Game mode: private online
Type of issue: bug
Server type: PvE-Conflict
**Region:**America
I am building my home at F7 near/in the river but I recently discovered that some foundation or wall don’t seem to work properly. By that I mean that even if my base is only 2 walls high, that all my walls are fulls and that I don’t have windows, I still don’t get the full ‘‘shelter’’ effect. It is quite annoying when it lead me to heard the rather loud noise of the river even behind my double wall.
Hey there @drouinfrank
Welcome to our community.
To achieve the full shelter effect you should see if there is any opening in the roof that could lead to this problem.
You have a door though. Doors have been an issue since launch. You will never get full shelter while standing near a door either. This might not be your problem but it will contribute.
Rocks pocking trough foundations or walls also affect shelter. Same if you use a rock or cliff as wall.
And like said, doors. Usualy i get full shelter while standing a bit far from my door, even better without any windows.
But ever with some spare windows here and there, there still places inside i get full shelter, sure not all the surface.
I am positive that there are no hole in my roof (made of square ceiling) or walls, my base is currently a big box and i made sure to cover everything. Worse, i made it like an onion, with 2 layer of walls with no window and nothing change. Even when in the middle of my base, i still dont get the full ‘‘shelter’’ effect, far away from door, wall or anything. Yet, if i move 2 inch, on the same foundation, i suddently get the full shelter effect. This happen on multiple foundations inside my base and I dont know why. I will add pictures once I can.
I dont think my door are the problem here, i often stand far away from them, in the middle of my base and still dont get the full ‘‘shelter’’. And like I said, my base has multiple layer so normally It shouldn’t do that, my older base was build in the same style and never had any problems.
Still, thank you for your help.
I made sure not to use any part of the terrain as wall or foundation, all my base is fully made by me. I experimented with removing the doors and window but to no avail, the problem seem to lie in the foundation or the ‘‘shelter’’ detection.
Thank you for your help.
So maybe a location issue.
You could test this on singleplayer using admin-mod, and redo the same base, on same, and different location.
Like said, i don’t experiment any issue with shelters as long i respect some rules described above.
I think I just figured out why it is doing this, I logged today and saw a huge boulder right on the spot of where I can’t get the full ‘‘shelter’’ effect. After 2 secondes it disappeared and my base was back to normal but maybe that explain it. Maybe some of the rocks and boulders that I am blocking the spawn with my foundation don’t properly disappear and lead the server/game to think there is no foundation there.
Glad you got a hint, yes, it may be the location itself. This can happen.
Like said previously, i have mostly full shelter in all my bases if i care a bit about. Just standing in and nearby doors change it slightly. This is simply related to doors, and how they act.
But ever with windows, i can manage have good parts of my base with full shelter-effect.
Anyway, it’s the first levels, then once you have sandstorm mask, you have to care less about.
Built yesterday a new 3 stories base in the north near Skyholme, and have full shelter everywhere.
But i agree, rocks especially near or under some cliffs may be tricky. 
I happened across the same effect from building too large a shelter. IIRC it took 9 support beams to stabilize the third floor ceiling, but I do not recall the dimensions in blocks.
Standing in the center of the room gave no shelter at all; neither edges nor anywhere else was I completely protected, only partially. I spend an hour back and forthing to no avail.
My hypothesis is that the structure was so large the system ‘read’ it as an open area.
Could it be too large?
In my case it did not matter, since a few days later it was offline purged down to the ground, with a full set of equipment in it. They did not miss one stone 
Lesson learned here.
Regards
jim
Sure, to big don’t give you full shelter effect mostly.
The best thing to achive shelter, is a simple cube, simple 1 wall hight, covered by ceilings, no windows.
Two walls hight still work fine. Windows will alter it. So be carefull if you want full shelter and including windows. You can have some, well placed, and it doenst’ affect shelter. Have that in most bigger bases, upstair more.
Doors are still the weak part. Standing near doors, or in doorframes will diminish the shelter-effect. That’s how doors work in this game.
Roofs that don’t have ceilings just under it, may also if bigger alter the shelter-effect. The bigger the worser.
Support beams are more deco than effectif, i don’t never relay on them for my base stability. They may look pretty, but that’s mostly for me. Maybe why i don’t barely never have issue with my bases with holes in them, or missing part. Stability is hyper important, so still check with repair-hammer when building.
I took @Vattende’s advice the next time I built a large structure, (s)he mentioned it in another, earlier post.
Built a room within the building the dimensions mentioned, found the sweet spot with 100% coverage, stripped all possessions placing them in a chest and logged off next to the bed. It worked.
Not saying this is your solution; there may very well be other forces at work, but it’s simple enough to try.
Please let us know what happens, we’re rooting for you ! (American version, not British)
Regards
jim
Thanks everybody for sharing your findings. We’ll send note to our QA so they can see if this is an isolated issue or something else.