Blueprint Sandboxes

Blueprint Sandboxes

Temporary Editor-lite permissions in Lab-like environments for designing and experimenting.

Inspired by previous mods such as Edit-Blueprints and Blueprint Designer Lab, this mod aims to handle the situations where you want to design or tweak some Blueprints in a God-mode-like way, but without saving your active game, loading a different sandbox game, then leaving that to go back to the original once done.

To that end, it supports personal and team Sandbox Surfaces which enable: God-mode, extra Recipes (and Technologies if you wish), and automated construction. Getting in and out of Sandboxes is immediate and toggle-able via shortcuts (defaults to Shift+B).

To teach you the basics and provide many more details, the in-game Tips-and-Tricks are used; the first is visible after a few seconds, and the rest after you start using the Sandbox. The rest of this is considered a non-exhaustive summary - if you want to know more, see those Tips/Tricks!

• Multiple Sandboxes: your own and one for your force/team.
• Blueprint Input/Output: Copy/Paste, Blueprint Library, and in-Cursor.
• Item Input/Output: Infinity chests and loaders are available.
• God-mode: Fly around and construct/deconstruct much faster.
• Persistent Inventory: Your Inventory is saved and restored when exiting/entering.
• Automated Construction: Ghosts are automatically built for you.
• Surface Properties: Adjust gravity, pressure, etc. to mimic other Planets.
• All Recipes: If desired, use all Technology (instead of what you already know).
• Entity Generation: Place interesting entities like resources, trees, enemies, etc.
• Tile Placement: Place any kind of tiles wherever you want, or revert back to lab tiles.
• Default Equipment: You can decide what an empty Sandbox starts with.

Isolation Levels

The Isolation Level setting controls how integrated the Sandboxes are with your game. There are important benefits and drawbacks to each.

• Full is the historical default, and aims to segregate the Sandboxes from the rest of the game as much as possible. This requires scripting to add back some helpful things that have been lost by this approach. The approach of using Forces and Controllers fundamentally affects what is and isn't possible with this setting.
• None is a newer setting made possible by the Remote View in 2.0, and it only aims to prevent blatant cheating in the Sandbox that could affect the rest of the game.

This is a summary of the important differences between the two:

| Scenario | Isolation: Full | Isolation: None | | -------- | ---- | ---- | | Safety | Various dangers | Entirely safe | | Simplicity | Complex | Simple | | Accessibility | Limitations | Always | | Visibility | Personal / Force | Force | | Remote Viewing | Not possible | Fully integrated | | Technologies | Somewhat synced via Lua | Synchronized | | Research | Disabled | Disabled | | All-tech setting | Can be used | Cannot be used | | Alerts | Separate | Synchronized | | Chat | Forwarded via Lua | Synchronized | | Character | Swapped to God-mode | Remains yours | | Achievements | Can trigger | Will trigger | | Milestones | Separate | Synchronized | | Statistics | Separate | Included in Global | | Logistics / Train Groups | Separate | Synchronized | | Infinite Containers / Loaders | Only visible in Sandbox | Visible to all force members | | Spidertron Remotes | Resets when entering/exiting | Works as expected | | Undo / Redo | Resets when entering/exiting | Works as expected |

Details

• Research
• Isolation: Full:

Since the Sandbox uses a separate Force, it has an independent research tree. The overall tree and queue is synchronized via Lua, and you are prevented from making changes to the Sandbox's queue. Incremental progress is not synchronized. You may use the setting that unlocks all research while in the Sandbox. You cannot place research labs in Sandboxes.

• Isolation: None:

The tree and queue will always be exactly the same in and out of the Sandbox. You cannot place research labs in Sandboxes.

• Remote Viewing
• Isolation: Full:

Sandboxes cannot be viewed from outside of themselves, and nothing can be viewed while inside of a Sandbox.

• Isolation: None:

Viewing Sandboxes from outside of themselves is the primary method of "using" them, so they are fully integrated with the Remote View. This also means your teammates can see, view, and use each other's Sandboxes.

• Alerts
• Isolation: Full:

Alerts outside of the Sandbox cannot be seen while inside of the Sandbox, and vice-versa.

• Isolation: None:

Alerts are not affected: alerts in and out of the Sandbox are always visible.

• Chat
• Isolation: Full:

Lua is used to "forward" messages from outside and inside of the Sandbox to the relevant players.

• Isolation: None:

Chats are not affected: chats in and out of the Sandbox are always visible.

• Character -> God
• Isolation: Full:

Sandboxes can only be interacted with through this separate "controller" that gives you a larger inventory and more direct access to machines. It's not always possible to "safely" swap to this controller, so it's not always possible to enter the Sandbox. Your character is in danger of dying or being lost while in a Sandbox.

• Isolation: None:

The God controller is replaced with the Remote View, so it's always possible to see/use a Sandbox. You're never detached from your character, so it's extremely safe. You don't have an inventory, so you will always be using ghosts to imply interactions.

• Achievements / Milestones / Statistics
• Isolation: Full: