Functional Staircase with any Material (Tip)

OmniDo · August 2017

Hey all.

I developed a temporary solution to the "Stairs" problem, as far as visual appeal is concerned, and wanted to share it with the decorating community.
It is possible to create a stairway that has a maximum of 53 degrees of vertical incline, which is also the maximum amount of incline any surface can have for which a player character can climb.

As it turns out, not all objects in the game are perfectly square, but it appears that many objects "behave" as though they were, which allow us some neat tricks to bypass problems with staircases.
Namely, you have to create an "invisible ramp" and nest it inside your staircase so that your character will walk up them.

How is this done?
Like so:

An example of how it appears when used:

The "Trick" is to use a standard plank of any kind; Rough Plank, Long/Narrow/Wide, and flip it 180 degrees upside down.

Then, rotate it to a maximum of no more than -127 degrees (equivalent of 53 degrees on an inverted plane), and its "underside" will function as an invisible surface with which you can place your staircase materials.
So long as the stairs dont protrude outside the invisible flipped surface of the planks, your character will appear to seemingly walk up the "Stairs" without incident.

This trick also works with many rectangular or non-square objects, since the rendering engine presumes a square "space" for its surfaces.
It also allows you to place rugs and tapestries flat against the surface, i.e with the Rough Plank, Wide, and you wont have to elevate said rug/tapestry more than 1 unit above the surface to prevent texture clipping.
This way, we can actually walk around on a seemingly "flat" floor without misaligned 2x4's sticking through, or having to raise the rugs so high off the ground that our ankles appear to sink in them.

Enjoy!

Tucker3711 · August 2017

@OmniDo

Have you tried to use daedric thrones? They work well as stairs.

FloppyTouch · August 2017

Great info ty

Icy · August 2017

THIS IS BRILLIANT!!!! ^_^

ProfesseurFreder · August 2017

Great solution, but I'm someone who has a hard time putting a book on a bookcase. How do you rotate something with that level of precision?

OmniDo · August 2017

ProfesseurFreder wrote: »

Great solution, but I'm someone who has a hard time putting a book on a bookcase. How do you rotate something with that level of precision?

The Homestead OCD addon makes it a cinch.

Sordidfairytale · August 2017

Very neat, I'll share some pics of my round stone staircase when I get home from work. It's not as uniform and clean as yours though.

Gargath · August 2017

Biggest issue with stairs is they use too many items draining the housing limit very fast. Hope there will be some fixed staircase elements of different lenght/height in the furnitures soon. 1 item is always better than 30-50 items used for the same purpose.

Ulfgarde · August 2017

Rough Platform, Stage also looks great for stairs. Has a nice wooden, rustic appearance for basements. Uses 1/2 the slots of bricks too.

The Dwarven Altar with stairs might also look good, but then you'll have to spend a fortune on that recipe (if it exists).

OmniDo · August 2017

Gargath wrote: »

Biggest issue with stairs is they use too many items draining the housing limit very fast. Hope there will be some fixed staircase elements of different lenght/height in the furnitures soon. 1 item is always better than 30-50 items used for the same purpose.

Agreed.
Normally, I just use the Stone Slab's and align them as stone-like "walkways", but I agree.
It requires quite a few items to hide the Ramps and make functional staircases creatively.
Perhaps Staircases will be on their "to do" list eventually.

Maole1989 · August 2017

Great stuff! I tried making a staircase a while back and struggled to walk up it smoothly

. Thanks for the tips!

Sticky_Paws · August 2017

Ive made a stone staircase within my sleek creek home with a switchback midway up for a loft-bedroom to go above my crafters den. Material used: rough stone slabs with a slight tilt (not visible) and a very low rise between each step. Characters can easily walk up to the loft without the wood planks as the origional post used.

OmniDo · August 2017

Sticky_Paws wrote: »

Ive made a stone staircase within my sleek creek home with a switchback midway up for a loft-bedroom to go above my crafters den. Material used: rough stone slabs with a slight tilt (not visible) and a very low rise between each step. Characters can easily walk up to the loft without the wood planks as the origional post used.

Well yes, there are easily ways to use stone materials or just about any material with a flat surface that can be walked up, or used as "ramps".
The problem is the item count.
Using the method posted, you can accomplish an aesthetically functional staircase which would be otherwise impossible given the mechanics of vertical movement.

Ithilis · December 2017

As the links have gone old, I would love to know if this trick with plank works if I add it after I built the stairs? I just build stairs from 13 upside down Breton shelves. If I add the plank underneath them, would that do the trick?

OmniDo · December 2017

Ithilis,
I updated the links to function properly.

And yes, in theory, if the object has an extended "Surface", it should work.

Zypheran · December 2017

This is a good thread and thanks for the excellent advice but... we shouldn't have to doing this. Players should not have to be coming up with clever solutions to ZOS's blatant oversights. Despite all the threads and requests I just don't understand why ZOS won't include a functioning staircase. It just baffles! It shows complete lack of commitment to Homestead. There are over a hundred different rocks but no staircase!!

Almariel · December 2017

There is the Dwemer-Altar, which can be crafted, but, even if you know the recipe.. it needs 14 Dwemer Frames each, 14!. Even if you want to buy those and get them for a reasonable price about 500g each, alone these mats cost 7k, plus the other stuff needed. Thats why they are sold for 15-20k each in the guildshops. Plus the fact that it has that little altar on the top.

