Space Engineers - How To?.. Underground Building & Voxel Hands

You guys will know I like some voxel hands fun from time to time and I've recently been in creative mode building underground bases.. So I thought it might be handy to do a video showing some of the basics of how you can work underground using voxel hands and some other tricks to make things easier and look more unique - although there's enough to talk about that I'll probably have to return to the topic again to cover the rest :)
Thanks to Blinky for the underground building tip!
Blinky's chan: / @purrfectblinky
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This video was created using games from Keen Software House.

[@filips.6482]

Natural caverns are something really missing on SE! I love those underground bases you guys built/are building. Awesome work.

[@filips.6482]

@Porter Bruno WTF does this have to do with my comment?

[@w4stedspace]

No group survival today as Morph is away, but I can't leave you guys with nothing in it's place! Somewhat different as it's aimed at creative mode rather than survival but hopefully helpful regardless :)

[@sonyapeterson2366]

I'm sad now but will you be doing it next week

[@captmkg]

+w4stedspace I was wondering about that, still a very helpful video as I haven't built anything lately in creative, but this is getting the gears turning, as it were. Thanks!

[@w4stedspace]

+Sonya Bickford yes, will be back next week :)

[@w4stedspace]

+captmkg hehe, aye... I ended up being a bit more diverse in survival also having played around a bit like this, more willing to try underground stuff etc :) Glad you found it helpful sir!

[@dariorthan8059]

+w4stedspace one thing you forgot:the snap to voxel option, which makes digging a lot harder to control

[@mikk6845]

Big thx i really like this kind of "how its done" vids

[@MultiShultz]

I've always wondered what Voxel was but never messed with it. This absolutely revolutionizes my underground building! No more messy TNT digging or tripping over ore rocks from my hand drill. Thanks for the tutorial

[@iichoochii]

this is so kickass and also another, possibly simple mod to create: more voxel hands

[@evlkenevl2721]

Wow, that TRACK! All those smooth turns and consistent width, that thing is amazing!

[@anicorp4952]

This is awesome I had never though about doing it this way, you just gave me so many ideas. Love your videos you really do a great job of breaking stuff down and explaining how you did it.

[@5tonewolf]

WoW! I knew voxel hands were in the game, but honestly don't think I ever used it. Little in ME, is all. This just made SE feel like a whole new game again. Thanks! :)

[@NaviR64]

Thank you for this, I never have thought of doing that.

[@arthour051]

I had wondered how to get into the options for this! Thanks! :D

[@The_Viscount]

Thank you so freakin' much! I've been considering building my own base that is 2 parts Mass Effect research outpost, and 3 parts Stargate Command, and this is so helpful!

[@hagerio]

Learnt a few tricks today. Very cool video.

[@bobflemming336]

One of the best SE videos!

[@Apex_FFAK]

This really helped me building my bunker! Thanks w4sted!

[@reidosarous]

This was a great video, it would be awesome to see some more videos showing clever way to use the existing tools.

[@campbelds]

this is awesome i love seeing these demonstration videos... there are best practices some of us struggle with like lighting...its hard to get a room lit just right

[@greggchastain4261]

Great stuff! Love the way you break down things. Look forward to monkeying around with this.

[@benthedaddyYT]

Some great building tips. I started building one of these on a planet but used the opposite technique. It took forever an I only built 1 dock and a tunnel. Your technique looks so much easier. Gives me a reason to play again ;)

[@w4stedspace]

+Ben H Yeah I started that way round also and it's CRAZY time consuming getting good results... now I kinda look at it almost like carving.. you start with a big block and remove the bits you don't want :)

[@raymo9197]

New to SE on xbox, this just opened so much creativity, thanks

[@dominicreed9294]

Wow very good quality man. keep up the good work.

[@diegoavello1603]

This Building on Basics is so helpful, thank you!!

[@r3dp9]

I never even considered trying to use voxel hands until this tutorial / showcase. Thank you very much!

[@w4stedspace]

+r3dp9 Sweet, have fun sir! (and also patience.. lol)

[@Shabazza84]

Woha. Super good tutorial. I never would have thought about going INSIDE the planet. Makes it so much easier to get a mountain/underground base going. 600 hours into the game, and I still can learn. It's almost like my real engineering job. XD

[@zachmelah3725]

I can't wait to see if they put these places in the stream

[@JohnJohn83UK]

Really interesting, have never thought about building like this. Thanks for sharing as its bought me some inspiration.

