Noob trying to build a glass roof. Help!!

[Drakten]

Hey guys, little help please.

I'm trying to build a greenhouse but each time I try to place a roof glass tile it falls to the ground. What am I doing wrong? See attached pic

Picture here[i.imgur.com]

[GMC]

It isn't attached to anything. There must be a non-empty block in one of the six adjacent positions (up, down, left, right, front, back). But you're placing it one tile above the walls.

If you rotate it 180 degrees (about the pink axis shown in the picture) and move it down one tile, it will stick. Alternatively, place beams (one of the options for a wooden block) on top of the walls, then you can place it as shown.

Note that all blocks occupy an entire cube, regardless of their thickness. If you place the glass like that (with the pane at the bottom of the cube), you won't be able to place anything immediately on top of it; if you rotate it 180 degrees (so the pane is at the top of the cube), you won't be able to place anything immediately below it (e.g. you won't be able to attach a light to the underside). Choose your poison.

[Th3.Forgott3n.Av3ng3r]

The problem is your wall tiles are in a lower plane than your roof, so there is no connection point between the wall and window and therefore no structural integrity to hold everything together.

The best way to fix this is to use the 'beam' version of your blocks and place one along the tops of you walls. This will give the glass something to connect to and mean that you can connect your grow lights directly to the underside of your roof.

Hopefully this makes sense!

[Drakten]

Yes! I get it now.

Thanks a lot guys

[El Poto]

Actually, the problem is the walls are "facing out" if that makes sense. You actually need your roof exactly as you are trying to put it in the picture, otherwise when it comes to place the growing lights they are going to sit "in middle air". And I bet you planned the height of your building for the lights to be at the same height of the roof while allowing the 2 tiles height that you need for the growing lights to reach the 9 plots below. This last is only possible if you place your glass roof as you are trying in the pic.
Again, the problem is the walls. You have 2 options. One, replace the walls, so the blue cube, when you place is on the inside. This is something you need to take in consideration when planning the size of your green house; you basically loose all the external tiles (you could place growing plots but not any crops since the space is going to be taken by the wall). Two, add a supporting wall on the inside, but only in the top row of the wall you already have in place. Again, they need to face to (or be placed in) inside. But it would be the top row only. So you have your lower row free to place the crops.
Does this make sense?

[El Poto]

Ahh, sorry, I didn't read geoff's answer completely. Yes, what he says is better. Is the same as my option 2 but using "beams" is a better way to do it than actual "walls". And you need to make sure you place the glass tiles as you have them in the picture, otherwise the height for the lights will be wrong.

[Erei]

Ok, so, as people mentioned, they lack the support. For the game, the entire block is something, not just the visible part. And just like any other block, they need support, even though the biggest part is invisible to you (it is in construction mode, technically speaking the windows is the entire blue block).
On the bright side, you can totally use a windows upside down (IE visible part up, invisible part down) on the side, as support for the window roof the way you want to make.

Screenshot example :
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207024014

as you can see, I use a column myself (the roof is too big for wall support only), but I used upside down roof windows as support around the column, and "proper" roofing elsewhere. And it's barely visible (almost impossible to see from the inside, barely visible outside).

From inside, notice the ligft and stuff are not floating, but actually against the roof itself, since the invisible block is up, as you want it to be :
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207024097

Working with the windows is tricky, especially since they have terrible structural integrity, and even using the ingame menu to show it, it can break at times without apparent reasons. But it's rewarding.
End result :
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207024052

A few pro tips :
-don't forget to use the multitool "change and rotate" option to make sure the transparency is on the proper side
-elevator makes good support (wink wink)

As a final note, having window upside down next to each other will still be considered air tight. The whole structure I shown you is airtight.
However, it's worth nothing that the invisible block part will block air (but not the player) if you happen to use them in a corridor or small area.

[grapplehoeker]

@OP you may examine how I built my CV/greenhouse to see how it's done ;)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1114601829

[Zaflis]

CV's don't have structural integrity, and so you can build much more freely than bases (grabblehoeker's roof would fall down). But i do also have CV's built just for the purpose of farming. They don't even need warpdrive, but if you move the base it can be handy. And multiple farm CV's can be made to link together so you can almost endlessly expand your farm with blueprint.

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by Zaflis:

(grabblehoeker's roof would fall down)

It's 'Grapplehoeker'!
It has never collapsed ;p

[Zaflis]

My bad on typo :p And as i said, it doesn't collapse for you because it's a CV, not BA.

[Drakten]

Thanks for the tips guys. So I dug deeper into farming and realized it's much more complicated to build a proper greenhouse than I though.

I'm a beginner so I'm on Akua. I read somewhere in the PDA (F1) that Akua is temperate enough to not need a greenhouse for farming.

I guess that means dropping the growing plots directly next to your base, out in the open? What would be the disadvantage of doing it that way?

[Th3.Forgott3n.Av3ng3r]

DO NOT DO IT!!!

Sorry, panicked!. Yes technically plants will grow outdoors and wont need grow lights, but as soon as you have a cold night and the temp drops below 20, they will all die and you'll have to replant. Always best to build a greenhouse. Stick with it though, when you get this glass roof business sorted and gain a better understanding of how the thin blocks all connect together you can build some pretty amazing structures.

[HopelessAndLost]

While Akua is temperate, you need to watch the temperature variations where you build. It might get too cold at night or too hot in the day and kill your plants

[Blaze1961]

Here is a little visual trick I use to support glass ceilings.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1193961294

[catbox99]

First, turn on the N button to keep an eye on structural support. Then remember that every block occupies a space because this is a voxel game. If you want to build all the way to an apparent wall, you need to cheat a little. Run thin hull blocks along the outside, and you can stack glass up on them and build right to it. Flip them around as you want to.

Remember that structures need support, and that is especially true of walls that have been "adjusted." I try to make sure I have supports every 7 blocks or so. Yes, I could go further, but if I break something, the amount of damage is controlled that way. Remember that if you are making a greenhouse, you will probably need to change the block level of the glass tiles to which you are attaching the lights (you can see this done in some POIs).

Last piece of advice: line everything with concrete, steel, etc. because dirt is NOT airtight, and if you break a planter and expose dirt, you might kill everything in short order. Under my planters is a layer of steel or concrete, so that I can pick up, place, and not worry about it. Once you have a complete lining, get your environmental control in there. Yes, it's the air vent. Yes, you need it because it can control temeprature and rads. Make sure you have plenty of both O2 and Fuel containers, and remember: they aren't air-tight either. Make sure you have a sealed layer over or under them.