Over the past few years, 7 Days to Die has seen numerous major updates, each one adding new features that almost make it unrecognizable from its original state upon release back in 2013. But the most impressive of these recent updates has to be the inclusion of the frame shape blocks.
The frame shape blocks completely overhauled the game’s building system, making it one of the most interesting 7 Days to Die updates to date.
But with this new system in place, it left a lot of veteran players confused, as there is no clear guidance on how to change block shapes and no mention of this in the game’s fairly short tutorial.
Once you have mastered the block shapes, it opens up the possibility of creating brand-new base designs, that are more impressive than anything you could build before, as well as saving space in your inventory by having all building blocks under one item, the frame shape.
7DTD Frame Shapes
How Do You Change a Wood Frame Shape in 7 Days to Die?
As before you need to create a wooden frame, however, these are now called Frame Shapes and come with the added benefit of being able to be shaped into tons of different shapes before being placed and built.
Once you have created your frame shapes, place them into your Hotbar and highlight them, before placing them down press and hold the R button.
Now you should see a radial menu, click on the top one, called shapes, this will open up the shapes menu, allowing you to access tons of new shapes to convert your frame into.
Once you have opened the frame shapes menu, you can filter by type, search and find tons of different shapes that will allow you to build a completely unique base.
Just choose the shape you want to start with, click on it and exit the shapes menu. Now any frame you place down will follow that shape until you change it again.
After you have placed the frame shape block, you will notice that the frames no longer look how they used to, they now look like solid wood, but they do still need filling in, the same as before.
With the inclusion of the shapes menu, there are now tons of new frames to choose from, including stairs, furniture, railings, pillars, and much more, allowing players much more creative freedom with their base designs.
Other Frame Shape Blocks in 7DTD
You may have also noticed that many of the old-shaped building blocks are no longer in the crafting menu, this is because you can now access the shapes menu from prebuilt blocks, such as the Cobblestone block.
Simply craft the relevant block, hold down the R button, and open the shapes menu to choose the correct shape that you want to add.
How to Upgrade Wood Frames in 7 Days to Die
Once you have mastered the 7DTD shape blocks, you will need to upgrade the wooden frames. Upgrading frames go in stages, starting with wood and ending with the most solid material in-game, steel.
To upgrade wood frames in 7 Days to Die you will need to make sure you have enough wood, and a tool such as a stone axe, hammer, or nail gun. With your wood in your inventory and your tool equipped, simply hold down the right mouse button, while focusing on the wooden frame and it will start upgrading.
You will see a little progress bar that will show you that the frame block is being upgraded. This is the same progress bar when upgrading a solid block to the next level too.
Once you have upgraded your wooden frame into solid wood, you will be able to continue reinforcing it using wood, iron, cobblestones, and more, each one making it stronger than the last.
Depending on which tool you use, will determine the speed at which your blocks upgrade. The slowest tool is the stone axe, and the quickest is the nail gun. When upgrading a larger base, you will want to try and obtain either a claw hammer or nail gun to increase the speed at which you can upgrade blocks.
7 Days to Die Frame Blocks FAQs
You’ll need to collect 10 pieces of wood in order to craft a Wood Frame. It takes 2.5 seconds to craft the frame block. If you decide you no longer want the Wood Block, you can scrap it into Wood Frames.
Yes, you can use them as a source of combustible fuel in 7 Days to Die.
Although Wood Blocks are helpful in creating a basic starting base, it’s not recommended to use them during the Blood Moon Horde since they aren’t tough enough to sustain much damage.
No, the frame shape is a way of designing your base with more detail than ever before, but they do not have much durability and would be broken in seconds by just a single zombie.
To upgrade a placed frame shape block, simply equip a flint axe, hammer or any other construction tool and right click whilst looking at the frame shape block.
