I am beyond frustrated with building on console - how do you all do it?

ellmarie · March 2023

I love housing, but I am so frustrated with trying to get things straight and aligned. Sure, there's precision edit, but that doesn't help me trying to get things connected and aligned always. Sometimes the camera angle changes, and you can't even see what you're moving. Pretty frustrating when you think you're all aligned and then you try to do something else and notice your whole hallway is at a slant. I've just spent the last 3 hours on trying to build a roofline with platforms. I don't understand why I can't get them all aligned the same way when it's the same platform.

It would be easier if I had a ruler or grid implemented when in build mode. Or if I could have an aerial view. I just don't know how you all do it on console without getting frustrated.

katanagirl1 · March 2023

Precision Mode was a huge improvement when it came out, it was much, much harder to place objects without it.

There are some camera issues with large objects, probably the platforms are doing this for you. I think when I had problems it was because the camera was not showing the full length of the object and zoomed in to the center or an end or something like that.

I have not done a lot of custom builds so I have not reached that level of frustration yet. I cannot harvest mundane runes in any quantity fast enough to ever get my project done.

EDIT: typo

phaneub17_ESO · March 2023

I got 3 of those black daedric stairs, I tend to stack them to give me elevation to see below what I'm doing.

Hotdog_23 · March 2023

A big improvement would be if the camera centered around the object being placed and not character view. Or the ability to switch between object view and character view. Also, in object camera mode you should be able to move 360 degrees around the object.

As far as how I cope with the view and difficult items to place is use precise view and pay attention to the height or angle numbers to get something placed precisely in the precise edit mode.

Stay safe

LikiLoki · March 2023

"Essensial housing tools" addon imposes a grid on the surface. the cell size can be changed https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1959-EssentialHousingTools.html
upd^ I'm inattentive, it's about the console... hopefully, this feature will be introduced in future updates.

Diebesgut · March 2023

"Essensial housing tools" addon

... not for console players ... 🎮

Tenthirty2 · March 2023

If we could only fly\levitate in our home instances it would make SO many things easier.

One trick I use to get a better view when working with larger pieces is use a couple long wooden planks linked together, like a scaffolding.
Gives great elevation and a top down view especially for some of the objects that have their focal points in weird spots.

Just... use the long planks that are 3 "boards" wide. It gives you fidgeting room if you're like me and forget how high up you are...

ellmarie · March 2023

Ah, scaffolding, good idea. I will try that. That probably is the issue with the bigger items and camera views.

Yeah, that tool system that is available on pc, would be great! Save so much time. I have been working on my Doomchar Plateau for months. I had to step away because it was so aggravating.

Yes the already built homes I have no issue with. My Antiquarian Alpine house is the only one 100% completed so far. Snow globe house I plan to redo, but that was also done. Currently working on Frostvault chasm and I would be 80% there if I had a better way of layout. And I won Earthtear Cavern in a contest, so yippee another open one to do.

Glad to know others feel the same. Thanks all.

Zypheran · April 2023

I build using a gamepad even though I play on PC. I prefer it. The trick is to place your all your oriented items in one go first and then move them with the precision editor afterwards. That way they all have the same orientation and/or tilt.
For example, let's say I want to build a conical roof using wooden floor pieces - I put multiple items in my inventory, then set one piece at an angle, with myself in the centre point and then just rotate around dropping all the other pieces, then I adjust them afterwards to exact positions with the editor.
Also, as a previous poster mentioned, the wooden planks as a scaffold are invaluable
Edit: I forgot one other suggestion, use singje planks as reference grid lines and remove afterwards. Again, say I want I straight line of roof. I would lay down a line of planks as my reference point, use the same method as above but follow the line of the plank rather than rotating.

Ugrak · April 2023

ellmarie wrote: »

It would be easier if I had a ruler or grid implemented when in build mode. Or if I could have an aerial view. I just don't know how you all do it on console without getting frustrated.

Precision mode gives you X, Y, Z coordinates. These can be useful for exact alignment.

Also, you can align and link pieces in one area where it's easy to observe; then move the entire assembly to another place.

SerafinaWaterstar · April 2023

Yes, the precision mode is much better (the hours previously spent trying to get things aligned….🤬) but what still annoys me is when you are looking at whichever big thing you want to move, you switch to edit, and the camera moves so you can’t see the whole thing, so have to move, then exit to check position, then go back into edit & move slightly you hope in the right way, then out of edit, etc etc.
This seems to affect big items like trees - the camera ‘centres’ on the object - really wish it did not do this!

ellmarie · April 2023

Precision mode doesn't seem to still help me on console. I need a grid or something to align. The controls are just clunky imo. lol, I still can't align for s... Maybe it's just me.

XoXJulietteXoX · May 2023

ellmarie wrote: »

Precision mode doesn't seem to still help me on console. I need a grid or something to align. The controls are just clunky imo. lol, I still can't align for s... Maybe it's just me.

Have you figured it out? It takes a lot of time and patience and it is stressful. I wish we had add-ons, I see PC users can combine all furnishing to stack in a house automatically and how wonderful would that be.

Northwold · May 2023

A free camera that can go much higher than the existing one from the character and not have to centre on the character would be brilliant (not just on console) as well as a grid.

Agree with others that making temporary scaffolding can also be helpful. There are quite a few very long objects where having the character anywhere remotely "normal" results in very tricky placement problems. With most objects the axis seems to be set to the centre. But the player often is looking at them from one end.