I think the reason you were able to see the sensor ranges without an attached antenna might be because you were in creative mode. I believe in survival the antenna would be required to see the ranges.
Last night I used the knowledge you gave me to sensor my cheaty airlock passage door blocks (airlock passage mod). I was able to see the sensor ranges on my station with no antenna in survival.
It may be a tiny little too late to answere here ;-) Howsoever - it is easy to forget (from time to time) that there are always *two* options which have to be activated to make the sensor field range visible... It's the same for gravity generators - and it is definately possible to see it in survival games, too.
On an xbox controller A does the same thing as ctrl+left click so I have been using my controller to open the slider and then entering the number with my keyboard for 300hrs of gameplay 😆 The whole time I was thinking there has to be a key binding for this !
Thanks! I'd only used them a limited amount before I started planning this video, they'd always seemed a little odd and never worked as expected. Once I had a handle on them I've thought of so many little uses for them so hopefully more people can get some good us out of this handy little block :)
Likewise. I will be automating my doors and airlocks wherever possible from now on. I didn't know about the 2nd action that's why I couldn't get them working well before.
When using sensors to open doors I will always put the sensor on the floor in front of the door. The reason for this is although you may initially have a vacant spot above or to the side of the door, you may, at some time in the future need that space for something else, like a light or a sign or another building block. But you can be quite sure that you will never need to put anything immediately in front of the door.
That's a really good point about putting the sensor on the floor, it is almost always the block that will have clear space for it so makes it really easy to standardise, the only downside I can even think of is if you have a door off to the side of a corridor, every time you walk past it'll open even if you're not heading in - and that's a pretty insignificant downside.
I would suggest that if a sensor is doing its job, in this case opening a door as you approach it. it will open the door every time you walk down the corridor no matter where you place the sensor =0)
You're probably right, in the past I've set mine up so that they're only projecting part way into the corridor, so you actually have to be pretty close to the door to activate it - which definitely has its downsides
It's good to turn off the doors that shouldn't be opened to avoid even accidental decompression, but since sensors can perform only one action per event, timers are needed. Or more sensors, but that's not a good idea.
You're right, combining them with timers gives you much more flexibility and opens up a whole lot of possibilities. I'm going to look into them in a future video and didn't want to have this one drag out too much :)
I am SOOO glad that I've found all your videos Splitsie! I only JUST bought this game (*at 53 years old) and I'm LOVING it! I can't wait to build an AUTOMATIC airlock system for my ship/base! Thanks again for all your Playthrough's too. I'm currently watching "Survival Impossible (I'm on Episode 17 of the 75)! Shalom
I definitely agree^ I just recently started making an SE lets play myself and your guides are the only reason I felt confident enough in my abilities to do this was you!
For simplicity and economy I don't think that you can go past using just two doors with a one block gap between them (normally the thickness of the wall) and a sensor for each door, no vent required.. The amount of air lost when going through the air lock is minimal and there will be no loss of pressure at all, using just a couple of grams of ice to top up the oxygen tanks. With the sensors set up with the cut off just at the edge of the door frame and a one block space between the two, you can comfortably walk through this airlock arrangement, confident that there will only ever be one door open. If you are inclined to run through the airlocks, then I suggest using a two-block gap between the two doors and again only one door will be open at any one time. To make it multiplayer safe, although it can be set up using sensors only, in a manner similar to what you demonstrated, it is actually easier to do using 4 Timer blocks as I described in the comments to your video clip, Large Ship Design, Part 3. The reason I say it is easier is because you still only need 2 sensors in the vicinity of the doors, while the timer blocks can be tucked away anywhere else on the ship that is convenient. In addition, the timer blocks enable you to implement additional functions such as warning lights and alarms, as detailed in the previous explanation, which will help to remind other players not to manually overriding the automatic system because there is someone else passing through the airlock.
Totally agree with you Mick, the reality of airlocks in Space Engineers is that you are almost never short of oxygen, so even if you set up a perfect airlock you'll probably have full tanks and end up dumping the air into space anyway making the simplest airlock perfectly adequate :P You're also right about the timers, I just tried to avoid them so I could focus on sensors, went a little silly at the end more to show things that could be done, even if they probably shouldn't :P
can you make a tutorial like this one for laser antennas, and maybe normal antennas too, regarding the visibility of signals to faction members and enemys and the broadcast settings? and i have encountered a problem on one of my drone builds, that i can't control a turret through a remote control, so i can fly it and look around. i don't know if thats intentional or if there is a workaround, maybe you got some tips for me? great video btw
Good questions, I currently don't have any good answers especially about the turret control... that seems like it could be either oversight or intentional. I've added these to my list for future videos! Not sure when I'll get onto it, but it's in the list now :)
Hello from 2021 :) That security system is great. And air-non-loss system too) I always lost air and only today I thought of the way to stop losing air. After that noticed this video... with almost with the same idea. But better xD Thnx for tutorials, they are always of great help)
Love your tuts. I was going to do my own series until I found yours. My personal favorite simple airlocks consist of a single sensor that closes both doors when you enter or exit the sensor range. You can add a draining air vent or not, 2 blocks of air lost isnt bad for something this compact and cheap to make.
Thanks! That's actually a pretty decent solution, you're ensuring both doors are shut even if someone left one open on the far side and you'd only have to manually open the doors which means no turning around :)
you can add to the safety by running the outer door sensor through a timer block and cut the power to the outer door so it cant be interacted with even manually
Very true, would also be able to make something work a lot more smoothly with the addition of a few timer blocks - but I was trying to avoid them for this tutorial :)
I realize this video is nearly 2 years old but I envisioned a 2 door airlock with the vent between the doors on the ceiling, use a timer block the delay the cycling of the doors to allow the vent to either pressurized or depressurize the airlock chamber, three sensors, one to open each door you approach, and one in the middle to trigger the timer and vent cycle. I haven't built one like this but it does take up less space and should be just as safe
This setup was more about messing with sensors than with making an efficient airlock. I liked the way that this setup facilitated some immediately visible responses to the actions and didn't need any timers (which I hoped not to introduce as it would have complicated an already complex topic) :)
This game came out on xbox and your videos have helped me make better base designs lol. It might still be a brick for now, but its slowly starting to get cooler thanks to you, then I'll work on aesthetics
This video speaks...volumes. heh.... I would add a console with a Maintenance mode (opens and/or closes whole airlock system, unless the Security mode is active, which prevents access [edit: lv2 Security pops out hostile AP turrets, Lvl3 activate the hanger doors built into the system, crushing the intruders, or at least minimize breaches from heavy weapons[/edit]. For theme, I would add a Survival Block just outside on a porch, and/or access to oxygen-bottles, and maybe hydrogen too. Inside just before the AL, dressing of spacesuits and more oxygen-bottle access.
So I thought about airlock and I haven't build one yet (only one that loses you air, with just two manually opened doors), but I thought about a future airlock I could build while using a sensor and some scripting and maybe buttons or something similar I didn't test this yet or anything but these are just my theoretical notes: - airlock is not functional if the AirVent tells us the room can not be pressurized (can be checked in script), so account for that at all times! - maybe use a field of an enum type that contains the current step we're in - We want to disable the door block so they can't accidentally be opened by a player. If we want to open them via script we just enable them, change their state and then disable them again - We can't use wait or sleep or loop too long in scripts yet, so we gotta save the current state in an enum variable (as mentioned) and then continue where we left off case => someone wants to lock in: -> has to press button outside -> following happens when the button is pressed: -> is room currently depressurizing or being pressurizing (in use)? then wait -> if it's ready, close the inner door if needed, or wait until it's closed, depressurize the room, and open the outside door automatically when done, due to player request -> person goes into room and presses button (in the same room is a sensor) -> button pressed: outside door closes, and when it's closed, pressurize the room. When that's done automatically open the inner door and closes it when the sensor doesn't sense anything anymore inside the room, which saves some time overall How can we check if it's done pressurizing? maybe via IMyAirVent.GetOxygenLevel()? case: someone wants to lock out: -> has to press button inside -> button pressed: is room currently depressurizing or being pressurized (in use)? then wait -> if it's ready, close the outer door if needed, or wait until it's closed, and open the inner door. -> person goes into room and presses button -> button pressed: inside door closes, and when it's closed, depressurize the room. When that's done, automatically open the outer door and close it when the sensor doesn't sense anything anymore inside the room (to make sure it's ready to use again) -> repressurize the room? Or maybe rather leave it in the last state that it was in
I'm a robotics engineer, and I'd love to talk to you about karnaugh mapping! Look into it it'll let you make the simplest logic circuit to solve the issue.
