Feedback on Kleimetric Placement

[Maxil20]

As of the latest update, Klei Entertainment added a version of geometric placement into the game, in the form of an advanced setting known as "structure align", with a secondary option below it to adjust the tile spacing. This is quite exciting, as it means console players finally have a way to place structures on a grid that doesn't involve needing to place with extreme precision, which is quite difficult on a controller!

I like it a lot so far, but I do have a few issues with it. I'll be demonstrating this with the usage of a grid tile map.

The biggest issue is apart from the "Tile" setting, none of the current config options are tile centered, meaning that they are always off grid. Kleimetric placement uses divisions of 8X8, 4x4, 2X2. and 1X1, respectively. For reference, this is how this look when trying to place a structure:
Half-Wall

Wall

Half-Tile

Tile (The only centered one)

I find this a huge issue, as a ton of building styles revolve around placing objects on the edges of the center or directly in between tiles. Having to manually go back to the options to go into the center of a tile and back seems like it would get tedious fast, and not having the option to do that whatsoever for the latter feels very unfortunate.

For comparison, geometric placement gets around this issue by having the grid space be 9X9, like so:

This not only allows for easily building in the center of the tiles, but also allows to build on the edges/center of tiles with minimal effort.

I find it a little bit ironic, because a similar incident occurred with pillars, where they used to use the wall space grid. In response to feedback, Klei actually changed the pillar placing to be 5X5, alleviating the issue (the images are with geo enabled, but the way Klei handles pillar placing is identical with the mod or not:

(Mod option to hide structures to see the grid better)

I think it will be quite clear what I will suggest next, but my proposal is simple: swap from a wall-like grid to a center like one, with varying levels. I personally propose 9X9 (Identical to base Geo), 5X5 (Pillar placement logic), 3X3 (Center/edges/corners of tiles), and 1X1 (Current tile placement). This would feel much nicer for building in and would allow the former option to be identical for building tips for players that both do use geo and don't use geo.

My other QOL bit is a feature I feel could be an additional optional setting. In geo, you can enable an option to show the turf tile you are placing on. You can technically do this in vanilla, but you need to hold a pitchfork to accomplish it. I personally feel a config option to simply show the turf square when placing a structure would be a nice builder QOL that would go a long way.

Edited May 28, 2025 by Maxil20
Fixed the images, anti-shoutout to Discord…

[fabin]

i feel like them adding more "tile" options than outright changing the alignment of the "wall" ones would be a bit better. i personally wouldn't use the "wall" alignment at all, but some people might prefer it or something

they could also ditch the "wall" and "tile" units and go for the size of the grid instead, like 1x1/"tile", 2x2/"half-tile", 3x3/"third-tile", 4x4/"wall", 5x5, etc.

Edited May 25, 2025 by fabin

[crushcircuit]

i truly do not understand the grid at all why is it doing this

[Mike23Ua]

I’m going to suggest something completely different and for the love of god I hope SOMEONE that works at Klei has actually played Lego Fortnite otherwise no one is going to understand what I’m suggesting we do here.

You see that pretty green grid in the photos above? Yeah Lego Fortnite does something similar when trying to place Lego structures, only in Lego Fortnite we have better “precision” of where we are placing the structure. (Aka once you start to craft something you can tap the Directional Pad on an Xbox Controller to move it along the grid)

The above photos only ever show the object in the CENTER of the grid, but what I’m asking to do here: is allow us to “slide” the object with a Dpad press while this Grid is visible along the available tiles on the grid to place the item anywhere within the green grid that we desire placing it.

This would not just be “Geometric placement mod” this would be Precision placement of items anywhere you want to slide it within this green grid before confirming placement.

And just like Lego Fortnite you would press to start the build, move along the grid where you want to place, press again to confirm build to complete.

Edited May 24, 2025 by Mike23Ua

[Valase]

1 hour ago, crushcircuit said:

i truly do not understand the grid at all why is it doing this

The bottom two are being placed on a "formula" perfect coordinates, while the two above are ever so slightly out of place, see how they only have extra squares in one direction (bottom, right). I think that if you use the geometric placement, you will see that the bottom two would be a little bit off in there, since they use different "formulas" to calculate your placements.

