[Guide] Programmable Block - Block Properties

The following are observed outputs of different block types. Universal properties are listed first, then it goes into the normal block types. Any block not listed has no unique properties, and inherits all properties from other types. You may want to use your browser's search function if you are looking for something in particular:

Property Name	Result	Derived Class	Notes
BackExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far back the sensor range is
BottomExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far down the sensor range is
DetectAsteroids	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detecting asteroids?
DetectFloatingObjects	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detecting floating objects?
DetectLargeShips	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detects large ships?
DetectPlayers	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detects players?
DetectSmallShips	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detect small ships?
DetectStations	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detects stations?
FrontExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far forward sensor range is
IsActive	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Actively detecting something?
LeftExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far to the left the sensor range is
RightExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far to the right the sensor range is
TopExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far up the sensor range is
CollectAll	Bool	IMyShipConnector	Is collecting materials to itself?
IsLocked	Bool	IMyShipConnector	"True = magnetized OR locked, false = not in range"
ThrowOut	Bool	IMyShipConnector	Throws items out of it into space
ControlThrusters	Bool	IMyShipController	Controls a ship’s thrusters?
ControlWheels	Bool	IMyShipController	Controls a ship’s wheels?
DampenersOverride	Bool	IMyShipController	Are the dampeners on?
HandBrake	Bool	IMyShipController
AccumulatedDamage	Float	IMySlimBlock	How much damage does this have?
BuildIntegrity	Float	IMySlimBlock	???
BuildLevelRatio	Float	IMySlimBlock	Completion %? (Unsure)
CubeGrid	IMyCubeGrid	IMySlimBlock	What grid the block is on
CurrentDamage	Float	IMySlimBlock
DamageRatio	Float	IMySlimBlock
FatBlock	IMyCubeBlock	IMySlimBlock	???
HasDeformation	Bool	IMySlimBlock	Deformed?
IsDestroyed	Bool	IMySlimBlock	Block destroyed (assuming it’ll be garbage collected before this is useful)
IsFullIntegrity	Bool	IMySlimBlock	At full health
IsFullyDismounted	Bool	IMySlimBlock	???

 

