Edit comment: I made an arithmetic error, a logic error and typo on the logic error!! These change my very limited conclusions. I used a strikethrough to indicate material that I am changing, and bold for material I am adding. Thanks Devilin Pixie for bringing them to my attention.
Longish
I must say that Devilin Pixie has done some great investigating on the subject of terrain manipulation. I don’t know if my contribution will help or just muddy the waters, but will share anyway.
Most of what I have to report is from only using the Terrain Manipulator ™ as opposed to placing building elements that remove terrain.
I started with a save file that had my three bases and the remains of a deleted base. By remains I mean the depressions in the ground left by building elements. This included excavation under water. Two of the remaining bases are minimal with no terrain removed/displaced, the third had quite a bit, including using the TM to remove overhanging rock after flattening with wooden floor pieces. I’ll call the Edits under TerrainEditData from the save file for this first case Save_1.
Almost all the 15,000 entries were used. There may have been 30 -50 that were “Data”:0, “Position”:0. I don’t know for sure but I think the two zeros mean no-action. I have seen non zero Data with zero for Position though.
OK, at my big base I went through several full reloads of the TM, blasting out canyons and tunnels. Some action was inside the base boundary, but most was not. I inspected the rest of the base afterward and so no changes to other than what I had just made with the TM. This included where I had mined copper and phosphorous. I teleported back to the minimal base that was placed near the deleted base. I traveled the few hundred units back and saw no obvious changes. The depressions from the buildings were still in the ground, and terrain that had been blasted out with the TM had not come back. I should mention that even prior to all this, the underwater terrain that had been removed, mainly with the TM but some with building placement, had regenerated to some extent. That initial regeneration seems to have stopped though.
After all the TM use I took the Edit data from Save_1 and from Save_2 and put it into an Excel spreadsheet. 60,000 lines! Eventually I was able to get it down to 15,000 lines with “Data”: in one column and “Position” in another column. So now I had four columns of data, two for Save_1 and two for Save_2. About the first 550 lines were identical in both sets, while most of the entries had been shuffled. That is, I might find identical “Data”: and “Position”: entries but on line 673 in Save_1 and line 721 in Save_2. I then had Excel tell me how many entries were the same even if they were on different lines. Of the 15,000 entries in Save_1 there were 13,556 that were the same in Save_2. That is 1,444 changes. Recall that I reloaded the TM several times. That is several hundred pieces of terrain removed. I think more than the 444 difference. Of course, I have been to other planets where I used the TM. I couldn’t remember where those were so perhaps changes took place there.
The last case that I’ll call Save_3 involved going back to the deleted base area and again blasting away a few hundred bits of terrain with the TM. I carved a channel from one side of a peninsula to another and was able to swim all the way. I went back to my big base and could not see any obvious changes. When I compared the edits from Save_3 to Save_2, I came up with 12,096 entries that were the same. I have not yet compared Save_3 with Save_1. The 2,904 1,406 that were different may all be accounted by TM use. Actually 2,904 1,406 is larger than the number of times I used the TM. I should carefully keep track of the number of TM shots taken as well as size.
I saved and exited the game after the last TM blasting and came back a few hours later. The channel carved across the peninsula had slightly regenerated. I could not swim all the way through. Still, no obvious changes at my big base.
In conclusion, I don’t think I’ve learned too much except that how Hello Games saves changes is not obvious. If I subtract the smallest “Position”: value (negative) from the largest “Position”: value I get a number very close to 2^32 (two to the 32 power). This suggest that “Position”: may mean the location in an in-game data file, not some “physical” location in the game world. Those all seem to be x, y, z types. I don’t really have a guess for what the 256 different “Data”: stand for.
It may be that as one removes multiple pieces of terrain that are all contiguous, then only the data defining the excavated edges is saved, not all the pieces that were individually removed. That would certainly be more memory efficient.
Before all of the above I took a save file and systematically started replacing Edit entries with “Data”:0 and “Position”:0. The first set was for “Data”:127 and I couldn’t see any effect. However, eventually it became pretty obvious as I partially filled in bio-domes and partially buried other items.
I’m not particularly interested in game design, although a bit curious. What I was hoping was to figure out what I could delete from the Edit entries that would free up space. I am not much closer to that goal.
