Editing 40d Talk:How do I construct a wall from a particular direction

This doesnt work. They ignore the restricted designation. --[[User:Heliopios|Heliopios]] 00:43, 25 December 2007 (EST)
:I just tested this.  It does work, for me at least.  Prevents my retarded dorfs from walling themselves in with the lovely magma flow that's coming in at a good speed.  --[[User:Corbine|Corbine]] 05:34, 25 December 2007 (EST)
::They rewall from the east when the west side is fully accessible and pathable but is 'restricted' via traffic designations? I have some doubts. It is definitely worth testing with lone pillars in the field.--[[User:Another|Another]] 07:25, 25 December 2007 (EST)

== More research needed ==

This has definitely worked for me before, but it's not 100%.  I just tested it out in the open, and the dwarf totally ignored my designation.  I'll keep testing.

1. What about placing a construction on the undesired tile, then suspending it? Does that work? --[[User:Jackard|Jackard]] 13:43, 26 December 2007 (EST)

2. There's always the babysitter method: watch the dwarf build, if he ends up on the wrong side quickly suspend construction so he leaves, then turn it back on. --[[User:Jackard|Jackard]] 13:43, 26 December 2007 (EST)

:Perhaps setting every square but the desired one would help.  We don't know how prioritized the default behavior is.  When I try to stop blood from spreading (in previous versions) I would designate that square and a bunch in the area too, because I found they would still go through the square. --Gotthard 18:45, 27 December 2007 (EST)
::If I understand well what Toady explained in a thread on the forums, all what restricting does is that if the pathing of a dwarf goes thru a restrited tile, the pathing algorith will (try to) recalculate a better route X amount of time. You can see (and change) it in the init file:

:''Change these numbers to set the default weights for traffic designations.  If you make the last'' ''numbers too large, pathfinding might lag.''
:''The format is (PATH_COST:<high>:<normal>:<low>:<restricted>).''

:''[PATH_COST:1:2:5:25]''

::This mean that when you restrict a square, if the pathing algorithm happen to plot a way into it, it will recalculate up to 25 times (by default) to try to find a better route. If it fails, it will keep the same route and the dwarf will walk thru the restricted space.

::I think people mix up the terms "restricted" and "forbiden", when in fact it's in no way coded to act like a barrier for dwarves but more as a way to "nudge" dwarves gently in better area(s). --[[User:Eagle of Fire|Eagle of Fire]] 19:42, 27 December 2007 (EST)
:::Yup. Personally, I thought the pathfinding cost made that a little obvious. --[[User:Jackard|Jackard]] 22:36, 27 December 2007 (EST)

:::Clarification: "recalculate" is not a proper word here. Path is always calculated only once and all <restricted> do is making the dwarves think that the length of the path to their destination across a restricted tile is by 11.5 <normal> or 24 <high> tiles longer that it would be without <restricted> designation. Personally I try to avoid <restricted> as it does not completely prevent dwarves from anything and designate <high> in my main halls/roads fooling my dwarves into believe that the path along those is 2 times shorter then alternatives across my stockpiles/workshops/sleeping blocks. Designating large areas as <restricted> can supposedly cause some FPS drop due to constant calculating of very long routes.--[[User:Another|Another]] 05:45, 28 December 2007 (EST)

::::The designation method does not ''work'' in any useful sense of the word. I've removed the section. [[User:Cheepicus|Cheepicus]] 06:34, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

== Problems with hermit games ==

I think it's worth noting that for some reason none of these methods work when you only have one dwarf. Does anyone know some alternative ways? --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 23:14, 26 January 2009 (EST)

:Admittedly, I haven't tried a hermit game, but i see no reason why designating a wall and suspending it shouldn't cause the dwarf to still prefer other squares.  It certainly does in regular fortresses.--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 01:08, 27 January 2009 (EST)

::I've found a way to get around this but it's kind of a pain. Just use tile edit and check the "has liquid" box in Tweak and your dorf won't build from there. --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 21:09, 27 January 2009 (EST)