Factorio Forums

Type: Mod
Name: Left-Right Load Balancer
Description: Balances the load left and right side of an transport belt evenly
License: WTFPL – Do What the Fuck You Want to Public License
Version: 0.0.1
Release: 2016-04-30
Tested-With-Factorio-Version: 0.14.5
Category: Helper
Tags: Transportbelt, Splitter, Left-Right Balancer
Download-Url:

Here's a question. Does this balance input, too? If I have units pulling from only one side of the belt, it often backs up some of production, leading some mines to be overutilized and others to sit idle. There is a belt solution to that issue to force uneven output to utilize input evenly. Does this aim to solve that issue as well?

yes the balancers can do this. Whenever one side on the output belt ist blocked/full all items are going to the other side.

This is a nice mod to have, but two things need fixing though...
-They don't seem to require power, but when they aren't in a powered area, they flash with the yellow unpowered icon
-They don't seem to work of normal Splitters and Tunnels

Razorin wrote:yes the balancers can do this. Whenever one side on the output belt ist blocked/full all items are going to the other side.

Not what he asked about. You are talking about output balance. Lurkily asked about input balancing.

Ralord89 wrote:This is a nice mod to have, but two things need fixing though...
-They don't seem to require power, but when they aren't in a powered area, they flash with the yellow unpowered icon
-They don't seem to work of normal Splitters and Tunnels

same with smart splitters. u need normal belts in before and after this splitter

Here's a question. Does this balance input, too? If I have units pulling from only one side of the belt, it often backs up some of production, leading some mines to be overutilized and others to sit idle. There is a belt solution to that issue to force uneven output to utilize input evenly. Does this aim to solve that issue as well?

Not what he asked about. You are talking about output balance. Lurkily asked about input balancing.

sorry i dont get it. How should this work ? My Splitter Belt just takes things that are on a transport belt in front of it no matter what side it is.
This build does exactly the same but uses much more room:

-They don't seem to require power, but when they aren't in a powered area, they flash with the yellow unpowered icon
-They don't seem to work of normal Splitters and Tunnels

i know, see known issues in Long Descriptin. I wish i could fix this but the Factorio API seems not mighty enough to do this. If anyone knows an entity type that is like an EntityWithHealth but with the option to add images for different directions, please let me know

Razorin wrote: sorry i dont get it. How should this work ? My Splitter Belt just takes things that are on a transport belt in front of it no matter what side it is.
This build does exactly the same but uses much more room:

If you send a full belt as input to that the right (in the direction of the belt, left in picture) side of the belt will stop completely and only the left side will flow from the input. You can only pass half as many items/second through compared to a real setup. To fix that you would need 2 LR load balancers for full belt capacity and 2 splitter. That's 2x3 tiles of space. Are you sure that is what you meant?

If you send a full belt as input to that the right (in the direction of the belt, left in picture) side of the belt will stop completely and only the left side will flow from the input. You can only pass half as many items/second through compared to a real setup. To fix that you would need 2 LR load balancers for full belt capacity and 2 splitter. That's 2x3 tiles of space. Are you sure that is what you meant?

i know the example build has a bottleneck. But i wanted to show concept of uneven input and even output. My splitter doesnt have this kind of bottleneck it will take item from input belt immediately to the output belt.

Razorin wrote: i know the example build has a bottleneck. But i wanted to show concept of uneven input and even output. My splitter doesnt have this kind of bottleneck it will take item from input belt immediately to the output belt.

Then it is worse than useless as an example. We asked about the input behaviour and you gave us an example with completely different input behaviour and said it behaved exactly the same as your LRLB mod item. If you show us what setup it actually replaces then maybe we can understand what you are saying.

Then it is worse than useless as an example. We asked about the input behaviour and you gave us an example with completely different input behaviour and said it behaved exactly the same as your LRLB mod item. If you show us what setup it actually replaces then maybe we can understand what you are saying.

then please explain what you are talking about or better stop being lazy and just simply download it and try it out yourself?

Razorin wrote:

Then it is worse than useless as an example. We asked about the input behaviour and you gave us an example with completely different input behaviour and said it behaved exactly the same as your LRLB mod item. If you show us what setup it actually replaces then maybe we can understand what you are saying.

then please explain what you are talking about or better stop being lazy and just simply download it and try it out yourself?

I'm lazy because you don't bother to accurately describe your mod? Do you think the mod description is a luxury only to be provided for those who earn it by putting in their share of the workload by first testing the mod? That's hilarious!

Input balancing is when both sides of the input lanes are taken from no matter which side the output is taken from. If you take from one side on the output (or both) then the balancer will take from both input lanes equally if there's input on both. It doesn't mean that it will take from both input sides, because even a non-input balanced setup takes from both sides if input is only provided from one of the input sides. In an input balanced balancer the items that stacks up before the balancer are balanced before also and not just after.

A balancer that doesn't balance input with arrows: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15366#p104297
A balancer that balances input and output: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15366#p104334

The difference is when input items come from both sides at the same time. If you only input items on one side and have the other input lane empty then there's no difference.

my mod is described enough. Its a realy easy mod... stuff comes in stuff comes out. easy is that ?
wich input line comes first is pretty random the taken output side is going one left one right(beside one is blocked).
Nevermind the pure ungratefulness of the internet hit me again... Once again good game but shitty community.

Razorin wrote:my mod is described enough. Its a realy easy mod... stuff comes in stuff comes out. easy is that ?

