steel and the like, compared to the same amount of material in unprocessed junk.

[globefish23]

The workshop has a search function.

Press F and type the ressource you need, and it will filter and display only the junk items that contain the resource.

[Zekiran]

Setting up a provisioner line between settlements shares their resources. Nothing is lost.

[wtiger27]

Originally posted by Pookie101:

Or go on a salvage run, drop all the junk on an empty building site at Sanctuary and scrap all the pieces :)

This is how I have did it since playing the game. For one, some junk can actually raise your settlement size build limit. Junk which has a high graphic detail count, such as Military Circuit Boards.

[dolmore]

When you activate a workshop for the first time it's a good idea to pull everything out of there that isn't already broken down to its base components and scrap it in build mode. Any complex object stored in the workshop counts against the build limit for that settlement. Raw resources don't count in the total. By doing this you should see an increase in the buildable space for that settlement.

Items that are stored in containers (not the workshop itself) don't count against the build limit, either. So, although it may be convenient to store armor/weapons/etc in the workshop those will eventually cut down the build space available.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by dolmore:

Any complex object stored in the workshop counts against the build limit for that settlement.

As far as I have ever seen, you can dump huge amounts of all sorts of objects into the workshop inventory without it increasing the amount of the building limit being used at all.

Dropping and scrapping objects does increase the build limit, but that's not due to the objects previously affecting the build limit.

[wtiger27]

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

Originally posted by dolmore:

Any complex object stored in the workshop counts against the build limit for that settlement.

As far as I have ever seen, you can dump huge amounts of all sorts of objects into the workshop inventory without it increasing the amount of the building limit being used at all.

Dropping and scrapping objects does increase the build limit, but that's not due to the objects previously affecting the build limit.

Never paid any attention to how junk items are stored in the workbench and how it effects the build limit. What I do know is how well it works when I drop the junk on the ground and then scrap it.

And it does matter what junk item you scrap to how much it effects the build limit. Dropping a cement bag on the ground does not have near the effect as say a Military Circuit Board.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by wtiger27:

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

As far as I have ever seen, you can dump huge amounts of all sorts of objects into the workshop inventory without it increasing the amount of the building limit being used at all.

Dropping and scrapping objects does increase the build limit, but that's not due to the objects previously affecting the build limit.

Never paid any attention to how junk items are stored in the workbench and how it effects the build limit. What I do know is how well it works when I drop the junk on the ground and then scrap it.

And it does matter what junk item you scrap to how much it effects the build limit. Dropping a cement bag on the ground does not have near the effect as say a Military Circuit Board.

Yes, the complexity of the object affects how much of the build limit is freed up when scrapping it (even though this is often technically a glitch), or when you store something like a settlement object from the game world, but something just being inside the settlement workbench doesn't affect the build limit.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by wtiger27:

Never paid any attention to how junk items are stored in the workbench and how it effects the build limit. What I do know is how well it works when I drop the junk on the ground and then scrap it.

Storing it rather than scrapping it also works, so items stored in the workshop have no effect on build limit.

Nor should they. Build limit is based on how many polygons are displayed in the area. Things stored in containers are not rendered, so contribute no polygons to the area, so do not add to the build limit.

Adding polygons (by building or dropping stuff) raises the bar.
Removing polygons (by scrapping or storing stuff) lowers the bar.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by steventirey:

Storing it rather than scrapping it also works, so items stored in the workshop have no effect on build limit.

Nor should they. Build limit is based on how many polygons are displayed in the area. Things stored in containers are not rendered, so contribute no polygons to the area, so do not add to the build limit.

Adding polygons (by building or dropping stuff) raises the bar.
Removing polygons (by scrapping or storing stuff) lowers the bar.

Dropping stuff doesn't affect the bar, however, which is how people can effectively increase the limit by dropping and then scrapping/storing objects.

It should if you want an accurate calculation, but I would guess from what we see instead that they initially pre-calculated a value for each settlement, and just alter that value by an appropriate amount whenever an item is scrapped/stored, rather than calculating the entire polygon/triangle value of the settlement properly each time.

[dolmore]

Each workshop has four values assigned to it.

Value 348 is the total number of faces being drawn across the settlement and value 349 is the total number of faces that can be drawn.

Value 34a is the total number of objects in the build area and 34b is the total number of objects that are allowed.

These are for interactive objects assigned to the workshop, not the total number of everything that's visible in the build area. Hence an item that can't be scrapped doesn't necessarily count against the build limit, but can limit what can be placed within the settlement due to collisions. This is why settlements with complex terrain, a large number of unscrappable objects and a small physical area (e.g. Tenpines Bluff) have limits on how much of the bar can be made available.

These parameters can be adjusted using console commands and there are plenty of posts out there explaining how to do it. But the actual values that you put in are tied to your GPU's ability to handle them and it's sort of a trial and error process to adjust them. All four of the parameters are connected to each other and if you get the numbers unbalanced it can cause all sorts of weird things to happen.

Saying this it would seem that storing junk in the workshop, rather than placing it in the build area, shouldn't affect the bar. But I've found in practice that it does. I suspect there may be other parameters assigned that I'm not aware of.

Since things like armor and weapons aren't build resources and can't be shared between workshops they don't seem to count against the limits but they do garbage up the workshop inventory and make it a pain to try to sort through.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by dolmore:

Saying this it would seem that storing junk in the workshop, rather than placing it in the build area, shouldn't affect the bar. But I've found in practice that it does. I suspect there may be other parameters assigned that I'm not aware of.

I haven't seen any sign of that; if I dump a whole load of junk into the workshop, the bar doesn't shift one bit, at least not when it's deposited from the inventory.

You might get a result storing it from the ground, but that's due to the same effect as scrapping.

[dolmore]

I typically use Sanctuary Hills as my central supply depot for the workshops at the other settlements and the first time that I played the game I dumped all of my collected junk in there without scrapping it. The build bar for SH filled up pretty quickly without me actually building anything.

When i pulled everything out of there and scrapped it the build bar opened up almost completely. That leads me to believe that there's another parameter assigned to a workshop that limits the total number of scrappable objects that can be stored. The value may be astronomically high, but something appears to limit just how much can go in there.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by dolmore:

I typically use Sanctuary Hills as my central supply depot for the workshops at the other settlements and the first time that I played the game I dumped all of my collected junk in there without scrapping it. The build bar for SH filled up pretty quickly without me actually building anything.

When i pulled everything out of there and scrapped it the build bar opened up almost completely. That leads me to believe that there's another parameter assigned to a workshop that limits the total number of scrappable objects that can be stored. The value may be astronomically high, but something appears to limit just how much can go in there.

I've certainly seen the result of scrapping junk lowering the bar (just like scrapping anything else; weapons, armour, etc.), but never any rise in it from just putting junk inside the workbench.

I play entirely without mods myself (just the DLCs and some free Creation Club items); is there any difference there for you?