I prefer to manualy click the door that I want to open for safety reasons. What I really hate is to turn around and close them. And hey there is a script that exactly does this for you! And it even have airlock feature so you can pair two doors into airlock and script won't let anyone open one door until second one is closed. That way you can have simple and compact airlocks everywhere on your ship all managed by one script. It simplifies setup a lot. You starts to appreciate it for real when you have 10+ airlocks on your build ^^' Here grab a link: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=416932930
You could remove the auto door opening and just use the exit sensor range part to close the doors or even have a sensor on each side that closes the door as you enter it's range, that way you wouldn't need to look behind you :) It's true that all of this can be done with scripts and can be done better in a lot of ways, but it seemed a reasonable way to explain how sensors work.
Splitsie I know but it's still inconvinient. Like I said for me it's simply easier and quicker to setup via script. But I understand this is a turtorial on sensors. And I need to say very good turtorial. You are doing great job for community so keep up ^^'
Thanks, glad you understood where I was coming from. These designs are awful if you consider what can be done with timers and programmable blocks, but they were useful to demonstrate how the sensor worked :P
Great video splitsie. I use sensors for my welding ship because I forget to turn them off every time I leave the ship and I get zapped.the sensors turn off when a player is near them and drills too. Do you have a video about gravity generators and projectors.
That's one of the best uses of sensors in my opinion. Having them as a safety device so you don't get toasted by welders or chewed up by grinders accidentally is very handy. I am still in the planning phase on the projector video, I want to try and make it clearer than the keen one and theirs was actually pretty good on that topic, just a little slow to get through.
No, sensors only have two actions - one on entity entering sensor range and one on the entity leaving sensor range. For that setup you'd require multiple sensors and/or timers
Could you use sensors for an anti-crash mechanism? It detects an object in front of the ship and puts it in full reverse with no forward thrust to keep it from crashing, then when it’s out of range, it re-enables the forward thrust and takes the ship out of full reverse.
You might be able to use a system like that to aid with docking in a large ship, but due to the short range of sensors it probably wouldn't be that great for crash avoidance at higher speeds. Definitely worth looking into for the docking thing though
Great tutorial, that's how you do a complete tutorial on how to install & get it working correctly 👏👏 I was able to do this because of you, I didn't even know you know you could do it.. Great videos 💯👏👏👍👍👍👍👍🙏
Ideally you'd want the inner door to close fully first then the vent sucks out the air and then once a vacuum has been achieved the out door opens that way zero air loss
Great basic tutorial on just sensors. My feeling is you should do a similar basic tutorial for timers and program blocks (maybe showing how to load a workshop script and run it on a timer) , then a more advanced tutorial on combining them. Would be an invaluable 3 part tutorial series.
Thanks :) That's a pretty good idea actually, I was planning on making a second tutorial on just timers so doing it the way you suggested makes a whole pile of sense
I use a I use a modified yet improved version of Morphologis's airlock using 4 timer blocks and its perfect for if there is more than one player because it turns off the doors after it closes them so that you can not accidentally open it ill have to show it to you once I get more of my ship finished so that I can pressurize it, but if you want to check out his airlock that was the basis for how mine got started here is his link ua-cam.com/video/XwaezgTxgTI/v-deo.html
That was the sort of thing I had thought of showing with timers, but I'm thinking there might be something a little silly I can make with timers instead that might make teaching them a little more fun ;)
Maybe I am missing something, but wouldn't it be safer to have the sensor on the side turn off the outer door itself instead of the outer door's sensor? (to prevent anyone from manually opening it)
Probably, this was a somewhat unrealistic scenario that was only intended to show what sensors can do, I wasn't really trying to put together the most efficient of airlocks, they just seemed like a useful example case for demonstration :)
I find myself quite often typing something a couple of times before I stop and think I should just copy/paste it, it's worse when I'm recording because I'm even more distracted. Try not to get too frustrated with me :P
Never frustrated. :) Your stuff is excellent. Great job all round! Just thought I'd list something which you probably knew but didn't demonstrate while you were on a related topic (especially since you did like the time savings of the ctrl+click feature).
The airlock is quite big and a little overcomplicated. You can remove the middle door and make just one room. when you enter the room using the door (wiht a sensor) it fills op with oxygen. Place an air vent in the room and tell it, using a button panel or a sensor to depressiurise the room, then use a sensor (or manual...) to open the outer door. No oxygen lost asswel.
Ah. Did not know about the leaving option for the sensor. I can now reduce the number of sensors on my automatic doors by half and it might explain why my autodocking set-up wasn't working (thought it could do up to two actions on activation, guess i need a few more timer blocks)
so the air vent is attached to an air tank but then what? cause my air vent wont suck the air out because the tank is full. do i have to not have the tank attached to the rest of the base?
One of the more annoying side effects of (sliding) doors is that if a player in survival mode stands in front of it and the room the player is in OR the room the door opens up to is pressurized, the player gets pushed back (blown back or pulled out). This might result in them getting out of the sensor field, closing the door again before full pressure equalization. Furthermore, if you want to keep players from force opening doors (by pressing F on them) you might be able to assign the doors to an enemy faction (like space pirates). The buttons and sensors should still be able to open and close the doors, but players will get the 'access denied' message instead. I have never tested this before though, so it might not even work. For survival it's even more annoying since you cannot assign blocks to the Space Pirates.
For the pressurisation bit, you just need to use a system that matches pressure to the door you're about to open so that you don't get blown about. The faction thing seems like a good idea, but I think you might end up with your doors becoming targets for your own turrets... that might not be the best outcome :P
Hmmm.. =/ Sooo, I have this drill mining pit, and I've got all the warning lights going off, when I click,push, press the control panel's no. one button. Awesome sauce!!! Yet I want the "Alert" sound that is already set in the "sound block" ....thing. I've tried an tried till I curse the developers souls to get the "alert" sound to go off when I turn on the drills. Everything else goes off....but not the sound effect. Not even going to ask why I can't use camera's at this same base...just greyed out buttons. Anyway.......sound block....how? Is this one of those not a part of the games release script thingy's?? I tried a sensor........sigh.......jeeese.......there's another Lockness situation... Thought that might help set off the sound when the drills move....nope....but I did walking in front of the sensor....made the drills, and lights come on...but not the sound I'm wanting. Oh well back to my pizza an rum n coke. Thanks
If you're in anything but an offline world (can't be set to friends or anything but offline) the sound blocks don't work (or at least work very rarely). It's been a bug for a long while which is really sad as there are a lot of fun build ideas you can do with them :(
@@Splitsie Ahh, thanks, thought it was just me not seeing a connection. Loved this ep. my god I couldn't stop lol'ing at the spaze blocks. I just finished a multi piston rig like this. Now I'm in the pit going horizontal. Thanks again. Cheers!
If you want a sensor to do multiple actions at a time, just use timer blocks. This also allows you to set some actions on a delay to say purge the air first, then open the door. As an additional tip, to save space you can use a rotor and have a small head on it to place more timer blocks in a much smaller space than a single large timer block. This would allow you to set up complex strings of actions for your base or ship without having a massive amount of space taken up and maybe even make your timer block server a bit of a decoration at the same time
Agreed, but this was always made as more of a context for explaining the different functions of sensors than for actually making a fully effective airlock, especially since the one I designed is enormous
I know this is a question out of the matter of the video, but in that triple airlock (min 11:40) the glasses on the airlock spaces were facing the outer or inner side? Or better said.. The "extent" of the block is going outside? Cuz, if it is going inside, i guess u wont be able to build anything there (am i right?)
@@Splitsie thanks! I really loved the base and i saw that u have the triple airlock on the workshop, but not the base (i guess?). Is it from another person or do you have the bluprint for it? Thanks anyway :D
That airlock without the sensors is worse than just two doors. It only works with the sensors, otherwise you lose so much atmosphere while the doors are in transit...
What about Syntak's Automatic Airlock Script. I have downloaded it but have not tried it yet, but I do know there was a bug that causes sim speed problems, but he is currently working on a fix for that. Not sure if you have personally tried this mod.
I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard of sim speed problems with that and other airlock scripts before. It's unfortunate because scripted airlocks should be the most effective if done well :(
Thanks for the reply. I can't help thinking though why Keen have not added a much more realistic Airlock into the game. After all, this is a space game, and a realistic working airlock should be one of the most important things. Maybe we will see that in a future update
I completely agree, hopefully we will see something, sadly the ones I've tested off the workshop haven't really fitted the vanilla feel so they'll probably need to make their own. Of course they may actually see this as an engineering challenge they want us to have, so we might never see one...
