Blueprint Deconstruction Markers

Blueprints can add entities and replace what they overlap, but they cannot make a tile empty. If an upgrade blueprint needs to clear part of what is already built, you have to remember what to delete by hand, every single time.

This mod fixes that.

How it works

It adds a deconstruction marker: an item with no crafting recipe, which you place while authoring a blueprint on every tile whose contents should be removed.

When the blueprint is stamped with super-force build (Ctrl+Shift+Click):

1. The marker collides with whatever is on that tile, so the game marks that entity for deconstruction — this is vanilla super-force behavior.
2. The mod deletes the resulting marker ghost, so the marker itself is never built and never requests materials.

The blueprint clears those tiles. Nothing is left behind.

Usage

Authoring a blueprint

1. Press Alt+X, or click the marker button on the shortcut bar, to put a marker in your cursor.
2. Place markers on the tiles that should end up empty. The cursor refills, so you can place many in a row. Press Q when done — nothing is left in your inventory.
3. Select the area into a blueprint, markers included.
4. Remove the placed markers (mine them, or use a deconstruction planner). They yield no items.

Using the blueprint

Stamp it with super-force build (Ctrl+Shift+Click). Normal and force build will not remove anything — super-force is what performs the collision-based deconstruction.

Notes

• The marker item has no crafting recipe and exists only in the cursor — it never reaches an inventory or a logistic network, so robots never have one to build with.
• Sharing a blueprint with someone who does not have the mod is safe: Factorio silently drops unknown entities on import. Their copy behaves like a normal blueprint — it adds and replaces, but does not remove.
• Markers use the standard building collision mask, so they clear walls, turrets, assemblers, chemical plants and similar. Entities on other collision layers (rails, cliffs, resources) are not affected.