[Popian]

There is an issue with Geometric Placement's approach when it comes to tile effects, but it has been the default for so long it's become the standard.

I'd suggest to:

• optionally get rid of 1x1
• add a switch for an additional offset to "0,0"
• set a default spacing relative to object size
• use the recent settings for an object

It's a complex problem of offering granularity while keeping things compatible between players.

[Frashaw27]

4 hours ago, Maxil20 said:

Having to manually go back to the options to go into the center of a tile and back seems like it would get tedious fast, and not having the option to do that whatsoever for the latter feels very unfortunate.

So there actually is something for this in the settings already:

I sure wish it was auto centered to but there is indeed options to auto switch while not going into options already

[crushcircuit]

3 hours ago, Valase said:

The bottom two are being placed on a "formula" perfect coordinates, while the two above are ever so slightly out of place, see how they only have extra squares in one direction (bottom, right). I think that if you use the geometric placement, you will see that the bottom two would be a little bit off in there, since they use different "formulas" to calculate your placements.

Spoiler

hoooh. this hurts my brain a little

i do want to be clear on what i posted (because i wasnt sure how to articulate anything beyond images): both of the two rows in focus here are both using klei's alignment grid - the grown ones in the far back are using geometric placement, but i placed them a distance away just so i wouldnt be bothered by the difference i was expecting - but i placed both of these two rows in the same exact fashion and they gave different grid results somehow (to my knowledge - i will say to take this with a grain of salt, because this is very clearly a modded screenshot there Could have been interference im not accounting for)

nevermind, i'm almost certain it was mod interference - thats my bad for not checking things more thoroughly. i think i used actionqueue for the first row but its using geoplace logic, not the new kleiplace logic! ill have to test things a bit in my own time but you're 100% correct. I understand everything now.....im am enlightened

regardless, as maxil said in his og post i would also appreciate the option for smth like geo and the pillars, not being able to place inbetween tiles in the middle is a bit weird. this is a tough thing to implement for sure though

Edited May 25, 2025 by crushcircuit
#factchecking

[fabin]

gonna bumb this thread :]

[_mylilsunshine_]

a lot of your images broke, at least on my end, so i can't really see anything but i will bump the feedback

[Maxil20]

4 minutes ago, _mylilsunshine_ said:

a lot of your images broke, at least on my end, so i can't really see anything but i will bump the feedback

Thanks for pointing it out! I originally copied the images from discord as I uploaded them there first to test, and it seems the images broke after a bit. I manually uploaded them, so they should stay now!

[qwp18]

On 5/24/2025 at 11:28 PM, Maxil20 said:

I personally propose 9X9 (Identical to base Geo), 5X5 (Pillar placement logic), 3X3 (Center/edges/corners of tiles)

Console player here (target demographic?): do this, pretty please 🥺

Also being able to see where tiles start and end would be quite nice but that's not entirely necessary

Nvm that's also touched on here, thank you maxil you're goated

Edited May 28, 2025 by qwp18

[AliceShiki]

6 hours ago, Maxil20 said:

Thanks for pointing it out! I originally copied the images from discord as I uploaded them there first to test, and it seems the images broke after a bit. I manually uploaded them, so they should stay now!

For the record, discord images posted outside of discord always break after a few days (they are still visible within discord though).

This was a change they did some time ago to stop people from using Discord as an image host... Which is a shame, because it was the best image host.

[Cassielu]

There is a issue that needs to be addressed for this: the determination of the tiles by objects at the junction of two tiles.

Currently, when using geometric placement, you will find that two edges of the tile are counted as part of this tile, while the other two edges are not counted. This is very bad, especially when you try to build in the dock.

As a community mod geometric placement can ignore this problem, but as an official feature within the game, it is unacceptable to introduce this issue into the game.

Edited May 29, 2025 by Cassielu

[Popian]

3 minutes ago, Cassielu said:

as an official feature within the game, it is unacceptable to introduce this issue into the game

This is not an issue with structure align currently because the space is evenly distributed within the tile. I believe what they want to go for is to get the majority to get used to a little asymmetry to reduce the number of competing standards for snapping.

