Reading An External File/Sending External Command (Not Sure If Possible)

[tur_quin]

Greetings Fellow Ship Crash Survivors,

Currently I am running a game on a laptop running as a server (the laptop is new-ish and beefy so its not having issues) and the only thing it is connect to is my desktop, I am doing this mainly to prevent me from leave my much larger and power hungry system from running so instead have my game running off a laptop that has much lower power needs. Anyways , my problem arises from when I try to connect to it. I'm able to download the save and connect ok, but the problem arises when I get to the Catching Up phase, I have so much going on in my game that my system can't catch up, if my computer does Catch Up I know that something is wrong in my game and all production has stopped, normally a logic error causing my trains to back up.

Is there a way/mod that would allow me to remote into the server and either send a terminal command or modify a file that would enable me to set the value of a constant combiner (or whatever entity) that would allow me to turn a Stoplight Red to force the trains to stop in order to allow me to log in, cuz right now what i have to do is kill my factorio service, copy the file over to my desktop, then load it as a local file, then once I'm done, copy it back to the laptop server, then turn the service back on. Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.

[Tertius]

You're probably overcomplicating things. If you run Factorio on your PC, it's the same power requirement no matter if it runs Factorio standalone or if it runs Factorio as client with a connection to a server. You're even using more power, since you have 2 machines running: server and client. Also, the loading time with connecting to a server is no less than the loading time for a standalone game.

[Nidan]

Instead of setting some random combinators it would be far simpler to just pause the game until you're connected. You can do that via factorio's RCON, search for rcon in https://wiki.factorio.com/Command_line_parameters to see how to configure it. There are multiple clients available, but factorio's documentation on how to use the rcon interface seems to be lacking.

Sounds like the map should run continuously.

[tur_quin]

You're probably overcomplicating things.

I do see were you are coming from, but you need to know the difference between my laptop, desktop and my goals, my laptop is a newish (I bought it last fall) MSI gaming laptop with octo core (even though I know that means nothing for Factorio) that is running the minimalistic server build of Ubuntu running headless Factorio which runs the game (I'm assuming) perfectly fine, while my desktop is an older i3 quad core with dual GTX 960 (yeah, its that old) with a triple monitor display and when Factorio is the only thing that is running (which it never is) my current map is straining at 35ups, plus I use the computer for everything else, (watching youtube, video editing, 3D modeling, playing other games) which causes the ups to drop even lower. And being a computer person myself, I wanted to play around with the headless server and now that I have it up and running I want my game to always be running I just need a way to temporarily bring things down a bit so I can get in and look around.

Besides, overcomplicating things is kinda what I do.... I once built a massive spring operated trailer hitch mounted kayak holder just because I didn't wanna just throw my kayak in the back of the truck. It took a year and 3 complete rebuilds to learn to just throw it in the bed.

[Silari]

You're probably overcomplicating things.

I do see were you are coming from, but you need to know the difference between my laptop, desktop and my goals, my laptop is a newish (I bought it last fall) MSI gaming laptop with octo core (even though I know that means nothing for Factorio) that is running the minimalistic server build of Ubuntu running headless Factorio which runs the game (I'm assuming) perfectly fine, while my desktop is an older i3 quad core with dual GTX 960 (yeah, its that old) with a triple monitor display and when Factorio is the only thing that is running (which it never is) my current map is straining at 35ups, plus I use the computer for everything else, (watching youtube, video editing, 3D modeling, playing other games) which causes the ups to drop even lower.

You need to understand that every client in Factorio runs EVERYTHING the server does. There is no performance gain to be had from using a server. If your desktop can't run the game fast enough to keep up with the server, you're going to have the issues you described in the OP - it fails at the catching up phase because it's running half as fast. If you drive half the speed of the car ahead of you, you're never going to catch up to it.

You can set the game speed slower using a command, which should help with the connection. If your desktop can't hit more than 35 ups you're gonna need to run the game at half speed.

[tur_quin]

There are multiple clients available, but factorio's documentation on how to use the rcon interface seems to be lacking.

You weren't kidding their documentation is lacking, I now know what commands to send to my game, but I still can't figure out how to send it.

[tur_quin]

You need to understand that every client in Factorio runs EVERYTHING the server does.

I know, i was just trying to find a more streamline why of getting into my game than stopping the service, downloading the save file, opening it on my desktop, making a few changes, uploading to the server, starting back up the server. I'm just looking to send one rcon command to make the game calm enough for me to be able to log in.