Finally, I find the terrain regeneration pretty annoying. Trees and minerals regenerating is fine, but when terrain comes back and blocks underwater entry into a building, then that turns me off from a game that I have about 600 hours invested in. So, please Hello Games, either allow MUCH bigger saves (my computer can handle save files much larger than 3MB) or make the editing more understandable in terms of what terrain is going to return. Actually I would appreciate both.
I have been tempted to do some testing with the TM, to see if these edits would eventually result in changes to terrain edits caused by base building parts. I doubt this is the case and it would require a very large amount of TM edits to be made. Considering each TM edit, only results in a single entry, it would likely require more than 5000 edits to be made, before possibly seeing a result. I do however assume that TM edits will eventually overwrite (loopback) already existing TM edits made, based on some sort of stored ‘age’. It is also possible that TM edits will ‘age’ regardless. Based on my observations, both may actually happen at the same time. TM edits basically ageing regardless of the amount of TM edits stored, while overwriting existing TM edits once their max amount of 5k is reached, starting with the oldest entry.
I really appreciate the effort you put into testing. Your conclusions do seem to indicate that TM edits have no effect on the stored edits caused by base building parts. Do however keep in mind, that it would likely require at least 5k TM edits before you can expect any result/change. From the total amount of stored edits (15k), 10k is reserved for base building edits.
Let me try to go over your results and give my thoughts on it:
You start with your default case for Save_1, which you can then compare with additional changes made in future saves. It would be easy to calculate how many edits this first save actually has. To calculate this amount, simply add all the values you find in ‘BufferSizes’. The result would be the total amount of edits made, both base edits and TM edits.
The fact that ‘Edits’ shows entries with ‘Data:0’ and ‘Position:0’, doesn’t necessarily mean this doesn’t count as an actual edit, although very rare. In general yes, as ‘non’-edits always have this as the default values, but there can actually be true edits having these values as well. If you look at my post here, you can see that ‘Data:0’ can actually be a TM edit for deletion of terrain using the small size. As you have noticed, there are indeed ‘Data:X’ values with ‘Position:0’. Similarly there can be a ‘Data:0’ with ‘Position:0’ for a TM edit having used the small size deletion.
The ‘Edits’ does indeed always have the exact amount of 15,000 entries, whether those are actual edits or not. Your first test included a lot of TM edits to then check the changes in ‘Edits’. You then had your sheet sorted and compared results where ‘Edits’ data was still identical. I think you then made a mistake in calculating how many were different, as 15,000-13,556=1,444 instead of 444.
In test two, you conclude 12,096 entries being the same with 1,406 being different. I am not sure how you calculated this. I would think you are supposed to take the total amount of entries (15k) and subtract the amount of the same entries, to then get the amount of entries that are different. I would expect this to be 2,904 between save2 and save3. Either way, would love to hear how you calculated the differences.
To conclude my thoughts on both your tests, I would normally expect the amount of ‘same’ entries to have grown, at least until you reach any limits (15k). Instead the amount of identical entries is less in your test. I assume you have reached limits, causing overwrites of previously stored data. This could make sense when it comes to TM edits, as I have yet to see Base edits being overwritten. Your totals do of course include both TM edits and Base edits, making it a bit harder to draw any conclusions.
In your test(s), it would have been good to know if you had already reached the ‘Base Edit Limit’ or not. It would have also been wise to check the results against these ‘Base Edits’, to see if they remain the same, to then be able to fully understand what happens with the TM edits. If these Base Edits would remain the same across the board, it leaves you with a whole lot less data to work with.
Another complication is the fact you use an existing save, where loads of edits have already been made. Not having any clear counts on Base and TM edits to start with, makes it hard to see/understand what is going on. In your case, it requires a good understanding of the indexed arrays used, as well as knowing the ‘unique’ data found for TM edits. You have only focused on the actual ‘Edits’ and changes within that part alone. Understanding how the different arrays within ‘TerrainEdits’ are used and linked with each other would have helped you understand better.
Let me try explain how all this data is interlinked with each other and how you can at least draw some additional conclusions to help you with understanding what is going on.
