[0.14.22] Inserter idle code causing throughput issues

[Hexicube]

I'm working on a design for mass producing green circuits, which attempts to use the 15:14 productivity ratio and has a bunch of speed beacons. As a result, the copper demands are...high. All assemblers have a speed of 3.

I have a row of copper cable assemblers, all demanding 6 copper per second which is satisfied by 2 stack inserters and a fast inserter. Most work fine, however the ones on the end are not being properly fed.

What happens is they all activate at the same threshold, but after the fast inserter deposits more copper all 3 inserters go idle for about a second because the amount stored is above that threshold. During this time the assembler runs dry, which the inserters do not notice as they are waiting for a set period.

Additionally, this only happens for the two end assemblers, which are closest to the incoming materials. All other assemblers work fine, and they all have matching input inserters.

Note: Attached save requires the creative mod, which is used to handle supply/demand.

[Klonan]

I'm working on a design for mass producing green circuits, which attempts to use the 15:14 productivity ratio and has a bunch of speed beacons. As a result, the copper demands are...high. All assemblers have a speed of 3.

I have a row of copper cable assemblers, all demanding 6 copper per second which is satisfied by 2 stack inserters and a fast inserter. Most work fine, however the ones on the end are not being properly fed.

What happens is they all activate at the same threshold, but after the fast inserter deposits more copper all 3 inserters go idle for about a second because the amount stored is above that threshold. During this time the assembler runs dry, which the inserters do not notice as they are waiting for a set period.

Additionally, this only happens for the two end assemblers, which are closest to the incoming materials. All other assemblers work fine, and they all have matching input inserters.

Note: Attached save requires the creative mod, which is used to handle supply/demand.

Thanks for the report,

However this has been reported before, and we don't consider it a bug, since you only need to use a buffer chest to fix you build

[Hexicube]

we don't consider it a bug

Why is this not considered a bug when the behaviour of inserters is incorrect? They clearly take too long to spot that an assembler needs resources, and the behaviour is inconsistent to begin with.

[Hexicube]

use a buffer chest to fix

Just noticed this. A buffer chest will not fix the problem (or if it does, it's masking the issue), as the issue isn't regarding how fast inserters can pick up items from a belt. Once again, 13 of the 15 copper cable assembler inserters function normally. Only two show the issue, and watching them for 15 seconds clearly shows that the inserters don't see that the assembler is low on supply and thus wait for too long to refill it.

This cannot be a supply or design issue, since assemblers further down the same belt with the same inserter layout do not have the issue, and it would logically follow that they would also show the same issue if that were the case.

This video should show the issue clearly without needing to download the save and install a mod:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yfy6SK2P2Q

[Klonan]

use a buffer chest to fix

Just noticed this. A buffer chest will not fix the problem (or if it does, it's masking the issue), as the issue isn't regarding how fast inserters can pick up items from a belt. Once again, 13 of the 15 copper cable assembler inserters function normally. Only two show the issue, and watching them for 15 seconds clearly shows that the inserters don't see that the assembler is low on supply and thus wait for too long to refill it.

This cannot be a supply or design issue, since assemblers further down the same belt with the same inserter layout do not have the issue, and it would logically follow that they would also show the same issue if that were the case.

This video should show the issue clearly without needing to download the save and install a mod:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yfy6SK2P2Q

The inserters aren't inserting because the output of the assembling machine is full,
You see when the cables are removed, the machine starts working again

I tested your setups, and all the circuit machines are running 100%, so really there is nothing wrong with this behavior

[Yoyobuae]

You can mod your way around the problem:

Screenshot_2017-03-13_10-49-46.png (343.71 KiB) Viewed 1806 times

Code: Select all

  {
    type = "recipe",
    name = "copper-cable",
    ingredients = {{"copper-plate", 1}},
    result = "copper-cable",
    result_count = 2,
    overload_multiplier = 20,
    requester_paste_multiplier = 10
  },

overload_multiplier is the magic parameter. Should be easy enought to make a mod that multiplies every recipe by 5, 10, 20 or whatever amount.