[MOD 0.14] AAI Programmable Vehicles

[Crazy_Adept1797]

since I can't get the AAI miners to work, I figured I'd go back to the old fashioned way, electric drills and solar panels. however. I was thinking about making a two Depot system for the haulers. One Depot is at home ready to recieve resources. The other is at the mine in question ready to load the ore onto the hauler. The only problem is, due to my significant lack of success with the buildings and circuit networks in general, I haven't the faintest idea how to do that. Would someone lend a hand?

EDIT: Maybe you should look into interface simplification, Earendel. Don't get me wrong, I adore the potential this mod set has. I just despise how difficult it is the reach said potential. A simpler, more user-friendly interface would certainly make this mod much easier for those of us who can't set up circuit networks for scrap. Also, Pathing AI. It was amusing to see the miners just derp about as biters do, but it EATS through my fuel reserves.

[SlothNinja99]

Help! Trying to get a miner to go mine iron automatically. Nothing happens, my set up is in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzQbIZc ... e=youtu.be

[Earendel]

Help! Trying to get a miner to go mine iron automatically. Nothing happens, my set up is in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzQbIZc ... e=youtu.be

It looks like the setup is nearly there. In the resource zone assignment system there are a few combinators not set up fully:
Middle column top should be: Each * 1 return Each
Middle column middle should be: Anything > 0 return 1 Green
Middle column bottom should be: Each * 1 return Each
Combinator on the right: Green > 0 return Everything

The send-miner-to-resource system should kick in once the resource zoning actually zones some iron ore tiles with the right zone. It may take a few moments to find an iron ore tile.

since I can't get the AAI miners to work, I figured I'd go back to the old fashioned way, electric drills and solar panels. however. I was thinking about making a two Depot system for the haulers. One Depot is at home ready to recieve resources. The other is at the mine in question ready to load the ore onto the hauler. The only problem is, due to my significant lack of success with the buildings and circuit networks in general, I haven't the faintest idea how to do that. Would someone lend a hand?

EDIT: Maybe you should look into interface simplification, Earendel. Don't get me wrong, I adore the potential this mod set has. I just despise how difficult it is the reach said potential. A simpler, more user-friendly interface would certainly make this mod much easier for those of us who can't set up circuit networks for scrap. Also, Pathing AI. It was amusing to see the miners just derp about as biters do, but it EATS through my fuel reserves.

There are currently two extremes in terms of usability. The fact that vehicles default to behaving like turrets makes them immediately useful, and the remote controller should also be relatively easy to use. The signals-to-vehicle-controls system is obviously way more advanced, but that end of the spectrum is where the idea for this mod started. The idea was "wouldn't it be cool if I could use combinators to steer a driverless vehicle" and from there I went about trying to figure out what sort of combinator-like buildings would be required to do that. The vehicles-as-turrets thing was more of a side effect, and the remote controller was added later. For the moment I need to make sure that doing things the combinator way is working properly, then I can add the important missing features, then optimisation. After that I will consider adding other things, but I believe that combinators will always be the core of this mod even if I end up adding some intermediate functions and interfaces like built-in formations, patrol routes, mining behaviours, search-and-destroy behaviours, etc.

A quick update on my immediate activities: I have graphics for a dedicated Vehicle Depot where vehicles can collect or drop off inventory based on unit data (the same way haulers do). They can literally just drive over the depot so there's no risk of crashing into it. That system is nearly done, but I also need to do some general code cleanup before I can release it so it may be a few days.

[Earendel]

1. I've placed Your (mining) blueprints in my factory. // na stronie gdzie Earendel opisuje swoje instalacje, podał sumy kontrolne do stworzenia schematów w grze, co by szybko układ chałupek z ich ustawieniami w grze postawić

2. I've built miner and Hauler, and place it on terrain. // stworzyłem i postawiłem koparkę i transportera

3. I seting Distanse Signal to 500. // w ustawieniach jednej chałupki, zwiększyłem zasięg skanowania w poszukiwaniu surowców

4. I've set correct ID number of Miner and Hauler, in "Hauler loop from Depot to Miner and back" instalation. // prawidłowo ustawiłem ID koparki i transportera, w instalacji zwanej "Hauler loop from Depot to Miner and back"

5. Miner is idiot, he does not know the road and drives erratically. // koparka nie wie co ze sobą zrobić

6. Where is me bug?

It is difficult to guess based on your description, but if you set the miner id signal to 2 then you need to have placed 2 miners for the 2nd one to start moving. Also, if you set the tile scanner range to 500 then it is scanning a large area and may take longer to find an iron ore tile. Have you tried placing the type of zone that the miner should go to with the zone planner?

[Berkys32]

since I can't get the AAI miners to work, I figured I'd go back to the old fashioned way, electric drills and solar panels. however. I was thinking about making a two Depot system for the haulers. One Depot is at home ready to recieve resources. The other is at the mine in question ready to load the ore onto the hauler. The only problem is, due to my significant lack of success with the buildings and circuit networks in general, I haven't the faintest idea how to do that. Would someone lend a hand?.