UseConveyorSystem	Bool	IMyCollector/IMyLargeConveyorTurretBase/IMyProductionBlock/IMyReactor/IMyShipDrill/IMyShipToolBase/IMySmallGatlingGun/IMySmallMissileLauncher/IMySmallMissileLauncher
Property Name	Result	Derived Class	Notes
BlockDefinition	String	IMyCubeBlock	Varies by block type.
CheckConnectionAllowed	Bool	IMyCubeBlock
CubeGrid	IMyCubeGrid	IMyCubeBlock	"Grid, including size. Example: Grid S Large 2959 {100E06F3103FCED}"
DefinitionDisplayNameText	String	IMyCubeBlock	Block’s Name
DiassassembleRatio	Float	IMyCubeBlock
DisplayNameText	String	IMyCubeBlock	haven’t found anything that seems to set this yet
IsBeingHacked	Bool	IMyCubeBlock
IsFunctional	Bool	IMyCubeBlock
IsWorking	Bool	IMyCubeBlock
Max	Vector3I	IMyCubeBlock	"Returns coordinites, best I can figure is that it involves the space it takes up. Example: [X:1, Y-7, Z:-15]"
Min	Vector31	IMyCubeBlock	"Returns coordinates, like Max. Example (From same block as max): [X:1, Y:-8, Z:-15]"
NumberInGrid	Int	IMyCubeBlock	You know the number it sticks at the end of the name of a block when you’ve got multiple copies? This is that number.
Orientation	Vrage.MyBlockOrientation	IMyCubeBlock	I’d assume that this is the orientation of the block.
OwnerId	Long	IMyCubeBlock	"Returned 0 for me. I’d assume that since it is a long, it probably is the steam ID of the owner."
Position	Vector3I	IMyCubeBlock	Spatial coordinates relative to the world.
CustomName	String	IMyTerminalBlock	"The name of the block, as seen in the control panel."
CustomNameWithFaction	String	IMyTerminalBlock
DetailedInfo	String	IMyTerminalBlock	Info from the Details part of the control panel.
ShowOnHUD	Bool	IMyTerminalBlock	Is the block transmitting location on HUD?
Enabled	Bool	IMyFunctionalBlock	Block on or off?
HasCapacityRemaining	Bool	IMyBatteryBlock	Is there any capacity left?
Radius	Float	IMyBeacon/ IMyGravityGeneratorSphere/ IMyLightingBlock/ IMyRadioAntenna/ IMySoundBlock	Range
Blocks	List<IMyTerminalBlock>	IMyBlockGroup	List of blocks in group
CubeGrid	IMyCubeGrid	IMyBlockGroup	Grid the group is on?
Name	String	IMyBlockGroup	Name of the group
AnyoneCanUse	Bool	IMyButtonPanel	Checkbox for anyone can use.
UseConveyorSystem	Bool	IMyCollector/ IMyLargeConveyorTurretBase/ IMyProductionBlock/ IMyReactor/ IMyShipDrill/ IMyShipToolBase/ IMySmallGatlingGun/ IMySmallMissileLauncher
Maeformation	Float	IMySlimBlock	Assuming this is how much deformation it can take before it is destroyed
MaxIntegrity	Float	IMySlimBlock	How much HP this has
Position	Vector3I	IMySlimBlock	Position relative to the world
ShowParts	Bool	IMySlimBlock	Show parts needed to construct? Not sure.
StockpileAllocated	Bool	IMySlimBlock	Assuming this is true when you’ve filled up the amount of parts required to construct it.
StockpileEmpty	Bool	IMySlimBlock	"Assuming this is the opposite of above, most likely will result in trash collection."
IsSoundSelected	Bool	IMySoundBlock	Sound is selected for block
LoopPeriod	Float	IMySoundBlock	How long the loop is
Volume	Float	IMySoundBlock	How loud it is
IsCountingDown	Bool	IMyTimerBlock	Is the timer currently active?
TriggerDelay	Float	IMyTimerBlock	How long until event triggered
DetonationTime	Float	IMyWarhead	Delay until Boom.
IsCountingDown	Bool	IMyWarhead	I’d probably evacuate the ship if this is true.
ThrustOverride	Float	IMyThrust	How much force the thrust override is set to.
BlockDefinition	String	IMyCubeBlock	Varies by block type.
CheckConnectionAllowed	Bool	IMyCubeBlock
CubeGrid		IMyCubeGrid	"IMyCubeBlockGrid, including size. Example: Grid S Large 2959 {100E06F3103FCED}"
DisplayNameText	String	IMyCubeBlockBlock
DiassassembleRatio	Float	IMyCubeBlock
DisplayNameText	String	IMyCubeBlock	haven’t found anything that seems to set this yet
IsBeingHacked	Bool	IMyCubeBlock
IsFunctional	Bool	IMyCubeBlock
IsWorking	Bool	IMyCubeBlock
Max	Vector3I	IMyCubeBlock	"Returns coordinites, best I can figure is that it involves the space it takes up. Example: [X:1, Y-7, Z:-15]"
Min	Vector3I	IMyCubeBlock	"Returns coordinates, like Max. Example (From same block as max): [X:1, Y:-8, Z:-15]"
NumberInGrid	Int	IMyCubeBlock	You know the number it sticks at the end of the name of a block when you’ve got multiple copies? This is that number.
Orientation	Vrage.MyBlockOrientation	IMyCubeBlock	"I’d assume that this is the orientation of the block.OwnerIdLongIMyCubeBlockReturned 0 for me. I’d assume that since it is a long, it probably is the steam ID of the owner."
Position	Vector3I	IMyCubeBlock	"Spatial coordinates relative to the world.CustomNameStringIMyTerminalBlockThe name of the block, as seen in the control panel."
CustomNameWithFaction	String	IMyTerminalBlock
DetailedInfo	String	IMyTerminalBlock	Info from the Details part of the control panel.
ShowOnHUD	Bool	IMyTerminalBlock	Is the block transmitting location on HUD?
Enabled	Bool	IMyFunctionalBlock	Block on or off?
HasCapacityRemaining	Bool	IMyBatteryBlock	Is there any capacity left?
Radius	Float	IMyBeacon/ IMyGravityGeneratorSphere/ IMyLightingBlock/ IMyRadioAntenna/ IMySoundBlockRangeBlocksListIMyBlockGroup	List of blocks in groupCubeGridIMyCubeGridIMyBlockGroupGrid the group is on?
Name	String	IMyBlockGroup	Name of the group
AnyoneCanUse	Bool	IMyButtonPanel	Checkbox for anyone can use.

