I love the look of the new Factory Ceiling Crane stronghold decoration however there is one major flaw.... once you place it, you can not reselet it to remove it or adjust it.

 

I tried forever to select the ceiling hook but no matter how much I clicked or zoomed in or out, could not select the square hidden by the massive decoration.

 

I am aware there is one way to get rid of it but that's using the suicide 'Remove all decos from this room' button which actually is 'Remove all decos from this stronghold' button. No way am I redecorating this 900 hook stronghold from scratch.

 

Thankfully, where I placed it in my Tatooine stronghold hanger bay it looks good and I'm ok with leaving it there.

Yeah, i found out the hard way was to pick up everything.

PSA: Do not place outside, like in Tatooine's hangar bay for instance, or you'll ruin time spent decorating.

 

WE NEED A SAVE LAYOUT OPTION!!

WE NEED A SAVE LAYOUT OPTION!!

 

Never thought of that. That would be a great QoL suggestion.

I'm pretty sure I've successfully done this. I didn't quite appreciate the size of the thing before trying it out, so I first tried it in the Dromund Kaas SH hangar. Way too big there, of course... So I removed it. I can't remember if I performed any specific strategy, so it must have been pretty straight forward. The only explanation I can think of, is that there might be a difference in the hooks somehow. I haven't tried it anywhere else. The Tattooine hangar sounds like a suitable place, though.

I'm pretty sure I've successfully done this. I didn't quite appreciate the size of the thing before trying it out, so I first tried it in the Dromund Kaas SH hangar. Way too big there, of course... So I removed it. I can't remember if I performed any specific strategy, so it must have been pretty straight forward. The only explanation I can think of, is that there might be a difference in the hooks somehow. I haven't tried it anywhere else. The Tattooine hangar sounds like a suitable place, though.

 

it's also quite possible that you still had it selected, or when you place it, you moved it slightly so it was off a bit, and therefore the pink bit could be reached. Same thing happened with the garden drop from ossus. A save your layout option would be brilliant, could have used it on a FS I had done, tried to remove a room, only to have the whole ship emptied

it's also quite possible that you still had it selected, or when you place it, you moved it slightly so it was off a bit, and therefore the pink bit could be reached. Same thing happened with the garden drop from ossus. A save your layout option would be brilliant, could have used it on a FS I had done, tried to remove a room, only to have the whole ship emptied

 

That's quite possible. I'm tempted to jump in and test this now; I have a couple of SHs that are sparsely decorated, in case I need to use the clear all - option.

 

And, for the record, I do support a save layout - option.

 

ETA: Yeah, I had another look, and I must have removed it while the hook was still selected. I see no other way. Even moving it doesn't seem to expose the hook sufficiently. Gotta be carefull with this one.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Eiter

A possible solution might be for the devs to add a "tab to next hook" function, if possible. Also, hopefully, it would tab between like hooks - such as large ceiling hook to large ceiling hook, for example. Then you could at least click on an accessible hook and tab to the one you want.

 

Make it so.

Edited April 11, 2020 by JediQuaker

A possible solution might be for the devs to add a "tab to next hook" function, if possible. Also, hopefully, it would tab between like hooks - like large ceiling hook to large ceiling hook, for example. Then you could at least click on an accessible hook and tab to the one you want.

 

Make it so.

 

brilliant idea, would definately sort out issues like this.

The absolute best solution to this is to add an items list of every decor placed in the SH. This is one of the MANY better features RIFT has in their housing dimensions. You pull up the list, scroll until you find what you want to adjust/pick up and select it. This feature should be an absolute go-to, basic function in any game's housing system.

 

Btw, this is the exact reason I ended up stuck with Basic Ceiling Lights on my Alderaan grand hall ceiling. I even built a scaffold system so I could climb up and try reaching them better, still no go. They simply cover the entire hook, and it was way too far into building to pick everything up.

