[MOD 0.16] Miniloader

[jamiechi1]

Thanks. I added a link to the save and dump files for 16.21 in my last post. I will try to reproduce the crash in the current version. I included the mod-list.json file to show what mods were enabled.

[scispeak]

I can't use blueprints since the last update. I get the message:

Error while running event miniloader::on_put_item (ID 9) __miniloader__/lualib/util.lua:65:invalid direction passed to rotate_box

This happens even if I try removing all of the miniloaders from the blueprint and also happened when I made a blueprint that had no miniloaders in it and set it down although it took a few times and did some d0.local..... messages.

I"m going to see if I can revert because this mod is awesome and I had no problems until this one. Thanks!

[Therax]

I can't use blueprints since the last update. I get the message:

Error while running event miniloader::on_put_item (ID 9) __miniloader__/lualib/util.lua:65:invalid direction passed to rotate_box

What version of Factorio are you running? There was a property added in 0.16.7 that tells a mod whether a blueprint was rotated before being placed, and which direction it was rotated to. Miniloader needs this information to fix the bug Pleauser described where dropping a blueprint over an already built miniloader results in broken circuit connections. Can you try updating to the latest version?

This happens even if I try removing all of the miniloaders from the blueprint and also happened when I made a blueprint that had no miniloaders in it and set it down although it took a few times and did some d0.local..... messages.

Ah, it looks like I accidentally left some debug code in. I'll remove that and ship a new version. Thanks!

[Therax]

Thanks. I added a link to the save and dump files for 16.21 in my last post. I will try to reproduce the crash in the current version. I included the mod-list.json file to show what mods were enabled.

Ah, so this is an full crash to desktop, where Factorio itself exits? You should probably report that as a bug in the Bug Reports forum, with your crash dump etc. There's little I can do as a mod author for a core engine crash. It may actually have already been fixed for 0.16.23: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=56701

[Razunter]

Having annoying crashes with lastest Miniloaders:

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3236.302 Error MainLoop.cpp:1019: Exception at tick 11731303: Error while running event miniloader::on_tick (ID 0)
__miniloader__/lualib/event.lua:14: attempt to call field '?' (a nil value)

I think it happens randomly when I place multi-width belt with Picker Extended and not doing anything Miniloader-related.

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Another annoying issue is that placing multiple wired filter miniloaders with bots is broken: some behave as there is no wire connection to them.

[staviq]

Hi, this started to happen:

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3517.103 Error MainLoop.cpp:1019: Exception at tick 6253688: Error while running event miniloader::on_put_item (ID 9)
__miniloader__/lualib/util.lua:65: invalid direction passed to rotate_box

It started to happen only after i have made my first miniloaders in this map, while using blueprints game will throw this error sometimes, and sadly soft-crash.

The thing is, neither the blueprint i'm using, nor the area when i'm placing the blueprint contains any miniloaders whatsoever. The only thing the blueprint contains are rails and signals, and i'm just stamping my rail network, no boxes, no belts.

[Therax]

I think it happens randomly when I place multi-width belt with Picker Extended and not doing anything Miniloader-related.

Things I learned today: it is possible under certain circumstances to build more than one blueprint in a single game tick. Fixed in 1.5.10.

Another annoying issue is that placing multiple wired filter miniloaders with bots is broken: some behave as there is no wire connection to them.

I've not been able to reproduce this in my tests. Does it seem completely random? Are there certain blueprints or patterns of existing entities you place blueprints over that cause this problem to occur? If so, could you post a save?

The thing is, neither the blueprint i'm using, nor the area when i'm placing the blueprint contains any miniloaders whatsoever. The only thing the blueprint contains are rails and signals, and i'm just stamping my rail network, no boxes, no belts.

I wasn't handling diagonal entities properly, and only rails and signals can be diagonal. Fixed in 1.5.10.

[Razunter]

Thx for the fixes!

I've not been able to reproduce this in my tests. Does it seem completely random? Are there certain blueprints or patterns of existing entities you place blueprints over that cause this problem to occur? If so, could you post a save?.

Looks like the game can't properly create blueprint, some connections get blueprinted, some don't.
Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/xeVzZ7R.jpg (blueprinted filters + original)

[staviq]

I wasn't handling diagonal entities properly, and only rails and signals can be diagonal. Fixed in 1.5.10.