[@DuneGames]

Really cool. I played around with the Unity 3D Engine for a while, and a voxel terrain. I did exactly what you advised against, and your way makes a lot more sense. I was always having difficulty getting stuff to align after digging out the space first before putting in structures.

[@verleptehenk]

This came just in time since I was building one of my bases. Although I kind of already figured out that you can build underground.

[@Shadow_Lunatale]

Why am I not surprised the first thing we see is an armored underground base as far away as possible from potatoes (and morp I guess). At least now I know how you build this perfect flat surface underground in the last group survival video. Anyway, you guys are awesome, you w4sted, morp and shack really got me hooked up to your series and that darn black suit really scares the hell out of me.

[@aurenian8247]

Thanks for this. You just saved me a ton of time on an asteroid base level I'm working on. I was hollowing out the rooms then building in them. This is way faster.

[@stewb1409]

Can you make a rocket silo to launch a craft to orbit that way? Would be pretty cool to see those hangar doors open on the surface to let a rocket fly upto space :D

[@w4stedspace]

+Stewart Bates Well I still have an ICBM design to showcase... hmm :)

[@stewb1409]

:D

[@lonerider456]

I'm actually working on something like that right now. I'm also building a rocket inside.

[@___Reaper___]

Coool! Now I can stop using giant drill machines, to spend days and create secret bases inside mountains. Thanks for this! :)

[@ryankazzy3877]

very nice tip to building bases, lots of people wanting to build bases underground will have a much easier time, also Binkys work reminded me of the half life like terrain haha

[@w4stedspace]

+Venom 415 reminded me of Natural Selection tbh :) Kinda half-life still I guess!

[@ryankazzy3877]

OHH yeah natural selection does look more like it haha

[@xavierh.5102]

THANK YOU! ive had so much trouble with voxels in the past, i still suck, but this helps.

[@MechanizedIT]

Nice vid/tips. I use 'Project to voxel' for long, straight, level tunnels when not using spectator mode. You can realign your players view with gravity by pressing the 'rotate camera' hotkey.

[@w4stedspace]

+MechanizedIT Nice tips yourself also sir :) I can see how project could work for that indeed, just not something I've tried myself..

[@xantishayde-walker4593]

W4sted, you've done it again sir! Wonderful job on the underground building tips. d :) b Two thumbs up to you! This looks like some real fun. I may actually just mess around in creative making underground secret bases of DOOOOM! Lmao! Keeping that vid on my SE playlist for future reference. ;) Thanks, man! I can't wait for the next video on this!

[@springs306]

thanks for this. i've always used drills to cut out stone for bases.

[@xenxennon6549]

This is fantastic! I have a fascination with underground construction, not just in games, but in the real world as well and this video has inspired me to mess around with some ideas I've had but unable to get a good visual representation of them. Just perfect, so many thanks for the video and the tips on using spectator mode which has been a bit of a mystery to me. (I've only just got the game, and this helps a lot) ummmm ... I just went in to try this and I can't get it to work on an asteroid. I created a new world (Lone Survivor) in creative mode and started to try and build off the side of the existing platform that intersects with the asteroid. I first filled in the edge so that it was completely submerged, went into spectator mode and went into the asteroid and tried placing blocks coming off the now submerged edge but no matter what I did, the placement highlight was always red. So - I selected a new station block which DID attach to the existing platform while i was underground, but beyond that It would not let me place any more normal blocks. Am I doing something wrong or have they fixed/patched/nerfed this ability? Update: Seems this only works on planets, not asteroids. At least that appears to be the case.

[@Merivio]

You guys should totally work together and build an underground base adventure map. Like an interactive version of your group survival series, perhaps a bit more guided.

[@ChristopherPisz]

Yes please!

[@calvesman.willem]

Very helpful video!

[@ZeroPointAlpha]

I think an awesome thing about building bases like this is you can make air-tight underground bases more easily, as well.

[@NODRULE]

Sweet thanks for the help!

[@RedDawnGaming]

That underground base brings me back to playing Red Faction 1 on the PS2, good days!

[@sigvar6795]

+w4stedspace I had no Idea this was possible! Great Video!

[@samsprague6923]

nice work. very voxel, much impress.

[@daadaa86]

Oh my god!... Your so good and skilled. Dang!. Good job!

[@honeyy79]

You say you want to improve and im sitting here with my jaw on the floor wondering wtf i have been going wrong. I cant even land my ship on a merge block. LOL. Omg this is amazing. Just wow.

