Factorio Forums

Packager Info:

• Package your items into boxes for faster loading into a train. Increases your throughput with belts a lot...
• Name: packager
• Latest Release: v0.2.1, 15 January, 2016
• Factorio Version: 0.12.20+ (works probably also for 0.12.11+)
• Download latest: packager_0.2.1.zip (Github)
• All downloads: Github Releases
• Multiplayer supported. report any issues on Github repository otherwise!
• License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE - Version 3, 29 June 2007
• Contact: Send me PM in the forum (for issues use Github repository / issues)

Bugs
If any, please report them by creating an issue on the Github repository

Does using this will reduce entity count significantly ? Better performance in Mega base ?
Example : Boxing/Unload to this mod, then transfer them with bot. only unload the content just before assembler/smelter ?

Great Idea ...
But it is possible to pack 10 Item with different content?
So that i can make 4 Batteries, 3 Steel, 3 Electronic in 1 Box ... that would be great!
And easier to handle with Mods.

waduk wrote:Does using this will reduce entity count significantly ? Better performance in Mega base ?
Example : Boxing/Unload to this mod, then transfer them with bot. only unload the content just before assembler/smelter ?

It should work like this. Not sure if it will help performance - you need added assemblers to pack/unpack.

I made a mod similar to this for logs only. I really want to use this now!

Similar Mod :
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =94&t=7481

waduk wrote:Similar Mod :
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =94&t=7481

But dead mod.

DOSorDIE wrote:

waduk wrote:Similar Mod :
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =94&t=7481

But dead mod.

No it's not. Just tested on boxing and unboxing coal in 0.12.12.
Still works.

waduk wrote:

DOSorDIE wrote:

waduk wrote:Similar Mod :
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =94&t=7481

But dead mod.

No it's not. Just tested on boxing and unboxing coal in 0.12.12.
Still works.

Still works doesnt mean its going active ^^
this is a mod that is acitvly developed.

btw nice mod!

@waduk: Yes for sure this reduces the number of entities significantly. Most likely if you transport 10x less items around in a huge base it will improve performence and also reduce the size of your save game quite a bit. However I didn't specifically test this. If you do any test on this please let me know

@DOSorDIE: In the 0.1.2 version I just added mixed Iron plate, Copper plate boxes. Why exactly would you like 4 batteries, 3 steel and 3 electronics ? I can for sure add this in the next version if this is useful for you.

@Xerrass: Thanks

judos wrote:@DOSorDIE: In the 0.1.2 version I just added mixed Iron plate, Copper plate boxes. Why exactly would you like 4 batteries, 3 steel and 3 electronics ? I can for sure add this in the next version if this is useful for you.

Thanks for the mixed box ... work great.
I mean if it is possible to get 10 different things in a box ... 3x A, 2x B and 5x C or 3x A, 3x B and 4x C or ... only it should be 10.

autor! Respect you good idea! please more in storage (steel and other) and ,ore resources bob mod

I can see a use for mixed boxes, if and only if you can specify EXACTLY what ratio of items go into them.

If I had to deliver six items in a specific ratio to a factory, it could take those items, in that ratio, directly out of an unboxer, or off a belt fed by an unboxer. This use would only function, though, if an unboxer was loaded directly into a factory, or had to be emptied of a box's contents before it began unloading the next box - otherwise, it might unload too many of one ingredient onto a belt and choke a supply chain.

This might be solved by forcing each box to unload into separate stacks, and displace other items in the unboxer downwards - this would cause items to be unloaded to a belt in exactly the order they were unboxed, I think.

One question. Must everything be unboxed before use? For instance, I could not feed a smelter with a box of iron ore, but must unbox the ore first, correct?

Are there higher grades of boxes with larger capacities or stack sizes, and hence more storage? Iron, steel?

*Edit: I would try rather than ask so many questions, but I'm goofing off at work, where I cannot install anything.

Release 0.2.0 is out.

• * Added bobplates/ores in boxes
  * Belt-packager has differnet graphics for better visibility
  * Fixed mp desync issues with belt packager
  * Fixed two crashes caused by belt-packager

@DOSorDIE: Great idea to let the player decide what to put into mixed boxes. But I'm not sure about the implementation. I will investigate this next week.

@Airat9000: Added all bob-ores / bob-plates to boxes with version 0.2.0 (if you find items missing, you can report it. There are just too many plates, ores in bobs

@Lurkily: Yes currently everything must be unboxed before further use. However this leads to the great idea of having recipes for smelting ores directly from/into boxes. I will take this up with the next release. Will be pretty easy to add, as I know already how that would work. Thanks for mentioning this
Also currently Wooden-chests can be used or Containers (Steel/Iron boxes, which are only usable yet for iron/copper-ore but store 100 items). I will also expand upon this to improve the upgradability / usability of higher tier chests.

judos wrote: @DOSorDIE: Great idea to let the player decide what to put into mixed boxes. But I'm not sure about the implementation. I will investigate this next week.

maybe adding a packing blueprint, which can be put into the packager?

For a start, short-term, what about prefab blueprints for common packages? For instance, science 1, 2, and 3 ingredients packed into a box would help me immensely - I could just pour Science 'kits' onto a belt, load them into an unpacker, which is loaded directly to factories to make science.

Ideally, though, I would want a dialog to pop up allowing me to select any craftable item, and for the package to consist of exactly the ratio of items that item requires. For instance, an electronic circuit kit should be a 1:3 ratio of iron plates : copper cable.

The immediate difficulty that I see, though, is that a 60% increase in stack size efficiency for iron plates and copper cable is not the same. A stack of packaged iron would give you 120, and a stack of packaged copper cable should unpack to 240, correct? Getting these into a 1:3 ratio while preserving a more or less 60% bonus to stack density will take some mathematical juggling.

More math than I'm capable of at midnight on a day I have to get up and work. I'm going to bed.

So. A solution to the obvious problem. Add all the items together - in the example before, a stack of iron plates (100) and a stack of copper cable, with the 60% bonus, and divide by the number of items going into the box to get the average. In this case, a stack of packed iron plates should be 120 plates total, and cable should be 240, meaning 360 altogether, for an average of 180 items per stack. Break 180 down into a 1:3 ratio, and an 'electronic circuit kit' should consist of 45 iron plates, and 135 copper cables.

To express it mathematically, to determine how many of ingredient X should be in a kit,

(((Ingredient one stack size + Ingredient two stack size + etc) / # of ingredients ) / Number of total ingredients in recipe ) * Number of ingredient X in recipe

I just checked and it seems possible to put "some" metadata on items. But the only field which can do this is health. Which is however not modifiable by the player (items can't be repaired or damaged when they are not placable as buildings).
So basically it would be possible to have some configurable boxes.

However I will need to come up with some crazy customized buildings to make this all possible. Some building which you place and has separate chest's because it won't be a standard crafting at all So this definitely sounds like fun.

@Lurkily, thanks for the calculations I will take this into account as soon as possible.
And yes science pack ingredients in one box should easily be possible.

Custom chests have big implications for my production lines, particularly train transport. For instance, being able to pack the exact ratio of copper, steel, and coal (or plastic) needed for science packs 1, 2, and 3 into a box will make shipping to my science facilities cleaner, and also create some interesting challenges in designing the supply and packaging as well.