Most common use case placing belt balancer over existing belt
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[2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
Moderator: ickputzdirwech
[2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
Super-forced building is amazin feature, but there should be also oprion to remove everything but what you past in the area af bluepring.
Most common use case placing belt balancer over existing belt Lead to unintended topology
Most common use case placing belt balancer over existing belt Lead to unintended topology
Last edited by Erfar on Tue Jun 23, 2026 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
I second this.
Re: Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
I see a need for this as well.
Re: Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
I want to suggest it in the form of:
Allow deconstruction orders within blueprints.
Allow deconstruction orders within blueprints.
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CheeseMcBurger
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Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
2.1 Experimental Bump
Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
The simplest way to implement this that I can see would be a special 1x1 building which has the special property that any ghost of it is automatically deleted. You can still create them and place them manually (though they'd probably be hidden and only available in editor mode, like infinity pipes and loaders), and thus you can blueprint them, and thus if you super-force-build a blueprint that contains them, any objects on that tile they would occupy are automatically marked for deconstruction, but since the ghost of the special building itself is then automatically deleted, nothing will actually be built in that space.
That said, a more complicated and feature-rich system would be nice. For instance, I often wish there were a way to have my blueprints remove any rail signals present in certain locations because I know those signals will become invalid after the new rail is placed; however I do not want to delete anything other than rail signals which might happen to be there.
That said, a more complicated and feature-rich system would be nice. For instance, I often wish there were a way to have my blueprints remove any rail signals present in certain locations because I know those signals will become invalid after the new rail is placed; however I do not want to delete anything other than rail signals which might happen to be there.
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Onii-ChanFL
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Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
+1 Add toggle for that in the BP "Opaque/transparent"
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CheeseMcBurger
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Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
+1 also thought of this. Just make sure to not turn it on with rail junction blueprints, unless you want half a factory wiped out to chests 
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The-Zee-System
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Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
+1 as i want to upgrade blueprints, i have to have wooden chests at things i want gone which is a work around but annoying.
Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
This would be quite useful for upgrading blueprints, for example a 2D rail intersection into an elevated rail intersection. Without this we'd first need to deconstruct the old intersection, to then place the new one on top.
Might doable by allowing placing / removing the no-item "item" inside the BP editing window?
Might doable by allowing placing / removing the no-item "item" inside the BP editing window?
Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
The classic Centered Landmine Blueprint works great for this purpose:
This creates a "missing the material for construction" notification. C'est la vie.
Good Luck!
- 07-03-2026, 11-02-24.png (474 KiB) Viewed 301 times
- It exists as an entity, causing a "collision" when Super-Force-Placed so other Entites are removed under it
- Walk-able by the Engineer, unlike Constant Combinator, Small Power Pole, Lamp, etc
- Helps to remove unfriendly visitors!
- Works on Space Platforms too!
- Does not directly interact with belts, inserters, machnery, etc in the Factory - so you can leave it in-place.
- Or easily Deconstruction-filtered to cleanup!
- Unique-enough item that you can just not have any in Robot inventory so they never get placed!
- 07-03-2026, 11-12-32.png (518.42 KiB) Viewed 293 times
This creates a "missing the material for construction" notification. C'est la vie.
Good Luck!
Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
There is a mod called Negative Space that does exactly this: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/negative_space
FWIW, I too feel such a functionality should be provided as a first class feature in Factorio by default.
FWIW, I too feel such a functionality should be provided as a first class feature in Factorio by default.
Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
Workaround is not good solution for "Ideas and Suggestions" for multiple reasonseugenekay wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2026 3:04 pm The classic Centered Landmine Blueprint works great for this purpose:
07-03-2026, 11-02-24.png
For a less explosive solution try the (normally un-obtainable) Editor Mode entities:
- It exists as an entity, causing a "collision" when Super-Force-Placed so other Entites are removed under it
- Walk-able by the Engineer, unlike Constant Combinator, Small Power Pole, Lamp, etc
- Helps to remove unfriendly visitors!
- Works on Space Platforms too!
- Does not directly interact with belts, inserters, machnery, etc in the Factory - so you can leave it in-place.
- Or easily Deconstruction-filtered to cleanup!
- Unique-enough item that you can just not have any in Robot inventory so they never get placed!
07-03-2026, 11-12-32.png
This creates a "missing the material for construction" notification. C'est la vie.
Good Luck!
Including for example that it does not scale well for blueprints even at 100x100 size
Re: [2.1] Blueprints should have option like "force empty space"
+1
I almost think it should be a boolean toggle since even ability to overwrite/clear entities would not be enough. I want to clear all wires attached to existing entities that are not in the blueprint. It's getting REALLY old to have to delete my entire platform and re-place it in order to 'upgrade' the design to a new version in a safe way.
Or else add two things:
* Checkbox to clear all existing attachments
* Placeholder entity to clear any existing entity on the tile.
I almost think it should be a boolean toggle since even ability to overwrite/clear entities would not be enough. I want to clear all wires attached to existing entities that are not in the blueprint. It's getting REALLY old to have to delete my entire platform and re-place it in order to 'upgrade' the design to a new version in a safe way.
Or else add two things:
* Checkbox to clear all existing attachments
* Placeholder entity to clear any existing entity on the tile.