Designing Your Encounter

Design your grid to include whatever elements you’d like. Keep in mind, some encounter types require specific elements to function correctly. For example: Cargo Ships require a remote control block to move, Planetary Encounters need to be oriented correctly, etc. In the sections below some of these specifics will be outlined.

We’ve also added support if you’d like your grid to be automatically painted upon spawn. By default, it will match the paint color of the owning faction. You can also opt for it to be painted using a random color inside of its spawn definition. To utilize this feature, the painted areas should utilize the following color setting: H: 360, S: 100, V: 100

Exporting Your Grid

Once your grid is complete, in a Single Player game:

• Copy the grid to your clipboard.
• Press F11, and select “Export Clipboard to File”.
• The grid will be exported to \AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\Export
• Place this file in your mod, under Data\Prefabs

Now it’s time to set up your spawn group definition! In the sections below, you can find information on each type, which will help you to implement your creation into the game.

Planetary Encounter Modding

Grid Prerequisites: All Planetary Encounter grids must be Static.

Planetary Encounters require a specific Grid Pivot Point so that they spawn in the correct orientation. Grid Pivot is established when the first block is placed. If you need to adjust this after your grid has been made you can copy your grid and paste it onto an existing, properly oriented, block.

Having a good pivot point is critical to these encounters, as it determines where the grid will meet with the voxel surface. It’s a good idea to give your grid an elevated foundation so that none of the important or interactable areas are submerged underground

You can see where your grid’s pivot point is in the “Info” tab of the control panel.

The Grid Pivot of an installation.

For examples on how to set up Planetary Encounters, see the example definition in
\Space Engineers\Content\Data\SpawnGroups_PlanetaryInstallations.sbc

Global Encounter Modding

Global Encounters can feature a number of grids or voxels. Traditionally, these are designed as dangerous end-game content which are visible to all players on a server. However, there are a number of fields and variables that can be manipulated, allowing you to have these encounters play out however you’d like!

For examples on how to set up Global Encounters, see the example definition in
\Space Engineers\Content\Data\SpawnGroups_GlobalEncounters.sbc

Cargo Ship Modding

Cargo Ships are grids that spawn near the player and travel along dynamically generated paths. These grids despawn when they reach their end destination or have been in transit for more than 30 minutes and no players are nearby.

These grids are typically designed to be mid-game content which adds life to areas of space around the player. While their standard travel behavior is simple A-to-B waypoint navigation, they can be made much more complex and responsive to the presence of players. By using AI Blocks, Event Controllers, Sensors, Broadcast Controllers, and other methods of automation you can customize your grids to behave or respond however you like.

There are two methods you can use when setting up your own Cargo Ship:

• Equip your grid with an AI Flight (Move) and AI Basic (Task) Block.
  • These blocks are the recommended setup, as they will allow for more dynamic and complex behaviors.
  • The AI Basic (Task) Block must have its Objective set to “Autopilot”, and the Mode set to “One Way”
  • Note that this method allows you to have AI Combat blocks respond to players when in range, and return to AI Basic behaviors when not engaged. You can also change the speed of your ship whenever an event is triggered using the Set Speed action.
• Equip your grid with a Remote Control block.
  • This method is from an older version of Space Engineers, but still works well for simple A to B flight methods, void of complex behavior.
  • The Remote Control must have its Flight Mode set to “One Way” to function correctly.

There are a number of fields and variables that can be manipulated within the spawn group definition which give you fine control over faction alignments and other miscellaneous aspects. For examples on how to set up Cargo Ships, see the example definition in \Space Engineers\Content\Data\SpawnGroups_CargoShips.sbc