Flattening Sideways Doubles: Braintstorming

Discussion in 'Halo and Forge Discussion' started by NaStY, May 19, 2008.

  1. NaStY

    NaStY Ancient
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    Alright so as most of you know, Boxes and Double Boxes are far from perfect cubes / prisms. They are of course shorter in 1 dimension, and they have rounded edges. But one thing that may have escaped your attention is this irritating and odd fact:

    When Double Boxes are placed so that their short axis is vertical (i.e. the flat green sides are on the top and bottom), they do not lie perfectly flat. One end remains raised.


    This becomes VERY annoying if the problem is compounded - say, if you are trying to place a box sideways in the air, and the height measurement is 1 sideways box.

    It would be incredibly useful if we could get them to lie flat. We all know that if you're trying to create a surface that has the nice bottom face of the box facing inward, there's only two ways to orient the box. The sideways configuration is nice, because this orientation allows easier interlocking (the "long dimension" has those curved ends which give you more wiggle room as far as how far the ends of the boxes interlock). It also has other advantages - unlike standing the boxes so that the longer axis is vertical, the sideways position (if pushed flat to the ground) would allow far fewer grenades beneath the box.



    So I submit this problem to forgehub. What causes it? What can we do to efficiently deal with this annoyance?
     
  2. AllseeingEntity

    AllseeingEntity Ancient
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    hmmm...

    the only thing i can think of is to put 2 receiver nodes at opposite sides to balance out the box. try it and get back to me.
     
  3. Nemihara

    Nemihara Ancient
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    Honestly, I've never heard of about this. So I'm greatly surprised and confused.
     
  4. AllseeingEntity

    AllseeingEntity Ancient
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    ...

    it might be the terrain he is placing the items on. i just threw an idea out there.
     
  5. kayaman132

    kayaman132 Ancient
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    yeah, the middle of foundry (the pipe thing) rises up just a bit.
    edit: 69'0 posts, hahaha!


    you've got spam.
     
    #5 kayaman132, May 19, 2008
    Last edited: May 19, 2008
  6. AllseeingEntity

    AllseeingEntity Ancient
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    ha!

    that's hella funny... i mean "awesome funny" lol
     
  7. squidhands

    squidhands Ancient
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    It's not just the center of Foundry that causes this. It's a legitimate problem when placing boxes on their sides. One side will always be higher than the other, and merging with another box doesn't solve the problem. If you stack several other objects on top, it ends up leaning ever so slightly to one side, making it a real pain in the ass when creating corners. I wish I had an answer for you, NaStY. I know of the trick to make the top of the stairs even with a box, so the same trick may work with this problem. I believe stacking a combination of walls and fence walls on their sides will give you the proper height of a box on it's side. I may try that out later and see if it works.

    Haven't heard from you in a while, dude. Have you made anything since Narcosis?
     
  8. NOKYARD

    NOKYARD GrifballHub
    Cartographer Forge Critic Senior Member

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    The answer to this problem lies in real life construction - you would never see a builder make a wall without some form of guide or support (except for very skilled bricklayers) - go to a nearby building project and note what methods they use

    myself, i prefer to use scaffolding to enable the exact positioning of ALL objects - in Foundry i always save a few Fence Boxes (and bridges) to use as scaffolding - they are stable, easy to place and behave well with fences and boxes - you can see through them so you can examine your work before removing them - you can either build the entire scaffold first, or build as you go - you can also use this technique to make perfectly straight 90º walls

    Step 1 - Make your frame.

    [​IMG]

    Step 2 - Fill with boxes.

    [​IMG]

    Step 3 - Remove scaffold.

    [​IMG]

    Back View

    [​IMG]

    Close Up - Smooth, flat and perfectly square.

    [​IMG]

    Watchtower Bases make good scaffold (using the timer) and are also great for pushing objects into the scenery.

    [​IMG]
     
  9. NaStY

    NaStY Ancient
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    That's nice and all, but you didn't solve the problem at hand...your picture hasn't anything to do with placing doubles on their side :(


    Unfortunately I've been extremely busy and haven't gotten to finish any maps since Narcosis, although I have tried. Right now I've been spending a lot of time at MLG trying to perfect a good model for asymmetrical competitive maps. The key we've discovered is to not try and box in your own rooms, but rather just sequester the square Foundry space and use the Foundry walls to your advantage.


    The most promising seems to be geolocking the doubles flat. Can somebody come up with that measurement?
     
  10. NOKYARD

    NOKYARD GrifballHub
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    it has everything to do with placing boxes on their sides, i was just trying to give a broader explanation, and leaving it to others to figure out

    you place a fence box on either side of the double box (or all 4 sides if needed) , or press the double box against the standing fence box (save 'n quit) and it will stand perfectly straight on it's side, top, or end

    the point i was trying to make was that you should never just place a box (or most other items for that matter) hoping that it is in the right place, but use good construction techniques to be sure the items are in exactly the right place the first time they are placed

    show me a pic of what you are trying to accomplish and i will show you how to make it perfect
     
    #10 NOKYARD, May 19, 2008
    Last edited: May 19, 2008
  11. xxAl Capwnagexx

    xxAl Capwnagexx Ancient
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    It annoys the heck out of me how grenades can go underneath boxes, especially when it steals my kill. I like the idea of utilizing teleporter nodes to balance them. I think fence walls and regular walls could work also, but for making boxes just on the regular floor, it would worsen the grenade problem.

    I think you have to pick your poison. You can either:
    a) have a balanced box, but very easy to have grenades thrown under
    b) unbalanced box, with a certain degree of difficulty to have a grenade thrown under.
     

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