Factorio Forums

Type: Mod
Name: Concrete Logistics
Description: Automated Concrete Placement With Logistics Networks
License: MIT License
Version: 1.1.0
Release: 2016-01-05
Tested-With-Factorio-Version: 0.12.32
Category: Gameplay
Tags: Concrete, Logistics
Download-Url: https://github.com/Afforess/ConcreteLog ... _1.1.0.zip
Website: https://github.com/Afforess/ConcreteLogistics
Dependencies:

• Color-Coding (1.0.7+) - Direct Download
• WrenchFu - Direct Download

Contributions welcome.

You deserve a medal for the idea alone.
I will try this mod as soon as I get to playing Factorio again.

Like. Yesterday I saw this https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 73#p121673
Looks so beautiful. And I thought: it might be easy, if I have some kind of blueprint for each type of building. And a algorithm that finds a path with a minimum width through the factory to make a road around it...

... Btw: I would largely increase the area of this hub. 100x100 or so

ssilk wrote:Like. Yesterday I saw this https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 73#p121673
Looks so beautiful. And I thought: it might be easy, if I have some kind of blueprint for each type of building. And a algorithm that finds a path with a minimum width through the factory to make a road around it...

... Btw: I would largely increase the area of this hub. 100x100 or so

Right now it doesn't support shapes other than squares. However, I can see how to do circles quite easily (oblong shapes might be harder... how to determine which way should be up?).

Also, the current design is that the Concrete Logistics Hub range extends as far as your base does, but I am rethinking this and am liking the idea of increasing the construction logistics radius of the hub to 100 and then only do concrete for structures that are within this area. There are a number of advantages and optimizations available, which favor the fixed radius around a hub rather than examining the whole base. This also gives players a bit more control, the affected area is only within the visible range of the structure, which is intuitive, rather than concrete spreading throughout your whole construction logistics network.

I don't use the Color Coding mod, so it would be really nice to see a stand-alone version of Concrete Logistics.

Also, it seems to me that some players might pave parts of their factory with Brick paths initially, because automated Concrete placement is a long way away, and so it would be super nice if this auto-concrete-placer thingie could not only auto-place Concrete blueprint within its radius but also auto-remove already laid down Brick and then later when those Bricks are removed place down Concrete BP on the now empty spots.

Peter34 wrote:I don't use the Color Coding mod, so it would be really nice to see a stand-alone version of Concrete Logistics.

Is there any reason not to use the color-coding mod? It does not alter the balance of gameplay in any meaningful way. It seemed better to re-use the mod that already added the colored concrete than re-implement it and possibly introduce incompatibilities. I do agree that dependencies suck, especially given that Factorio doesn't have any means of finding / downloading them automatically. If you have more reasons for not wanting to use it, I'm open to hearing them.

Peter34 wrote:Also, it seems to me that some players might pave parts of their factory with Brick paths initially, because automated Concrete placement is a long way away, and so it would be super nice if this auto-concrete-placer thingie could not only auto-place Concrete blueprint within its radius but also auto-remove already laid down Brick and then later when those Bricks are removed place down Concrete BP on the now empty spots.

Yes, this happens by default. Any concrete or brick tile that does not match what the logistics hub expects will be replaced.

As an update, I have the mod placing colored concrete, as well as a UI that allows customization of the concrete color and priority of structures. I still need to allow customization of the radius from structures concrete is placed, as well as shapes in the UI. Once that is done, I will move the mod out of WIP and do a 1.0 release... Possibly in the next few days.

Version 0.1.0 released. Don't let the tiny version number fool you, lots of improvements. The mod now also depends on WrenchFu, and direct download links have been included in the title post for convenience.

Image of the new GUI:



See the changelog for full details.

Version 1.0.0 released. Support for circular shapes, and I finally think this mod is stable!

Weird...downloaded mod and dependencies, start game and mods load fine until it gets to loading sprites (89%) gives an error message

Missing specification of font with name: "font-lb"

Never seen that before and not sure how to fix that

Edit: Looks like issue with color coding mod. Deleted it but kept wrench and this mod and game loaded fine. Of course now I can't research the concrete hub.

capthavic wrote:Weird...downloaded mod and dependencies, start game and mods load fine until it gets to loading sprites (89%) gives an error message

Missing specification of font with name: "font-lb"

Never seen that before and not sure how to fix that

Edit: Looks like issue with color coding mod. Deleted it but kept wrench and this mod and game loaded fine. Of course now I can't research the concrete hub.

