[Fallout 4] Settlement Building Tests

[Guest]

Still baffled by half of this, but that is me and my rediculous need for step-by-step video instructions I guess. :confused: The panning light video was so much more complex than it seems at first. I can't imagine the space you would actually need to build something huge.

 

Awaiting what you can do with clipping. Hopefully something cooler than a treehouse! I also await your guide for a epic torture chamber so I can send Preston to it stat.  That guy and his crappy generic quests can go to hell! I wish I could just hit him over the head with a shoval to stop his whining and ship him off to The Glowing Sea. Let's see how much a gang of Deathclaws want to clear out yet another batch of Ferals huh Preston! 

 

 

Edit: Actually may be a good test... Cells. Would an NPC who is unnasigned and has a bed in one place move around? I assume they would somehow teleport out when you left, but finding a way to make them stay could yield a good prison build.

Edited December 13, 2015 by Guest

[Greg]

Apparently we're on opposite sides of the fence in this regard. I need it in writing to make sense of the information. Verbal communications wear me out and videos put me to sleep.

[pStyl3]

Wow; tremendous effort. Nicely done and documented!

Once again, thank you very much.

 

The panning light video was so much more complex than it seems at first.

I will try to add a few more notes to Test #20 that will hopefully make it better to understand. In any case, this was really the most complex test yet, that's for sure. If someone really wants to replicate it, studying the diagram would be a good start. If anything isn't clear in that diagram, feel free to ask.

 

Awaiting what you can do with clipping. Hopefully something cooler than a treehouse!

If it's cooler I don't know, but I was able to point out a few, interesting details.

 

Actually may be a good test... Cells. Would an NPC who is unnasigned and has a bed in one place move around? I assume they would somehow teleport out when you left, but finding a way to make them stay could yield a good prison build.

Already had the idea of prison cells aswell (well, I tried to 'imprison' one especially annoying settler), but didn't come around to test that more. I'll consider it though (maybe placing the bed in the cell?).

 

I need it in writing to make sense of the information.

I hope my writing is understandable though.

 

-----

 

Test #23

Let's discuss the 'Group Selection' of objects consisting out of multiple individual objects.

 

In this test, we have this initial setup, a 'Shack Foundation' with two attached 'Shack Floor' elements.

 

In building mode, I can go up to my construction and focus each of the individual elements by itself. If I would now press "E" I would select that specific object, it would light up green and I could reposition it or store it back into the workshop.

 

However, as mentioned by SparrowPrince, if you press down "E" and hold it, you will group select the entire structure of objects, that are currently attached to each other. It then behaves as one object, which can be moved and rotated.

 

What happens though, if an object that needs energy is involved in a group selection of objects? In the image above we see a Large Generator, ten Lightboxes and a Construction Light, with the Construction Light being placed upon our Shack Floor element. The Generator produces ten energy and normally the 10 Lightboxes (that are connected in a line-structure) would consume all of this generated energy. However, as the Construction Light is also attached to the Generator, one energy point goes to the Construction Light and therefore only nine Lightboxes light up!

 

If we now group select the structure (Shack Foundation, Shack Floors, Construction Light), something interesting happens. The wire, that connects the Generator with the Construction Light will no longer be visible .. however, the Construction Light is still lighting, and still only nine Lightboxes are lighting. This is true as long as we hold the group selection active and have not repositioned the group-selected-object somewhere else (so as long as we did not press "E").

 

What happens, if we go further away, so far, that the normally legit distance between Generator and Construction Light will be exceeded?

 

As long as the group selection is active, the Construction Light doesn't care if it is too far away from the Generator, it will continue to be lighting. However, if we now press "E" and thus select a new spot for our group selected object, the wire connection between the Generator and the Construction Light will immediately be disconnected, as it was too long, and therefore the Construction Light will no longer be lighting. You will notice, that now all ten Lightboxes are lighting.

 

Seems like this is unfortunately a dead end. No free energy is being provided.

 

 

Test #24

We can build treehouses! But apparently not everywhere.

 

Let's say we build this multistoried object and 'group select' it. It will light up green and we can move and rotate it.

 

It is possible, that we can now move this object into the (non scrapable) tree in Sanctuary Hills! So with other words, on all four depicted levels / over it's entire heith the tree can be clipped. If the priorly group selected object were to be a properly built house we would now have a fine treehouse.