I have an issue I can't figure out . I have a sensor placed and setup to open a door. When I walk upto the door the sensor beeps to acknowledge it's detected me but the door won't open, as soon as I back away from the door, the door opens. Anyone have any ideas ?
There are two slots on the hot bar for sensors, the first slot on the left is for when the sensor is activated (ie when you walk into the detection volume) the second is for when the detected item leaves the detection volume. Most likely you've got the door set up on the left hot bar area :)
If you and space monkey grab my borg ship from steam you will have a great time playing hide and go seek.plus you will get lost in it.it is the same size as the earth's moon
Yeah, just use timer block. Get a sensor next to a door. Configure it so when entity is in range it will trigger a timer block that will depressurize the airlock and open the space door. It's a bit difficult for me to explain by text since English isn't my native language. Hope I was clear
You're right, using timers does make a system like that possible. I mainly went overboard with the sensors to show what *could* be done, but I definitely don't think it's a great option :P
Take a close look how vents work, they too can have actions triggered based on pressurize/depressurize. (you will also need timer blocks for it to work right sine you can't use groups for different simultaneous actions). When you approach from outside the base the sensor will "trigger now" the first timer block, which will close the inner door and set the vent to depressurize. The vent will have the depressurize trigger set to open the outer door when the airlock is depressurized. The other sensor (using a 2nd timer block) does the opposite, closes the outer door and triggers the pressurize, which in turn triggers the inner door to open when fully pressurized. Downside is creative mode will cause the tank to be full so you may have to scrap/rebuild the o2 tank when switching back to survival.
The need for a timer was exactly why I didn't use the vents to trigger anything, I didn't want to complicate a tutorial that was meant to be about sensors by adding in timer blocks and other bits and pieces. I completely agree that using things like that can get you a much better setup, I just didn't think it would help explain sensors :)
Couldn't you just set up a button or sensor panel for depressurization/pressurization with the vents, instead of a 3 step lock? I mean, creating 3 rooms, does require many more materials.
You could, a number of the setups I used here were to allow for specific demonstrations of using sensors. You'll almost always be able to make something more compact with timers but I didn't want to complicate the tutorial with introducing another block :)
To make your airlock more fool proof, you shouldn't turn the sensor off but the outer door. That way, if anyone wants to enter and steps into the sensor field, nothing is happening. He then tries to manually click the door but also: nothing is happening.. If the middle is free again, everything is set back to normal. One downside though: if the outer door was open und gets closed by the sensor and deactivated by the other sensor, the door will get stuck in the closing process. In order to compete with that, a timer with a delay of the closing time and the action "Turn off outer door" would be necessary.. Lot's of fiddeling around possibilities ;)
I really like that there are sooo many potential methods even before you add scripts into the mix. That's a really good point on switching the door off though, sadly there's no foolproof method with sensors only. Really need to add timers or scripts to avoid almost all problems ;) I have been thinking about doing a video just looking at a bunch of airlock setups (including scripted ones) to show some of the ways they work (and break). With the major update being this Friday it might have to wait a bit depending on what's been changed...
What they should really do is to implement some of the modded one-block-airlocks into the main game.. Although creating your own contraptions is really cool and creative, it's also very unconvenient.. The other doors would still have their reason of existence as inner doors or doors on O2 based planets where it doesn't matter if you pressurize your base or not.. After implementing parachutes, this would be another great addition to the main game.
Yeah, like you say there's mixed advantages and disadvantages to implementing single block airlocks. I suppose if they made them inefficient in some way, either very slow or power hungry then there would still be a role for larger airlocks. I'm not sure what the best downside would be though...
I used sensor for my (not yet) flying base, so I have automated hangar blast doors. I didn't know how to make range visible though, so I was just walking around and checking if the range is ok for me
Apparently the reason I was able to get range visible without antenna may have been due to working in creative mode. If you're in survival you might need an antenna on the grid the sensor is attached to so you can see the range.
If you want to make a VERY simple and easy airlock use slider doors for your exterior and interior doors for the interior. Both doors MUST BE up against one other you will not lose any oxygen
Yeah, the door up against another door is a simple and effective solution. I have fun messing around trying to make something that works using sensors and timers and things, in other words, complexity pretty much just for the sake of it :P
@@Splitsie Nothing against that, but you sure should be able to place a button in the middle of your monitor tho :p btw with some little tips of you from your videos I made my own small block Hauler with full interior, blast door ramp to enter and get out and fully working landing gears to retract and extend, tho they are just long sticks, they do look nicer than other stuff I ever did! Keep up the great work mate
I use sensors to turn on & off my thrusters & gyros(which all thrusters & gyros are set in yhe same group) for my ships when it's docked at connector, so if you get out & have it connected to a large ship for example to fly the main ship, the main ship doesn't have to fight the inertial dampeners of the ship that is now docked! & when you unlock the connector of the docked ship it turns back on it's thrusters & gyros though the sensor to go on your merry way! To do this you just have the sensor look for subgrids only! It's up to you if you want it to see owner, friendly, neutral, &/or enemy subgrids! Just put the sensor on or very near the connector of the ship that needs to dock for you to keep the values down & not cause false positive triggers!
i just started playing this game. not only are your videos the easiest to understand, your video capturing is the best. thanks for putting so much time into this stuff. i've watched most of your survival maybe series and find it quite enjoyable.
Thanks, I'm glad you've found them useful and enjoyable. This reminds me, I really need to get to finishing the two tutorials I have in progress at the moment...
So I'm going to post this question here: are sensor blocks able to detect unmanned craft? I was designing these escape pod bays, and it would be cool if a sensor could deactivate a door if it detects nothing in its range. So If someone took a pod nobody else would be able to accidentally space themselves.
There is a way to get a working airlock using only 1 sensor, only limitation is that it will not open the door for you, only close them when you enter and exit. Place a timer to close both doors, set the timer on a delay, when you enter the airlock the sensor triggers the timer instantly, when you exit the airlock it closes after a timed delay (not instantly), this is a easy to configure and fairly safe to use airlock system, add a light that will turn on when the air is vaccumed out and your ready to use it with no air lost. Even if the airlock is opened by 2 ppl at same time, the person on the inside will get blown out and trigger the instant close. If you want one that opens and closes and all that other shit, you will need at least 2 sensors plus some extra timers as well as 10 min to set it all up, the system i described takes minimum parts and less than 5 min to set up.
You really do need a lot of time to set up a proper airlock with auto doors, safety protections and making sure it's all functioning properly, which can either be a lot of fun to play with or an exercise in pure frustration when it doesn't work properly... I'd still probably use 2 sensors, one for each door to ensure that both get closed, or use 1 timer and 1 sensor to do the same job. That way you protect against the situation where you're outside the ship, but only the exterior door is closed, so you're only option is to vent the whole lot to get back in :(
"So let's give it some power" *CLUNK* Suddenly the itty bitty tiny sensor, has as huge nuclear reactor, capable of powering a small base - Overkill, or very hungry sensor! xD
But, how do you setup proximity alert with sensors? and do double doors (two sliding door connected) lose much air when used? But nice triple door setup btw
Thanks :) I didn't think of including that part, good idea. Maybe I can have another look at sensors and how to use them as safety devices. I'm already going to need to have a second look at parachutes, why not sensors as well :)
Splitsie thats great to hear! Maybe you could use it for more stuff like indicate incoming missiles and mines of a security system that shuts all the doors an rings a alarm when a enemy is in your base/ship
Could be a fun way to set up a trap for your friends as well - when it detects them enter a room have blast doors drop down and a sound block out of reach play something annoying :P
That would be pretty cool i think, maybe you could make a trapdoor or clearance levels like that you can go any where but neatral can get in 2 rooms but the enemy in none. You could also make a tutorial about the remote control block, because you can do some interesting stuff with it
Timer blocks are good, but ive never used programmable blocks but you might be able to have sensors trigger to program to even disable the doors all together
You could, but then you need to rely more heavily on timers to ensure the function, either way though it's not the best airlock design as I really just used it as it was a reasonably effective illustration of sensor functions :)
Hey your vids are so helpful I was so confused until I watched you vids your the best Btw have you made more vids about Autopilot is so please send me the links to them
Sensors can't but vents can. In order to use that function you need to introduce timers so it can work properly and I was trying to make this video focused on just sensors :)
The best way to check that you're in a sensor's range is to have the range visible, even knowing which way around a sensor is oriented I still mess it up without that visualisation. The other thing to check is that you've set the sensor to the correct behaviour and to sensing the whatever it is you're using to trigger it
I love your tutorials :) Could you please make one on Timer blocks? I currently struggle to make a conveyor sorter turned on, stay on for set time and shut off again, but i can't get my head around the timer block :/ Thanks
I hope you learned and sorted this out, Tomas! If not, I'll quickly tell you how: Timer blocks have three functions: Trigger Now, Start and Stop. The first two are the important ones. After you Setup Actions on the block, clicking Trigger Now will activate those actions in sequence (left to right, I believe). If you click Start instead of Trigger Now, the actions will trigger only after the specified delay. So, with that in mind, you will need to create two timer blocks so that you can have this sequence: action, delay, action. The first timer block will perform the action, then at the end of its sequence it will perform the Start function on the second timer block. The second timer block has your desired delay, and then will perform the second set of actions. In your specific example, the first timer block will turn on the conveyor sorter then start the second timer block. The second timer block will have a delay, and its action will be to turn off the conveyor sorter. To begin the sequence, you will use the "trigger now" function on the first timer block. You can set up a button to do this if you wish. Hope this helped! Good luck! Reply directly to my comment if you have any questions.