 

BackExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far back the sensor range is
BottomExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far down the sensor range is
DetectAsteroids	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detecting asteroids?
DetectFloatingObjects	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detecting floating objects?
DetectLargeShips	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detects large ships?
DetectPlayers	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detects players?
DetectSmallShips	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detect small ships?
DetectStations	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Detects stations?
FrontExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far forward sensor range is
IsActive	Bool	IMySensorBlock	Actively detecting something?
LeftExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far to the left the sensor range is
RightExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far to the right the sensor range is
TopExtend	Float	IMySensorBlock	How far up the sensor range is
CollectAll	Bool	IMyShipConnector	Is collecting materials to itself?
IsLocked	Bool	IMyShipConnector	True = magnetized OR locked, false = not in range
ThrowOut	Bool	IMyShipConnector	Throws items out of it into space
ControlThrusters	Bool	IMyShipController	Controls a ship’s thrusters?
ControlWheels	Bool	IMyShipController	Controls a ship’s wheels?
DampenersOverride	Bool	IMyShipController	Are the dampeners on?
HandBrake	Bool	IMyShipController
AccumulatedDamage	Float	IMySlimBlock	How much damage does this have?
BuildIntegrity	Float	IMySlimBlock	???
BuildLevelRatio	Float	IMySlimBlock	Completion %? (Unsure)
CubeGrid	IMyCubeGrid	IMySlimBlock	What grid the block is on
CurrentDamage	Float	IMySlimBlock
DamageRatio	Float	IMySlimBlock
FatBlock	IMyCubeBlock	IMySlimBlock	???
HasDeformation	Bool	IMySlimBlock	Deformed?
IsDestroyed	Bool	IMySlimBlock	Block destroyed (assuming it’ll be garbage collected before this is useful)
IsFullIntegrity	Bool	IMySlimBlock	At full health
IsFullyDismounted	Bool	IMySlimBlock	???

 

Maeformation	Float	IMySlimBlock	Assuming this is how much deformation it can take before it is destroyed
MaxIntegrity	Float	IMySlimBlock	How much HP this has
Position	Vector3I	IMySlimBlock	Position relative to the world
ShowParts	Bool	IMySlimBlock	Show parts needed to construct? Not sure.
StockpileAllocated	Bool	IMySlimBlock	Assuming this is true when you’ve filled up the amount of parts required to construct it.
StockpileEmpty	Bool	IMySlimBlock	"Assuming this is the opposite of above, most likely will result in trash collection."
IsSoundSelected	Bool	IMySoundBlock	Sound is selected for block
LoopPeriod	Float	IMySoundBlock	How long the loop is
Volume	Float	IMySoundBlock	How loud it is
IsCountingDown	Bool	IMyTimerBlock	Is the timer currently active?
TriggerDelay	Float	IMyTimerBlock	How long until event triggered
DetonationTime	Float	IMyWarhead	Delay until Boom.
IsCountingDown	Bool	IMyWarhead	I’d probably evacuate the ship if this is true.
ThrustOverride	Float	IMyThrust	How much force the thrust override is set to.

 

Please let me know if you discover anything interesting about any of these, and I'll add it to the notes.

 

so, it IS possible to distinguish grids?

 

OwnerId most likely leads to the player ID and not to a steam ID because of how permadeath works.

CustomNameWithFaction should be the name of the block with the faction prefix that shows when it's broadcasted.

 

CurrentDamage is the current damage, counting up from zero, in terms of integrity (HP).

MaxIntegrity is the block HP.

Maeformation is the current deformation of the block, in metres.
(there is no true max deformation as far as I can tell, but large blocks tend to disappear before the value exceeds 2.5 m)

***The above, along with IsFunctional, could be used to make a program that gives a ship "Damage Report". However, we don't have a good UI to report the damage with!


AccumulatedDamage is always 0 and probably has something to do with adding up multiple sources of damage during large events. One of the classes had an ApplyAccumulatedDamage() function or something like that.

 

FatBlock

This is the cubeblock associated with the slimblock. Gives you a way back to the functional data if you are starting from the slimblock (such as from the CubeGrid getblocks function).

 

Textor-- since you have private messaging disabled, I have to pollute your thread.

The Min and Max properties of an IMyCubeBlock describe the corners (vertices) of the cube closest and furthest from the world origin on one edge. If you know what edge that is, you can derive the positions of the other six vertices and, therefore, the extents of the entire cube (and, therefore, the space that it takes up).

I was thinking that Min and Max were the vertices closest and furthest from the origin, respectively, as this would put them on opposite corners of the cube and also satisfy the requirement for getting the positions of the other six vertices, but your example shows that this is not the case.

 

I've fixed this, now. Thanks for letting me know.

