Copy Train Interupts

[zooqooo]

TL;DR

Allow us to rename/modify train interrupts without modifying the interrupt globally.

What?

Currently if I have a train group set up, and I want to make another train group, I have to manually recreate every interrupt that is even slightly different between the two groups. For instance I might have an iron train group and want to make a copper train group, or I have an item train group and want to make a fluid train group.

The 'easiest' work around I've found is to take one of the trains with the original interrupts, put it into a new train group by itself, and save it to a blueprint and delete it. Then I can rename and redo everything I need for the new group, then paste the original train back in. If I do it right the blueprint should recreate the original interrupts which I can then reapply to the appropriate train group. But that work around is very finicky and its very easy to accidentally delete or modify an interrupt with no way to recover, so it has to be recreate manually.

I wish there was a button in the "Edit interrupt" window to "Copy interrupt". Which would create a copy with a new name (like "copy of interrupt") which can then be renamed and modified without changing any of the existing train logic.

As a simple example, I might have an interrupt called "Iron Pickup" which is triggered by empty cargo inventory and then sends the train to an iron station. But I want to make a version that is the same but sends the train to a copper station. In this simple example, it wouldn't be hard to recreate the interrupt from scratch, but there are obviously interrupts that are much more complicated than this one and tedious to recreate for every possible permutation. It would be so much more convenient to be able to edit the "Iron Pickup" interrupt, copy it, then go to modify the "Copy of Iron Pickup" interrupt, where it can be renamed and modified to "Copper Pickup" without changing the original interrupt.

Why?

Train interrupts allow for very powerful train logic, but the more logic that gets added to interrupts, the more tedious it is to make a second train group with *mostly* the same logic as the first.

[Alfonse215]

I have to manually recreate every interrupt that is even slightly different between the two groups. For instance I might have an iron train group and want to make a copper train group, or I have an item train group and want to make a fluid train group.

I really feel like blueprint parameterization is the superior way to handle that sort of thing. With parameters, you can change multiple instances of the signal in one go, while with the copy method, you have to make sure to manually update all instances of the signal in the interrupt correctly.

It should also be noted that wildcard interrupts were added mostly to automate this kind of thing so that you don't even need blueprint parameters anymore.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have the feature, but this really isn't a great example for why we need it.

[zooqooo]

Yeah, my example was maybe too simple. I just wanted to make it clear without being too wordy. I use blueprint parameterization and wildcard interrupts a lot (though my simple example also applies to wildcard interrupts if you want to change a item interrupt to a fluid interrupt).

[robot256]

+1.

As a user interface design aspect, is there a compelling reason to *prevent* the user from making a copy of an interrupt so they can e.g. change the name and quantity of the fuel? (Because the fuel wildcard is useless when fuel items have different stack sizes.)

Other semi-hidden global lists have this ability. With a logistic group, you can delete the name to un-linked group, and then assign it a new name and change the signals. With train groups, you can do the same thing. Since train interrupts cannot exist without a name (a poor design choice to start with, IMO), a special button to "copy and rename" is needed.

There's always a workaround, but it seems unnecessary to force every player to learn about them by experiencing a variation of...

1. Be excited your first interrupt works to pick up iron,
2. Copy your iron train to make it a copper train,
3. Change the interrupt to pickup copper, and
4. Wonder why your iron train is full of copper now.

[robot256]

Previous threads with the same suggestion (ignoring the ones that want to copy/reassign individual records in a schedule/interrupt segment)

viewtopic.php?p=627132 (another thread was already merged into this one)
viewtopic.php?p=673986 (I upvoted this one last year)