Okay I've played 31 hours of the game since launch, have completed the first four islands in the game and am about to move to Isla Sorna. In this time one thing I keep running up against is this silly Terrain Constraints warning/restriction when trying to place down objects. Now I have tried to use both the Flatten Tool and Smooth Tool and generally never get any success, and often times the area I've tried to fix becomes completely unbuildable, can't even place a power line on it. So what is the best way to resolve this? The maps are small enough in build area without losing more space to this Terrain issue.
Terrain Constraints - How best to resolve this so you can place buildings?
- Thread starter cwattyeso
- Start date
Terrain Constraints
I too would like to know the secrets of mastering the terrain. I've been denied by this nebulous declaration so many times I cannot count. What's worse is that nearly every time the notice is on a portion of the map that is visibly perfect, there are no lumps, no dips, no water, no feeders or anything you'd associate with blockage. It's a frustration for sure so feedback would be appreciated.
I too would like to know the secrets of mastering the terrain. I've been denied by this nebulous declaration so many times I cannot count. What's worse is that nearly every time the notice is on a portion of the map that is visibly perfect, there are no lumps, no dips, no water, no feeders or anything you'd associate with blockage. It's a frustration for sure so feedback would be appreciated.
What I usually do is building enclosures around the map borders and cluster the buildings in the middle where I can flatten the terrain without the problem. This issue usually emerges when you are trying to build at the map border.
This is my biggest frustration with the game (which is otherwise awesome). With limited space, I'm left with sizeable chunks of land which can't be developed for no obvious reason. Flattening, raising, lowering - none of it works.
And I have a similar issue for creating water sometimes. Some guidance on this would be very helpful.
And I have a similar issue for creating water sometimes. Some guidance on this would be very helpful.
I think the tools are good but definitely take some getting used to. I've struggled myself but actually by now, genuinely come to like them.
First thing I think is to get a 3D view. Change angle, bring your view down low and actually work out what you've got to start with because it;s easy to miss. Pena for instance is on a really quite extreme hill and Muertes isn't exactly flat either. A birds' eye view won't cut it, look at it from other angles. I'd also clear all trees first, can replant them later and (think about) re-laying existing paths, which definitely helps in tight spots. On my machine the space bar toggles between straight and curving paths (as well as fences obviously)
An organic looking park (rather than a square, regimented one) is less frustration for a first go (which is counter intuitive) and adding access paths up to buildings (rather than letting path guide the building placement ) helps paths stay flat. You can sometimes (but not always) rescue a path that has a slope across it from a building added second, by using raise on the other side but definitely use the smooth tool first (as well as after). Smooth tool helps .. a lot.
Lastly I think you have to be patient with the tool because the land tends to "flow" rather than cause an immediate big bang effect. You can sometimes notice this as land outside the circle is moving too, the tool merging what you're doing inside it with the hill next door. The game is obviously working this out as you go - so the tool seems slow - but if you don't see anything happening, trying looking a different angle again, and most of all .. take your time with it. if you're going for a perfect park, don't be afraid to demolosh a building before it finishes construction even, and look again at the topology if the building seemed to land wrong the first time.
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Cheers - helpful stuff there - much appreciated.
This is one of my biggest pet peeves, too. Great game, but the terrain constraints get really frustrating.
Next time I have the issue I'm going to screenshot it. Terrain constraints is an issue far broader than angle of view or even patience. Smooth slightly sloped surfaces generate terrain constraints messages. Flat surfaces wholly unimpeded by anything generate terrain constraints messages. Rolling hills generate terrain constraints messages. The same attribute that provides a terrain constrain on one part of the map is completely absent on another similar part. Often times using any tool other than the smoothing tool will result in rendering large sections of the map unusable for building purposes and this includes adding water and feeders to enclosures. Given that every single island on in the game (including the sandbox) is needlessly small having chunks of land I can't build on because of who knows is an annoyance of significant proportion. It's also a needless blemish on an otherwise fun game.
And even smaller.
I don't think its guidance that is required... I was being lazy here, or trying to be... but I had already run out of space and needed to squeeze in even more hotels because the game said capacity was poor, about 9 hotels now in total on a tiny map, grrr.
i.e: outside buildable area... but, its not.
From any angle I looked, it wasn't. I also moved it around a bit.. it still wasn't
Side note, its so annoying that power cables also cant go outside the area.
Next, nothing I could do to flatten this. Of course, I am well aware how you can't flatten right up to the edge, instead leaving a mound... but it was pretty flat here. I ended up moving the monorail and still couldn't build it. I moved the pathway and then could, putting the path way down again afterwards.
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This right here is a perfect illustration of the problem! I should point out that it's not unique to Nublar either. Off the top of my head I can recall both Pena and Muerta having spots like this. Instead of these artificial boundaries it might have been better to go the JPOG/ARK route and place the boundaries out to sea.
Never had any trouble with this. If you build along the border of the map you'll occasionally run into slopes you can't even out. What you can do is raise or lower the ground to the level of these slopes, creating a plain that stretches outside of the border. The flattening tool is great for this purpose.
Any chance you can post a video of your technique? I came into my Nublar build with that very idea but found the flatten brush unable to resolve the seams along the border of the map. Instead of raising the terrain flush with the edges of the map I merely rendered larger areas unbuildable.
I have done this, on the sandbox map, using the water tool to add water, then remove it... didn't do a bad job.
Took me forever to remove all the trees though.
Made an account here just to voice my annoyance of this. It's irritating to try and get the terrain to work when you're still dealing with dinosaur escapes, diseases, feeders, contract pop-ups, etc. This is easily the most frustrating part of the game and I'd put it well above new content in the need to have this resolved in some capacity in an update...