This was generated by building a small thruster onto a station and returning Min/Max.ToString(), and then posting the results as the example of what it contains. Make of that what you will. If it helps, the thruster was labeled "Down"

 

How do you set the values of these properties to a certain number/string? I can't find any documentation on this poorly written website, I'm starting to get really frustrated and feeling like punching a neckbeard who decided to write this.

 

You would use the SetValue() method.

Code:

public static void SetValue<T>(IMyTerminalBlock block, string propertyId, T value)

<T>- The type of value you are setting. If it is a boolean, then you would put bool here. If it is a float, you'd use float, etc.
block - You can omit this if you are calling SetValue from a terminal block.
propertyId - the string name of the property. For instance, "Radius"
value - The value you are setting it to.

For instance:

Code:

IMyRadioAntenna antenna;
/*truncating initialization code*/
antenna.SetValue<float>("Radius", 10.5f); /*sets broadcast radius to 10.5*/

 

Code:

IMyThrust dwnThruster = GridTerminalSystem.GetBlockWithName("Small Thruster 5") as IMyThrust;
if (null != dwnThruster)
{
    dwnThruster.SetValue<float>("ThrustOverride", 12000.0f);
}

This is not doing anything. Override stays at "0.0". I double-checked the name of the thruster.
What am I doing wrong?
I need to set the override immediately.

 

The property name is "Override". You should check the list, as often the Terminal Property name is not the same as Field (c# property) name used to read the same value (e.g. dwnThruster.ThrustOverride vs. "Override").

 

Thanks! That clarifies it.
But then the list of properties here is kind of pointless, isn't it? It would be better if it had both, the terminal property name and the C# field name listed.
I would also have expected Keen to give us a full API documentation of available methods ands properties until now.
Having to look at a dozen different user-created places to puzzle out those infos is not really efficient.

 

They have, the link I provided is the official guide provided by Keen. There is also an API doc provided with your game in the Tools folder. The OP predates the information in (or existence of) these, but there's no point in updating it when all the information can now be had from official sources.

 

Min and Max do represent the smallest X,Y,Z and the biggest X,Y,Z coordinate the block occupies. Thus a 1x1x1 block has the same Min and Max while a 1x1x2 block has only one value increased by one for Max over Min.
A 3x3x3 block for example with Min = (X, Y, Z) has Max = Min + (2, 2, 2) as for all three dimensions the block increased by 2 blocks.

Thus the block volume can be easily determined by Max - Min + (1, 1, 1).

 

Unfortunately that documentation is very VERY barebone. It lists what intellisense already provides. They still need to add descriptions as well as examples where it is used.

 

If you're using visual studio, I suppose so. As for descriptions/examples, I wasn't expecting much to begin with in that department. The other games I've played around with scripting/modding in were also pretty bare as far as official documentation went...

 

I'm not sure what games you've played, but the ones that I played and scripted in (Arma, DCS: World) Do have proper wiki's with descriptions regarding what calls / functions / etc does what. So you could say I'm used to seeing documentation

 

Someone can explain me why this programmable block's script crash and generate a "system memory violation" in Space Engineers 32 bit or a zero matrix in 64 bit ?

Code:

void Main()
{
    List<IMyTerminalBlock> panels = new List<IMyTerminalBlock>();
    GridTerminalSystem.GetBlocksOfType<IMyTextPanel>(panels);
    IMyTextPanel screen = (IMyTextPanel)panels[0];
    IMyMotorStator block = (IMyMotorStator)GridTerminalSystem.GetBlockWithName("Test");
    Matrix matrix = new Matrix();  
    block.Orientation.GetMatrix(out matrix);
    screen.WritePublicText(MatrixToString( matrix));
    screen.ShowPublicTextOnScreen();
}
public string MatrixToString(Matrix matrix)
{
    return string.Format("{0:0.0} {1:0.0} {2:0.0} {3:0.0}\n{4:0.0} {5:0.0} {6:0.0} {7:0.0}\n{8:0.0} {9:0.0} {10:0.0} {11:0.0}\n{12:0.0} {13:0.0} {14:0.0} {15:0.0}", 
        matrix.M11, matrix.M12, matrix.M13, matrix.M14,
        matrix.M21, matrix.M22, matrix.M23, matrix.M24,
        matrix.M31, matrix.M32, matrix.M33, matrix.M34,
        matrix.M41, matrix.M42, matrix.M43, matrix.M44);
}

 

Element properties on matrices (.M11,etc) and vectors (.X,.Y,etc) are known to not work. Use the GetDim() function for vectors and GetRow() plus the previous for matrices.