I didn't get around to doing that as a tutorial, but I want to revisit the topic when I get the time as it's something that's always bugged me that I missed :)
@@Splitsie Nice. I did something inspired by your video on sensors and airlocks. While I wouldn't claim it's original, I'm happy with how it turned out. ua-cam.com/video/R5s27LSbge4/v-deo.html
My first challenge for myself when I started programming in Space Engineers (Okay, former programming student, cheating a bit) a functional, safe, and compact airlock was one of my first goals. Managed to compress the whole design into a 3x3x5 area, was pretty proud of that. Still remains one of my most used personal scripts, as most of my others get rewritten when I apply them to newer designs.
Scripts are definitely the way to go for things like this if you want compact, but for silly, bulky, overdesigned, madness... sensors are the way to go :) A couple of questions about your script: Have you got that script on the workshop? and how does it fare when you have 10+ airlocks on the one grid, does it hit your performance?
No, and I've never tested it. Not had the opportunity to, either, as I don't have a gaming PC right now. I'll have to see if I can dig it out once I have access to a PC again though, definitely.
That's unfortunate :( When you do I'd be interested as a number of the other scripts I've seen on the workshop have issues when you start getting large numbers of airlocks, a rare problem certainly, but with my habit of going big with builds it's something I might well run into :P
You can make a fairly decent airlock with three timers two doors and a vent. Usually button controled, it could fairly easily set up for sensor control ... I think (have to and will test that soon-ish). The doors can be shut off to prevent accidental opening through a player who would have to accidentaly press k on the keypad and accidentally reenable the door before he could, again accidentaly, force the door to open and vent the ships atmosphere into space. Anyway, great video. I like your style of tutorials.
Thanks so much :) I know the sort of player that would 'accidentally' do that, but protecting the world from him would rob me of a lot of entertainment :P
Went through the airlock design again, Sensor control with timers is definitly possible, especially when only using three timer blocks to control the went and the doors. The design basicly works by forcing any open door shut and shutting off the control device (button panel/Sensor) (first clock), toggles the vent to pressurise/depressurise (second clock) and then reverses the on/off state of both doors and reanable the control device (third clock). The player can then open the now active door and leave the airlock. The player does not need to think about closing the door again since the clock will close it for him if he didn't. With a sensor it would be even safer, as the controling player could set the sensor up to only react on the owner and friendlies, while enemies would have to brake in since the inner door is closed and off. For a ship capeable of landing on a planet the design can be improved by adding a fourth clock that allows to toggle the outer doors on/off state so as to allow the outer door to be opened without the vent exesivle trying to depressurise the atmosphere and thus completely filling the dedicated oxygen tank. This is somewhat of a gimmick for ships, since not any ship has the room to fit a oxygen tank that is only dedicated to serve the airlos (and thus not connected to the conveyor grid, as is the airlock vent in this scenario) and one has to manually open and close the outer door before toggeling its state. However, this allows for more control over the airlock, a little bit of convenience when inside a oxygen rich environment and the main conveyor grid is safe from loosing oxygen or overfilling.
There is still room for failures/mischief as with this design the active door stays active (yet closed) till the end of the cycle when it gets forcefully deactivated. This can be prevented with a far more complex design (six clocks where three clocks are used to open the airlock to the outside and three clocks open it to the inside) that would only be feasible on bases/creative mode/late game survival ships because it is fairly over enigneered and expensive to build. With more then one airlock on a ship/station it becomes even more expensive in resources and space. but don't we all like a little exessive overengeneering from time to time? XD
It kinda sucks we can't a sleep, else I've could made a timer. Now I think about it, it is possible but it requires 2 programmable blocks and 1 timer block. But that's rather expensive.
Splitsie I think we are thinking to hard.. Just found out the air vents can have actions like the sensors. With the actions on the air vents being: Action 1 - Happens when a room is pressurized Action 2 - Happens when a room is depressurized
@@Splitsie today finish crete system with auto dockin and connection to station and opositive. Some tips from yours video helps me to do this. Not needed manually docking/undocking(connect, landing, close hangar) everything automating. Some finish to hangard building. And ready to build mining carrier. Good luck.
Yep, there are some other things that would make for a far better airlock, but this served as a pretty good demonstration of sensors I felt. Not so great a tutorial on airlocks though :P
I think the reason you were able to see the sensor ranges without an attached antenna might be because you were in creative mode. I believe in survival the antenna would be required to see the ranges.
You might well be right there, this comment is getting pinned so others can see it too, thanks! :)
Last night I used the knowledge you gave me to sensor my cheaty airlock passage door blocks (airlock passage mod). I was able to see the sensor ranges on my station with no antenna in survival.
Awesome! I'm really glad that I didn't get that one wrong :P
Thanks!
It may be a tiny little too late to answere here ;-) Howsoever - it is easy to forget (from time to time)
that there are always *two* options which have to be activated to make the sensor field range visible...
It's the same for gravity generators - and it is definately possible to see it in survival games, too.
@@jumpinjack6653 In case people don't know both Sensor Range and Show on HUD must be on. ;)
Came for the sensor tutorial. Left with the life changing knowledge that you can ctrl+click to manually enter slider values.
I know right, this literally blew my mind 🤯😅
On an xbox controller A does the same thing as ctrl+left click so I have been using my controller to open the slider and then entering the number with my keyboard for 300hrs of gameplay 😆 The whole time I was thinking there has to be a key binding for this !
Don't forget theres control+shift+click
WHAT?!
Finally an easy to understand tutorial, always have been wondering how to use sensors
Thanks! I'd only used them a limited amount before I started planning this video, they'd always seemed a little odd and never worked as expected. Once I had a handle on them I've thought of so many little uses for them so hopefully more people can get some good us out of this handy little block :)
Likewise. I will be automating my doors and airlocks wherever possible from now on. I didn't know about the 2nd action that's why I couldn't get them working well before.
Sensors can also be used for auto aiming turrets as well as moving drones via gyroscopes to either follow you or an enemy
When using sensors to open doors I will always put the sensor on the floor in front of the door. The reason for this is although you may initially have a vacant spot above or to the side of the door, you may, at some time in the future need that space for something else, like a light or a sign or another building block. But you can be quite sure that you will never need to put anything immediately in front of the door.
Aw, that's where I put a grate that covers my air vent.
That's a really good point about putting the sensor on the floor, it is almost always the block that will have clear space for it so makes it really easy to standardise, the only downside I can even think of is if you have a door off to the side of a corridor, every time you walk past it'll open even if you're not heading in - and that's a pretty insignificant downside.
Nethan2000 - Yes. It is my golden rule but there are times when it is not possible to place the door sensor in my place of choice.
I would suggest that if a sensor is doing its job, in this case opening a door as you approach it. it will open the door every time you walk down the corridor no matter where you place the sensor =0)
You're probably right, in the past I've set mine up so that they're only projecting part way into the corridor, so you actually have to be pretty close to the door to activate it - which definitely has its downsides
It's good to turn off the doors that shouldn't be opened to avoid even accidental decompression, but since sensors can perform only one action per event, timers are needed. Or more sensors, but that's not a good idea.
You're right, combining them with timers gives you much more flexibility and opens up a whole lot of possibilities. I'm going to look into them in a future video and didn't want to have this one drag out too much :)
Nethan2000 or use a script
couldn't you make a block group from the door and the sensor and turn them both off at the same time that way?