Thanks again !

[Therax]

Looks like the game can't properly create blueprint, some connections get blueprinted, some don't.
Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/xeVzZ7R.jpg (blueprinted filters + original)

Do the loaders all look connected to each other in the blueprint configuration GUI? Could you post the blueprint string for that BP?

[Razunter]

Do the loaders all look connected to each other in the blueprint configuration GUI? Could you post the blueprint string for that BP?

Nope, not connected in BP UI. BP String:

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0eNrlWdtugzAM/Rc/04qEW+BXpgpRSDerkKCQVusq/n0BXqpWe6hVdV32gpRgOz4Hh5wkZ9i2B9kbVBaKM2Ct1QDF2xkGfFdVO/XZUy+hALSygwBU1U2tHbZWmlWHCltdNdLAGACqRn5CwcZNAFJZtCiXYHPjVKpDt3WWBfs5zArVII3rc0P1enAhtJqScGFXLArgBEXoRmrQyHp5FwfgkrZGt+VWflRH1GZyqNHUB7RlpxtZ6l2pe2mqxYONs4taIgyTNZseRjaX2aJrReNmdNb6KI1BF2iwVb0vB/ySM4rG6L68TjNc82RJdM3ynDORJS5Ej/X+cGMczobORYRhJhhP3Gg3dHEiXexxdN1DwMPxR0T8/Onlwu4vl4ezFdPYyj0ploRYLKEn+FMafvH0uSJeYK5kNLKSf0mWoJGVPp2s9CL5qZ29wiKe09iLPPktTf9XCv7YF/xUzesLfqKI5b7gp4lYbz4/TZX+goJPXmClZTQR+/ztMYuvllr2Emsto4ngxJfJRpO18T+dbDRdm/pSLDRh6stxAafpUuELfJos9eZokdNkqTenRZwoS33ZlnKaLmV/c1uyCZZbnOLi0icAN/4wu6Ui42HORMLzcfwGRvi/fw==

Weird issue, can't reproduce with new miniloaders. If I create BP of some old miniloaders they can have this issue, but newly placed ones look ok...
Save: https://www.dropbox.com/s/82zod9jiwyzji ... h.zip?dl=0.

[London_]

I got a crash when removing a T5 loader (purple belt, 66.666.. items/sec) that had tinned wire. Picture at the moment of the crash, arrow points to the tile where I removed the miniloader from:

crash.jpg (181.94 KiB) Viewed 9169 times

Log attached.
Link to my save: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1u03vC ... YH9QAJHxOr
The save is actually about a minute ahead of when I crashed, I moved the loader to a different spot so it won't crash for me but I'm sure moving it back would allow recreation of the issue.
Link to the mods I used: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_fh1A ... FaBBhB6ZQj

If I remove the miniloader, sometimes that splitter will have a bit of its sprite missing, the part where the miniloader touched it. I think this picture has a pixel row or 2 missing from the top belt's left side. May need to have a little bit of tinned wire draw to make it happen. Once the graphic was missing, I pull it up, then place it and the miniloader back down, have some draw on the tinned wire line, then rip up the miniloader and I find I often crash. The order of rip up and replace might be a little different, but the it only crashes on the miniloader being ripped up.

I've also noticed that the miniloaders don't snap to the direction that the splittes are facing but they do with belts and undergrounds.

[jamiechi1]

Thanks. I added a link to the save and dump files for 16.21 in my last post. I will try to reproduce the crash in the current version. I included the mod-list.json file to show what mods were enabled.

Ah, so this is an full crash to desktop, where Factorio itself exits? You should probably report that as a bug in the Bug Reports forum, with your crash dump etc. There's little I can do as a mod author for a core engine crash. It may actually have already been fixed for 0.16.23: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=56701

Thanks for looking at this. I will look at this Monday when the new version rolls out and see if that fixed my issue. If not, I'll submit a bug to Factorio.

Edit: No crashes until last night. Build 16.25. Crashed when deleting a filtered fast miniloader. Since the crash logs are automatically uploaded now, I am unsure whether I need to submit any other files.

[doc776@gmail.com]

Been playing around with the idea of using miniloaders but the 60 items per second is kinda offputing since i wanna maximize with bob's belt that go to the maximum 66.6/s.