Do you need just idea how to do it, or some deeper solution?

Idea here:
1)Hauler loading resources near mines. When full, its sent to drop off location (roads, pathfinding, whatever you want).
2)In drop off location you have two options:
a)Try to get it somewhere where inserters empty it
b)Get it near another hauler, which is just standing in drop off location. Using Unit data controller you can tell first miner to transfer all resources to second one.
3)When unloaded, huler is sent back to mines

[SlothNinja99]

Help! Trying to get a miner to go mine iron automatically. Nothing happens, my set up is in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzQbIZc ... e=youtu.be

It looks like the setup is nearly there. In the resource zone assignment system there are a few combinators not set up fully:
Middle column top should be: Each * 1 return Each
Middle column middle should be: Anything > 0 return 1 Green
Middle column bottom should be: Each * 1 return Each
Combinator on the right: Green > 0 return Everything

The send-miner-to-resource system should kick in once the resource zoning actually zones some iron ore tiles with the right zone. It may take a few moments to find an iron ore tile.

since I can't get the AAI miners to work, I figured I'd go back to the old fashioned way, electric drills and solar panels. however. I was thinking about making a two Depot system for the haulers. One Depot is at home ready to recieve resources. The other is at the mine in question ready to load the ore onto the hauler. The only problem is, due to my significant lack of success with the buildings and circuit networks in general, I haven't the faintest idea how to do that. Would someone lend a hand?

EDIT: Maybe you should look into interface simplification, Earendel. Don't get me wrong, I adore the potential this mod set has. I just despise how difficult it is the reach said potential. A simpler, more user-friendly interface would certainly make this mod much easier for those of us who can't set up circuit networks for scrap. Also, Pathing AI. It was amusing to see the miners just derp about as biters do, but it EATS through my fuel reserves.

There are currently two extremes in terms of usability. The fact that vehicles default to behaving like turrets makes them immediately useful, and the remote controller should also be relatively easy to use. The signals-to-vehicle-controls system is obviously way more advanced, but that end of the spectrum is where the idea for this mod started. The idea was "wouldn't it be cool if I could use combinators to steer a driverless vehicle" and from there I went about trying to figure out what sort of combinator-like buildings would be required to do that. The vehicles-as-turrets thing was more of a side effect, and the remote controller was added later. For the moment I need to make sure that doing things the combinator way is working properly, then I can add the important missing features, then optimisation. After that I will consider adding other things, but I believe that combinators will always be the core of this mod even if I end up adding some intermediate functions and interfaces like built-in formations, patrol routes, mining behaviours, search-and-destroy behaviours, etc.

A quick update on my immediate activities: I have graphics for a dedicated Vehicle Depot where vehicles can collect or drop off inventory based on unit data (the same way haulers do). They can literally just drive over the depot so there's no rick of crashing into it. That system is nearly done, but I also need to do some general code cleanup before I can release it so it may be a few days.

By return 1 green and green > 0 return Everything. Do you mean the Green Signal Item?

[Berkys32]

By return 1 green and green > 0 return Everything. Do you mean the Green Signal Item?

Yes, he does.

[SlothNinja99]

By return 1 green and green > 0 return Everything. Do you mean the Green Signal Item?

Yes, he does.

Still doesnt work: https://youtu.be/v8BU6a-8PwA

I tried changing the "input count" and "1" option on both of them, and then one way on one with the other option on the other combinater, nothing worked.

[Earendel]

By return 1 green and green > 0 return Everything. Do you mean the Green Signal Item?

Yes, he does.

Still doesnt work: https://youtu.be/v8BU6a-8PwA

I tried changing the "input count" and "1" option on both of them, and then one way on one with the other option on the other combinater, nothing worked.

I didn't spot this before, but the decider combinators in the left column need to output a count of 1.

I'll update the instructions to specify a value for those.

[SlothNinja99]

Well that worked. Miner decided its path should be straight through my factory and it carved a path for itself. Maby until there is a way to improve the pathfinding, disable the miners causing damage to structures? xD

[Crazy_Adept1797]

There are currently two extremes in terms of usability. The fact that vehicles default to behaving like turrets makes them immediately useful, and the remote controller should also be relatively easy to use. The signals-to-vehicle-controls system is obviously way more advanced, but that end of the spectrum is where the idea for this mod started. The idea was "wouldn't it be cool if I could use combinators to steer a driverless vehicle" and from there I went about trying to figure out what sort of combinator-like buildings would be required to do that. The vehicles-as-turrets thing was more of a side effect, and the remote controller was added later. For the moment I need to make sure that doing things the combinator way is working properly, then I can add the important missing features, then optimisation. After that I will consider adding other things, but I believe that combinators will always be the core of this mod even if I end up adding some intermediate functions and interfaces like built-in formations, patrol routes, mining behaviours, search-and-destroy behaviours, etc.