It all starts with ‘TerrainEdits’ of course, which consists of multiple indexed arrays, each with a specific set amount of entries:
“GalacticAddresses” (256)
“BufferSizes” (256)
“BufferAges” (256)
“BufferAnchors” (256)
“Edits”, containing (15,000)
The 1st entry in GalacticAddresses is linked with the 1st entry of BufferSizes, linked with the 1st entry of BufferAges, linked with the 1st entry BufferAnchors, and linked with a multiple of entries in Edits. The amount of Edits linked is specified by BufferSizes. Lets say BufferSizes = 10, then these are the first 10 entries in Edits.
The 2nd entry in GalacticAddresses is linked with the 2nd entry of BufferSizes, linked with the 2nd entry of BufferAges, linked with the 2nd entry of BufferAnchors, and linked with a multiple of entries in Edits. Once again, the amount of Edits is specified by BufferSizes. Lets say this entry for BufferSizes=5, then the entries linked in Edits, start at entry 11 and end at entry 15. These entries in Edits, are always followed after the 1st set of entries.
Now lets assume we continue from the above examples. We have 2 entries in each of the arrays, but in Edits we have 15 entries total. We now make an edit with the TM, which will only add one new entry in Edits. Depending on our location in the universe, we may get a new entry in the other arrays. If we make the TM edit in already existing location entries, no new entries will be created in the arrays, only inside Edits. However, the value of one of the BufferSizes will increase by 1.
If this location was identical to the first 1st of the other arrays, then the 1st entry for BufferSizes will increase by 1, making it 11 total. Basically the Edit entry will be ‘inserted’, moving the other 5 entries in Edits one position down. The other 5 entries in Edits, will now start at entry 12 and end at entry 16.
If this location was identical to the 2nd entries of the other arrays, then the 2nd entry for BufferSizes will increase by 1, making it 6 total. Now the Edit entry will be added after the initial 10 entries for the 1st series of Edits. The last 6 entries in Edits, will then start at entry 11 and end at entry 16.
If this location was not identical to any of the first 2 entries in the other arrays, you will see a 3rd entry being created in the other arrays. The 3rd entry for BufferSizes will have a value of 1. Checking the Edits, you will see a new entry at 16, after the initial 10 and 5 entries of the other series.
This is basically how it works with the TerrainEdits and the indexed arrays inside. We know what some of the arrays actually mean of course. So lets say you wanted to clean up edits made by a base you deleted on a specific planet, you can likely figure it out. Unless of course you still have other bases on that same planet. Also worth to note, that not always does it use a hex representation of the planet for a GalacticAdresses entry. I have noticed it can also use a regional representation. You can check the save file elsewhere to try figure out what a specific GalacticAdresses entry could possibly represent. If this entry is unique and makes sense to you, you can go from there and make changes to ‘reset’ TerrainEdits data.
Making specific changes to reset TerrainEdits, still requires more work than just trying to figure out the location. Even if you are sure you found the ‘correct’ Edits, you still need to alter some other entries as well. Just changing the Edits ‘Data’ and ‘Position’ back to 0, is not enough. These entries are still linked with the other arrays. If you wish to reset for example 10 entries from a specific GalacticAddresses location, that entry needs to be reset to 0, but you have to shift all the other entries in that array as well, unless it was conveniently stored as the last value. You then have to alter the BufferSizes to match the change made. Once again, shifting the data in the array as required. The same goes for the other arrays, making changes and shifting entries as needed.
Lastly I want to explain how you can figure out how many ‘Edits’ you actually have for Base Building and TM specifically. From my research, it became clear how TM edits always result in a single entry, but also with a specific ‘Data’ value in ‘Edits’. These ‘Data’ values appear to never be used when placing down a building part. We know we can calculate the total amount of Edits for both TM and base building, by adding all the values from BufferSizes. There are actually some online tools to easily calculate the sum of the BufferSizes array.
You can find the specific ‘Data’ values for the TM in my post here. Knowing this, we can separate TM edits from base building edits. Using the same save I used above, I count 3,717 edits made by the TM. Subtracting this from 15,000 = 11,283 edits made by base building. Worth to note that I found 2 entries with ‘Data:0 and Position:0’, so these may be ‘empty’ entries or a rare TM edit as mentioned before.
Something doesn’t add up though, as 10k is the limit for base building, right? Well, … this is one of the reasons why I believe that this ‘limit’ had changed when The Abyss released. This, together with all of a sudden having reached the limit, while I knew I had not yet reached it prior to this last update. The above results are from my main save by the way, which was created fresh with the release of NEXT. The same is possibly the case in your testing results, knowing you used an already existing save. Clearly something has changed with the last update, or else my existing main save would not have been able to contain well over 10k edits for base editing data.