I am SOOO glad that I've found all your videos Splitsie! I only JUST bought this game (*at 53 years old) and I'm LOVING it! I can't wait to build an AUTOMATIC airlock system for my ship/base! Thanks again for all your Playthrough's too. I'm currently watching "Survival Impossible (I'm on Episode 17 of the 75)! Shalom
Glad you're enjoying it so much so far :)
4 years later you're still helping new players like me! Thanks man! 🤘
One of the best SE tutorial makers. Keep it up!
Wow! Thanks so much :)
I definitely agree^ I just recently started making an SE lets play myself and your guides are the only reason I felt confident enough in my abilities to do this was you!
For simplicity and economy I don't think that you can go past using just two doors with a one block gap between them (normally the thickness of the wall) and a sensor for each door, no vent required.. The amount of air lost when going through the air lock is minimal and there will be no loss of pressure at all, using just a couple of grams of ice to top up the oxygen tanks.
With the sensors set up with the cut off just at the edge of the door frame and a one block space between the two, you can comfortably walk through this airlock arrangement, confident that there will only ever be one door open. If you are inclined to run through the airlocks, then I suggest using a two-block gap between the two doors and again only one door will be open at any one time.
To make it multiplayer safe, although it can be set up using sensors only, in a manner similar to what you demonstrated, it is actually easier to do using 4 Timer blocks as I described in the comments to your video clip, Large Ship Design, Part 3. The reason I say it is easier is because you still only need 2 sensors in the vicinity of the doors, while the timer blocks can be tucked away anywhere else on the ship that is convenient. In addition, the timer blocks enable you to implement additional functions such as warning lights and alarms, as detailed in the previous explanation, which will help to remind other players not to manually overriding the automatic system because there is someone else passing through the airlock.
Totally agree with you Mick, the reality of airlocks in Space Engineers is that you are almost never short of oxygen, so even if you set up a perfect airlock you'll probably have full tanks and end up dumping the air into space anyway making the simplest airlock perfectly adequate :P
You're also right about the timers, I just tried to avoid them so I could focus on sensors, went a little silly at the end more to show things that could be done, even if they probably shouldn't :P
can you make a tutorial like this one for laser antennas, and maybe normal antennas too, regarding the visibility of signals to faction members and enemys and the broadcast settings? and i have encountered a problem on one of my drone builds, that i can't control a turret through a remote control, so i can fly it and look around. i don't know if thats intentional or if there is a workaround, maybe you got some tips for me? great video btw
Good questions, I currently don't have any good answers especially about the turret control... that seems like it could be either oversight or intentional. I've added these to my list for future videos! Not sure when I'll get onto it, but it's in the list now :)
awesome :D
Hello from 2021 :)
That security system is great.
And air-non-loss system too)
I always lost air and only today I thought of the way to stop losing air. After that noticed this video... with almost with the same idea. But better xD
Thnx for tutorials, they are always of great help)
Love your tuts. I was going to do my own series until I found yours. My personal favorite simple airlocks consist of a single sensor that closes both doors when you enter or exit the sensor range. You can add a draining air vent or not, 2 blocks of air lost isnt bad for something this compact and cheap to make.
Thanks! That's actually a pretty decent solution, you're ensuring both doors are shut even if someone left one open on the far side and you'd only have to manually open the doors which means no turning around :)
A bit late, but you can create a group with the outer door and the outer sensor. Then toggle off the block group to prevent manual openings as well.
i mean what would really help, faster closing doors^^
you can add to the safety by running the outer door sensor through a timer block and cut the power to the outer door so it cant be interacted with even manually
Very true, would also be able to make something work a lot more smoothly with the addition of a few timer blocks - but I was trying to avoid them for this tutorial :)
I realize this video is nearly 2 years old but I envisioned a 2 door airlock with the vent between the doors on the ceiling, use a timer block the delay the cycling of the doors to allow the vent to either pressurized or depressurize the airlock chamber, three sensors, one to open each door you approach, and one in the middle to trigger the timer and vent cycle. I haven't built one like this but it does take up less space and should be just as safe
This setup was more about messing with sensors than with making an efficient airlock. I liked the way that this setup facilitated some immediately visible responses to the actions and didn't need any timers (which I hoped not to introduce as it would have complicated an already complex topic) :)
Is there a kind of sensor, or something that detects when a specific block is destroyed?
Your tutorials have helped me so much. Thank you!! I wish I'd have discovered this game a long time ago.
You're very welcome, glad they've been able to help you out :)
This game came out on xbox and your videos have helped me make better base designs lol. It might still be a brick for now, but its slowly starting to get cooler thanks to you, then I'll work on aesthetics
Nice - definitely made the right choice going for function first, you can always learn ways to make things prettier as you go along :)
This video speaks...volumes. heh....
I would add a console with a Maintenance mode (opens and/or closes whole airlock system, unless the Security mode is active, which prevents access [edit: lv2 Security pops out hostile AP turrets, Lvl3 activate the hanger doors built into the system, crushing the intruders, or at least minimize breaches from heavy weapons[/edit]. For theme, I would add a Survival Block just outside on a porch, and/or access to oxygen-bottles, and maybe hydrogen too. Inside just before the AL, dressing of spacesuits and more oxygen-bottle access.
So I thought about airlock and I haven't build one yet (only one that loses you air, with just two manually opened doors), but I thought about a future airlock I could build while using a sensor and some scripting and maybe buttons or something similar
I didn't test this yet or anything but these are just my theoretical notes:
- airlock is not functional if the AirVent tells us the room can not be pressurized (can be checked in script), so account for that at all times!
- maybe use a field of an enum type that contains the current step we're in
- We want to disable the door block so they can't accidentally be opened by a player. If we want to open them via script we just enable them, change their state and then disable them again
- We can't use wait or sleep or loop too long in scripts yet, so we gotta save the current state in an enum variable (as mentioned) and then continue where we left off
case => someone wants to lock in:
-> has to press button outside
-> following happens when the button is pressed:
-> is room currently depressurizing or being pressurizing (in use)? then wait
-> if it's ready, close the inner door if needed, or wait until it's closed, depressurize the room, and open the outside door automatically when done, due to player request
-> person goes into room and presses button (in the same room is a sensor)
-> button pressed: outside door closes, and when it's closed, pressurize the room. When that's done automatically open the inner door and closes it when the sensor doesn't sense anything anymore inside the room, which saves some time overall
How can we check if it's done pressurizing? maybe via IMyAirVent.GetOxygenLevel()?
case: someone wants to lock out:
-> has to press button inside
-> button pressed: is room currently depressurizing or being pressurized (in use)? then wait
-> if it's ready, close the outer door if needed, or wait until it's closed, and open the inner door.
-> person goes into room and presses button
-> button pressed: inside door closes, and when it's closed, depressurize the room. When that's done, automatically open the outer door and close it when the sensor doesn't sense anything anymore inside the room (to make sure it's ready to use again)
-> repressurize the room? Or maybe rather leave it in the last state that it was in
just put 1 door.
I'm a robotics engineer, and I'd love to talk to you about karnaugh mapping! Look into it it'll let you make the simplest logic circuit to solve the issue.
Casually planning sensor placements while his vent de-airs his whole station
I prefer to manualy click the door that I want to open for safety reasons. What I really hate is to turn around and close them. And hey there is a script that exactly does this for you! And it even have airlock feature so you can pair two doors into airlock and script won't let anyone open one door until second one is closed. That way you can have simple and compact airlocks everywhere on your ship all managed by one script. It simplifies setup a lot. You starts to appreciate it for real when you have 10+ airlocks on your build ^^' Here grab a link: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=416932930
You could remove the auto door opening and just use the exit sensor range part to close the doors or even have a sensor on each side that closes the door as you enter it's range, that way you wouldn't need to look behind you :)
It's true that all of this can be done with scripts and can be done better in a lot of ways, but it seemed a reasonable way to explain how sensors work.
Splitsie I know but it's still inconvinient. Like I said for me it's simply easier and quicker to setup via script.
But I understand this is a turtorial on sensors. And I need to say very good turtorial. You are doing great job for community so keep up ^^'
Thanks, glad you understood where I was coming from. These designs are awful if you consider what can be done with timers and programmable blocks, but they were useful to demonstrate how the sensor worked :P
Great video splitsie. I use sensors for my welding ship because I forget to turn them off every time I leave the ship and I get zapped.the sensors turn off when a player is near them and drills too.
Do you have a video about gravity generators and projectors.
That's one of the best uses of sensors in my opinion. Having them as a safety device so you don't get toasted by welders or chewed up by grinders accidentally is very handy.
I am still in the planning phase on the projector video, I want to try and make it clearer than the keen one and theirs was actually pretty good on that topic, just a little slow to get through.
Is it possible to have three actions in a sensor? For example...