 

The entire object can of course be group selected afterwards aswell, enabling us to fine tune the positioning of our treehouse.

 

However, it seems that not all trees can be manipulated like this. For example the tree in Covenant does not want to play nice if clipping objects into it is attempted. One should note though, that this tree can be scrapped! This might be the reason why this tree does not allow objects to be clipped into it .. but this is entirely speculation at this point.

[pStyl3]

Test #25

 

 

Some more examples of clipping group selected objects into existing objects.

 

Group selected objects can also not be clipped into Power Armors.

 

Note:

The 'rule' that Power Armors are not clippable can be bypassed by using a new glitch method discussed in Test #27.

 

 

Test #26

 

So how far away can objects be placed. Normally the placement of objects is limited by the barriers of the specific settlement, so one could assume that once this barrier is reached, the object currently in focus will turn from green to red, meaning it can no longer be placed.

 

As it turns out though, that is not entirely correct. The objects will 'turn red' exactly the moment, a half of them have passed the border. If the border 'cuts them in half', they turn red.

 

What about group selected objects? It seems they follow the same rule, but only the first individual object that passes the barrier is accounted for in this question. The second image shows how much that group selected object could be placed outside the settlement area to built in, half a length of the Shack Floor element.

 

On the other hand, there also seem to be some certain objects that can be placed 'outside the walls' even a bit more. Makes one wonder why that metal wall is so 'special' in that department.

 

Finally, it is also possible to successfully connect a Terminal to a Generator, even if the wire goes through the 'red zone'.

[pStyl3]

Test #27

How to "merge" two objects into each other?

 

I have found a way, how two specific objects can be completely clipped/glitched into each other. Due to the nature of this glitch, there seem to be a few 'rules' and 'limits' to this:

• Object A, so the object that is to be clipped into another object, can be anything that can be built through the workshop.
• Object B, so the object that is used as a 'target' for another object to clip itself in it, can be anything that is moveable without the building mode being active.

I don't know if all objects that are falling into these categories really are working with this method .. but this is how I would define it as of now.

 

The setup of Test #27, a Power Armor standing next to an Artillery Piece that is placed upon two Shack Floors. In this example, 'Object A' would be the group selected object consisting out of Artillery Piece and Shack Floors and 'Object B' would be the Power Armor.

 

If I would now group select the Artillery Piece with the Shack Floors ..

 

.. I could, if I wanted to, move outside the settlement building area, while still focusing and holding the object. I will see the following note:

Outside buildable area. Workshop Auto exit in 5s.

 

I could move back into the legit building area, however, as it turns out, I am also able to place the group selected object through pressing "E" inside the normal building area. That is, if the group selected object is being displayed green. If now the 5 seconds run out, the building mode will be automatically exited, and the Artillery Piece still stands in it's new place.

 

Note:

After re-entering building mode, the Artillery Piece still stand in it's new place, aswell. Just as expected.

 

Back to the starting point. Let's group selected the Artillery Piece and the Shack Floors once more.

 

Move a few steps back so that we are outside the normal building area. I will once again see the note that I left the building area and building mode will be automatically be exited in 5 seconds.

 

Before the five seconds run out, I will now move a few steps to the right. Once I am sure that I have found a new place where my group selected object can be placed .. I will wait. Let the time run out.

 

Once the five seconds are over, the group selected object will be placed right on the spot where I last had it focused on. I will also see the note:

Leaving Workshop Mode

 

Next step is to move the Power Armor ('Object B') to where the Artillery Piece ('Object A') was standing before.

Now re-enter building mode.

 

The Artillery Piece (plus Shack Floors) will snap back to it's prior position, resulting in both objects being 'merged'.

 

Both objects are being clipped together, although normally not possible.

 

Entering the Power Armor is still possible, though. If tried, the Power Armor will 'snap out of the Artillery Piece' and the player will enter it without the animation playing.

 

The Power Armor wasn't damaged by this. Pfew.

 

 

Test #28

 

Let's do this with a Shack Foundation. Notice, how the Shack Foundation has correctly working 'collision' to it (as is expected before attempting anything).

 

Enter building mode, press "E" to select the Shack Foundation element, move outside the building area, move a few steps to the left and make sure the object can still successfully be placed (it lights up green), wait until the five seconds are over.

