It is often necessary to combine same items (resources, build materials) together to make larger items for crafting, or turn partial items into whole items. Below I present three methods of combining items. I recommend learning all three methods as you will need them. Please read the whole page is there is important information that you need to know.
| Pro's | • Can combine items a player can't. For example, logs, planks and shafts. • Combines partials into whole items. |
| Con's | • While it does combine partials into whole items, it doesn't solve the issue of partial items completely. You will still have one partial item if there is any remainder after the combine. • Cannot be used to make an item larger than it normally is in kg (some, not all; example: lump). |
Many containers have a toggle setting that lets you switch between Sorted and Unsorted modes. Whatever mode you toggle a container to is the mode it will use from that point on, until it is toggled again.
Sorted mode sorts items by quality so that the quality of each item is preserved, resulting in many stacks of various qualities.
Unsorted mode sorts items in a single stack with an overall average quality. This average quality changes as you add items to the container. A low quality item will lower the average quality of the stack while a high quality item will raise the average quality of the stack.
There are many cases where an Unsorted container will have multiple stacks of the same resource, because the resource has more than one type. For example, consider that logs can come from ten different types of trees. Cedarwood and birchwood cannot be combined into one stack because there is no such thing as a generic wood type. Each wood type then will have its own averaged stack in the container.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Care should be taken when adding items to containers if you want to preserve the quality of your most valuable resources. If you forget to check the sort setting first you may drop items into a container set as Unsorted and find out later that your once high quality items have been averaged by mistake. Get in the habit of checking the sort status of a container first.
If you had enough partial items to equal one or more whole items (in kg), those whole items are now available to be pulled from the stack. Any remainder becomes a partial item at the bottom of the stack.
| Pro's | • Quick and easy. • Click a button. • Can be used to make an item larger than it normally is in kg (some, not all; example: lump). |
| Con's | • No control over quality averaging. • No control over the inheritance of properties. |
The crafting window (B) has two combine buttons. One next to each crafting slot. It is a little white icon with an upper and lower arrow pointing to a horizontal line.
Drag a stack of items to a crafting slot and click the combine button.
| Pro's | • Complete control. • Ensure inheritance of the correct properties. • Versatile. • You can use a Combine key bind with the inventory window. • Can be used to make an item larger than it normally is in kg (some, not all; example: lump). |
| Con's | • Clunky for the uninitiated. |
It has long been a standard that most software uses the control (CTRL) and shift (SHIFT) keys to select items.
| CTRL | • Lets you select individual items in any order. • To select items with the CTRL key, simply hold CTRL and left click the items you want to select, then release CTRL. You can select stacks or individual items within stacks, or individual items not in a stack. |
| SHIFT | • Lets you select items in sequential order. • To select items with the SHIFT key, left click the first item, hold SHIFT, then click the last item. All items from the first and last are selected. Release SHIFT. |