Blueprint

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Close-up of the blueprint screen

Engineers often ask:

  • How can I make a backup library of my favourite ships?
  • How can I share grids with other players?
  • How can I "copy and paste" ships in Survival Mode?
  • Which folder do I copy when I move to a new PC?

The answer to all these questions is blueprints F10 key.

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What is a blueprint?

A blueprint of a grid stores all blocks, their names and positions, their colour and skins, their control panel configuration and PB scripts, configured toolbars and block groups. Blueprints can also include DLC blocks and modded blocks. Blueprints do not contain voxels or voxel excavations.

You can use blueprints in Survival and in Creative worlds.

Blueprints are the best way to design ships in one world and recreate them in another: When Creative-style Copy and Paste is not enabled in the World Settings, blueprint projections are a valid in-game way to copy grids.

How to download shared blueprints

Other players have created and shared great things! Subscribe to blueprints to make them available in your game.

  1. First you must subscribe to some blueprints:
  2. In game, press F10 key and open the Blueprints screen. It shows local and subscribed blueprints.
  3. Click the button that looks like a page with symbols to cycle through filters:
    • Show all blueprints
    • Show only saved locally or only in the Cloud
    • Show only subscribed through Steam Workshop or Mod.io
  4. Search for the blueprint that you want to use.
  5. Click it to view it.

In creative mode, copy the blueprint to your clipboard and CTRL key+V key paste it. In survival mode, build a projector, select the blueprint there instead, project it, and weld it.

Prerequisites

If the thrusters are off when you take the blueprint, then the blueprint's thrusters will be off, too. If the thrusters are on, the blueprint's thrusters will be on. And so on. Consider in which situation you intend to use this blueprint!

For example:

  • Do you intend to paste it in mid-air? Then keep the thrusters on. Or do you intend to 3D-print it? Then switch the thrusters off to not burn the 3D Printer.
  • Ask yourself this question for each block: Do I want the batteries on recharge/discharge/auto? Hydrogen tanks on stockpile? Antenna, beacon, lights, on or off? And so on.

Before blueprinting, prepare the grid:

  1. Name the grid uniquely. There are no folders on the Blueprint screen and you want to be able to find it again.
  2. Name functional blocks and block groups inside the grid uniquely. (If not possible, use Timers instead of groups.)
  3. Configure the grid's cockpit toolbar (if applicable).
  4. Decide for each functional block whether you want it on or off.
    • Always switch off self-projectors.[2]

Tip: If you want to check the point around which the blueprint rotates before you take a blueprint, open the Info Screen, and enable the Show Grid Pivot checkbox.

How to name non-functional blueprints

When blueprinting, for example, a ready-to-weld wall or floor segment that has no cockpit and no terminal access, the problem is that you cannot open its Info Screen to name it. How to work around that?

  1. Temporarily build a Control Panel on that grid.
  2. Use that panel to access the grid's Terminal, open to the Info Screen, and name the grid.
  3. Remove the Control Panel. (!)
  4. Take the blueprint.

How to create a blueprint

The Blueprints Screen

To create a blueprint, aim the crosshairs at the grid and press CTRL key+B key.

If the grid has subgrids on rotors/pistons/hinges (this is called a multigrid), the blueprint also contains all subgrids.

  • To blueprint only a subgrid, press CTRL key+SHIFT key+B key instead.
    For example, use this when blueprinting a small-grid ship docked to a Connector of a large-grid station. You will also need separate subgrid blueprints to project multigrids in Survival Mode.

Why do you care about this distinction? You can copy and paste multigrids in Creative Mode. But you cannot project multigrids in Survival mode: Only one (sub)grid can be projected at a time. For details and mod workarounds, see Projector.

How to share blueprints

You have the option to upload blueprints to the Steam Workshop or mod.io. Sharing blueprints this way does not only mean that other players can download them, but you yourself will be able to recover them if you should ever lose your local copies.

Do not copy another author’s work without permission, on Steam or mod.io, or anywhere else.

Press F10 key, select a blueprint and press the Publish button. You can choose between Steam and Mod.io[3] or both.

Note: Grids (and their blueprints) can contain DLC blocks and modded blocks. Whether you can successfully share a blueprint depends strongly on whether the recipient has the DLC and/or mod installed. DLCs appear as symbols on the recipient's Blueprints screen. Either hover the mouse over the symbol to read the tooltip, or check the symbols on the DLC and Achievement Icons page. If the recipient projects or pastes a shared blueprint with unowned blocks, these blocks will be missing. Depending on what it is, they may be able to easily identify the missing blocks and replace them with non-DLC equivalents. If the missing DLC block was structural though, the pasted blueprint will break in two.

