Sandustry Vertical Filters Guide – How to Make Filter Walls
Quick answer
Vertical Filters are not a separate building. Select a Filter, press R to switch placement/orientation mode, then use the wall form as a filter wall.
Quick answer: how to get vertical filters
Vertical Filters are not a separate Sandustry building. Unlock and select the normal Filter, then press R to cycle its placement mode/orientation until it becomes the wall-style vertical filter seen in screenshots.
If the build menu only shows “Filter,” nothing is missing. The confusing part is that the same building can be placed as a conveyor-style filter or as a wall/filter-barrier form.
Vertical Filter vs normal Filter
| Name players use | What it usually means | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Vertical Filter | Wall-form Filter | Select Filter and press R before placing |
| Filter Wall | Same wall-form Filter | Rotate or cycle placement mode |
| Wall Filter | Same wall-form Filter | Use the vertical placement mode |
| Normal Filter | Conveyor-style sorter | Place the Filter in its default mode |
Use both forms deliberately. Conveyor-style Filters are useful on transport lanes; vertical filter walls are better when you need to stop bouncing particles, build a drop-through sorter, or keep material from sneaking around a flat belt setup.
How to place a Filter Wall
- Unlock Filter in Research.
- Select the Filter from the build menu or copy an existing Filter.
- Press R to cycle orientation or placement form.
- Place the wall-form Filter across the path you want to control.
- Open the placed Filter and set Allow or Block for the material.
- Test with a thin stream before connecting a full factory output.
If pressing R only rotates the preview, keep cycling until the Filter shape changes. If the shape never changes, verify you are placing a Filter rather than a Conveyor Belt, Launcher, or unrelated building.
Allow vs Block
Filters do not magically redirect everything. A filter either lets a selected material pass or blocks it, and blocked material needs somewhere to go.
| Mode | Behavior | Common use |
|---|---|---|
| Allow Gold | Gold passes; other solids stop | Protecting Collector input |
| Block Residue | Residue stops; other solids pass | Keeping unburned byproduct out of storage |
| Allow Wet Seed | Wet Seed passes; other materials stop | Feeding Planter Boxes |
| Block Redsand | Redsand stops; other materials pass | Keeping Voidbloom inputs separate |
Advanced Filters expand the idea to solids, liquids, and gases, but the same design rule remains: every blocked material needs an overflow, loop, or cleanup path.
Best vertical filter setup
The most reliable design is a short drop-through stack:
- Thin the input before it reaches the sorter.
- Let material fall vertically through one or more Filter rows.
- Use the first Filter for the material that must be protected.
- Give blocked material a side exit or looping Launcher.
- Keep one tile of maintenance access beside every important filter wall.
This works better than pushing a deep mixed pile across a single flat conveyor Filter, because a dense pile can hide the exact tile where the clog starts.
Why vertical filters are missing
“I saw vertical filters in screenshots but not in my build menu”
You are probably looking for the wrong building. Place the normal Filter and use R to change its form before placing.
“My filter wall places the wrong way”
Cancel placement, select the Filter again, and cycle orientation. Build one test tile before dragging a long wall.
“The Filter blocks everything”
Check whether it is set to Allow one material. If so, every other material will stop. Either switch to Block mode or add an exit path for stopped material.
“Material bounces around the wall”
Close side gaps and avoid placing fast Launchers directly into the filter face. A filter wall works best when particles enter it in a controlled, thin stream.
“Liquids or gases are involved”
Basic Filters are for solid sorting. Use Advanced Filters after the relevant Research unlock if the line needs liquid or gas behavior.
Recent-version note
Filter editing received recent Early Access attention, including faster Allow/Block configuration behavior around the launch-week updates. Recheck the in-game tooltip after patches, but the practical player answer remains: vertical filters come from the normal Filter placement mode, not from a separate menu item.
Related guides
- Recipes & Production Flow
- Wet Sand Filter setup
- Planter Box
- Builds & Blueprints
- Sandustry Wiki entity database
Sources
Checked against the official Beginner's Guide, Research, and current Steam community questions about vertical filters on 2026-08-26.
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