"The Approverator"

[anomal00se]

I'd like to make a patch for Construction Approvals (https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Construct ... rContinued) that fixes it's problem with the Placeholder Entities it uses to function cluttering the UI with Missing Construction Material alerts:

alerts1.png (71.64 KiB) Viewed 377 times

alerts2.png (71.71 KiB) Viewed 377 times

I've discussed solutions to this problem with the mod author in the past, but they've been inactive for a while now so I'd like to create my own solution. My current idea is to add a new building that, when placed, supplies the construction network with an infinite amount of Placeholder Entities, but doesn't let construction robots actually take any; Thus preventing said entities from being counted as "missing", without affecting anything else.
Would this be possible to add, and if so, how? If not, what are some other ideas for an efficient solution?

[BraveCaperCat]

I'd like to make a patch for Construction Approvals (https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Construct ... rContinued) that fixes it's problem with the Placeholder Entities it uses to function cluttering the UI with Missing Construction Material alerts:
alerts1.pngalerts2.png
I've discussed solutions to this problem with the mod author in the past, but they've been inactive for a while now so I'd like to create my own solution. My current idea is to add a new building that, when placed, supplies the construction network with an infinite amount of Placeholder Entities, but doesn't let construction robots actually take any; Thus preventing said entities from being counted as "missing", without affecting anything else.
Would this be possible to add, and if so, how? If not, what are some other ideas for an efficient solution?

Not in that way, but I don't see a reason why the placeholder entity has to be a ghost. I mean, you can already place ghost entities on top of other entities since at least 2.0. An example is the elevated rail. It doesn't collide with entities which are not elevated rail-related parts. That includes ghosts of non-elevated rail-related parts.

[anomal00se]

I'd like to make a patch for Construction Approvals (https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Construct ... rContinued) that fixes it's problem with the Placeholder Entities it uses to function cluttering the UI with Missing Construction Material alerts:
alerts1.pngalerts2.png
I've discussed solutions to this problem with the mod author in the past, but they've been inactive for a while now so I'd like to create my own solution. My current idea is to add a new building that, when placed, supplies the construction network with an infinite amount of Placeholder Entities, but doesn't let construction robots actually take any; Thus preventing said entities from being counted as "missing", without affecting anything else.
Would this be possible to add, and if so, how? If not, what are some other ideas for an efficient solution?

Not in that way, but I don't see a reason why the placeholder entity has to be a ghost. I mean, you can already place ghost entities on top of other entities since at least 2.0. An example is the elevated rail. It doesn't collide with entities which are not elevated rail-related parts. That includes ghosts of non-elevated rail-related parts.

Funny enough, I DID suggest this to azaghal (the Construction Approvals creator) some time ago; He said it wouldn't work then. But that was before 2.0. I wonder how I could make this change to the mod myself?

[BraveCaperCat]

I'd like to make a patch for Construction Approvals (https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Construct ... rContinued) that fixes it's problem with the Placeholder Entities it uses to function cluttering the UI with Missing Construction Material alerts:
alerts1.pngalerts2.png
I've discussed solutions to this problem with the mod author in the past, but they've been inactive for a while now so I'd like to create my own solution. My current idea is to add a new building that, when placed, supplies the construction network with an infinite amount of Placeholder Entities, but doesn't let construction robots actually take any; Thus preventing said entities from being counted as "missing", without affecting anything else.
Would this be possible to add, and if so, how? If not, what are some other ideas for an efficient solution?

Not in that way, but I don't see a reason why the placeholder entity has to be a ghost. I mean, you can already place ghost entities on top of other entities since at least 2.0. An example is the elevated rail. It doesn't collide with entities which are not elevated rail-related parts. That includes ghosts of non-elevated rail-related parts.

Funny enough, I DID suggest this to azaghal (the Construction Approvals creator) some time ago; He said it wouldn't work then. But that was before 2.0. I wonder how I could make this change to the mod myself?

Well, you'd have to add the property "collision_mask = {layers = {}}" to the placeholder entity's prototype definition in data.lua and then modify the control script to place the real placeholder entity, instead of the ghost of the placeholder entity.