Block Placement Mode (2024)

Contents

  • 1 How to place blocks as the engineer
  • 2 How to rotate blocks
  • 3 How to align blocks
  • 4 How to place blocks while seated in a cockpit
    • 4.1 Best Practices for building from a cockpit
    • 4.2 Troubleshooting: Why can’t I switch into Block Placement Mode while piloting a drone?
    • 4.3 Important flight crash warnings
  • 5 How to place multiple blocks
  • 6 Troubleshooting
    • 6.1 How do I make the block preview stop snapping to the wrong grids?
    • 6.2 How do I make blocks stop “rotating away” when I place them?
    • 6.3 I can’t remember all these 3D angles and shortcuts…

When building, pressing number shortcuts 1-9 to select blocks from your toolbar puts you in block placement mode. In this mode, you see a ghost preview of the selected block and you can click to place the block in the world.

  • In Creative Mode, LMB-clicking will place welded blocks.
  • In Survival mode LMB-clicking will place unwelded blocks.

You can place blocks "in person" as the engineer —— or while seated in a cockpit.

To exit block placement mode, either press zero, or select a tool (weapon, welder, etc.) from the Toolbar.

How to place blocks as the engineer[]

  1. Configure your toolbar and add blocks to it.
  2. Press a number to select a block from your toolbar to enter Block Placement mode.
  3. Align the ghost preview, rotate it, and then LMB-click to place the block.

How to rotate blocks[]

Block Placement Mode (1)

You can only rotate blocks before you place them — while they still appear as ghost previews. To make changes after placing, you have to grind them down and replace them.

Tip: While rotating a functional block, keep an eye on the conveyor ports (marked with yellow rectangles). Unless you’re building for decoration, you will need to keep the conveyor system accessible and connected.

The rotation keys are (INSERT key), (DELETE key), (HOME key), (END key), (PAGE UP key), (PAGE DOWN key). Ignore what the literal labels on these keys say, "Page Up"/"Page Down" do not rotate up and down. Instead, these six keys are used similarly to paired arrow keys:

Mnemonics for blocks rotation
Block RotationKeysExample
to rotate left/rightDelete / Page Downshaking your head
to rotate up/downHome / Endnodding your head
to roll sidewaysInsert / Page Uptilting your head

How to align blocks[]

Before placing a block, you see a ghost preview. At this point you can press (B key) to toggle between free placement mode, local-grid alignment mode, and gravity-aligned block placement, and you can rotate the block.

  • Gravity alignment mode means that blocks automatically snap along the implicit world grid, so that all blocks are aligned with one another and the top side of all blocks is level. Rotation is limited strictly to 90 degrees. This mode only works inside gravity fields (natural or artifical) and it is useful when building on hilly terrain on a planet.
  • Local alignment mode means that blocks snap to the existing voxel grid or the station grid that you are currently targeting, in or outside a gravity well, for example in space.
  • Free placement mode means that you can rotate blocks gradually at any angle and place them without snapping to any neighbouring blocks. Tip: Use CTRL+Scroll Wheel for aiming very close.

See below for details about the rotation shortcuts.

How to place blocks while seated in a cockpit[]

Typically, you place blocks "by hand" as the engineer. With all other tools, you have the alternative of using handheld or ship-mounted tools: Grinders to remove bocks, projectors to "place" whole blueprints, welders to build blocks, drills to remove voxels, and block weapons.

It is similarly possible to place blocks "by hand" while seated in a ship’s cockpit--there is just no visible block placement tool.

Short version: Sit in the cockpit and press (CTRL+G key) to toggle in and out of Block Placement Mode.

Long version follows:

Best Practices for building from a cockpit[]

Before you try this, make sure that experimental mode is enabled in the Options on the main screen.

  1. Outside the cockpit, press (P key) and select the color and armour skin; press (ESCAPE key) to close the color picker.
  2. Sit in the cockpit.
  3. Make sure you have building materials in the cockpit inventory.
  4. Lift off and position the ship (using WASD and toolbar actions) as desired, as usual.
  5. Switch to first person view: toggle with (V key).
  6. Press (CTRL+G key).
    A message informs you that "Free Placement Mode is activated". The toolbar changes from the ship’s toolbar to a building toolbar.
  7. Press (G key) to assign blocks to slots, and press (ESCAPE key) to close the G menu, as usual.
  8. Type a number to select a toolbar slot, as usual.
  9. Cycle through placement modes and rotate the ghost preview, if needed. Then LMB-click to place the block, as usual.
  10. To regain cockpit control, press (CTRL+G key) again to leave Block Placement Mode!

Troubleshooting: Why can’t I switch into Block Placement Mode while piloting a drone?[]

A Remote Control does not count as a cockpit in this sense, meaning, you cannot manually place blocks while controlling a drone. Use projectors instead!