A quick update on my immediate activities: I have graphics for a dedicated Vehicle Depot where vehicles can collect or drop off inventory based on unit data (the same way haulers do). They can literally just drive over the depot so there's no risk of crashing into it. That system is nearly done, but I also need to do some general code cleanup before I can release it so it may be a few days.

thanks for the update. As I've previously stated: combinators aren't my forte. So any sort of interface would be infinitely useful. Keep up the great work!

[Earendel]

Well that worked. Miner decided its path should be straight through my factory and it carved a path for itself. Maby until there is a way to improve the pathfinding, disable the miners causing damage to structures? xD

I can't stop them causing damage, but I could update every structure to make it resistant to impact damage. It's such a big change and not everyone would like it so I'd make it a separate optional mod.

[Earendel]

If anyone is feeling brave I'm attaching a preview of the next version. Consider this preview unstable and probably save breaking so don't overwrite your old save.

This version contains the Vehicle Depot, which seems to be working ok, but the main change is actually a huge shift in the code structure (which is the first stage in optimisation). I've spent a few hours today testing and fixing and the last 30 minutes have been bug free but there are so many things to test now I have probably missed something. If all goes to plan this version will probably be released on the mod portal on Friday as version 0.2.1. If anyone wants to be helpful and do a bit of testing for me that would be really useful because I won't have much time tomorrow.

Oh, also, the version I am uploading has the debug view of the navigators enabled, so if you see a faint white circle in front of units that's not a bug.

[Crazy_Adept1797]

If anyone is feeling brave I'm attaching a preview of the next version. Consider this preview unstable and probably save breaking so don't overwrite your old save.

This version contains the Vehicle Depot, which seems to be working ok, but the main change is actually a huge shift in the code structure (which is the first stage in optimisation). I've spent a few hours today testing and fixing and the last 30 minutes have been bug free but there are so many things to test now I have probably missed something. If all goes to plan this version will probably be released on the mod portal on Friday as version 0.2.1. If anyone wants to be helpful and do a bit of testing for me that would be really useful because I won't have much time tomorrow.

Oh, also, the version I am uploading has the debug view of the navigators enabled, so if you see a faint white circle in front of units that's not a bug.

Its great to know the depot is ready.
One catch: what does it mean by 'Positive/Negative signals'?
Okay two catches: How does one set it up?

[Earendel]

I will do proper instructions later but for now:

The exchange data connection is to the top right, set it to coal 10000 or some other high number to accept coal.
If you want it to give coal to other vehicles for fuel, set coal to -50 and have inserters put coal into the depot.

You have to type in negative numbers, I don't know if people that don't usually use combinators know that.
The exchange data connection will read circuit connections if it connected so you can program it.

You can have it supply ammo and things but you need to set the correct unit data on the vehicle for it to request ammo, e.g: set piercing rounds magazine 50 on a chaingunner.

[Crazy_Adept1797]

I will do proper instructions later but for now:

The exchange data connection is to the top right, set it to coal 10000 or some other high number to accept coal.
If you want it to give coal to other vehicles for fuel, set coal to -50 and have inserters put coal into the depot.

You have to type in negative numbers, I don't know if people that don't usually use combinators know that.
The exchange data connection will read circuit connections if it connected so you can program it.

You can have it supply ammo and things but you need to set the correct unit data on the vehicle for it to request ammo, e.g: set piercing rounds magazine 50 on a chaingunner.

Thanks for the response!
As for the negative numbers, I didn't know that thanks for informing me.
All this can be done with the node on the depot, I've learned.

[Earendel]

Version 0.2.1 has been released. It contains the new Vehicle Depot as described above. I tried writing some info about it on the first post in this thread but I'm tired and don't feel like I can make it make much sense right now. It's difficult to explain exactly how it works in a concise way, but basically a high signal for an item means I want this item, and a negative number means give I want to give this stuff away.

The Vehicle Deployer now also has a built-in combinator that lets you set the deployed vehicle unit data before you have access to proper combinators. You will need to pick up and put back down any deployers for the sub-entity to spawn. Hopefully this will make resource dropoffs much easier.

[Swich]

Hi, I try to make miner for each resource using Miner ID, and all was OK, except 2 thing:
1. They don't take any fuel (coal, wood) from inventory to fuel slot if fuel ended.
2. From time to time Miner ID changed, and my coal's miner suddenly became metal's miner and try to go to metal's field. Looks like Miner ID are not something that absolutely identificate unit. Maybe i need to use Unit ID signal?

[Berkys32]

2. From time to time Miner ID changed, and my coal's miner suddenly became metal's miner and try to go to metal's field. Looks like Miner ID are not something that absolutely identificate unit. Maybe i need to use Unit ID signal?

Right. Miner ID (or any other type) are just number of order in which it was placed. There cant be any gasps. But Unit ID is unique and if vehicle wih it is destroyed (or picked up), that ID will never be used again.
So if you use MIner ID, your miners will never swap positions, but if some is destroyed, you have to replace it manually...

[Earendel]

1. They don't take any fuel (coal, wood) from inventory to fuel slot if fuel ended.

That will be fixed in the next miner update.

Edit: That has been fixed in aai-vehicles-miner_0.1.5