[@bobbykershii6181]

Now I know how to make underground caverns air tight. Thank you. Since the ground is not air tight I have been a bit perplexed, wanting to have the look of a cave but also be able to seal it up. I suppose it doesn't matter as much on earth like planets but I prefer working on moons anyway. I don't know how I didn't figure this out since I have been using power lines for a while.

[@BrozanJal]

Oh man this is so helpful thank you!

[@Kad1nat]

Wow, i had no idea it was this easy to make things underground! Thanks tho, it really inspired me to make some bases!

[@w4stedspace]

+Kad1nat sweet, glad to help :)

[@billyd4eva]

Loved this vid!

[@zakiducky]

That growth reminds me of a Flood growth, such as in High Charity. And the random music in the beginning was really funny, albeit a bit too loud.

[@lagunaloire2710]

Well I read somewhere ppl asking to put a "voxel hand", kind of the manipulation tool in survival for placing voxels, I'd love to be able to sculp the terrain with the drill (the red, as it has de smallest drilling volume) and put here and there some material. Kind of the concrete tool mod...

[@EyeDentify]

Realy great tutorial mate. :)

[@PupDume]

Loving it, i know you can't get as cool affects. but i love having to build mining rigs to actually dig out the bases underground in pure surival mode. to each their own though :p

[@Nick1one_]

I want to see a vid on a multiplayer race on that track at the ending!! I bet that would be SOO FUNNY!

[@GWeapon42]

Late to the party but this is awersome. Thank you!

[@RyanOSlaton]

So I watched this video about a week ago and I've spent every waking second since (ok not exactly lol) building my underground base. It's not decorated but the rooms are roughed out and I'm loving it. Thanks for the video I just love the idea. However it seems the voxel hand menu is broken now so I guess I have to wait to actually dig it out after it gets fixed cause I think the default settings will cause me to rage quit lol.

[@STARTFLEETTACTICALOPS]

Well I hope Morph is ok. I guess a week off of an episode is cool. Just means it's more of a cliff hanger lol. Well W4sted I will catch you next week. Have a great week and cheers M8.

[@rixo2573]

I just wanted to say thank you!!! You've definately inspired me greatly! I've been working on an underground base for a while and after watching this... I've totally been doing it wrong... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA. I'm restarting the project using your techniques but will definetly get done sooner lol Maybe you can check it out once done? :) Again Thanks for this video! :)

[@benmohatun]

this is very nice work. you're very pleasant to listen to. I'll subscribe ☺

[@TheClone159]

Thank you so much it helped a lot

[@arhmichal]

Very nice, i'd like to see more of it, maybe even a full build of such underground base from zero. I keep wondering, what mode are those glass-doors in?

[@w4stedspace]

+Michał Kawiecki It's called 'Interiorama Stuff' iirc :)

[@bubbles69138]

LOVE IT!

[@shoootme]

any tips on how to building trenches, fox holes and bunkers submerged into the rock with the voxel tools. my attempts look rubbish and you can't firer out of. thanks

[@helljumper862]

This was really helpful for my bases. Plan on making space engineers movie with the base I'm building

[@w4stedspace]

+Swood Gamer glad to have helped sir :)

[@Xevoustius]

thank you!!! this helped so much!! THX

[@w4stedspace]

+CX4 X-21 awesome, glad it helped! :)

[@ethanlanglois7696]

So i just recently started build in the side of a mountain and well theirs a peek that i wanted to put a solar panel structure and its about 3.18km away and i am make a tunnel with conveyor tubes in it there well im almost there and i have horrible lag for some reason have you had any lag?

[@uzziah134]

it find I hope see survival next week an I would like to see more of this kind of stuff because you just help me back a base

[@bootstrap2269]

Hey W4sted, question for the underground building. Say I want to do the large blast door + piston kind of giant door. Will I need the entire space for the sliding door dug out? Or will it be able to move through the voxels if it's partially implanted at all times?

[@w4stedspace]

+Bootstrap22 It's pretty forgiving with some things that don't have proper collision boxes, like the airtight hanger doors for example, or the shafts of the piston itself, but you will need to leave space for the blast doors yeah.. It will allow you to completely bury the pistons though so it'll be pretty neat, and ofc you can get super close to the edge of the blast door blocks so it's tight and looks seamless :)

[@ioldanach7]

I was getting some ideas, as I watched the video, which did enlighten me to some new possibilities, but hmm I found myself sort of wishing I could make a bit of a busted civilization ruin area or something else not so high tech, as if I had landed in well the OTHER game a bit...Medieval Engineers assets would be great to mix in I think in some spots...wonder how that could work out...or if it could at all...hmmm. Anyhow great how to video, cheers!