[ALCRD]

Out of curiosity cause i haven't played the DST beta yet cause i've been playing ONI Prehistoric Pack beta recently

Does the Kleiometric Placement work with tiling farm plots? - Like Geometric Placement mod does.

Edited May 29, 2025 by ALCRD

[cybers2001]

2 hours ago, Cassielu said:

There is a issue that needs to be addressed for this: the determination of the tiles by objects at the junction of two tiles.

Currently, when using geometric placement, you will find that two edges of the tile are counted as part of this tile, while the other two edges are not counted. This is very bad, especially when you try to build in the dock.

As a community mod geometric placement can ignore this problem, but as an official feature within the game, it is unacceptable to introduce this issue into the game.

I would have to assume this is one of the things Klei dreaded the most about natively supporting geo placement. The problem is a tile is stored as a 2D matrix, and the properties of the tile (both fixed, ie. biomes, and dynamic, ie. cobblestone turf) are stored as such. So when you go to plant a tree at tile X=20, Y=25, it checks to see if the turf in that cell is of a type that supports planting trees. Likewise, the texture drawn into the ground is derived from the data in this cell, and a render pass likely factors in the neighboring tiles and their z priority to figure out which tiles bleed over neighboring tiles.  
  
The behavior logic and rendering logic function independently of each other, so the behavior logic wouldn’t know whether the tile it thinks you’re trying to place on is actually supposed to be one tile over due to the neighbor being a higher z priority.  
  
So the dock pilings only work on 2 sides because the tile is smaller than the render is implying.

[RoughCactus69]

As a controller player since before Winona was even teased, having these options available would only make the game more inclusive for controller players.

I don't think it would be to difficult to have grid patterns of varying sizes.

 

1x1, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, etc.

 

I know people that can't play games without using a controller because of health issues. So adding these options is the best route imo. Klei, you've always been pretty good with community feedback and I hope you see that this is something the community is adamant about.

 

Sincerely,

Cactus

[qwp18]

Question for people who have gotten to play with kleimetric placement: is it not too obstrusive? Or make it hard to see the end result or it's surroundings

A screenshot like this

On 5/29/2025 at 5:59 AM, Cassielu said:

 

Makes me feel like it's almost impossible to see what turf it is. Would an opacity setting potentially go a long way? 

[SapoLover]

Bumping this up because it's okay right now, but can be much better

Edited June 20, 2025 by SapoLover

[Mike23Ua]

Now that this update is actually out and I can actually test the features, I STILL stand by my original post up above earlier in this thread, being able to “slide” the object I’m wanting to place on any available green section of the grid before confirming placement would be Amazing.

Play Lego Fortnite, you’ll figure out what I’m talking about.

[LabrynthBride]

I made an account just to comment. My husband and I have been playing DS since before DST came out. Started on PC and moved to console soon as it was available.

We have never had a problem placing objects or plants in a mostly straight line, and it everything fairly close, by hand. This new grid system has ruined how we build our bases and boats - the spacing is now more than twice what we could do before, making it impossible to fit what we normally do into the space we normally do.

I understand that the mod was popular and useful for a lot of people, but wwe would like the option to turn it off completely. It has actually ruined the game for us. You can't even build a functional base anymore without needing a massive space. Our favorite thing to do was build our base on the hermit's island, the new system quite literally makes it impossible to do now.

[Midow]

On 2/8/2026 at 7:12 AM, LabrynthBride said:

I understand that the mod was popular and useful for a lot of people, but wwe would like the option to turn it off completely. It has actually ruined the game for us. You can't even build a functional base anymore without needing a massive space. Our favorite thing to do was build our base on the hermit's island, the new system quite literally makes it impossible to do now.

You can just toggle it off in the settings.

[Naifxoxo]

btw walls on console still dont even have this feature which is weird , why i cant do this with walls ????

[gamehun20]

1 hour ago, Naifxoxo said:

btw walls on console still dont even have this feature which is weird , why i cant do this with walls ????

Atleast on pc idk if this is the same for console walls do have this feature except they are permanently locked to the 4 by 4 grid