As posted in another thread, some dividers make quite good paths, but they are no real stairs.

OmniDo · December 2017

Zypheran wrote: »

This is a good thread and thanks for the excellent advice but... we shouldn't have to doing this. Players should not have to be coming up with clever solutions to ZOS's blatant oversights. Despite all the threads and requests I just don't understand why ZOS won't include a functioning staircase. It just baffles! It shows complete lack of commitment to Homestead. There are over a hundred different rocks but no staircase!!

True, but remember, Z0$ is in this for profit, period.
They have no other concerns or interests.
If $$$ can't be made off it then the company wont do it, period.
The fact that they can easily provide <x> by way of furnishings and what not, is not the contention.
Rather, they would prefer to slowly trickle-down-economically provide us what we want, to keep us subscribed and paying crowns.

Ithilis · December 2017

I actually think it is really cool and impressive how genious ideas people come up with just because certain items aren't available.
Like, I saw in one thread that some guy had made a complete drum-set out of washbin, buckets, plates and fishing rods.
How is that the same if you can buy "dwemer drumming instrument" in crown store with similar outer?

But I do agree that furniture slots are a problem, especially in bigger houses.

Thanks for the stairs tip! I need to find a shorter plank because the longer ones stick through the floor.
Will post a result here if I succeed

Sticky_Paws · December 2017

[/quote]
Well yes, there are easily ways to use stone materials or just about any material with a flat surface that can be walked up, or used as "ramps".
The problem is the item count.
Using the method posted, you can accomplish an aesthetically functional staircase which would be otherwise impossible given the mechanics of vertical movement.[/quote]

I like your assimption of a ramp, but No. My stair case is a functioning physical step by step stair case. Which your character will have a notable rise as it climbs each step.

You can visit my sleek creek anytime to give it a nice test run ;-)

Ithilis · December 2017

OmniDo wrote: »

Ithilis,
I updated the links to function properly.
And yes, in theory, if the object has an extended "Surface", it should work.

Ok so thanks for the awesome tip, it worked perfectly! Here my stairs made from Breton long shelves and then with the plank to walk on. Actually not bad result.

The only problem is that the planks we can buy are way too long for this situation. So it sticks out through the floor

So I went looking for other similar ramp material and came across Scavenged plate, plain.
Except with this the trick doesnt work

And it doesn't look good in combination with wooden shelves.

Eventually you could use the plates alone as a ramp up, it wouldn't take so many furniture spots, but hey where is the aesthetic in that?

These were my test results.
tl;dr : The ramp-trick works great with wooden planks but with Scavenged plate and possibly other materials it doesn't.

OmniDo · December 2017

Ithilis wrote: »

OmniDo wrote: »

Ithilis,
I updated the links to function properly.
And yes, in theory, if the object has an extended "Surface", it should work.

Ok so thanks for the awesome tip, it worked perfectly! Here my stairs made from Breton long shelves and then with the plank to walk on. Actually not bad result.

These were my test results.
tl;dr : The ramp-trick works great with wooden planks but with Scavenged plate and possibly other materials it doesn't.

The Bookshelf trick was also one that I considered too.
But, as you demonstrated, the planks are just too long to be used for multiple floors without them protruding through the ceilings.
Alas, there are only so many "Tricks" that one can use until you end up with just using "ramp" design.
Perhaps Z0$ will put more functional staircase furniture options in the future, right up there with walls, ceilings, and flooring.
We'll have to wait and see.
(Edit)
By the way, those stairs look awesome!

Waffennacht · December 2017

I like this. I just made shelves and placed them exactly where you can walk up each step.

This would have been far easier and less costly, plus allows for some creative steps. Cool

altemriel · December 2017

OmniDo wrote: »

Hey all.

I developed a temporary solution to the "Stairs" problem, as far as visual appeal is concerned, and wanted to share it with the decorating community.
It is possible to create a stairway that has a maximum of 53 degrees of vertical incline, which is also the maximum amount of incline any surface can have for which a player character can climb.

As it turns out, not all objects in the game are perfectly square, but it appears that many objects "behave" as though they were, which allow us some neat tricks to bypass problems with staircases.
Namely, you have to create an "invisible ramp" and nest it inside your staircase so that your character will walk up them.

How is this done?
Like so:

An example of how it appears when used:

The "Trick" is to use a standard plank of any kind; Rough Plank, Long/Narrow/Wide, and flip it 180 degrees upside down.

Then, rotate it to a maximum of no more than -127 degrees (equivalent of 53 degrees on an inverted plane), and its "underside" will function as an invisible surface with which you can place your staircase materials.
So long as the stairs dont protrude outside the invisible flipped surface of the planks, your character will appear to seemingly walk up the "Stairs" without incident.

This trick also works with many rectangular or non-square objects, since the rendering engine presumes a square "space" for its surfaces.
It also allows you to place rugs and tapestries flat against the surface, i.e with the Rough Plank, Wide, and you wont have to elevate said rug/tapestry more than 1 unit above the surface to prevent texture clipping.
This way, we can actually walk around on a seemingly "flat" floor without misaligned 2x4's sticking through, or having to raise the rugs so high off the ground that our ankles appear to sink in them.

Enjoy!

very nice, thank you for sharing this idea!!

Shadowfell · January 2018

Nice solution!