 

As it turns out, as long as the building mode is NOT re-entered and thus the Shack Foundation does NOT snap back to it's original spot .. as long is the 'collision' of the Shack Foundation missing. I can walk through it, as if it wouldn't be there. That also seems to be the reason why this glitch works.

[pStyl3]

Test #29

 

Apparently Lightboxes can be 'tricked' into lighting without a connected power source, if a certain setup of one Interval Switch plus multiple Delayed ON Switches (the exact number still needs to be determined) is used.

 

After I noticed that the Lightboxes that were connected to Delayed ON Switches were lighting all the time, I disconnected everything from the Lightboxes, and they continued to light.

 

As can be seen, these Lightboxes were no 'replacements' for Generators, it is just that the Lightboxes were not turned off.

 

I will continue to investigate this phenomenon.

 

 

Test #30

 

How to bypass the size limit of settlements? The following Test #30 is based upon what is already presented on many tutorials on YouTube (though I don't know the original source of this discovery yet).

 

So you have reached your building limit for your current settlement, but want to continue to build and create things? There is a very simple trick that can be utilized to bypass this limit. Essentially, just three steps need to be repeated a couple of times, plus one initial step, and your size bar (in building mode in the top right corner) will be zero once again.

 

The initial step:

• Put all your weapons into the workshop.

Once you have done this initial step, you just need to repeat the following three steps over and over.

• Transfer all the weapons from the workshop into your inventory.
• Drop all the weapons from your inventory to the ground.
• Transfer all the weapons back into the workshop.

Let's look at these steps in more detail.

 

First comes the initial step, storing all the weapons into the workshop.

 

Now step 1. Transfer all weapons from the workshop to your inventory.

 

Note, the size bar is not yet reduced.

 

Step 2, drop all your weapons to the ground.

 

Note, the size bar is not yet reduced.

 

Step 3, now store all weapons through 'TAB' back into the workshop. This is the action that will now decrease the size bar, with each weapon a bit.

 

The size bar after a second round performing this trick.

Edited December 21, 2015 by pStyl3

[pStyl3]

Test #31

 

So I thought .. Test #9 was already quite impressive, but yeah. Seeing as I can bypass the size limit for settlements .. there was room for more.

 

- 32 * 90 = 2880 Lightboxes

- 2879 copper wires connecting all 2880 Lightboxes in a line-structure

- 1 Terminal

- 289 Large Generators

- a couple of Power Pylons and one Switched Power Pylon

 

To build this, the trick to reduce/bypass the size limit was performed 4 times, and each time the size limit was reduced to zero. While building this, a couple of interesting observations have been made.

 

Observation:

The max. value that can be displayed for the available power is exactly 999. However, if you have 1000 energy or more available, the complete energy will be usable, despite it not being displayed correctly.

 

If you have multiple objects already connected through copper wires and want to add one more wire connection, the existing copper wires will be highlighted.

 

As it turns out, if there are enough Lightboxes (that are connected within only one line-structure), it seems that not all wire connections will be highlighted.

 

Now I used the 'Randomize Colors' option on the Terminal.

 

Observation 1:

Despite the Lightboxes being connected in a line-structure, the Lightboxes were not colored in a linear fashion. On contrary, the randomize-function seems to follow a certain pattern regardless of the way the Lightboxes were connected to each other.

 

Observation 2:

The randomize-function seems to "split it's work into two parts". What I mean by that is, that the Lightboxes were randomly colorized on "two fronts" the whole time, with the latter one following the first one. You could say, that the "first iteration" randomly colorized the Lightboxes, and the "second interation" then was there to make sure that the colors were really randomly selected and not equal side by side.

 

Observation 3:

It took 9:35 min = 575 seconds to colorize 2880 Lightboxes, so you could say that the randomize function worked with (2880 Lightboxes / 575 seconds ) = 5,008696 = 5 Lightboxes per second. However, I did a similar test earlier, where I randomly colorized 276 Lightboxes within 19 seconds .. and that resulted in a rate of 14.5 Lightboxes per second. So this means, that with more and more Lightboxes, less and less Lightboxes per second will be colorized by the 'Randomize Colors'-function.

 

Note:

I experienced 2 bluescreens (bluescreens indeed, not harmless CTDs) while doing these tests. While I can not say for sure that Fallout 4 was the cause for this, I cannot rule it out either. It may be that this is simply too much for the game (you will experience noticeable frame rate drops when building so many objects in one settlement, aswell).