1) Depressurize ship air
2) Open door for player
3) Close door behind player
No, sensors only have two actions - one on entity entering sensor range and one on the entity leaving sensor range. For that setup you'd require multiple sensors and/or timers
Could you use sensors for an anti-crash mechanism? It detects an object in front of the ship and puts it in full reverse with no forward thrust to keep it from crashing, then when it’s out of range, it re-enables the forward thrust and takes the ship out of full reverse.
You might be able to use a system like that to aid with docking in a large ship, but due to the short range of sensors it probably wouldn't be that great for crash avoidance at higher speeds. Definitely worth looking into for the docking thing though
Why not turning off the doors directly instead of just the sensor?
Great tutorial, that's how you do a complete tutorial on how to install & get it working correctly 👏👏 I was able to do this because of you, I didn't even know you know you could do it.. Great videos 💯👏👏👍👍👍👍👍🙏
Thanks, it's always nice hearing when these tutorials have been able to give people more blocks to be comfortable with and play around with :)
Ideally you'd want the inner door to close fully first then the vent sucks out the air and then once a vacuum has been achieved the out door opens that way zero air loss
Your sky Looks amazing. How did you geht him that great?
couldnt you just have 2 doors and have the vent in the depressurized room instead of 3 doors.
Great basic tutorial on just sensors. My feeling is you should do a similar basic tutorial for timers and program blocks (maybe showing how to load a workshop script and run it on a timer) , then a more advanced tutorial on combining them. Would be an invaluable 3 part tutorial series.
Thanks :)
That's a pretty good idea actually, I was planning on making a second tutorial on just timers so doing it the way you suggested makes a whole pile of sense
I use a I use a modified yet improved version of Morphologis's airlock using 4 timer blocks and its perfect for if there is more than one player because it turns off the doors after it closes them so that you can not accidentally open it ill have to show it to you once I get more of my ship finished so that I can pressurize it, but if you want to check out his airlock that was the basis for how mine got started here is his link ua-cam.com/video/XwaezgTxgTI/v-deo.html
That was the sort of thing I had thought of showing with timers, but I'm thinking there might be something a little silly I can make with timers instead that might make teaching them a little more fun ;)
Using timer blocks with your sensors makes sure that absolutely no air is lost using only two doors.
So you place antennas sideways...after all this time fml
Maybe I am missing something, but wouldn't it be safer to have the sensor on the side turn off the outer door itself instead of the outer door's sensor? (to prevent anyone from manually opening it)
Probably, this was a somewhat unrealistic scenario that was only intended to show what sensors can do, I wasn't really trying to put together the most efficient of airlocks, they just seemed like a useful example case for demonstration :)
You have earned yourself a sub fine sir.
Why thank you kind sir ;)
Couldn't you also have one of those sensors that disable the outer sensor also turn off the door block as well?
This is a total flashback to when doors were so bloody slow, I'm glad they changed it - Helpful tutorial, btw!
Splitsie, you can also use copy and paste in the number input dialogs (ctrl+c/ctrl+v) so you don't have to type the same number in repeatedly.
I find myself quite often typing something a couple of times before I stop and think I should just copy/paste it, it's worse when I'm recording because I'm even more distracted. Try not to get too frustrated with me :P
Never frustrated. :) Your stuff is excellent. Great job all round! Just thought I'd list something which you probably knew but didn't demonstrate while you were on a related topic (especially since you did like the time savings of the ctrl+click feature).
The airlock is quite big and a little overcomplicated. You can remove the middle door and make just one room. when you enter the room using the door (wiht a sensor) it fills op with oxygen. Place an air vent in the room and tell it, using a button panel or a sensor to depressiurise the room, then use a sensor (or manual...) to open the outer door. No oxygen lost asswel.
So for a simple 2 door airlock on a ship do I need 2 sensors per airlock? (one for each door)
You could make it so when someone is in the middle that you turn the outerdoor off, so you can't open it manually.
Absolutely, make it as hard as possible for someone to break the system :)
I know this is an old video but I still love you Splitsie
Does a whole video about oxygen preservation.
Walks Luna without his mask on.
It had to be done ;)
Ah. Did not know about the leaving option for the sensor. I can now reduce the number of sensors on my automatic doors by half and it might explain why my autodocking set-up wasn't working (thought it could do up to two actions on activation, guess i need a few more timer blocks)
@12:30 unless ur buddy is stading in the sensor holding it open
so the air vent is attached to an air tank but then what? cause my air vent wont suck the air out because the tank is full.
do i have to not have the tank attached to the rest of the base?
It's generally best to have the o2 tank separated, at least then it'll take a very long time to get full and not block the operation of the vent
Great video and you earned by thumbs up with the ctrl + left-click hint alone. Thank you!
Another excellent tutorial ~ without you I think I would have given up on this game!
Thank you :)
One of the more annoying side effects of (sliding) doors is that if a player in survival mode stands in front of it and the room the player is in OR the room the door opens up to is pressurized, the player gets pushed back (blown back or pulled out). This might result in them getting out of the sensor field, closing the door again before full pressure equalization.
Furthermore, if you want to keep players from force opening doors (by pressing F on them) you might be able to assign the doors to an enemy faction (like space pirates). The buttons and sensors should still be able to open and close the doors, but players will get the 'access denied' message instead.
I have never tested this before though, so it might not even work. For survival it's even more annoying since you cannot assign blocks to the Space Pirates.
For the pressurisation bit, you just need to use a system that matches pressure to the door you're about to open so that you don't get blown about.
The faction thing seems like a good idea, but I think you might end up with your doors becoming targets for your own turrets... that might not be the best outcome :P
Yeah I guess that turret part would be annoying, but only if there are multiple grids close together (since they do not shoot at their own (sub)grids.
ThijmenDF Can't you just set the doors to no sharing. Most Blocks share with faction by default but you can set them to not share at all.
Thank you for the info save me a lot of time
Hmmm.. =/
Sooo, I have this drill mining pit, and I've got all the warning lights going off, when I click,push, press the control panel's no. one button. Awesome sauce!!!
Yet I want the "Alert" sound that is already set in the "sound block" ....thing.
I've tried an tried till I curse the developers souls to get the "alert" sound to go off when I turn on the drills. Everything else goes off....but not the sound effect.
Not even going to ask why I can't use camera's at this same base...just greyed out buttons.
Anyway.......sound block....how?
Is this one of those not a part of the games release script thingy's??
I tried a sensor........sigh.......jeeese.......there's another Lockness situation... Thought that might help set off the sound when the drills move....nope....but I did walking in front of the sensor....made the drills, and lights come on...but not the sound I'm wanting.
Oh well back to my pizza an rum n coke.
Thanks
If you're in anything but an offline world (can't be set to friends or anything but offline) the sound blocks don't work (or at least work very rarely). It's been a bug for a long while which is really sad as there are a lot of fun build ideas you can do with them :(
@@Splitsie Ahh, thanks, thought it was just me not seeing a connection. Loved this ep. my god I couldn't stop lol'ing at the spaze blocks. I just finished a multi piston rig like this. Now I'm in the pit going horizontal. Thanks again. Cheers!
If you want a sensor to do multiple actions at a time, just use timer blocks. This also allows you to set some actions on a delay to say purge the air first, then open the door. As an additional tip, to save space you can use a rotor and have a small head on it to place more timer blocks in a much smaller space than a single large timer block. This would allow you to set up complex strings of actions for your base or ship without having a massive amount of space taken up and maybe even make your timer block server a bit of a decoration at the same time
you should have the doors turn off instead of the sensor to prevent people from prying the door open with their grubby little hands
Agreed, but this was always made as more of a context for explaining the different functions of sensors than for actually making a fully effective airlock, especially since the one I designed is enormous
I know this is a question out of the matter of the video, but in that triple airlock (min 11:40) the glasses on the airlock spaces were facing the outer or inner side? Or better said.. The "extent" of the block is going outside? Cuz, if it is going inside, i guess u wont be able to build anything there (am i right?)
That's correct :)
I don't actually recall which way I oriented them for the build though
@@Splitsie thanks! I really loved the base and i saw that u have the triple airlock on the workshop, but not the base (i guess?). Is it from another person or do you have the bluprint for it?
Thanks anyway :D
Have you seen the vid with the send and receive msg mod it can open door. Could you showcase an airlock with this mod please
That airlock without the sensors is worse than just two doors. It only works with the sensors, otherwise you lose so much atmosphere while the doors are in transit...
@Splitsie, why does your space graphics look so pretty? Is it modded? How do i get those graphics you're using?