Important flight crash warnings[]

You know you cannot use your cockpit toolbar while in Ctrl-G Placement Mode. But you might try to do it nonetheless, out of habit. Remember to switch back to the normal cockpit controls by pressing (CTRL+G key) again.

Forgetting to switch back will pose an obstacle when you want to configure or use the ship Toolbar, or even cause a crash because you suddenly cannot use familiar shortcuts while flying anymore:

  • You won’t be able to quickly activate magnetic landing gear, gyroscopes, secondary thrusters, or similar habitual actions to stabilise your flight.
  • Similarly, while building "in person" as the engineer, you are used to pressing (P key) to select colors and armor skins. While seated in a cockpit, (P key) will toggle the cockpit’s parking shortcut, which could unlock your landing gear or connectors, and that’s not what you expect in that moment.

Remember to use the ([ key), (] key), ({ key), and (} key) shortcuts to cycle through skins and colours while building in a cockpit!

How to place multiple blocks[]

In Creative Mode, holding CTRL while dragging the mouse places a row of welded blocks, and holding both CTRL and SHIFT while dragging places an area of welded blocks.

The same shortcut is not available in Survival mode; use projections to place unwelded blocks in bulk there.

Troubleshooting[]

How do I make the block preview stop snapping to the wrong grids?[]

If the ghost previews do not align as you expect before placing blocks, remember to press (B key) to cycle through Free / Local / Gravity-aligned and choose the appropriate placement mode, as described above.

Next, if you still find it hard to aim the ghost previews from certain angles, try this:

  • Use CTRL-mouse wheel to increase or decrease the view distance between your camera and the ghost preview.
    • Move the preview (and yourself) very close and make sure you’re in Free Placement Mode to place decorative blocks at odd angles relative to the grid.
    • Move the preview (and yourself) further away if you are placing something large, or if you are placing rows of blocks in Creative Mode.
  • Also consider pressing (V key) to switch between first person and third person view to get a different angle.
  • With your jetpack on, you can rotate in mid“air” by pressing (E key) and (Q key), and fly “upside down” to reach odd angles.

How do I make blocks stop “rotating away” when I place them?[]

If the ghost previews of blocks often snap and then rotate themselves into an unexpected position, press (T key) to reset Auto Orientation Mode. Depending on what you want to do, the automatic choice can sometimes be counter-intuitive.

I can’t remember all these 3D angles and shortcuts…[]

Go to Options>Game and enable Show control hints, or Show rotation hints to get visual hints how to rotate blocks.

If you still don't see reminders while in block placement mod, even after enabling this option, press (TAB key) to cycle the HUD modes until you see the shortcut hints in the Toolbar and in the top right corner.

See Key Bindings for all shortcuts.

Block Placement Mode (2024)

FAQs

What does block placement mean? ›

In a Block placement, a student is in a social service setting for an intensive block of time, either during the spring / summer term or during the academic term.

How do you place more than one block in space engineers? ›

How to place multiple blocks. In Creative Mode, holding CTRL while dragging the mouse places a row of welded blocks, and holding both CTRL and SHIFT while dragging places an area of welded blocks.

What is block placement strategy? ›

The block placement policy is used, whenever a new block of data is written to HDFS. It could be when the data is ingested into HDFS or a job writes data into HDFS etc. It is used for optimal placement of blocks, so that there is a uniform distribution blocks in a HDFS cluster.

What is the importance of block placement in social work? ›

From an agency/field instructor perspective, the block placement allows students greater continuity of contact with clients and integration into the agency. The majority of our field instructors believed that block format better prepared students for social work practice.

How fast can you travel 1000 blocks in Minecraft? ›

Methods
MethodConditionsAverage speed in km/h (1000 blocks per hour) [note 1] [note 2]
MinecartPowered Track28.8 km/h
14 slope track25.56 km/h
Minecart with Furnace‌ [Java Edition only]14.4 km/h
Boat [note 3]14 slope rapids26.28 km/h
52 more rows

What does blocking mean in college? ›

Within some university and college programs, a block class may mean taking one class for the duration of each day until the material is covered. Block scheduling refers to a more concentrated experiences of course material, with fewer classes daily. They can cover more course content with fewer interruptions.

What are the objectives of block placement? ›

The objective of block placement is to provide an opportunity for the students to observe and learn the practical aspects of different government programmes and schemes for sustainable community development at the Block Level.

What is block placement for MSW? ›

For Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) students, “Block Placement” typically refers to a period of field education or field training where students engage in hands-on learning experiences in social work settings under the supervision of qualified professionals.

What does student block mean? ›

A student block is a grouping of student information into blocks based on a number of common academic characteristics.

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