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Decoration feedback: Good things, bad things

Discussion in 'Release 28 Feedback Forum' started by Athanil, Apr 17, 2016.

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  1. Athanil

    Athanil Avatar

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    I thought it would be a good idea to do some feedback on decorations and how they are working in r28. This will contain my findings, my ideas. I will also mention a couple of old bugs that have been reported a few releases ago, but i think a small reminder won't hurt anybody.

    First off, i'm basing most of my findings on this:
    [​IMG]

    As you can see in the picture i ran into the item limit, this lot is filled up to the brim with items. to give you a idea, this is a castle lot with a limit of 2000 items and 20 lights (exterior limit) The only items i've used here are:

    - Blocks, both dark and light ones
    - Wooden walls
    - Pavers
    - Gothic tables
    - A couple of lights

    I'll be covering some of these in a bit, but first some other things.

    Item loading: Items are loading smoothly now and people can enter a lot until all items have loaded. So that's a huge improvement. Good Job!

    Lagg caused by a massive amount of items near eachother: None existent! I've been running around on the highest settings without any problems and found no problems. I also had several other people testing it out (thanks for that!) and they too had no problems. So that's another job well done!

    Green/red colors when placing items: So i am partly colorblind and have huge issues seeing certain colors at times. Green happens to be one of them, so you can imagine how annoyed i can get while placing items. While the mouse indicator now shows you when you can and when you cannot place a item, it still doesn't tell you if it's in the spot you want it to be. So could we please get some more colors in so that we can switch them when we need it?

    Item Rotation: It can be done at a fast speed and a slower speed. But i still think that the lower speed is way too fast. Try to place several wooden walls exactly against each other. When i use the current slow rotation i still have problems placing them.

    Item visibility: This one needs a bit of work i think. Some items only vanish from ways off, while others vanish if you move a little bit away. Blocks, even the smallest ones vanish at a large distance, while gothic tables..well, look at the pic. The stage it shows there is made out of gothic tables surrounded by blocks, no tables in sight while all blocks are showing. This definitely will need to be looked at eventually.

    Shoving pavers underneath placed block structures:
    If you place any block 2x2x2 or larger you can shove a paver underneath it after you place said blocks. I would like to see this happen for all deco, it would make placing pavers and rugs soooooo much easier.

    Lot plates: This is more for people that want to create a stunning looking PoT and want to place lots next to each other. Please get rid of how they work now and find other means to implement them. My problem with them is this:
    [​IMG]
    You can't place any items on the row the lot plate is located. This also prevents someone from placing lot markers right next to each other to create a larger area to decorate.

    I think i covered most things while doing normal deco with this. Feel free to add some more if i have missed some.


    Now..onwards to the feedback about the items i used for building this structure!

    - Wooden walls: Not much to say here other then that i wish there was a bit more variation to them. Different sizes, different designs. These hold so much potential, not unlike blocks.

    - Pavers: Let me begin to say that i am a fan of pavers. That said..why are there only 2 variations in-game we can craft!? They aren't even all the great looking either. Now about the newest addition, the giant pavers.
    They really help keeping down the item count, a good way to cover a lot of ground fast. I'm certain that some people would like to see a even larger version of them as well.

    - Gothic tables: Item visiblilty..enough said.

    - Lights: I'm only going to talk about using them outside of a house, since the last time i decorated a houses was eons ago. (basements not included!) I think that the only lights suitable for using outside are streetlights. Other lights just do not give off enough light. Most lights can also not be placed on anything besides the ground or pavers. I would like to be able to place wall torches/lights on any wall as well. Be it blocks, a wooden walls or the outside of a house.

    - Blocks: Ah..blocks..where to start.. Love em, hate em. Love them because you can use them to create great things, hate them because they are so restricted and hard to place. Currently the usage of these can be very frustrating if you do not know how to avoid them. Several blocks have a couple of issues which make them very hard to use.


    a) General problems:

    -You can barely place any items on blocks. The only things you can place are far and in between. I would like to be able to place things like statues, braziers and lots more stuff like that.

    -Blocks with a width of 1 are extremely hard to place without using a way to work around it.
    [​IMG]

    Work around: Place several blocks around the block you want to place another block on.
    [​IMG]

    The key is to create a bigger surface here. A larger surface means easier to place blocks.

    -Another problem is that blocks can only be placed on top of one another if the center if the blocks has some kind of surface underneath it.
    [​IMG]

    Problems with individual blocks:

    These are more like bugs. But a lot of blocks have problems with being placed on other blocks. Especially the 1x1x2 and archway blocks. Not even the earlier work around will be able to give you perfect placement of them, even if you are able to place them that way. Funny thing is that if you place blocks ON them, there are no problems at all. Unless it's another 1x1x2 block. *shrugs*
    [​IMG]

    I think all blocks should be checked to solve this one. To see if the "sticky" areas are in the right place.

    That covers this part of the feedback. I'm still not done though!


    Some older reported bugs that are still around:

    - On occasion i'm still picking up items through other items.
    - That bug that turns stacks of items into a mess is still around. So do not turn stacks of items, only turn them one at a time!


    Things i would like to see in the future:

    - More types of everything in various sizes. Be it blocks, wooden walls, pavers, fences and other stuff.
    - A lot more things we can craft in-game. Give us something that isn't sold in the add-on store as well and looks better there.


    Things i want to see, but will never happen:

    - A higher stack limit (only 2 more stacks will do!)


    Random ideas (some of these i have mentioned earlier on):

    - Get rid of lot plates as they are now.
    - The ability to place pavers and rugs AFTER you place other decorations.
    - Not counting rugs and pavers as part of a stack!