I used a brand new ‘creative’ save in my research, to not obfuscate my results. For some reason, I am not able to have more than 10k edits caused by base building (give or take a few). Any building part added after this Base Build Limit has been reached, will not result in additional/new entries.
I am more or less done doing research though. I know enough and it is time consuming. However, I would love to know if TM edits possibly affect the stored data. I still have quite a few unanswered questions left for that matter.
What is the limit of TM edits, 5k or more?
Do TM edits at some point overwrite existing data? If so, when and which data?
Can TM edits reduce your base building limit if you have more than 5k before you reach 10k for base building?
With well over 10k base building edits, due to having an older save, is the amount of TM edits limited to less than 5k? Is this going to cause issues in any way?
What happens if we manage to create more than 256 entries in some of the arrays?
For example visiting over 256 planets to use the TM once on each?
Is this reason for the X/8 count to be a valid base, or the part count limit in general?
I can probably think of more questions and I can certainly get them answered if I really want to. I could automate a lot of it, or even turn it into a mod with some further research. I personally just don’t feel like it … I do appreciate your effort to dive in and I hope my research has been useful for that matter. I am however not sure if I should encourage you to continue your research, even though I am curious about additional results
I think our goals have been quite similar in trying to figure out if we can easily make some edits to free up our limit. My conclusion has been that this is certainly possible, however not easily done and very time consuming. If anything, edit it all back to default/‘zero’ in all arrays, or delete it all, hoping for it to be re-built. You’ll be faster fixing it in-game once all terrain edits are gone, than attempting to manually correct entries where wished for. In the mean time we wait for someone who is willing to create said mod, or for HG to come up with their solution to our problem. Not even sure which is more likely to happen, but the former is a waste of my time though
I did a new test, where I have a brand new ‘creative’ save, in which I had only used Cuboid Rooms to reach the Build Edit Limit. There were 10,004 entries for those Cuboid Rooms with Data:79. I actually deleted this base, to then claim it again with the ‘magic’ Base Computer that appeared. So all the Cuboid Rooms are gone, leaving a huge gaping hole. Yet my limit is still reached and the data is still persistent. The only entries that existed in this save, were the Base edits caused by the Cuboid Rooms. No other Edit entries existed until I started this test.
I wanted to find out what happened if I used the TM to create new entries (Data:32) and reach the 15k limit. The results are interesting to say the least. It may explain quite a lot when it comes to what players experience in-game.
I first did only a few TM edits to see if the Base edits would change. These Base edits did however remain unaltered. The only new entries being added were the TM edits as expected. Knowing this, I sped up altering the terrain with the TM, until I got close to 4,996 of them, to not exceed the 15,000 total edits. The Base edits remained unaltered, all the way to 4,996 TM edits, making the total edits of both 15,000.
Once I reached this 15,000 limit, I made a single TM edit (Data:32) to see what happened. To my surprise, the Base edits was now reduced by 1, making it a total of 10,003 (Data:79). So that single TM edit after reaching the total limit of 15,000, replaced a Base edit, finally altering the Base edit data!
I then decided to change the size of the TM to use Data:96 instead, to be able to get a better understanding of which entries get replaced. The result was not quite what I expected it to be. The more TM edits I made, the more Base edits appeared to be replaced. However, not always did an additional TM edit result in a replacement of a Base edit. Instead, some of the previously made TM edits with Data:32 were replaced as well.
After reaching the 15,000 total edits, I used TM edit with Data:32 only once. I used TM edit with Data:96 for a total of 72 times. Only 28 Base edits had been overwritten, while the remaining amount had overwritten the TM edits with Data:32. The Base edits now totalled 9976, which is below 10k.
With the Base edits now below 10k, I checked my building menu. Yup, no longer had I reached the limit according to the indicator. Placing a building part now altered the terrain again! So there is a way to get your limit back again! Do keep in mind though, that those Base edits no longer were part of an actual base, as I did delete it before this test.
I have no idea what would happen if these Base edits were actually still part of an existing base. One can guess though … likely explaining how some players notice terrain growing back!
