Ramp?

[Rabantha]

https://i.imgur.com/a5zxUwm.png

This keeps saying 'unusable' and I can't figure it out? I'm trying to build a ramp up to the next level where my walls are of my farm so I can floor over it all to create a roof to stop the animals getting wet

[kheftel]

Ramps need a wall next to them, and an open space above that wall, in order to be usable.

This side view diagram should help:
https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/File:Ramp_Diagram_2.jpg

[Rabantha]

Yeh that's what I thought I have done. Mine is like this;

Z2 - SSSFS
Z1 - xxRWxx

Literally have a ramp next to a wall with space above and it's still unusable?

[Robert]

For a quick fix, just build a stair instead of a ramp.

[Robert]

And show us a screenshot of your Z2 level.

[NimrodX]

Need open space over the wall the ramp is next to

[Robert]

Originally posted by NimrodX:

Need open space over the wall the ramp is next to

That's what he is saying he has, look at the "F" on z2 (I assume it means floor:)

[Rabantha]

Originally posted by Robert:

For a quick fix, just build a stair instead of a ramp.

I can't as there's nothing above for the stair to attach to :/

Originally posted by Robert:

Originally posted by NimrodX:

Need open space over the wall the ramp is next to

That's what he is saying he has, look at the "F" on z2 (I assume it means floor:)

Yeh my 'f' was floor (which is the top of the wall already placed on Z1

[Robert]

Originally posted by Rabantha:

Originally posted by Robert:

For a quick fix, just build a stair instead of a ramp.

I can't as there's nothing above for the stair to attach to :/

You can. Keep in mind that there is a difference between DIGGING stairs and ramps, and BUILDING them as constructions (preferrably from blocks). Building should work just fine in your case, you can build a stair up into empty air, no problem.

[kheftel]

Originally posted by Rabantha:

Yeh that's what I thought I have done. Mine is like this;

Z2 - SSSFS
Z1 - xxRWxx

Literally have a ramp next to a wall with space above and it's still unusable?

S means open space? Yeah, it should work... Dwarves can path to the ramp?

[Rabantha]

Ok so I just deleted the other two walls (Top n Bottom) next to the tramp, leaving only the Wall that is part of the farm and now the ramp is working ^_^

Thanks for your input guys, much appreciated

[Robert]

That is weird. Placing a ramp into a "U" shaped dead end of a small corridor (like you tried, dunno how to describe it better), should definitely work too.

Edit: Unless those walls you removed were somehow blocking access to the ramp?

[Rabantha]

Originally posted by Robert:

That is weird. Placing a ramp into a "U" shaped dead end of a small corridor (like you tried, dunno how to describe it better), should definitely work too.

Edit: Unless those walls you removed were somehow blocking access to the ramp?

Yeh no idea tbh, this is my first time playing DF so complete n00b :P

[Duke]

I'm not sure if this will help anyone but I had the same issue. I thought building ramps worked the same as stairs. click one level, move up a level and click again. It doesn't work that way and appears to build some sort of floor level as well. even after deleted that floor level the ramp remains unusable. after deleting everything and just making the ramp on the single level everything worked fine.

[NimrodX]

For the full rules on how ramps work: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Ramp

But it sounds like maybe the wiki is missing something if removing walls fixed that.

Maybe there's an issue with the order in which the ramp is dug relative to the walls being constructed or something.

Anyway, ramps normally just need (according to wiki):

1. A ramp tile
   
2. An open space tile directly above the ramp
   
3. An adjacent "solid" tile on the same Z-level (including diagonals). Some special tiles such as semi-molten rock do not count as "solid" for this purpose.
   
4. A "walkable" tile directly above the "solid" tile

So basically, must be up against a solid wall on the same level, and there must be a walkable floor on the level above that solid wall.

So you can't have like an open room, an open room above that, a hole in the floor, and just a ramp there. You'd have to build a solid wall N,S,E,W of the file below the open hole, then build a ramp under the open hole.

[DoubleG]

Every tile is made up of a block and a base. Ramping turns the tile's block into a ramp (leaving the base) and removes both the base and block of the tile on Zed level above. Dwarfs should be able to access the upper Zed level tiles surrounding the ramp from the ramp, even through a bridge. (How volcanos are tapped into)

Unusable ramps are ramps that are thought to have nowhere to go up to. This can be sometimes wrong and you need to remove one of the other walls around it to force the game to recheck. Not entirely sure why it happens as haven't done much testing. But might be something to do with building walls, but building walls will not force a recheck, has to be mined.