Even a belt fits that description...

Razorin wrote:wich input line comes first is pretty random the taken output side is going one left one right(beside one is blocked).

"Pretty random" doesn't really describe the balancer very well either.

Razorin wrote:Nevermind the pure ungratefulness of the internet hit me again... Once again good game but shitty community.

I think the community as a whole is fantastic. It's not often I meet the bad apples here on factorio forums who are rude and call me shitty. Not that I really mind, but I just want to point out that once again you are the one throwing insults. You say "Once again" as if you find that game communities are often shitty. Maybe you should ponder about what the reason could be? Qonsider if the reason all communities you enter are shitty is because You are in it? If you didn't add insults to your posts then maybe there would be less insults in the threads you post in?

Are you angry because I called your explanation image "worse than useless"? The picture was inaccurate, you said it yourself later. If I stepped on your toes: what if I called it "confusing", would that make you feel better?

I described how an input balancer worked to you. I'm in this thread asking you questions about the topic. If you don't like people asking questions about your mod in the thread you made on the topic, maybe you shouldn't make threads? What have you done for me that I should be grateful for? I haven't tried the mod so you can't really pull the "I made a mod" card.

Whenever you feel like discussing your mod in this thread about the mod, tell me. If you want me to say sorry for anything at all I'll do it if it makes you happy. You don't have to say sorry for anything you said, I don't mind. You can even continue to insult me if you want to as long as you also stay on topic, I'm listening. Be well, wish you a happy and healthy life.

Qon wrote:... I haven't tried the mod ...

Maybe you should have tried it before asking anything?

Roktaal wrote:

Qon wrote:... I haven't tried the mod ...

Maybe you should have tried it before asking anything?

It wasn't I who asked first though. I just clarified a misunderstanding in how OP interpreted someone elses question. Are you saying I should download the mod and try it out and read the source and explain OP's mod to the one who originally asked because the mod author doesn't want to do describe what it does himself? Are you on OP's side Roktaal? You don't think the thread is for describing what the mod does or asking questions about it? Then maybe you should explain what the thread is about? Praising the author exclusivly maybe?

My answer is No. I'm perfectly within my right to ask questions. If OP doesn't want to describe his mod then he can just say so explicitly. I'm not sure it's within the rules to give no description, but I think he can slip by the mods if he just refuses to give a helpful description. But maybe the mods will delete the thread if he admits it openly? I'm just extrapolating from the fact that there are rules for mod post formatting , so I'm not sure if there's a rule saying how badly you have the right to describe your mod.

Wait... I wanted this.... I've been looking for something like this and you had it.... please give it to meeeeeee >.<

Blackstone wrote:Wait... I wanted this.... I've been looking for something like this and you had it.... please give it to meeeeeee >.<

Try pming the mod author. Just promise him that you will never ever share it with me and he will probably send you a download link. Because

Razorin wrote:Download-Url: Nope thanks Qon

Also, Razorin, how sure can you be that I don't already have it or even want it? q:

Qon I don't take sides but my own. You are commenting in such a way that it creates an unfriendly atmosphere that caused the OP to remove dl link. Now despite his move being childish it's his work and he can do whatever he likes.
We all should drop down the ball and be more constructive when commenting someone else work. It will make this community much better. Peace

Razorin wrote:Description: Balances the load left and right side of an transport belt evenly
Long description: Balances the left-right ratio of items on a transport belt 1:1.

We don't have rules that state how detailed a description has to be.
The description given by the mod author is sufficient for this mod, extra points for adding an image.

Qon wrote:You don't think the thread is for describing what the mod does or asking questions about it? Then maybe you should explain what the thread is about? Praising the author exclusivly maybe?

My answer is No. I'm perfectly within my right to ask questions. If OP doesn't want to describe his mod then he can just say so explicitly.

His description in the replies is more than sufficient:

Razorin wrote:I know the example build has a bottleneck. But i wanted to show concept of uneven input and even output. My splitter doesnt have this kind of bottleneck it will take item from input belt immediately to the output belt.

Razorin wrote:Whenever one side on the output belt ist blocked/full all items are going to the other side.

Razorin wrote:wich input line comes first is pretty random the taken output side is going one left one right(beside one is blocked).

Conclusion: It takes all the incoming items from the input belt and puts it on the output belt, splitting it 50:50 unless one output side is blocked. If the output is partially blocked so that the input is filling up then it takes from a random input side.

Qon wrote:I just clarified a misunderstanding in how OP interpreted someone elses question. Are you saying I should download the mod and try it out and read the source and explain OP's mod to the one who originally asked because the mod author doesn't want to do describe what it does himself?

You were pretty aggressive towards OP trying to clarify this misunderstanding. Why are you even trying to clarify it anyway, as you don't seem to have any interest in using this mod?

Qon wrote:Also, Razorin, how sure can you be that I don't already have it or even want it? q:

Are you actually proud of making the mod author remove the download link, just because the description set by the mod author and his replies to this thread were not explanatory enough for you?

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@Qon
Don't make posts that are aggressive towards the mod author in the future. Although most people would prefer it, he is not under the obligation to answer every little question you have about the mod. Asking questions is fine, but don't get upset if the answer isn't as detailed as you'd like.

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@Razorin
While I think that the description is enough for this mod, the rules also state that mods in this subforum must contain a working download link.
You have several options:

• Re-add the download link
• Have this thread moved to obsolete mods
• Have this thread deleted