 

Btw--for that "Save Layout" function--yeah, RIFT has that too. If you build something out of random materials that you like (I built baby cradles, stoves, pianos, you name it) you can select all those items and save it as a layout so that you can just one-click build a piano in another dimension (Stronghold). You can do the same thing by selecting every item in a Dim (minus whatever you don't want), saving the layout, and one-click laying every single item out again in their correct places in another Dim (you can have multiples of the same one).

 

I'm sure though someone will come along though and tell me, "But Hero engine can't do that."

Edited April 12, 2020 by Sinhammer

You guys must be new around here. The Massive Artillery Turret has been missing its barrels since 2016. It's even advertised in the CM without its barrels. If they haven't fixed something that simple in FOUR years, what makes you think they are going to add some new, useful feature to SH decorating? And that's really just the tip of the iceberg of bugged decos, hooks, and SH issues that have piled up over the years. I'm not even including decos that are no longer available due to broken or bugged FPs since that's technically an issue with those FPs, not the SH system. The entire SH system has been in dire need of some serious love and attention for years, but given their lack of staff and resources, we'll never see that happen before this game eventually sunsets. In the meanwhile, BW is content to bilk players of their money in the CM, and I'm fairly convinced that the only reason we're still seeing new SHs is because it re-infuses CM deco purchases.

You guys must be new around here. The Massive Artillery Turret has been missing its barrels since 2016. It's even advertised in the CM without its barrels. If they haven't fixed something that simple in FOUR years, what makes you think they are going to add some new, useful feature to SH decorating?

 

That decor is not broken. The model was used as the base for both a multi-barrel cannon and a rocket launcher,

. What we got is the rocket launcher version. They just didn't animate the decor so people mistakenly believe those tiny barrels on the front are the "cannons" when they're really not. I assume they're supposed to be some sort of laser or other guidance devices for the turrets. Edited April 13, 2020 by Sinhammer

That decor is not broken. The model was used as the base for both a multi-barrel cannon and a rocket launcher,

. What we got is the rocket launcher version. They just didn't animate the decor so people mistakenly believe those tiny barrels on the front are the "cannons" when they're really not. I assume they're supposed to be some sort of laser or other guidance devices for the turrets.

 

I recall reading a Dev post years ago that admitted the deco was intended to be the turret in the first ten seconds of that video, with actual barrels on the front, but there was a problem with the animation. Even if the original design intention has been lost to memory over the years, the name of the deco is "artillery turret," not rocket launcher. So while the deco is the base model for both versions, your assumption is based on an incorrect interpretation.

 

Regardless of who's right here, none of that changes my underlying point that if they can't get around to fixing broken decos (and there are TONS of other examples), or repatriating missing/unobtainable decos (e.g. Manned Blaster Turret from Colicoid Wargames), they certainly aren't going to add new features/functionality to an already poorly maintained system.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Mournblood

they certainly aren't going to add new features/functionality to an already poorly maintained system.

 

 

Who pissed in your cornflakes and called it milk?? :D:D

 

While it's true, new features may not be added, but at a time like this, it's nice to be positive. And BW do surprise us every now and then with stuff we asked for. the one thing that pops in to mind was the auto ignore duel feature which was recently added, after years of asking So lets not give up hope, we might be surprised

they certainly aren't going to add new features/functionality to an already poorly maintained system.

 

Except for the fact they have actually added features and functionalities over the last few years. They went back and added new hooks to Manaan, added smaller hooks within Centerpiece hooks, added speeders, training dummies, the ability to set your access point in different locations, interactive areas such as the Killik cave "set amount of Killiks" feature and working light switches in the Rishi apartments--I'm sure there are other things as well. The point is--just because they haven't added the feature or function that you want doesn't mean they haven't at all, and it's that tiny bit of work that gives some of us hope that they might some day added something we really need.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Sinhammer

Except for the fact they have actually added features and functionalities over the last few years. They went back and added new hooks to Manaan, added smaller hooks within Centerpiece hooks, added speeders, training dummies, the ability to set your access point in different locations, interactive areas such as the Killik cave "set amount of Killiks" feature and working light switches in the Rishi apartments--I'm sure there are other things as well. The point is--just because they haven't added the feature or function that you want doesn't mean they haven't at all, and it's that tiny bit of work that gives some of us hope that they might some day added something we really need.

