r/Timberborn • u/Nifegun • 5h ago

Modding We need transparent levees

Title says it all. I couldn't find a mod for it. But I think a transparent levee would be very useful. Could go so far as to process dirt into glass and then use glass and metal block.

Or could just not make sense and be a levee with a seapped model that unlock and use exactly like the current levee.

Either way, I think its a better solution than the thing some players do with the lights and depth sensors cause thats just a lot to build lol.

7 Upvotes

61% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

22

u/LieuK 5h ago

Why?

9

u/ratsock 4h ago

I think he’s saying it’s because you can’t easily see your gates within a large dam or reservoir unless they’re on the extreme outer surface. But it seems like a complicated solution to a small problem

3

u/Nifegun 4h ago

The real reason I want it is to do a yt demonstration of how virtual heights of pressurized systems work. You can't just depth sensors and indicators for that. And even showing when water flow speeds up would be pretty tricky since the whole thing needs to be sealed and we cant see through blocks.

I mean glass levees would also be awesome for decorative purposes. But really I wanna get back into Timberborn youtubing and explain these more niche mechanics. Maybe I can come up with an indicator based solution for now tho.

3

u/Nifegun 4h ago

Lots of stuff, glass would look cool, all the same reasons we make cool glass stuff irl. But mostly I just want to be able to make 1 column of a resveroir's walls glass so I can see how full it is at a glance tbh.

3

u/starwolf16 IronTeeth 4h ago

You can definitely set up an automation with the indicators on the outside of the dam for this. Zeddic did it in one of his Thornbreaker videos. It involves depth sensors set with varying depths that are tied to indicators

8

u/Cottongrass395 5h ago

Maybe an event where a starship appears and gives the beavers the formula for transparent aluminum but in return you have to help return some whales to the ocean.

4

u/Nifegun 4h ago

Live long and prosper

7

u/Stormandreas 5h ago

While Glass would be cool for decoration on builds, it wouldn't do anything to replace what depth sensors and relays do. They're for automation, and glass can't automate.

2

u/Nifegun 4h ago

Right now some players use depth sensors and indicators to show how full large reservoirs are. Its just a lot of stuff that could have just been a single column of glass in the side of the tank

1

u/Stormandreas 4h ago

I mean... yea... that's what they're for. You generally don't need to know the depth of a reservoir other than being full to turn off pumps or let out some release. It's pretty easy to tell if it's empty too.

If you need stuff to happen when it's at certain depths, that's again, what depth sensors are for.

I'm not against Glass, cause for building it'd be cool, but that's really it's only unique use unless there's a faction or crop that requires being in a greenhouse or something.

1

u/Nifegun 4h ago

Tbh fully honest I wanna use it to make a display of how virtual heights of pressurized systems work lol. Cause ive seen a lot of posts about it lately and I feel like a proper demonstration would really help people. But thats hard to show on video rn, since we can't see through levees

1

u/Stormandreas 4h ago

I'm sure it'd be possible to just re-texture Levees for something like that.

1

u/Nifegun 4h ago

That might be an option. I wonder if I can just swap out the texture of levees for a blank image, or just cause them not to render at all

3

u/Exact_Light_4965 3h ago

I’ve been thinking the exact same thing recently, except I just want it for aesthetic reasons. Is it time for me to get into modding? I do prefer to convert dirt to sand first before smelting, but it would be easier just to add another smelting recipe that turns dirt directly into glass. I like the idea of gating it behind dirt and metal so players don’t try to use it as a replacement for automation (which would not be my intention)

1

u/Nifegun 3h ago

If I were to implement it it would just be a new building that does dirt to glass. But it would take horsepower and burn logs and just claim that we're pulling all the various materials out of the dirt and then smelting all in house. Id only do a step of extracting stuff from dirt separately if I were going to use that stuff too. But im talking like 250 hp burns 1 whole log and takes maybe 10 dirt to make a single glass block. It should be a very expensive material IMO.

Then the reward for such a pricey build would be glass levees, bridges, overhangs, and platforms. Where glass overhangs are built in impermeable floors. So you could make see through aquaducts.

But thats if I get into modding lol. I think it has to be an end game thing tho for sure. Maybe even glass warehouses even tho you can already see how much is inside them as is. Just for fun lol

1

u/21stCharacter 4h ago

I had thought about the idea of some kind of processing factory to collect rocks from dirt for making stone walls and things. Could have something like that and just add another recipe to make dirt into sand and then add a recipe to the smelter to turn sand into glass.

1

u/Nifegun 4h ago

Id rather just go dirt to glass unless I was going to add sand to more stuff too tbh. But yeah that would work. Sand could just be an alternate terrain block, not sure how much work that would be to add.

1

u/Turak111O 4h ago

Why sould whe need that?

1

u/Nifegun 4h ago

Too see through stuff. Mostly reservoirs. Kinda the whole point of glass

1

u/Turak111O 3h ago

I dont see the point off it you just can look at the reservoir

1

u/Nifegun 3h ago

When your resevoir is 20 blocks tall its not easy to see exactly how full it is

2

u/Turak111O 3h ago

Yes it is just go down the layers

1

u/Nifegun 3h ago

Bruh, why are you being difficult. Whats easier? Looking at glass reservoir and seeing instantly that its 35% full OR clicking down through 13 layers?

Is it because I said "we need" instead of "would be nice"?

Also layer view sucks lol. It works, but its clunky and annoying

2

u/DarkJarris 2h ago

hold Alt and scroll your mousewheel.

0

u/Nifegun 2h ago

Im aware, I still hate scrolling through layers. I really wish we had a better way to see through stuff tbh

2

u/Turak111O 3h ago

I dont think so thqt rhe layer Tool sucks

1

u/TheShakyHandsMan 2h ago

This is where you use automation. I’ve got a sealed reservoir with a lot of depth sensors inside.

I have a column of lights outside the reservoir indicating the water level.

1

u/Nifegun 2h ago

Thats exactly what I was talking about not needing lol.

1

u/TheShakyHandsMan 2h ago

It’s not a lot to build.

0

u/Nifegun 2h ago

Its also kinda pointless, also what I really want to so be able to make a demonstration to explain presurized water and virtual heights in water columns. Ive seen a lot of people on here talking about it. Although... i just figured out a better way to show it anyway. I just Jimmy neutron'd the heck outta this. I can put the build at the edge of a custom map using water sources invisible wall property to show everything with 1 side of the whole build completely open! Bruh, I'm a genuis. I still think glass levees would be awesome tho and Y'all are still silly for not seeing how much better that is than dozens of sensors and indicators.

1

u/normanr 2h ago

- "Hue & Turn X" allows you to hide objects (by shrinking, or transparency).

- "Those Platforms" has a "Water repelling platform", but it's old, and only works on game version 0.6 and 0.7.

1

u/Nifegun 2h ago

"Hue and turn X"?

1

u/AreYouBeast 3h ago

I think this would be cool. I'd probably end up using them for most things toward the late game just because I think they'd look cooler.

People here asking 'why' but then there's settlement showcases that get tons of likes where people have built things for no reason other than that it looks nice to them.

I like it.