[@pietertalens1256]

This is amazing and I thank you for sharing it! I must say it feels like I am seeing spoilers for the survival series unless I misunderstand something here.

[@w4stedspace]

+Pieter Talens Nothing to do with the surv series dude :) Just some stuff I've been building on live stream with blinky and mack, much like the race track you see at the very end :)

[@pietertalens1256]

+w4stedspace My bad! I saw potato and assumed those were the real names of morph and shack for some reason! Thanks again.

[@w4stedspace]

Pieter Talens I think 'Potato' was just blinky messing around tbh :)

[@themisleadinggamer3008]

so useful keep it up plez

[@shibbsterx1]

Seen a few videos not to bad :) 5:40 great tip for building underground! Subbed and +1

[@w4stedspace]

+Peter Clarke Thanks sir :)

[@digestivedunker2044]

3:26 Hahaha that made me laugh; I know, I am immature :P

[@w4stedspace]

+DigestiveDunker this I expected :P

[@SirTragain]

Do you have to box in the whole underground base behind the rock so it can be pressurized or have they fixed not being able to pressurize enclosed rock rooms?

[@bootstrap2269]

+SirTragain You would need to box in the entire room if you want to pressurize it. 'Fixing' pressurization to recognize voxels would be less fixing and more building a new and very complicated fluid system. Plus side we'd probably get liquids if they did that as well

[@w4stedspace]

+SirTragain if you want it to be sealed it'll need to be boxed in yes, makes this a bit more tricky on the moon for example :(

[@braydenschoff2546]

hey man can you do like a massive underground bunker home like this kinda wanna see how fancy you can get with this

[@boblabla4756]

4:01 just decided to throw some music in there for a minute? Lol, diggin the video so far.

[@mdtillard]

The control to bring up the voxel brush settings as of May 26, 2016 is Ctrl+K, it is no longer CTRL+H, found this out the hard way...

[@w4stedspace]

I've added an annotation.. hopefully this is the last time they change the keybindings around!

[@Hitman-hz8cg]

I got a question, i cant find the voxel anymore, did it got patched out?

[@flamingstorm2434]

I have a question for anyone who plays Space engineers I have this one spot of terrain that keeps respawning ever time I mine it or use vortex hands any solutions

[@hex5096]

On survival I normally use war heads to make tunnels or a mega miner

[@SwoodyCraft]

thank you

[@Sprite_uwu]

Just a query, is the underground base in the video on the workshop? Thanks anyway!

[@Tuttle86]

Do you have any suggestions on how to build underground in survival? Been wanting to build a big Cheyenne Mountain type thing but I get really bored playing in creative. Having to dick around trying to find all the materials is time consuming but part of the fun, you can build a narrative in your head.

[@w4stedspace]

+StitchPlay Mostly just that the right-click for the drill is a LOT more controllable and of course doesn't leave you with tons of rock to clear up. Another trick for getting really smooth corridors in survival is to build temporary drill platforms.. so a piston with a drill on the end that's attached to the base itself, extend it to dig the whole, then tear it down and rebuild it further along. It's time consuming but you get the same 'perfect' tunnels from it.

[@Tuttle86]

+w4stedspace I do that for digging up ore, especially on lakes, setting up big oil rig type things, but that's vertical. Drilling horizontally is a bit more daunting because the pistons tend to sag or bend when extended horizontally. I'll have to figure out some kind of vehicle that can drill relatively straight. Thanks for the tips.

[@bullzdawguk]

Every once in a while, you stumble across a tutorial that opens your eyes to something new and introduces you to something truly exceptional. If you know of any, could you please link them to me? LMAO! Joke! =P Kidding aside, this was exceptional. Thanks for showing me something new in SE. EDIT: Answered question I asked. =P

[@bullzdawguk]

+Duncan Disorderly Since posting, I have tried to get F7 & F8 to work and can't do it. Nothing happens. I'm in Creative Mode. Is that why?

[@w4stedspace]

+Duncan Disorderly No, but you need to either have spectator mode enabled in the world options, or use space master (shift-f10, click the allow creative mode tools box) to force it :) Thanks for the kind words also sir!

[@bullzdawguk]

***** Derp! Enable spectator in world settings. >.< Completely forgot about that, more so since I have left it unchecked since I began playing the game a few weeks ago. Since it was out of habit to leave that unclicked, what I was actually unclicking lost its meaning, if that makes sense. Anyway, reloaded my game since and I'm happier than a pig in shite to report, it works! My kind words are well deserved. The little joke I made, is a way to give you something in return. To make someone smile or laugh is the perfect Karma payback. =P

[@K4tnisses]

I saw a SlopeLadder =D Thumbs up.