This is all vanilla but with most settings on at least high
@@Splitsie I set all my settings to High and all i see is darkness in space, no colorful galaxies like yours, what am i doing wrong?
What about Syntak's Automatic Airlock Script. I have downloaded it but have not tried it yet, but I do know there was a bug that causes sim speed problems, but he is currently working on a fix for that. Not sure if you have personally tried this mod.
I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard of sim speed problems with that and other airlock scripts before. It's unfortunate because scripted airlocks should be the most effective if done well :(
Thanks for the reply. I can't help thinking though why Keen have not added a much more realistic Airlock into the game. After all, this is a space game, and a realistic working airlock should be one of the most important things. Maybe we will see that in a future update
I completely agree, hopefully we will see something, sadly the ones I've tested off the workshop haven't really fitted the vanilla feel so they'll probably need to make their own. Of course they may actually see this as an engineering challenge they want us to have, so we might never see one...
100hr in and still dont know shit about this game. Know some not all got a lot to lurn
I really like that I'm over 1200hours in and I'm still learning :)
I have an issue I can't figure out . I have a sensor placed and setup to open a door. When I walk upto the door the sensor beeps to acknowledge it's detected me but the door won't open, as soon as I back away from the door, the door opens. Anyone have any ideas ?
There are two slots on the hot bar for sensors, the first slot on the left is for when the sensor is activated (ie when you walk into the detection volume) the second is for when the detected item leaves the detection volume. Most likely you've got the door set up on the left hot bar area :)
@@Splitsie , thanks for reply, I had managed to work out already, it was what you said
If you and space monkey grab my borg ship from steam you will have a great time playing hide and go seek.plus you will get lost in it.it is the same size as the earth's moon
My sense of direction is so awful I'm amazed I don't get lost in my own house, you send me into your borg ship and I'll never be seen again! :P
Yeah, just use timer block. Get a sensor next to a door. Configure it so when entity is in range it will trigger a timer block that will depressurize the airlock and open the space door. It's a bit difficult for me to explain by text since English isn't my native language. Hope I was clear
You're right, using timers does make a system like that possible. I mainly went overboard with the sensors to show what *could* be done, but I definitely don't think it's a great option :P
Take a close look how vents work, they too can have actions triggered based on pressurize/depressurize. (you will also need timer blocks for it to work right sine you can't use groups for different simultaneous actions). When you approach from outside the base the sensor will "trigger now" the first timer block, which will close the inner door and set the vent to depressurize. The vent will have the depressurize trigger set to open the outer door when the airlock is depressurized. The other sensor (using a 2nd timer block) does the opposite, closes the outer door and triggers the pressurize, which in turn triggers the inner door to open when fully pressurized. Downside is creative mode will cause the tank to be full so you may have to scrap/rebuild the o2 tank when switching back to survival.
The need for a timer was exactly why I didn't use the vents to trigger anything, I didn't want to complicate a tutorial that was meant to be about sensors by adding in timer blocks and other bits and pieces. I completely agree that using things like that can get you a much better setup, I just didn't think it would help explain sensors :)
Can I hire you to wire my 150mil+ kg ship? For free? No? Ok... I guess I'll subscribe..
Thanks, and good luck with the big ship project, those things are tough!
Couldn't you just set up a button or sensor panel for depressurization/pressurization with the vents, instead of a 3 step lock? I mean, creating 3 rooms, does require many more materials.
You could, a number of the setups I used here were to allow for specific demonstrations of using sensors. You'll almost always be able to make something more compact with timers but I didn't want to complicate the tutorial with introducing another block :)
To make your airlock more fool proof, you shouldn't turn the sensor off but the outer door. That way, if anyone wants to enter and steps into the sensor field, nothing is happening. He then tries to manually click the door but also: nothing is happening.. If the middle is free again, everything is set back to normal. One downside though: if the outer door was open und gets closed by the sensor and deactivated by the other sensor, the door will get stuck in the closing process. In order to compete with that, a timer with a delay of the closing time and the action "Turn off outer door" would be necessary.. Lot's of fiddeling around possibilities ;)
I really like that there are sooo many potential methods even before you add scripts into the mix. That's a really good point on switching the door off though, sadly there's no foolproof method with sensors only. Really need to add timers or scripts to avoid almost all problems ;)
I have been thinking about doing a video just looking at a bunch of airlock setups (including scripted ones) to show some of the ways they work (and break). With the major update being this Friday it might have to wait a bit depending on what's been changed...
What they should really do is to implement some of the modded one-block-airlocks into the main game.. Although creating your own contraptions is really cool and creative, it's also very unconvenient.. The other doors would still have their reason of existence as inner doors or doors on O2 based planets where it doesn't matter if you pressurize your base or not.. After implementing parachutes, this would be another great addition to the main game.
Yeah, like you say there's mixed advantages and disadvantages to implementing single block airlocks. I suppose if they made them inefficient in some way, either very slow or power hungry then there would still be a role for larger airlocks. I'm not sure what the best downside would be though...
I used sensor for my (not yet) flying base, so I have automated hangar blast doors. I didn't know how to make range visible though, so I was just walking around and checking if the range is ok for me
Apparently the reason I was able to get range visible without antenna may have been due to working in creative mode. If you're in survival you might need an antenna on the grid the sensor is attached to so you can see the range.
If you want to make a VERY simple and easy airlock use slider doors for your exterior and interior doors for the interior. Both doors MUST BE up against one other you will not lose any oxygen
Yeah, the door up against another door is a simple and effective solution. I have fun messing around trying to make something that works using sensors and timers and things, in other words, complexity pretty much just for the sake of it :P
came here when i needed to know how to program the sensors for my doors ty splitting :D
Its hard for you to place something in the middle of your monitor without a crosshair? :D
I despise the crosshair though, so whenever I get the chance I turn it off no matter how bad my aim becomes :D
@@Splitsie Nothing against that, but you sure should be able to place a button in the middle of your monitor tho :p btw with some little tips of you from your videos I made my own small block Hauler with full interior, blast door ramp to enter and get out and fully working landing gears to retract and extend, tho they are just long sticks, they do look nicer than other stuff I ever did! Keep up the great work mate
I use sensors to turn on & off my thrusters & gyros(which all thrusters & gyros are set in yhe same group) for my ships when it's docked at connector, so if you get out & have it connected to a large ship for example to fly the main ship, the main ship doesn't have to fight the inertial dampeners of the ship that is now docked! & when you unlock the connector of the docked ship it turns back on it's thrusters & gyros though the sensor to go on your merry way! To do this you just have the sensor look for subgrids only! It's up to you if you want it to see owner, friendly, neutral, &/or enemy subgrids! Just put the sensor on or very near the connector of the ship that needs to dock for you to keep the values down & not cause false positive triggers!
That's a pretty cool use of sensors, a nice little safety feature :)
i just started playing this game. not only are your videos the easiest to understand, your video capturing is the best. thanks for putting so much time into this stuff. i've watched most of your survival maybe series and find it quite enjoyable.
Thanks, I'm glad you've found them useful and enjoyable. This reminds me, I really need to get to finishing the two tutorials I have in progress at the moment...
So I'm going to post this question here: are sensor blocks able to detect unmanned craft? I was designing these escape pod bays, and it would be cool if a sensor could deactivate a door if it detects nothing in its range. So If someone took a pod nobody else would be able to accidentally space themselves.
Sensors detect grid or player presence, it doesn't matter if they're piloted or not, so you'll be able to set up safety sensors like you're wanting :)
There is a way to get a working airlock using only 1 sensor, only limitation is that it will not open the door for you, only close them when you enter and exit.
Place a timer to close both doors, set the timer on a delay, when you enter the airlock the sensor triggers the timer instantly, when you exit the airlock it closes after a timed delay (not instantly), this is a easy to configure and fairly safe to use airlock system, add a light that will turn on when the air is vaccumed out and your ready to use it with no air lost.
Even if the airlock is opened by 2 ppl at same time, the person on the inside will get blown out and trigger the instant close.
If you want one that opens and closes and all that other shit, you will need at least 2 sensors plus some extra timers as well as 10 min to set it all up, the system i described takes minimum parts and less than 5 min to set up.
You really do need a lot of time to set up a proper airlock with auto doors, safety protections and making sure it's all functioning properly, which can either be a lot of fun to play with or an exercise in pure frustration when it doesn't work properly...
I'd still probably use 2 sensors, one for each door to ensure that both get closed, or use 1 timer and 1 sensor to do the same job. That way you protect against the situation where you're outside the ship, but only the exterior door is closed, so you're only option is to vent the whole lot to get back in :(
*Cloud goes up, cloud goes down*
So cool!