 

I'm not trying to start an argument here, but several of those "features" they added were terribly implemented or broken. Take Manaan for instance. That SH was already a nightmare to decorate well. The additional hooks didn't help - it only made it worse. If they were going to add additional hooks to any SH, it should have been guild flagships, or Yavin, or even the DK/Coruscant apartments. Manaan was the last SH that needed more hooks. I don't know anyone who was asking for that.

 

The speeders were ok, especially in Rishi, but they became somewhat moot after they added spawn point settings, and those that they added in Alderaan aren't even working properly (they disappear/reappear). What would have been a better feature is to incorporate the fast travel system via your fast travel ability. No need to worry about speeders not working, or spawn point settings getting bugged. Just open your map and fast travel. So until they implement something like that which works consistently across all SHs, I don't consider broken speeders/spawn points a value-added feature.

 

Then there's the target dummies in Alderaan, which were badly bugged and last I knew, still are. If I'm using target dummies, I'm still using the ones on my personal starship. Otherwise, it's not something I care about. I know how to play my characters intimately, and if I need to parse DPS or heals, we have Star Parse for that. Some players may find it useful, but again, the target dummies on the personal starships work just fine. What would have been cooler are armor stands, like you have in Skyrim or Fallout 4. Target dummies in a SH, when they work, are superfluous. Maybe if they had made them Tools decorations to give us the choice if we wanted them in our SH or not would have been a better idea.

 

And finally, the feature to add Killiks in the Alderaan SH cave isn't something everyone wanted, and I base that not just on my opinion, but on the opinion of several other SH enthusiasts I regularly speak with. I personally would have preferred better hook allocation in that cave than being able to temporarily populate it with Killiks (temporary because the moment you leave the SH, it resets, just like animated decorations do). Decorating that cave (well) was extremely difficult as a result. For those that thought this feature was cool at the cost of hook layout, yay for you, but not even my wife liked this feature due to the poor hook layout and she even capitalized on the Killik theme with Killik decos in that cave.

 

I will concede though that the centerpiece configuration option was actually a good addition and has added more flexibility for SH decorating. And I do agree that the inability to reset specific decoration placement can be a problem, like those cathedral ceiling hooks in Alderaan that you can't edit once they are placed without resetting the entire area. This happened to my wife once in Yavin and it reset the entire SH. She still hasn't finished re-decorating it.

 

Finally and on a related note, my biggest criticism of the Stronghold system is that whomever they have doing the work of placing hooks is very clearly someone who doesn't decorate Strongholds regularly as a hobby, and/or they are in such a rush to get it done that they don't put a lot of thought into the creative process of decorating SHs. I've lost count of how many hooks are poorly placed which makes it difficult if not impossible to use certain decorations in a way that makes sense. Some hook layouts are just nonsensical, with no rhyme or reason to them, as if the designer was just throwing down hooks to get it done and meet his/her project deadline. The most recent example is the upper hill to the left of the main Alderaan area which has nothing but medium hooks up there. Who thought that was a good hook layout? It should have had another configurable centerpiece hook along with the medium hooks. Also, their attention to detail is extremely lacking. Again, in the Alderaan SH, there are hooks missing on walls and ceilings that are inconsistent with the layout of the SH, such as in the private mountain dwellings, not to mention all the bugged hooks (which is a coding issue), hooks that are superimposed on each other, and hooks that aren't flush with the ground which causes decorations placed on them to "float". And that's just a few items on the monstrous list of things that could be improved with Strongholds, which doesn't even begin to address all the issues with the decorations themselves which I mentioned in an earlier post.