Also keep in mind that I now have over 5k of TM edits, but these do appear to get replaced by Base edits again. I placed two Wooden Small Floors, to have reached the limit again. I do however find it odd, that these two parts resulted in exactly 10k again, apparently using 10,000-9976=24 edits for both small floors. In earlier tests, I used Wooden Small Floors to only result in about 4 edits each to level the terrain, so 24 edits for two or 12 each seems a bit much. Not quite sure how that works …
So Base edits appear to have priority, until you reach the max of 10k, overwriting TM edits if needed. TM edits will overwrite any edits once the limit of 15k is reached, but the rules for this are not yet clear to me. Whether these TM edits will overwrite Base edits of bases still in use, is unclear, but can possibly be assumed. One would think ageing plays a role, but in this test, that doesn’t really make sense. All of the Base edits were older than any of the TM edits that followed, so why are those not always the first ones to be overwritten again?
Oh well … this was fun, I guess … back to waiting on a proper fix
PS: If anyone is interested in checking the TerrainEdits data from this test, let me know. I have several saves (.txt) with just the TerrainEdits data, from the important stages during this test.
@DevilinPixiy: Thank you for taking the time to read my post and catching the errors. To the extent possible I have corrected them. You were right on all counts.
I am still digesting all the info you presented in this post, specifically how l the arrays relate to each other. That info is well beyond what I had figured out.
I think you have convinced me to let HG figure out a solution (or not). In the meantime I’ll go back to an earlier save before I started all the TM testing and carry on. It’s a great game but this aspect is definitely frustrating at times.
To create ‘strike-through’, use either BBCode or Markup/HTML:
[s]strikethrough[/s]strikethrough
Works with multi-line as well, unless there is an empty line.
<s>strikethrough</s>strikethrough
Works with multi-line, regardless of empty lines.
I was more than happy to read your test results and certainly not bothered by any possible mistakes made. I am sure I may have made mistakes too, or made assumptions that turned out wrong. In the end it is the knowledge we gained from the research that matters, a puzzle pretty much solved. I doubt if I would have even done that last test if it wasn’t for your post. It made me realise how TM edits could likely be overwriting ‘any’ edits once some limit was reached. I had always expected TM edits to only overwrite themselves.
I am personally fascinated and intrigued by figuring out how some mechanics actually work. In this case we have only worked with the resulting data in an attempt to draw conclusions. I am sure there is more to it though, but this requires to dive into the source code that generates the terrain edit data. Too bad there is no quick and easy solution, but I am more than satisfied with knowing what the heck is actually happening
There is indeed a lot of info in this topic to digest and understand, as we slowly unraveled this mechanic. You’re more than welcome to ask any questions.
Just found that my Legacy Save has suddenly turned to maxed-out terrain edits.
On top of that, all old edits have vanished so all structures at every one of my bases are blended into the ground now.
So I now have maxed edits but nothing to show for it? I don’t mind though because I think the natural blend look is nicer than the chunky excavated look.
I just dont understand why it suddenly just maxed out with only a few ground disturbances??? Weird?!
Exact same thing happened to me when abyss hit, I know you had taken a break from your legacy for a while so wondering if that’s why it’s only just happened to you now?
As devilinpixys research has shown us, deleting old bases does not reset your current base terrain edits even though it should. Seems to be a bug they may not be too aware of or are currently working on (they mentioned something about working on a better system a while back during patch notes).
I assume you had not played your legacy save since The Abyss update?
I started the extensive research on Terrain Edits, mainly because I noticed how my limit was all of a sudden reached with The Abyss update. Prior to this update, I was sure I had not yet reached the limit. I have concluded that 10k is the limit for edits made by base building in a new save. However, I have also found out that my save from before the update, contains well over 10k edits for base building parts. This is proof for the limit having changed, as base edits are no longer saved once the 10k limit is reached. I would have to guess what this limit used to be, but I strongly believe they changed it from 15k to 10k.
I am still not sure what triggers a terrain reset. One would expect that saved edits are supposed to be respected, at least for Build Edits. It seems like in your case, this is clearly not the case. I do believe that TM edits will eventually grow back regardless though.
We do know that new edits, once the 15k limit is reached, will start to overwrite existing edits. If you have reached the building edits limit of 10k, new Build Edits will not be saved, so only TM edits will then be saved and start overwriting other edits of either type, once 15k total edits is reached.
