Factorio Forums

Some mods have a prototype surface (e.g. my own PersistantBlueprints or TheBlueprintLab) where player can create prototypes, blueprint them and then place them in the real game without having to load a sandbox every time.

But not everything can be build there. For example (without waterfill) one can not place any water pumps. And miners can only be placed on ore resources so are out too.

Would there be anything the mod could do to say XYZ can be placed on this surface regardless of normal rules?

You can allow offshore pumps by deleting the tile collision mask. Mining drills require resources, so you would have to cover the surface with a resource.

That probably works for the pumps while not being surface specific. Let's hope no other mod uses lab tiles where pumps shouldn't be placeable.

Miners are still a problem though. It's not just that you need resources. Depending on mods you also need the right resources. A pyaddon copper mine can not be placed on iron for example.