[@w4stedspace]

+Katniss Crofter You did indeed.. still my go-to ladder if I want one :)

[@Athkore]

I kind of wish there were a terraformer tool in survival mode, similar in function to Voxel Hands, but perhaps requiring stone (or any other substance) if you add to the terrain. I honestly hate it when you get a nice stone corridor in survival with that one dent in the wall, which just ruins the whole thing. Just would be a nice option to have in the game.

[@w4stedspace]

+AthkoreProductions lol, tell me about it... the number of underground survival things I've made that ended up twice as large as I'd intended because I kept having to shave another layer off to try and fix one of those dents! :) That would be awesome tbh.. although I think someone did a concrete mod at one point that had a survival tool for putting it down iirc, was a while ago though so might not work still. Worth noting also that right click mining I find a lot more reliable for getting smooth surfaces!

[@trentoncook8719]

Holy shit.... Ive been using large drill head setups to drill down and around and make my stations....

[@MrKristian252]

wow... I spent 4 hours making a mining mashine, clearing out the terrain for me... And now I just learnt..

[@peterbonnema8913]

Did you have fun creating it? If yes, then I don't see the problem :P

[@mikea2363]

i normally used warheads for digging :d

[@jaroslavgrossmidt6131]

I was doing it on mars and in space on asteroid and had some problems whit sealing the rooms but this could work sealing them behind the rock

[@megapro125]

+Jaroslav Grossmidt If by sealing you mean making rooms airtight keep in mind voxel marterial isn't airtight

[@rejest05]

@w4stedspace Watching this vid gave me an idea, but I'm on my **** bad specs laptop now so I can't check it myself... Will a room that's like yours on 11:00, but is built inside an asteroid be airtight if you placed airtight doors in the entrance tunnel?

[@darthkittyblade]

+Rothank Unfortunately asteroids are not airtight. Shame really.

[@w4stedspace]

+Rothank There is a trick however.. using the same underground building technique you can build a box around your base to seal the whole thing in.. as long as the door to your base is also a door in this box, the whole thing should air seal.

[@rejest05]

Yeah, i already figured that would work, but i tend to built large bases and reducing the block count would help me a bit. Thanks for the answer tho!

[@maxireigl1919]

How do you do this with the square bracket key on alt.gr + 8 /9 ?

[@atomicgamerstarfrank4082]

At the end you had a racetrack clip.... Make a race track mini game thing with like rovers and have you shaq and morph race. Maybe make you own rovers in a "build" sequence... Have the track be above and below. That would be cool. Ps I'm getting space engineers soon. If you want to add me on steam or i add you or something i have some ideas i wouldn't mind sharing with you guys.

[@w4stedspace]

+AtomicGamer StarFrank Could be fun, although the plan is to do something similar on the full size track! :)

[@atomicgamerstarfrank4082]

+w4stedspace how much of the track is underground? And about my ideas? How can i chat and help you guys with some vehicles and ideas for what you can do... I have an idea on a rover... A rover with "modules" set up with blueprints so it can do many things...

[@w4stedspace]

+AtomicGamer StarFrank About 3.5km iirc, it's a seriously big track :P As for ideas, come join the Steam group in the description dude, I check that daily and there's a bunch of other cool folks chilling there also!

[@atomicgamerstarfrank4082]

+w4stedspace ok i will!

[@atomicgamerstarfrank4082]

+w4stedspace when your playing what frames do you get? Max i get 10fps...

[@skyoasisstudios9237]

thanks wasted awesome tips

[@helljumper862]

W4sted what recording software do you use. Or what one do you recommend for a person starting on KZbin

[@w4stedspace]

+Swood Gamer something free :) Shadowplay for Nvidia cards is a great option.. otherwise OBS is an option for anyone from the Red team!

[@helljumper862]

thank you I will try one out

[@jessepease3302]

Stupid question, but I cant seem to drag out my blocks. is there a special button to press?

[@BorisJohnsonMayor]

Is that a mod that allows you to quickly build blocks in bulk or is that in game?

[@TenebrousFilms]

I wonder if anyone's tried to recreate the underground Krell complex from Forbidden Planet...

[@b.j.1536]

show some more underground bases and tips

[@nightrider1700]

can you do a vid showing an underground hanger with a door