Half Walls have an Identity Crisis

BryonyRae

I originally logged an issue on AHQ for this but have gotten a response that it is by design. I was advised to post about it in this forum as feedback.

This is regarding half walls, which were added in the patch on 7/9/15.  They are acting like fencing instead of walls in terms of how the game is treating them when it comes to rooms - it is handling them as "outdoor" space and allowing roofing to clip into areas that use them in the interior, just as fencing does.  This impacts their functionality.  Also, while they make a decent addition to fencing when it comes to styles, they don't have the flexibility of fencing, in that they can't be placed on a curve.  In my opinion, they should either be changed to the same full functionality of walls *or* of fencing and not be a mixture of both but missing certain advantages.

TriX0099

I would love to see it changed to working as actual walls, as the roof clipping indoors drives me mad in lots of builds.

(P.S. Did it really take them 18 months to respond with it being by design?)

kaw2006

I need to use half walls often in my builds, but they don't work very well. I think Half Walls need a makeover in general.

Uzone27

BryonyRae wrote: »

I originally logged an issue on AHQ for this but have gotten a response that it is by design. I was advised to post about it in this forum as feedback.

This is regarding half walls, which were added in the patch on 7/9/15.  They are acting like fencing instead of walls in terms of how the game is treating them when it comes to rooms - it is handling them as "outdoor" space and allowing roofing to clip into areas that use them in the interior, just as fencing does.  This impacts their functionality.  Also, while they make a decent addition to fencing when it comes to styles, they don't have the flexibility of fencing, in that they can't be placed on a curve.  In my opinion, they should either be changed to the same full functionality of walls *or* of fencing and not be a mixture of both but missing certain advantages.

I believe there is a difference between drawing the outer wall, and replacing the outer wall

If for example you start with a room and you want to append a space that features an outer half wall, instead of drawing a half wall appended to it you would build another room and replace the outer portion with the half wall...in this way that room is still considered a "room".

edit: in other words when you draw a room...it loses it's room status the moment you knock out a wall...
this is what the bottom most replacement tool is for.

Uzone27

Alternatively if you click on a full wall you could choose the "replace with half wall" option..which is probably an even easier way of going about it.

BryonyRae

@Uzone27 I wish this was true, but whether you replace or draw it, as it stands now, you will end up with the same result. Perhaps this is a method the devs would consider in the future though.

Uzone27

@BryonyRae
Hmm maybe I misunderstood the problem? true enough half walls can't be used on curves...but...here I took some pictures.

Here is a room with a full wall replaced.



Here's a shot with two of the walls replaced with half walls and the roof. The eaves have been trimmed back.



Here's a shot with three walls replaced and the second floor removed...notice the second floor grid indicating that this structure is indeed a room?

MasonGamer

I wish fences would be treated like walls with in a house.

it annoys me to no end when you place a fenced in area upstairs, or spandrels, the roofing and wall trim appears within the house.

BryonyRae

@Uzone27 the grid lines unfortunately do not mean anything in terms of how the game handles lighting and roof intrusions for the area. You can see in your shots, that the lighting is outdoor lighting, not room lighting, once the half walls are in place. Also, if you had a roof positioned such that it intersected the area, you would see the difference between a room with walls vs. replaced by half walls. Those are the issues that we have with using half walls instead of walls.