While testing i noticed both 'Faster' (green) and 'Extremely fast' (purple) mini loaders run at 60/s speed. Is it posible to fix them to run at 55.3 and 66.6 just like the belts? I dont think that goes past the yellow x5 that you mentioned in description

[Therax]

I got a crash when removing a T5 loader (purple belt, 66.666.. items/sec) that had tinned wire. Picture at the moment of the crash, arrow points to the tile where I removed the miniloader from:

I'm fairly sure this is the same core Factorio bug mentioned by other people in the thread, that is fixed in 0.16.23.

While testing i noticed both 'Faster' (green) and 'Extremely fast' (purple) mini loaders run at 60/s speed. Is it posible to fix them to run at 55.3 and 66.6 just like the belts? I dont think that goes past the yellow x5 that you mentioned in description

Unfortunately, it is the limit I was referring to. Here's what it looks like when I create 20x express stack inserters on the same tile picking up from the same belt segment:

inserter-limit.gif (1.53 MiB) Viewed 9136 times

As you can see, no matter how many inserters, and no matter how fast they are, there are still some items that leak past in this scenario. That set of items that aren't picked up by the inserters are what limits throughput to a maximum of 60/sec no matter the belt speed.

The green miniloaders I can fix, but I haven't found a way to do so that doesn't make the inserter arrows in alt-view look even stranger than they already do -- i.e. they point 90 degrees away the from actual direction of the items due to how arctan2 behaves when the inserter is dropping on the same coordinate that it is located -- so I'm hesitant to do so.

[hreintke]

In your description you mention :

Ultimate Belts Caveats and Warnings
Ultimate Belts support is in BETA state.

There appear to be Factorio core engine limitations when inserters pull from
belts faster than 5x yellow speed.

Miniloaders at "Ultra fast" and faster speeds use vanilla loader entities
to give full throughput when interacting with chests and other containers.

They will _not_ give full throughput when loading cargo wagons.

Filter miniloaders for these speeds are disabled, and circuit control is broken.
Do not upgrade miniloaders to these speeds if you are using circuit control.

Use with due caution and at your own risk to your factory.

Seeing the speed limitation now, do you leave the idea on using loader entities for that ?

[orzelek]

In your description you mention :

Ultimate Belts Caveats and Warnings
Ultimate Belts support is in BETA state.

There appear to be Factorio core engine limitations when inserters pull from
belts faster than 5x yellow speed.

Miniloaders at "Ultra fast" and faster speeds use vanilla loader entities
to give full throughput when interacting with chests and other containers.

They will _not_ give full throughput when loading cargo wagons.

Filter miniloaders for these speeds are disabled, and circuit control is broken.
Do not upgrade miniloaders to these speeds if you are using circuit control.

Use with due caution and at your own risk to your factory.

Seeing the speed limitation now, do you leave the idea on using loader entities for that ?

Actual loader entities don't work with cargo wagons. Thats why they are listed as not loading those. I'm not sure why it says they don't give full throughput - vanilla loader doesn't react to wagons at all.

[Therax]

Actual loader entities don't work with cargo wagons. Thats why they are listed as not loading those. I'm not sure why it says they don't give full throughput - vanilla loader doesn't react to wagons at all.

The Ultimate Belts miniloaders have both inserters and loader entities, so they get full throughput with containers and buildings, and much reduced throughput with cargo wagons using the inserters only. Circuit control is broken since loaders cannot be circuit controlled. I'll probably remove their ability to connect to the circuit network entirely in the next release, and make a pass at fixing filter support with additional scripting.

[hreintke]

Hi,

Was a little puzzled reading your response. Did not know that Ultimate Belts is a different mod.

The text from my previous post comes from the first post of your miniloader mod, that's why I thought it ws a statement on this mod.

Am I correct in the understanding now that the miniloaders only work with inserters and not with vanilla loader entities ?

[Therax]

Am I correct in the understanding now that the miniloaders only work with inserters and not with vanilla loader entities ?

If you are not using the Ultimate Belts mod, Miniloaders creates vanilla loader entities purely to connect to your belts. The loader entities are configured not to move any items, and all item movement is handled by inserters.