40d:How do I construct a wall from a particular direction

It often happens that you need to construct a wall, but your dwarf insists on standing on the wrong side of it during construction, trapping himself. To prevent this, do the following:

For v0.27.176.38c

1. Pause the game (spacebar)
2. Open the Build menu (b)
3. Select the Walls/Floors/Stairs submenu (C)
4. Select wall (w)
5. Build the wall in the location where you do not want the dwarf to stand
6. Open the Set Building Tasks/Prefs menu (q)
7. Move over this wall that you have specified to be built
8. Suspend it (s)
9. Build your other object (wall, floodgate, etc.) like normal
10. Resume the game (spacebar)
11. Wait for this other object to be fully constructed
12. Open the Set Building Tasks/Prefs menu (q)
13. Move over the suspended wall
14. Cancel its construction (x)

This does not work in all situations; sometimes you cannot specify that you want a wall built in a certain location due to what is already built there. Specifying other structures instead of a wall may work, if any of them are permitted.

For earlier versions

1. open the Designate menu (d)
2. select Set Traffic Areas (o)
3. press (r) to select "Restricted Traffic Area"
4. designate the squares you don't want the dwarf to stand on.

Now, he won't stand there while building the wall. You can optionally remove the designation after the wall is built.

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