[2.0.21] reading nuclear reactor fuel now includes depleted fuel cells

[OzarkRanger]

It appears that in 2.0.21 nuclear reactors now include the contents of the burnt result output slot when fuel is read with the circuit network. The previous behavior was to only read fuel cells being consumed or in the input slot.

I didn't find anything in the release notes that sounded like this was intentional. My experience was that it can wreak unexpected havoc with nuclear control logic that uses the signal from an inserter removing the depleted cell to trigger loading a new cell during the same swing.

The attached save has a single nuclear reactor with a single depleted cell in the output slot and a display panel reading fuel from the reactor with the circuit network. In 2.0.20 the panel shows nothing, and in 2.0.21 it shows the depleted cell in the output slot.

2.0.20 behavior

Screenshot 2024-11-26 004412 2.0.20.png (84.79 KiB) Viewed 435 times

2.0.21 behavior

Screenshot 2024-11-26 004720 2.0.21.png (83.89 KiB) Viewed 435 times

[IsaacOscar]

The new behaviour makes more sense.
And they're separate signals. So I don't understand what the problem is.
You can always use an arithmetic/decider combinator if you really want to filter out the depleted cell signal.

[eugenekay]

This is actually more consistent now with how other Machines work, ex: Centrifuges include the Input and Output slots in their Signal, summed-together.

Screenshot 2024-11-26 022842 Centrifuge Tooltip.png (403.61 KiB) Viewed 386 times

Screenshot 2024-11-26 022756 Centrifuge Contents.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 386 times

Screenshot 2024-11-26 022822 Centrifuge Signal.png (77.19 KiB) Viewed 386 times

However, I do agree that the Reactor Tooltip does not make this as clear as the Centrifuge - "Reads fuel inventory and currently burning fuel."

Screenshot 2024-11-26 022930 Reactor Tooltip.png (370.64 KiB) Viewed 386 times

In my reactor setup, the Inserter to load fresh Fuel Cells uses a condition for "Fuel Cell = 0 AND Temperature < 800".... so I didn't notice the change The Inserter removing Depleted Cells does not have any conditions.

[boskid]

Why do i always regret doing changes which i would say are for the better, not the worst? This change was primarily done for consistency with incoming feature to read fuel from biochambers.

[MechBFP]

Why do i always regret doing changes which i would say are for the better, not the worst? This change was primarily done for consistency with incoming feature to read fuel from biochambers.

Definitely keep it. Consistency is worth it and people can update their designs accordingly.
Every change is going to break someone’s workflow. Reminds me of this lol https://xkcd.com/1172/

[OzarkRanger]

Why do i always regret doing changes which i would say are for the better, not the worst? This change was primarily done for consistency with incoming feature to read fuel from biochambers.

Oops, sorry for the implied criticism. I actually think the change makes sense, but I didn't see it in the release notes so I assumed it was unintentional and needed to be reported. If you want my vote, I say keep it.

[boskid]

If you want my vote, I say keep it.

Thank you. I would keep it anyway.

The change was small enough that i decided it does not need to be mentioned in changelog, now i see i was wrong.