RESOLVED Remove the energy streams completely.

[Captain Monki 6]

Like the title said. I really like the improvement we got in update 7.0 but the streams still bug me and I know that a lot of people feel the same way.

I think we should remove them completely unless we're holding the linker.

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

Okey, I know it has been a bit of a wait ? But invisible links will be an option in 1.4. They will be switched on by default, but can be switched to invisible and will be visible only when holding a linker.

[mid endian 37]

Agreed. Other games have a similar energy mechanic, but the streams are only visible when you have the proper tool equipped. Upvoted on this suggestion, I'd rather not see any energy streams at all without the connector tool.

Edited February 19, 2018 by mid endian
Misspelling

[Vokurka 14]

Yes please.

[Baz Foobar 102]

I also don't like seeing them all over the place, even though they're less visible than before, but I also don't want to see electric poles that don't show the "wires" going from one pole to another.

Perhaps a compromise can be made - if the "wire" is along a physical object, don't show it without the linker.  If the "wire" is crossing from one node to another over air or water, show the faint wire without the linker and the highly visible wire with the linker.  This way, building structures with wiring won't show green lines going from node to node, but nodes in the open going through air/water will show something there.

Or something along those lines anyway, doesn't have to be that exactly, but some effort to clean up our structures without having to use extra layers of blocks to hide the "wires".  That would be more realistic, but given the large granular size of a basic building block, it wouldn't be feasible.

[Indian Chief 239]

I'd like an option on if the power line is visible or not. That way if you want to make power lines that show the power you can or hide it if you don't want green lines all over your builds. Having a choice is nice

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

1 hour ago, Mitch Treader said:

I'd like an option on if the power line is visible or not. That way if you want to make power lines that show the power you can or hide it if you don't want green lines all over your builds. Having a choice is nice

Me too. 

[Baz Foobar 102]

2 hours ago, Mitch Treader said:

I'd like an option on if the power line is visible or not. That way if you want to make power lines that show the power you can or hide it if you don't want green lines all over your builds. Having a choice is nice

This would satisfy my requirement as well and make it less of a burden on the game engine to determine visibility.  Just let the builder dictate it!

[Hezim 7]

Yes please remove it.

[Aaron Sebenius 8]

I totally agree with this.

[Indomitus 388]

Builders like options.  I like the idea of getting to choose if the stream is visible or not, and even how it shows.  Having a choice of making it look like a physical power line could come in handy.  (Maybe that option could be accessed through the Linker, where you choose which kind of link you want?)

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

Making the streams little less obvious was a quick adjustment, so we did it right away   .

Making them invisible unless you hold the linker is something that could potentially effect the gameplay in negative way. While it sounds like a reasonable solution for anyone who's building things like houses, ships etc. where only they live you have to bear in mind that there can be many scenarios where someone without energy linker comes to something energy based and they would have no way of seeing what is levers connected to / it would be difficult to create energy-based puzzles etc.

On the other hand being able to decide if a newly placed energy stream should be visible when creating it is something that sounds reasonable. We'll discuss that and let you know. Thanks for the idea!    

 

[leo_chaos 23]

On 2/21/2018 at 4:37 PM, Aleš Ulm said:

no way of seeing what is levers connected to / it would be difficult to create energy-based puzzles etc.

Could the energy not pulse as it's powered, so switch it on then the beam shows and slowly fades out over a few secs or give us some kind of way to distinguish switches etc.
The display blocks could have been used as identifiers and power lights but they have no light options apart from green

[Onedown 28]

On 2/19/2018 at 8:33 AM, Captain Monki said:

Like the title said. I really like the improvement we got in update 7.0 but the streams still bug me and I know that a lot of people feel the same way.

I think we should remove them completely unless we're holding the linker.

I think the whole energy system could use some love.  With building games we all need ways to keep things nice and neat looking.  I like the idea of being able to see the energy links but the method is not that great. 

The system should provide easy ways to keep things neat looking.

The street lamps should have the nodes up high overhead.

The nodes themselves on everything should be much smaller.

Every device should have a built in splitter or a power out node as well as a power in node to facilitate chaining things together.

If the system is designed with neatness in mind I think the energy streams would lend a very nice ambiance.

[zarwil 393]

@Adam Snellgrove I want to revive this thread. The energy links are ugly as sin and very difficult to hide. They should only be visible if you're holding the energy linker. If you want to have the links visible for puzzles and stuff like @Aleš Ulm was worried about then you could simply have an option for that available in the editor, or in your game settings. 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

I'll look through the thread and get back to you tomorrow ☺️ Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

[jchob 354]

13 hours ago, zarwil said:

@Adam Snellgrove I want to revive this thread. The energy links are ugly as sin and very difficult to hide. They should only be visible if you're holding the energy linker. If you want to have the links visible for puzzles and stuff like @Aleš Ulm was worried about then you could simply have an option for that available in the editor, or in your game settings. 

MyPa553ng3r tought me how to hide them underground. It is surely a lot of work. It would be better if they could hide themself when you're not holding the linker, as said above from other players. 

[zarwil 393]

5 hours ago, jchob said:

MyPa553ng3r tought me how to hide them underground. It is surely a lot of work. It would be better if they could hide themself when you're not holding the linker, as said above from other players. 

Yes, but if you want to have energy lights in the roof of a structure or add any other energy features then you'll have a rough time hiding the links! Same with table lamps and stuff, you don't want a green link hovering in the middle of your room

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

So I talked to Aleš and he confirmed this is something, that we will try to do in the future for sure, just not before 1.0 is done and released. But it will be addressed ?

[jchob 354]

9 hours ago, zarwil said:

Yes, but if you want to have energy lights in the roof of a structure or add any other energy features then you'll have a rough time hiding the links! Same with table lamps and stuff, you don't want a green link hovering in the middle of your room

Yes, it is a pain to hide the green stream line. I agree. Most of times, even hidden, there is a single spot you can see ??

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

Just an update on this, not visible energy links should be implemented hopefully in the first update after 1.0. ?

[Hunter-Over-Fire 123]

I was today years old when I found out it was possible to obtain invisible energy links ever since 1.4.