 

The reason I bring all this up isn't to be over-critical or contrarian; it's because I'd much rather see them fix what's broken and correct poor hook layouts than add some new feature that may or may not work properly, and may or may not be wanted by the majority of those who care about SH decorating. Unfortunately, I don't see that ever becoming a reality given the resource famine of Bioware's SWTOR team and the business priorities of EA.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Mournblood

SOLUTION FOUND:

 

I built a gambler's bar (I'm sure a fountain or something solid will also work) climbed up to the top and jumped onto the crane claw. Zoom the camera into "first person" mode. I was able to "see through" the ceiling portion and click the hook tile.

 

To remove the crane build something so you can climb onto the claw. You will be able to "see through" the ceiling crane and click the ceiling hook.

 

Sorry to resurrect a dead post, but I had this exact issue in the Dromund Kaas garage. I knew if I could climb onto the crane claw I would be able to jump up and "see through" the crane in the ceiling to click the hook.

 

Good luck

--Vik

SOLUTION FOUND:

 

I built a gambler's bar (I'm sure a fountain or something solid will also work) climbed up to the top and jumped onto the crane claw. Zoom the camera into "first person" mode. I was able to "see through" the ceiling portion and click the hook tile.

 

To remove the crane build something so you can climb onto the claw. You will be able to "see through" the ceiling crane and click the ceiling hook.

 

Sorry to resurrect a dead post, but I had this exact issue in the Dromund Kaas garage. I knew if I could climb onto the crane claw I would be able to jump up and "see through" the crane in the ceiling to click the hook.

 

Good luck

--Vik

 

Wow that is an interesting solution. I doubt it would work in Alderaan SH picking up the Basic Lights I have to keep in the main room because there is nothing to grab on those ceiling hooks either and has never been fixed...

Edited May 20, 2022 by TyrFoge

Wow that is an interesting solution. I doubt it would work in Alderaan SH picking up the Basic Lights I have to keep in the main room because there is nothing to grab on those ceiling hooks either and has never been fixed...

It might be interesting to try. If you could place something that you can climb on. Hmm... 🤔

 

EDIT: I couldn't find anyway to either climb high enough or see the hooks in the Alderaan ceiling. 🤔

Edited May 21, 2022 by JediQuaker

EDIT: Nevermind, I'm wrong, my apologies.

 

Wow that is an interesting solution. I doubt it would work in Alderaan SH picking up the Basic Lights I have to keep in the main room because there is nothing to grab on those ceiling hooks either and has never been fixed...

 

So as to not be totally useless with this post, you can try to pick up all in that room. I tested it on a mostly empty Alderaan SH just now and it will grab the ceiling hooks in that room, but it will also grab everything outside too, and everything in the throne room (but not in the hallway to the throne room?). Not a good solution, but it's something.

 

Maybe Bioware should consider modifying what happens when you right click on a decoration in edit mode. It'd be nice if right clicking on a decoration in edit mode counted as right clicking on the hook. There are a lot of decorations that cover their hooks at least partially and make it difficult to remove them. If they made it so clicking the decoration itself also brought up the edit window, that'd make things a lot easier when decorating. You can't click on interactive decorations while in edit mode anyway, so it wouldn't conflict with that.

Edited May 20, 2022 by The-Kaitou-Kid

I'm super late but I found a 100% working solution for this, in the provided screenshot, at the top of the crane where the shaft meets the round part thingy, there are two slots where the hook is exposed, making it super easy to click on and remove without needing to reset the room. Here's the screenshot.

WE NEED A SAVE LAYOUT OPTION!!

YES! YES! YES! A save layout option per room would be fantastic are there are far too many decorations that once placed, cover up the hook completely so there's no way to adjust them or pick them up. The only option is to pick the entire stronghold up (it never, ever picks up just the room). I don't use any of the medium hook crystals for this reason (the ones that drop in Ossus - at least I think that's where they drop).

BUT, since they broke too many things trying to fix strongholds I can't see this happening (still waiting for them to fix arrival points so they are back to characters at your choice of SH point, rather than your entire legacy landing there. This ruined the Rishi SH for me).