Friday Facts #419 - Display Panel & Inserter pickup fixes

[FactorioBot]

Here it is! (beep boop)

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-419

[Gergely]

I love the ever changing message at the end of FFF posts telling us where to show our thoughts.

[Splitframe]

What benefit do legendary quality Display Panels provide?

[Hovel]

What benefit do legendary quality Display Panels provide?

8K resolution

[SHADOW13]

alt-mode text could use a transparency slider, either global one or per-display

[MEOWMI]

As usual, good changes.

For panels with multiple lines of text (so you have to hover to see it in full), maybe it would be useful to have a small visual indicator that there actually is more text to be displayed? Like a small "[...]" icon in the corner or something. The point is, then users don't have to guess whether there might be more text: you would always know whether you read the whole thing on first sight, or whether there's still more text to be read, and you wouldn't have to do pointless "mouseover checks" just in case there is more text that you weren't aware of.

For inserters, I remember how comical it was with adjustable inserter positions to have them extend to 3x their length, it made the inserter swing as a whole so slow because of how slowly they extend and retract. It's funny if changing that speed ended up being part of the fix!

[Gergely]

Can we display a circuit network value in the message? Say something like a pattern, "Iron plates: {}" where the hole "{}" is replaced with the actual number in the circuit network. Would be very handy, especially when space is limited.

Displaying a number on the screen itself also comes to mind, (even if it is shortened for thousands like "5k") but I bet the abstract signal digits mostly cover that use case.

[Drury]

What benefit do legendary quality Display Panels provide?

Disney+ subscription.

[Fz0OiIDY]

A few days ago I tough about such a display and that I need it. *_*

It would be great if the display could have a placeholder like {value} or whatever to print the numeric value into the text. Or a different mode so that we could display numeric values easier without building a 7-segment display. ( During writing this comment someone else suggested it faster xD )

And if we are talking already about circuit network...could the labs also get an output to read what the current science need? Would be helpful with the new science that go waste and only request it if we need it. =D

[Tallinu]

Thank you SO MUCH for finally buffing inserters like this! It has driven me crazy every time I ran into that issue.

Oh and the display panels look pretty spiffy too.

[doktorstick]

Nice, I like the panels. I'd like to see it handle showing item counts, too. Being able to see at a glance your levels of fluids, for example, would be great.

[doktorstick]

For panels with multiple lines of text (so you have to hover to see it in full), maybe it would be useful to have a small visual indicator that there actually is more text to be displayed? Like a small "[...]" icon in the corner or something. The point is, then users don't have to guess whether there might be more text: you would always know whether you read the whole thing on first sight, or whether there's still more text to be read, and you wouldn't have to do pointless "mouseover checks" just in case there is more text that you weren't aware of.ed ended up being part of the fix!

+1

[mmmPI]

Very excited to see all the circuit network possibilities !

It's not quite like the static letters from the display plate, there was some mod that helped show things, with hologram too, but this level of integration with other features in game like map view and blueprints seem like the most exciting for me. Makes me curious about how a full map view look like in the 2.0 version, with the map tags, and those display pannel, and the train and logistic view rework, it will change quite a lot.

Compared to display plate i like the compactness, not sure if it's possible to display rich text icon in the messages, but otherwise it's a suggestion !

Also the early graphic test for it look like a grave when there is text on it, and i could totally see one being created on character death after or after the corpse is removed.

I have to temper that joy though, because i am very disappointed by the inserter rework, i used to rely on this to create very intricate mechanism that would pick things up only if the belts were full and back up, and miss the item otherwise.

[ no i'm kidding i don't mind THIS change, because i saw on the last video that sometimes an inserter miss an item and i'm already planning to use corner green belts and low power yellow inserter to achieve the same results !]

[Big_Snarly]

Really excited about all the changes coming. This was something I really wanted to see. Signs. I like how it's implemented.

I've been tinkering with circuit clocks and meters for a few things, so using the numerical displays on the signs could be a fun alternative to using lamps.
The only concern with that is if the numbers change too fast on a circuit system, then changing numbers in a display could be visually jarring.

As a side, I'm loving anything that gives me a chance to create more visual aesthetics. The changes to lamps alone are gonna have me busy. I hope there'll be more such possibilities. Like ground tiles. I know the base game tiles are meant for speed boost, but the colored concrete that's available in debug mode? Or any such variants that could give a unique feel to a section of a factory? Like iron plate walls and floors in the iron plate smelting area.


With the variety of materials, it would allow for a variety of grades too. Such as walls being iron, concrete, steel.

I'm hoping the biomass systems that allow us to harvest plants also would allow us to plant them. It'd be interesting to see if we could regrow trees or find way to manage our pollution better. An additional challenge to keeping it green by the time the first rocket flies? Just spit balling at this point.

[gnutrino]

I have to temper that joy though, because i am very disappointed by the inserter rework, i used to rely on this to create very intricate mechanism that would pick things up only if the belts were full and back up, and miss the item otherwise.

[Gergely]

I have to temper that joy though, because i am very disappointed by the inserter rework, i used to rely on this to create very intricate mechanism that would pick things up only if the belts were full and back up, and miss the item otherwise.

Isn't this use case covered by splitter output priority?

[MeduSalem]

[...]

I had to laugh really hard. xD

[Neutronium]

Can we display a circuit network value in the message? Say something like a pattern, "Iron plates: {}" where the hole "{}" is replaced with the actual number in the circuit network. Would be very handy, especially when space is limited.

Displaying a number on the screen itself also comes to mind, (even if it is shortened for thousands like "5k") but I bet the abstract signal digits mostly cover that use case.

This would be excellent if there was some elegant way to implement.

----------

For short messages it is okay, but we can't just spam whole paragraphs on the players screen all the time. So we made it that only the first line of text will show, and the full message appears only when hovered.

Perhaps there should be something visible showing if there is more to the message or not, so players don't have to hover over everything to see if there is additional content. It could be something as simple as a small "..." centered underneath the first line perhaps with muted text (greyed out), small enough to not catch your attention if you're not directly looking at the message.

[gGeorg]

Display panel was needed. I am glad you took time to iterate.
When I saw the Display panel with conditions, that made me smile.
Playfull thingy.

I dont think that "fix inserters" is somewhat positive. I see it natural tha slow inserter, burner, has issues on fast belt. It is not bug it is intended feature. Fixining it means, cut out some challenge, it is a bit like, "fixing fluids" by cut out flow. It is easyer, but .... .By removing the balls you dont get a fighting bull.

[Kyralessa]

Goodbye to my boiler/steam blueprints with blue belts, except yellow where the inserters are.

Goodbye, and good riddance!