    I have another idea for PoT's which might not be even a viable idea, but i will mention it anyway. Make a huge item limit for PoT's. And distract some of it once you place a lot marker. This way people have the opportunity to create large event areas without having to place several lot deeds.

    Edit: If the above idea isn't viable could we perhaps get the ability to "link" lots together? Decorating over several lots comes with a lot of restrictions, especially at the lot borders. I'm not saying that we should be able to place a larger house on "linked" lots, but that we can place things like blocks on the lot borders so we can continue whatever we are making on the next lot without having to make a breakline exactly at the borders of the lots.

    That's all i have for now. If you managed to read through it all, please leave some feedback if you have any. Feel free to add your own decoration problems since i have probably forgotten to mention some.

    Ath.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2016
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  2. Selene

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    Great post!! It's amazing what talented builders can already come up with, even with the drawbacks of the current design tools. I think adding in more tools for players to create their own event spaces will add a LOT of dynamic content to the game. When the spawners become available, players will be able to create dungeons, more perilous obstacle courses, and coliseums filled with deadly monsters.


    The giant pavers are great for creating patios or town squares, but I would also like to see them more functional for building paths and roads. A rectangular paver (2 large x 6 large) would go a long way for creating a town on a grid without using up the item limit.

    I would also love to see the inclusion of curved pavers to allow for more organic road and path making. When you add curved shapes, it greatly increases your possibilities, such as with the train track set shown below (minus the bridges, of course).

    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  3. Astor Cerberus

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    Athanil, I love your work. I hope at least some of these get addressed. You inspired me to do some (small-scale) building with blocks. It was torture. I only used about 50-80 blocks and it took forever to align things pixel by pixel. Even know I have a few things that can't stack no matter what I try.

    I'd love to see a key toggle (ctrl, shift, alt, etc) to turn on edge snapping. Most like items (blocks, pavers and so on) should behave very well with snapping.

    Finally, this post will disappear in less than two weeks as we go into R29 - I hope there's a way to preserve this feedback without you having to go through it all again and reposting.

    Astor
     
  4. Athanil

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    I don't mind if they would snap together. As long as i have to option to turn it off. Items snapping together always = bad for building.
    The devs archive everything so they can look it up. It's only we the players that can't see it any longer when the next release hits. I think they recently added the early access archives so the players could see if they discovered a old bug or not. No feedback section in there though.
     
  5. amaasing

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    As an avid decorator I agree that some love needs to be given at some point to decoration items and how they are manipulated / placed. I 100% always use the maximum decorations internally and have hit the max several times externally as well (always hit the lighting max externally). I was so glad to see the giant pavers since, as was mentioned, it really does help with max item count.

    What I think would also help with max item count internally would be to have the ability to 'combine' books or have them already combined when bought or taken. I can easily hit the max internal item count even in a City lot with books on the book shelves. Combining a row of say 20 or so books would not only save 19 items in the max count but would also make filling the bookcase less tedious. And if they combined books were of different styles (some all the same color / size, some different colors and sizes, some leaning and some laying flat) that would be great. I would also be okay with purchasing / crafting a completely filled bookcase as well. That way we could have a complete bookcase we place as one item or we can have an empty bookcase that we fill as we want with things other than books.

    And speaking of books, I would love to be able to lay them open.
     
  6. Satan Himself

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    Wonder if a property designated as a public meeting place, such as a theater or stadium, might be allowed a higher item and light limit.

    Athenil you are a master builder and I hope you and others who are truly dedicated to the craft of building complex public structures are given the freedom to build with near impunity.
     
  7. FrostII

    FrostII Bug Hunter

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    Most interesting 6 posts I've read in some time....
    Nice....
    Oh, and I was amazed that I found myself agreeing with pretty much each and every point.
    Thanks ! ;)

    *Even Budners* :eek:

    @Athanil Great use of resources.... impressive.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2016
  8. Black Tortoise

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    How does one do a faster/slower speed setting when rotating items?

    Great post and also great housing lot btw.
     
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  9. Spoon

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    Shift+ Q/E = slow turn
    Ctrl + Q/E = 45' turn
    R = flip a book, and sometimes tilt stuff
     
  10. Barugon

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    I know that R can flip certain items like books and blocks on their sides but what items can it "tilt"? I would really love to tilt the anchor decoration so that it looks like it's leaning against something else instead of just lying flat on the ground.
     
  11. Spoon

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    Things that have now and again tilted, although I wouldn't promise that they do so now:
    Paintings
    Certificate (the pledge thingie)
    Wall Shelf
    Wall Torch
    Mounted Antlers

    At one time there was a bug and one could tilt tables and chairs as well...
     
  12. Black Tortoise

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    TYSM for this! Huge help, I wasnt aware.
     
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  13. Roycestein Kaelstrom

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    I think the slow turn needs to be a bit more granule. Maybe slower by half for fine tuning.
     
  14. bwtdozer

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    This one annoys me the most when working with the blocks. A lot of times I would like to stack blocks in an upside "L" shape to make ceiling/2nd level floors. Especially the 1X4X4 blocks since only a quarter of the block is "supported" and adding a column block doesn't work to add "support". Yes there are workarounds using multiple blocks/using the 2x4x4 as a base but why not make our lives easier and just let blocks stack anywhere along the length of the stacked block and use the column blocks/another wall block to support the other end.

    I agree with a lot of what is presented here. I hope over time after all the core game mechanics and content is nearing completion building blocks/decorating in general will get some more love.
     
  15. Athanil

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    This is by design. They do not want us to be able to make a ceiling or second floor. This is for the same reason as the stack limit. They want to prevent people from creating "horrors" like they did before. I hate these limits, but i understand why they're there.
     
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