Both matrix and vector have ToString() methods, use those for debugging output.

 

is not a problem of function... same issue for all struct get by classes, seem game lost memory pointer of struct, so when i stamp, it write always zero values.
GetRow, GetCol, etc... use a unsafe function with a fixed pointer inside it, is a possible reason ?
Example for this code return only row1 and don't write other vectors , if i run another time game crash.
In 64 bit version don't crash but return alway zero values.

Code:

void Main()
{
    List<IMyTerminalBlock> panels = new List<IMyTerminalBlock>();
    GridTerminalSystem.GetBlocksOfType<IMyTextPanel>(panels);
    IMyTextPanel screen = (IMyTextPanel)panels[0];
    IMyMotorStator block = (IMyMotorStator)GridTerminalSystem.GetBlockWithName("Test");
    Matrix matrix = new Matrix();  
    block.Orientation.GetMatrix(out matrix);
    
    Vector4 v0 = matrix.GetRow(0);
    Vector4 v1 = matrix.GetRow(1);
    Vector4 v2 = matrix.GetRow(2);
    Vector4 v3 = matrix.GetRow(3);
    
    screen.WritePublicText(v0.ToString()+"\n");
    screen.WritePublicText(v1.ToString()+"\n");
    screen.WritePublicText(v2.ToString()+"\n");
    screen.WritePublicText(v3.ToString()+"\n");
    
    screen.ShowPublicTextOnScreen();
}

Log :

Orientation properties is a [FONT= &#39]public struct MyBlockOrientation

But work in some other case like [/FONT]Position , Min, Max etcc...

 

WritePublicText() overwrites (not appends) by default, so you will only see the value of v3 after that code runs.

As for your crash, I'm confused how it could crash in "Program.MatrixToString" when you have no call to that there.

I can say that I have personally used every function call and property you use in that (your most recent) code without incident. In particular, I can say that MyBlockOrientation.GetMatrix() works fine (although it may not do what you expect it to).

---

I can't say for sure what causes these problems, though my guess would the editing Keen does to make in-game scripting safer. From what I've seen so far, functions/methods are generally safe (I can tell you for a fact that GetRow() works). Properties are hit-or-miss (Matrix.Left, .Forward work, but .Up doesn't give the expected results). Fields (such as Matrix.M11 or Vector3.X) almost never work (give garbage values in 64bit or crash in 32bit).

 

sorry, i put another code...

but yes, for me crash sometime, not always:

Code:

block[COLOR= #666600].[/COLOR][COLOR= #660066]Orientation.Left[/COLOR]

work but

Code:

block[COLOR= #666600].[/COLOR][COLOR= #660066]Orientation.Forward[/COLOR]

Not, first time return empty value, second time crash.

 

Yes, these fit with what I said too. "Orientation.Forward" is a field, so I would expect it not to work. "Orientation.Left" is a property, so it shouldn't crash and it may work (I haven't personally tested it).

I am a C++ guy, not a C# guru (first time I touched it was about 6 months ago), so I can't tell you for certain what's going on. If I had to guess, though, it's that properties are function calls under the hood. So when you use one, you are calling Keen's code and it works. When you access a field, generated code accesses it directly, and something in the way Keen is editing that code is causing it to not work properly (hence results that look like bad pointer accesses).

The only way around these (at the moment) is to keep looking for other ways to get what you want. For example, as I said Matrix.Up doesn't work but Matrix.Forward and Matrix.Left do. The workaround is that you can use a cross-product to get .Up from the other two.

 

i need only some working orientation data, matrix or direction is the same, but all ways fail. I'm waiting that dev release a new patch about mod api.

 

You'll be waiting a long time, as the dev's are glacially slow about patching anything related to the PB. The problem with switch statements was noted practically as soon as the PB was released, and we only just got a fix, 3.5 months later.

Here are some examples of working with blocks' orientation: 1 & 2. Both have been verified working in-game (single player, 64bit) by me (and presumably others).

A warning though: If you think that MyCubeBlock.Orientation will tell you how a block is oriented in the world then you'll be disappointed. All it does is say how the block is oriented on the local grid. You have to do quite a bit more work to find out it's world orientation (see 2 above).

 

Hello Textor,
I'm not sure if you already noticed that... Seems that all tables you created in your first posts in this thread were not correctly migrated to the new Forum Software.
Instead showing tables I see the pure html code - it's not readable...
Your table was a great help for ingame scripting! But now I cannot use it any more...
Or is it only me having this problem...?