This basically means, that with the TM, we can theoretically overwrite all the edits available, including all the Base Edits. This WILL eventually change/reduce your Build Edit Limit as well, as Base Edits get overwritten by TM edits. In theory, by using the TM 15000 times, you would have no Base Edits left, freeing up your Build Edit limit to 10k again.
However, it appeared we are being punished for freeing up the Build Edit Limit this way. As once I placed new building parts again, they stored quite a few more edits than they did before. For a small floor tile, instead of the ±4 edits it used to save when flattening the ground, it now used ±12 edits instead…
Yes, those edits remain stored and can only be overwritten by new edits made with the TM once reaching the 15k total limit. I do however think that HG is aware by now, considering the fact they must have looked into it with their promise to make changes to this system.
@Mad-Hatter: Too bad you are actually playing on PS4, or else I would have suggested to delete all stored data for the TerrainEdits with a save editor. Considering all terrain has returned, it makes no sense to have that data anymore, which is now limiting you instead.
I don’t have all my Abyss base modules yet, but I’ve been working on another lower-profile base with no terrain edits.
Does anyone know if it is possible to create a Nautilon Chamber with no terrain edits? It does not allow me to place it on a wood, metal, or concrete platform like the other vehicle geobays, even when those platforms are under water. Is there another way to place it, so that it does not edit the seabed?
Of note, my overall base terrain edits rose from about 3/4 to maximum with the lastest update, although no terrain has been edited. Oddly, when I logged in this morning, my starship was sitting in a crash site. It was undamaged, and my signature was still on the title, but it otherwise looked like a crashed ship. I swear I’ve never been a drunk flier, but I fear reality is changing under our feet.
So what I did was build a room off that corridor where the pad is, then another underneath it, destroyed the top one and placed the pad - and then destroyed the bottom room. I had enough height so that it didn’t alter the terrain
Since the Abyss update I have encountered base issues previously mentioned. When making the mission base to build the Nautilon Pad I immediately see “base not up-loadable” and no base terrain edits left. My home planet has a very large wooden home that leads into underground tech centers using the original base parts. I never experienced much of an issue except occasional lag but now, it is quite troublesome I get some serious frame drops and have come to the conclusion I may have to remove the base piece by piece and start a new somewhere else. I absolutely was unaware at the time how the terrain edits functioned. I still am very excited to move forward and try making underwater base but. Stilts seems like the closest thing to a solution for terrain edits right now.
Yep, you can land and take off with the pads - it looks neat going either way, but my base is deep enough that I don’t see any landing circle - I just have to slow down and hit the landing button .
I have some good news to share on the TerrainEdit limit - at least for PC users of NMS. I wrote a program in Python that will recover edits based on Galactic Addresses. It took me a while to figure out how to do this, but now I would like someone to try it themselves. I have a standalone executable that requires two input files and outputs one file. None of this could have been done without the NMSSaveEditor that can be found on github. Thank you Brendon Matthews (GoatFungus) for creating that software. To will need NMSSaveEditor.
While the code has worked for me it might break under some circumstances that haven’t encountered yet. I am an amateur coder at best, and learned enough Python to write the code. Hence the need for a tester. DevelinPixy, are you interested? I don’t know if there is a private chat feature on this site or some other way to make contact. I’m not on Facebook.
To whet your appetite I have included some before and after pictures. I have three bases. One is pretty large (many bio-domes and terrain flattening etc). The other two are quite small and include little to no terrain edits. I deleted one other base that included quite a number of terrain edits from placing building objects as well as a large number of edits using the Terrain Manipulator. There were other edits that must have come from mining on various planets that I have long since forgotten about. I made no changes to the Edits of my three existing bases, but got rid of all the others.
The first picture was taken at one of my small bases to show how the Base Terrain Edit limit meter has changed. The other pictures shows the “recovery” of terrain at my deleted base.
Yes you can PM someone. Click on your icon in the upper right and click on the message icon. I am sure @DevilinPixy will be happy to know someone is working on this. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks sheralmyst. I figured it must be there someplace. I have PMd with DevilinPixy. When I get more confident that the code works for all cases I’ll post a link for anyone interested to access the program. I’ve had a few stumbles just on my own. At the moment it seems to be OK. More testing needed.
Another tip: if you place @ then begin to type a name, a list of names should come up allowing you to choose the name of the person. (saving you some typing) This will also notify the person they have been mentioned in a post.