"So let's give it some power" *CLUNK* Suddenly the itty bitty tiny sensor, has as huge nuclear reactor, capable of powering a small base - Overkill, or very hungry sensor! xD
Those moments you're grateful for a blown fuse :P
I guess you could call it a "sensory overload" :P
But, how do you setup proximity alert with sensors? and do double doors (two sliding door connected) lose much air when used? But nice triple door setup btw
Thanks :)
I didn't think of including that part, good idea. Maybe I can have another look at sensors and how to use them as safety devices. I'm already going to need to have a second look at parachutes, why not sensors as well :)
Splitsie thats great to hear! Maybe you could use it for more stuff like indicate incoming missiles and mines of a security system that shuts all the doors an rings a alarm when a enemy is in your base/ship
Could be a fun way to set up a trap for your friends as well - when it detects them enter a room have blast doors drop down and a sound block out of reach play something annoying :P
That would be pretty cool i think, maybe you could make a trapdoor or clearance levels like that you can go any where but neatral can get in 2 rooms but the enemy in none. You could also make a tutorial about the remote control block, because you can do some interesting stuff with it
Timer blocks are good, but ive never used programmable blocks but you might be able to have sensors trigger to program to even disable the doors all together
I think you can do things like that, but like you I've not used them much - scripting is a bit beyond me :P
wouldnt you be able to cut out the middle door by making it so it only depressurizes once both doors are closed? (sandys tree dome style)
You could, but then you need to rely more heavily on timers to ensure the function, either way though it's not the best airlock design as I really just used it as it was a reasonably effective illustration of sensor functions :)
+1 sub great tutorials mate
Thanks :)
Hey your vids are so helpful I was so confused until I watched you vids your the best
Btw have you made more vids about Autopilot is so please send me the links to them
Thanks :)
I've only made the first in what will be a miniseries on autopilot, I'm planning on the next one being out in 2 weeks
Can sensors detect atmosphere? It seems like it would be a good idea to turn doors on/off based on where there is pressure.
Sensors can't but vents can. In order to use that function you need to introduce timers so it can work properly and I was trying to make this video focused on just sensors :)
3:35 Is there a way, to keep the box checked after reload?
Airtight hangar doors won't deteckt me when coming close it stays gray and not green Ik that it can see me since I have done the range long enough
The best way to check that you're in a sensor's range is to have the range visible, even knowing which way around a sensor is oriented I still mess it up without that visualisation. The other thing to check is that you've set the sensor to the correct behaviour and to sensing the whatever it is you're using to trigger it
I love your tutorials :) Could you please make one on Timer blocks? I currently struggle to make a conveyor sorter turned on, stay on for set time and shut off again, but i can't get my head around the timer block :/ Thanks
I'm hoping to do a video on timer blocks soon :)
I hope you learned and sorted this out, Tomas! If not, I'll quickly tell you how:
Timer blocks have three functions: Trigger Now, Start and Stop. The first two are the important ones. After you Setup Actions on the block, clicking Trigger Now will activate those actions in sequence (left to right, I believe). If you click Start instead of Trigger Now, the actions will trigger only after the specified delay.
So, with that in mind, you will need to create two timer blocks so that you can have this sequence: action, delay, action.
The first timer block will perform the action, then at the end of its sequence it will perform the Start function on the second timer block. The second timer block has your desired delay, and then will perform the second set of actions.
In your specific example, the first timer block will turn on the conveyor sorter then start the second timer block. The second timer block will have a delay, and its action will be to turn off the conveyor sorter. To begin the sequence, you will use the "trigger now" function on the first timer block. You can set up a button to do this if you wish.
Hope this helped! Good luck! Reply directly to my comment if you have any questions.
Hi, what skybox mod are you using?
That was the vanilla skybox back then, it's changed quite a few times over the years. You might be able to find it on the workshop but I'm not certain
Did you ever get around to calling on timers from the sensors for an automated airlock system?
I didn't get around to doing that as a tutorial, but I want to revisit the topic when I get the time as it's something that's always bugged me that I missed :)
@@Splitsie Nice. I did something inspired by your video on sensors and airlocks. While I wouldn't claim it's original, I'm happy with how it turned out. ua-cam.com/video/R5s27LSbge4/v-deo.html
My first challenge for myself when I started programming in Space Engineers (Okay, former programming student, cheating a bit) a functional, safe, and compact airlock was one of my first goals. Managed to compress the whole design into a 3x3x5 area, was pretty proud of that. Still remains one of my most used personal scripts, as most of my others get rewritten when I apply them to newer designs.
Scripts are definitely the way to go for things like this if you want compact, but for silly, bulky, overdesigned, madness... sensors are the way to go :)
A couple of questions about your script: Have you got that script on the workshop? and how does it fare when you have 10+ airlocks on the one grid, does it hit your performance?
No, and I've never tested it. Not had the opportunity to, either, as I don't have a gaming PC right now. I'll have to see if I can dig it out once I have access to a PC again though, definitely.
That's unfortunate :(
When you do I'd be interested as a number of the other scripts I've seen on the workshop have issues when you start getting large numbers of airlocks, a rare problem certainly, but with my habit of going big with builds it's something I might well run into :P
I like how your guy is always face palming.
Thanks, it was something that Capac always inspired me to do and then became my favourite emote in game :)
You can make a fairly decent airlock with three timers two doors and a vent. Usually button controled, it could fairly easily set up for sensor control ... I think (have to and will test that soon-ish). The doors can be shut off to prevent accidental opening through a player who would have to accidentaly press k on the keypad and accidentally reenable the door before he could, again accidentaly, force the door to open and vent the ships atmosphere into space.
Anyway, great video. I like your style of tutorials.
Thanks so much :)
I know the sort of player that would 'accidentally' do that, but protecting the world from him would rob me of a lot of entertainment :P
Went through the airlock design again, Sensor control with timers is definitly possible, especially when only using three timer blocks to control the went and the doors. The design basicly works by forcing any open door shut and shutting off the control device (button panel/Sensor) (first clock), toggles the vent to pressurise/depressurise (second clock) and then reverses the on/off state of both doors and reanable the control device (third clock). The player can then open the now active door and leave the airlock. The player does not need to think about closing the door again since the clock will close it for him if he didn't. With a sensor it would be even safer, as the controling player could set the sensor up to only react on the owner and friendlies, while enemies would have to brake in since the inner door is closed and off.
For a ship capeable of landing on a planet the design can be improved by adding a fourth clock that allows to toggle the outer doors on/off state so as to allow the outer door to be opened without the vent exesivle trying to depressurise the atmosphere and thus completely filling the dedicated oxygen tank. This is somewhat of a gimmick for ships, since not any ship has the room to fit a oxygen tank that is only dedicated to serve the airlos (and thus not connected to the conveyor grid, as is the airlock vent in this scenario) and one has to manually open and close the outer door before toggeling its state. However, this allows for more control over the airlock, a little bit of convenience when inside a oxygen rich environment and the main conveyor grid is safe from loosing oxygen or overfilling.
There is still room for failures/mischief as with this design the active door stays active (yet closed) till the end of the cycle when it gets forcefully deactivated. This can be prevented with a far more complex design (six clocks where three clocks are used to open the airlock to the outside and three clocks open it to the inside) that would only be feasible on bases/creative mode/late game survival ships because it is fairly over enigneered and expensive to build. With more then one airlock on a ship/station it becomes even more expensive in resources and space.
but don't we all like a little exessive overengeneering from time to time? XD
I've been trying to code an airlock which disables/enables the doors depending on the pressure, though I haven't found a solution for mp
That's a pretty good job so far, but it's really hard to protect against multiple silly people isn't it :P
It kinda sucks we can't a sleep, else I've could made a timer.
Now I think about it, it is possible but it requires 2 programmable blocks and 1 timer block. But that's rather expensive.
Splitsie I think we are thinking to hard..
Just found out the air vents can have actions like the sensors.
With the actions on the air vents being:
Action 1 - Happens when a room is pressurized
Action 2 - Happens when a room is depressurized
Thx for all your tutorials, love SE, and so many think that i still dont know. Gj
You're very welcome :)
@@Splitsie today finish crete system with auto dockin and connection to station and opositive. Some tips from yours video helps me to do this. Not needed manually docking/undocking(connect, landing, close hangar) everything automating. Some finish to hangard building. And ready to build mining carrier. Good luck.
Thanks for these videos!
You're welcome :)
you can make a sensor have the last door turned off so no one can open it
Yep, there are some other things that would make for a far better airlock, but this served as a pretty good demonstration of sensors I felt. Not so great a tutorial on airlocks though :P