How to send blueprints to players

Have a recommendation but you can't copy and paste the Steam link in game? You can send a published Workshop blueprint quickly to another player from inside the multiplayer game:

  1. Press F10 key.
  2. Select the Steam Workshop blueprint from the list.
  3. Select the recipient's name from the Send To menu.

The recommended blueprint will appear in the Steam Workshop category on the F10 Blueprint screen of the recipient, where they can choose to subscribe to it.

How to view and spawn blueprints

After making a blueprint, press F10 key to open the Blueprint screen to view (and spawn in) your blueprinted grids. This works both in survival mode and creative mode, but there are important differences.

  • In creative games with copy&paste enabled, you can copy blueprints directly from the blueprint screen and paste them into the world without any costs. Pasting includes connected grids and subgrids.
  • In survival games, you must build a Projector to make the blueprint visible in the world, and then you must spend components and time to weld it up. Projectors however do not support projecting connected grids or subgrids -- read about details on the respective pages.
  • Admins with creative tools enabled can also allow themselves to copy and paste blueprints into a survival world.

If the blueprint contains DLC blocks or modded blocks that the player does not have access to, then they cannot paste/project the blueprint fully. If another player builds the DLC blocks for them, and transfers ownership of the grid to them, they can use it normally.

Required mods must always be installed to be able to paste/project blueprints that use them.

Tip: In Creative Mode (or in Survival Mode with Creative Tools enabled), you can use CTRL key+SHIFT key+C key to copy (or CTRL key+SHIFT key+X key to cut) only the targeted subgrid. Use this to paste missing subgrids onto their grids using CTRL key+V key. After pasting, check the ownership and make sure it's not owned by "nobody".

How to make backups of blueprints

On Windows PCs, blueprints are saved locally in your "%appdata%/SpaceEngineers/Blueprints" folder by default. Tip: If you cannot see this folder in Windows Explorer, search online for advice "How to show hidden files and folders in Windows <your version>".

Remember to make backups of "%appdata%/SpaceEngineers" when you move to a new PC!

How to rename blueprints

If you forgot to name something, it will have a default name like "large grid 123" or "small grid 321". Similarly, if a blueprint with the same name already exists, a number is added to the name automatically. If you want to clean up duplicates and remove the automatic numbering or rename it with proper versioning, press F10 key, find the grid in the Blueprint list, and click Rename.

How to replace blueprints

Pressing CTRL key+B key and creating new blueprints of the same grid repeatedly gets messy and fills up the local blueprints screen with annoying numbered copies that you will need to delete manually.

To replace a blueprint with a new version in Creative Mode:

  1. Copy the grid by pressing CTRL key+C key to place the new version in your clipboard.
  2. Press F10 key to open the Blueprint screen.
  3. Select the older version from the list.
  4. Click the Replace button.

It will ask you whether you are sure that you want to replace the blueprint with the copy in the clipboard.

Troubleshooting

Steam Workshop troubleshooting

The Steam Cloud often interfers with saving Blueprints, most players switch it off.

  1. Open the Options > Game screen and disable "Steam Cloud".
  2. Make backups of "%appdata%/SpaceEngineers/Blueprints/" because without the Steam Cloud, blueprints are saved locally.
  3. Enable the Steam Cloud feature only if you have more than one PC and want to transfer Saved Games from one PC to the other.

There is also a common UX issue that publishing blueprints on the Steam Workshop fails simply because it failed to upload the thumbnail screenshot, but the error message does not offer a solution. Try the following workaround:

  1. Open the hidden folder "%appdata%/SpaceEngineers/Blueprints/" and find the folder containing your blueprint.
  2. Open the file named either thumb.png or thumb.jpg in MS Paint (or any other graphic editor of your liking) and simply resize it smaller.
  3. Resave the file and overwrite the old file so that it is less than 1 MB in size.
  4. Then try publishing again.

Find full version of this tip with all details here: For anyone having issues with not being able to Upload Blueprints/Worlds or Mods to the Steam Workshop, Here's a workaround.

Console troubleshooting

PlayStation Console Storage and Cloud Storage has a save data limit of 1.08Gb. To reduce the size of your saves, disable the backup function by setting the backup value to zero in the Advanced World Settings.[4] Then upload your saves and blueprints to mod.io!

References

  1. ↑ Unfortunately the Steam Workshop search is a mess. SE has one of the largest workshops and it would benefit from better UX, but don't let that discourage you. Try different filters, sorting orders, and different keywords!
  2. ↑ If repair-projectors or Holo Consoles on the ship are on, and project a blueprint of the ship that projects a blueprint of the ship, your game performance is not going to have a good time.
  3. ↑ If the mod.io integration does not work, check in the Game Options whether you have agreed to the service‘s consent.
  4. ↑ https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers/playstation/topic/28756
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