 

 

Test #32

 

Now a test with a color change (Yellow Bright --> Orange Bright). It took 278 seconds to change the color of all 2880 Lightboxes, which is a rate of 10.36 Lightboxes per second. This means that the process in Test #32 was roughly twice as fast as the process of Test #31.

Edited December 22, 2015 by pStyl3

[Guest]

Wow incredible. I will read it slowly and in detail soon (as I keep doing). That second  lighting test looks insane, looking foward to reading that one especially. By the way, did you try the 'tcl' command when placing objects? I assume you can clip to your hearts content with that? Sorry if you covered that, but I wonder how other items and NPCs would react to such a command?

[pStyl3]

By the way, did you try the 'tcl' command when placing objects? I assume you can clip to your hearts content with that? Sorry if you covered that, but I wonder how other items and NPCs would react to such a command?

The tcl command wasn't used in any of the Tests until now. I will take a look if, and if yes, how that console command will have an impact on building settlements, next.

[pStyl3]

No further tests as of yet, I am currently focusing on other stuff / waiting for Bethesda releasing more patches / the new Creation Kit / everything around Fallout 4 getting a bit more fleshed out. At a certain point I will continue to work on this.

 

However, for documentation purposes, I will list some videos and mods that have a connection to this stuff:

 

Videos:

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-

 

 

Mods:

- Place Everywhere

- Better Settlers

- Craftable Castle Wall Patches

- Build A Castle -Not THAT Castle Just A Castle-

- Craftable Animated Water Wells

- CRAFTABLE SPIRAL STAIRCASES

- OCDecorator - Static Loot

- DDProd AIO HOLY CRAP IT'S ONE ESP

- Craftable Tall Walls and Spacers

- New Craftable BobbleHead Displays - Shelves and Animated Skulls

- Craftable Solar Panels and Fusion Reactors

- Craftable Glass Stuffs

- Craftable Pillars and Support braces

- Craftable Elevator

- Craftable Floor Supports

- 1x1 Craftable Foundation Pieces

- Stackable Concrete Foundations

- Functional Weapon Racks - Display your collection

- Snap'n Build - The Capsule

- Snap'n Build - Wooden Windows

- Snap'n Build - The Bunker

- Snap'n Build - Roofs

- Snap'n Build - Immersive Modular Doorways

- Snap'n Build - Industrial bridges

- Spring Cleaning

- Snapable Junk Fences

- Armorsmith Extended

- Homemaker - Expanded Settlements

- Repairable Sanctuary

- Scrap dead things

- Repaired Sanctuary Roofs

- Workshop Lightbulb Emittance Fix

- Crafting Workbenches - Craftable Weapons Armor Clothing Ammo Junk

- Build High - Expanded Settlements

- Lightbox Floor and Ceiling Pieces

- Craftable Ramps and Rails

- Simple Intersection

- Higher Settlement Budget

- Settlement Supplies Expanded 2.5 - Safe SSEx

- Scrap scrap

- Better Generators

- Quieter Settlements

- Longer Power Lines

[Kesta]

No further tests as of yet, I am currently focusing on other stuff / waiting for Bethesda releasing more patches / the new Creation Kit / everything around Fallout 4 getting a bit more fleshed out. At a certain point I will continue to work on this.

I feel you. So much. ^^

 

Thanks for the vids list (and the mod list to a certain extends, though I've already tested all of those :P )

[darkside]

Hopefully, you can update BABY guide again.

[pStyl3]

If you know of any other videos or mods Kesta, feel free to list them here aswell.

 

 

Hopefully, you can update BABY guide again.

Pardon me, what do mean by "BABY guide"?

[darkside]

If you know of any other videos or mods Kesta, feel free to list them here aswell.

 

 

Pardon me, what do mean by "BABY guide"?

Sorry pStyl3, it is B.A.B.Y. (Boston Atomic Bomb Yankee) guide for modding FO4 by Kesta  https://wiki.step-project.com/User:Kesta/FO4PersonnalGuide

 

I didn't quote Kesta correctly on my previous post. 

Edited February 9, 2016 by darkside

[pStyl3]

I've released a 100 percent savegame (base game + all DLCs) for Fallout 4 and intend to come back to this in the next couple of weeks. I'm especially eager to use the Contraptions Workshop DLC with everything that belongs to it. So yeah .. finally.

Edited October 3, 2016 by pStyl3