Filter for chests like in wagons

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aklesey1
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Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by aklesey1 »

Can some one add filter function to cells in common chrests like we can do in wagons to set the:
1) Type of item which can be stored
2) Number of item which can be stored
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Rseding91
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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by Rseding91 »

That's not possible to mod in. Additionally it's not needed for anything in the game.
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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by ratchetfreak »

Rseding91 wrote:That's not possible to mod in. Additionally it's not needed for anything in the game.
It's a common enough request which shows that people disagree with that.

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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by Klonan »

ratchetfreak wrote:
Rseding91 wrote:That's not possible to mod in. Additionally it's not needed for anything in the game.
It's a common enough request which shows that people disagree with that.
People also request boats a lot, doesn't mean they are necessary to enjoy/finish the game

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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by ratchetfreak »

Klonan wrote: People also request boats a lot, doesn't mean they are necessary to enjoy/finish the game
But this is the modding sub forum and we are talking about adding the option to mod it in.

There are several ideas that would be helped by a filterable chest.

For example a proxy inventory, a chest that when something is inserted into the item is transferred to a connected entity, or when the connected entity produces something it gets transferred to the proxy for extraction. This would allow more compact beaconed designs. I know this is never gong to happen in the base game but neither would nested buildings like in factorissimo.

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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by Rseding91 »

ratchetfreak wrote:
Klonan wrote: People also request boats a lot, doesn't mean they are necessary to enjoy/finish the game
But this is the modding sub forum and we are talking about adding the option to mod it in.

There are several ideas that would be helped by a filterable chest.

For example a proxy inventory, a chest that when something is inserted into the item is transferred to a connected entity, or when the connected entity produces something it gets transferred to the proxy for extraction. This would allow more compact beaconed designs. I know this is never gong to happen in the base game but neither would nested buildings like in factorissimo.
That sounds like it would just trivialize part of the Factorio logistics puzzle - why would we ever add support for that?
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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by MagmaMcFry »

How about a better use case for modding: Suppose modders wish to add a new type of crafting machine or system or mechanic that works differently than vanilla assemblers/furnaces. I won't impose in what way it's different, but suppose it's different enough that it can't be implemented just by scripting over an assembler-type entity, and it has to be a multiple-entity structure using auxiliary container entities as inputs and outputs.

Without the ability to filter these hidden containers (at least using scripts), this requires the machine to have a separate container entity for each input and each output, or else the containers will become stuffed with one item type, leaving no room for other item types, and jam the machine. This means that the machine needs to tell the user where the inputs and outputs are, and limits the user's freedom of layout, in contrast to vanilla assemblers where people can just insert stuff into any tile of the assembler they wish to use. This is a pretty harsh restriction on the design of such machines, and modders may not be very happy with such a solution.

An alternative would be for the mod to take direct control over all inserters, using horrible workarounds to ensure that the inserters don't insert too much of an item type into the auxiliary containers, but that's just even more hassle and witchcraft. A simple filterable-container entity type would basically trivialize all these issues and make modded compound entities so much simpler to create and more flexible to use. Additionally, if filtered slots could be marked as input-only or output-only for inserters (doing the remaining inventory logic with scripts), then that would truly pave the way for complex custom machines.
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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by ratchetfreak »

Rseding91 wrote:
ratchetfreak wrote:
Klonan wrote: People also request boats a lot, doesn't mean they are necessary to enjoy/finish the game
But this is the modding sub forum and we are talking about adding the option to mod it in.

There are several ideas that would be helped by a filterable chest.

For example a proxy inventory, a chest that when something is inserted into the item is transferred to a connected entity, or when the connected entity produces something it gets transferred to the proxy for extraction. This would allow more compact beaconed designs. I know this is never gong to happen in the base game but neither would nested buildings like in factorissimo.
That sounds like it would just trivialize part of the Factorio logistics puzzle - why would we ever add support for that?
A lot of QoL mods trivialize parts of the factorio puzzle.

Long reach, infinite ores, FAT controller, upgrade planner, ...

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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by bobingabout »

ratchetfreak wrote:A lot of QoL mods trivialize parts of the factorio puzzle.

Long reach, infinite ores, FAT controller, upgrade planner, ...
Bob's adjustable inserters... being able to have an inserter pickup and drop anywhere in a 3 tile radius around themselves is QoL and trivializes the puzzle.

Speaking of, that's only possible because in 0.13/0.14 the game added in the ability for modders to set the pickup and drop locations on runtime via scripts.

Although technically possible before that, the game required you to define an inserter for every possible combination, and you could either use a script to swap the entity between types (Which run the risk of deleting items) or just offer the player a recipe and item for every entity you defined. Bob's Logistics opted for the latter, but only for Long versions of most inserters, Near side of belt drop inserters, and "long in short out" variations of the highest tier. I was considering adding more options (Left hand and right hand 90 degree inserters) when the new options became available, so I just dropped all of my custom inserters in favour of a scripted configuration alternative.
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Reika
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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by Reika »

I realize this thread is a couple months inactive, but as mentioned in another thread, revival is preferable to duplicate threads.

Anyways:

I am in the situation described above, and I find the argument of trivialization somewhat amusing and inconsistent, especially given some recent discussions and the last FFF, which openly wonders if logistic robots trivialize too much of the logistic puzzle. I have been trying to design a compact train depot - in a BobMods environment, no less - and I have realized that I have three potential solutions:
  • Logistics robots and tons of requester and provider chests
  • A rat's nest of belts from every dropoff station to a storage area - sorting by item type, with some 400 types - and from that storage to a number of pickup stations, ultimately covering an area larger than most midgame factories
  • A "depot inventory" sort of thing, which can take multiple item types fed in - I would probably use loaders - and then feed them out.
I want to avoid robots because I agree that they trivialize too much. I am not willing to waste that much space on #2, especially given its horrible expandability.

That leaves the depot inventory, a mod I would be quite happy to implement, especially as some sort of "can store up to X types, up to Y of each type" inventory. However, if I have a factory producing enough plastic to swim in and a comparatively low amount of, say, silver nitrate powder, the powder will ultimately find itself displaced by a full inventory of plastic. This is where filters come in. However, barring some ugly hack like making it a car (and trying to make it immobile, ensuring grid-aligned placement and orientation, etc), there is no way to have such filters, and this idea is not feasible. The only other thing I could do is something similar to slipstream chests and store the items in the global data, but that is so ugly and unperformant that it is not even worth contemplating.

As a result, I have to use robots.

In other words, I have a use case where these sorts of filters would actually increase the complexity in my setup, and the vanilla solution I am forced into is the comparatively trivial one.
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aklesey1
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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by aklesey1 »

Can filter for chests like in wagon could be done in mod?
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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by Koub »

Rseding91 wrote:
Wed Sep 20, 2017 4:52 am
That's not possible to mod in. Additionally it's not needed for anything in the game.
Just in case you overlooked it.
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aklesey1
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Re: Filter for chests like in wagons

Post by aklesey1 »

I think filter in common chest will be very necessary and useful function
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