Really? I obviously tested, but haven't seen this particular issue. I'll grab a clean, new copy of factorio w/o any mods, and try installing this fresh, and see what happens. Sorry you encountered this.

capthavic wrote:Weird...downloaded mod and dependencies, start game and mods load fine until it gets to loading sprites (89%) gives an error message

Missing specification of font with name: "font-lb"

Never seen that before and not sure how to fix that

Edit: Looks like issue with color coding mod. Deleted it but kept wrench and this mod and game loaded fine. Of course now I can't research the concrete hub.

Sorry about this! The issue was that I was using a font I copied from advanced logistics systems mod, and forgot to declare the font type in my mod! I have corrected this in 1.0.1 - try redownloading 1.0.1, and the dependencies.

Thanks for quick response! The game loaded fine now but now I'm getting a notice while in game:

Notice
Error while running the event handler:
_ _ ConcreteLogistics _ _/control.lua:69:bad
argument #1 to 'pairs' (table expected, got nil)

Not sure if I'm doing something to trigger it, happened while waiting for research to complete so I hadn't tried placing anything yet.

Edit: Seems doing just about anything makes it happen. Even tried fresh world, couldn't get even a single tree chopped before I got the error again and booted back to main menu.

capthavic wrote:Thanks for quick response! The game loaded fine now but now I'm getting a notice while in game:

Notice
Error while running the event handler:
_ _ ConcreteLogistics _ _/control.lua:69:bad
argument #1 to 'pairs' (table expected, got nil)

Not sure if I'm doing something to trigger it, happened while waiting for research to complete so I hadn't tried placing anything yet.

Edit: Seems doing just about anything makes it happen. Even tried fresh world, couldn't get even a single tree chopped before I got the error again and booted back to main menu.

Dang! I can't believe I didn't see that in testing. That's what I get for testing in an existing save and not a new world.

Fixed in 1.0.2.

Well the game doesn't crash now but I'm still having issues. It will queue concrete to be placed but no bots will place them under some structures. Started a sandbox map, using base game structures only but it wouldn't place concrete under basic stone furnace. They did under regular inserters and conveyors and open ground beside them, but not under the furnace. Also idk how to open that menu for the hub, clicking on it does nothing.

Sorry for all this trouble v.v

capthavic wrote:Well the game doesn't crash now but I'm still having issues. It will queue concrete to be placed but no bots will place them under some structures. Started a sandbox map, using base game structures only but it wouldn't place concrete under basic stone furnace. They did under regular inserters and conveyors and open ground beside them, but not under the furnace. Also idk how to open that menu for the hub, clicking on it does nothing.

Sorry for all this trouble v.v

You have to open the GUI by crafting the wrench and right clicking with that in your hand - there is no way for mods to detect a right click w/o a special object in the players hands. This is an annoying limitation that hopefully 0.13. will fix.

Stone furnaces might not be in the list of entities that receive concrete, I will take a look. It's possible that was accidentally left out.

Afforess wrote:

capthavic wrote:Well the game doesn't crash now but I'm still having issues. It will queue concrete to be placed but no bots will place them under some structures. Started a sandbox map, using base game structures only but it wouldn't place concrete under basic stone furnace. They did under regular inserters and conveyors and open ground beside them, but not under the furnace. Also idk how to open that menu for the hub, clicking on it does nothing.

Sorry for all this trouble v.v

You have to open the GUI by crafting the wrench and right clicking with that in your hand - there is no way for mods to detect a right click w/o a special object in the players hands. This is an annoying limitation that hopefully 0.13. will fix.

Stone furnaces might not be in the list of entities that receive concrete, I will take a look. It's possible that was accidentally left out.

Just crafted wrench but it didn't work and just gave me this error: https://www.dropbox.com/s/orkrrrgltl3vh ... r.png?dl=0

Also it wasn't just stone furnaces, it also didn't work for other stuff on my other maps. I am using another mod for improved assemblers, inserters, etc. so I figured it just wasn't recognizing them, but it did the same thing for the normal furnace and idk what else. Maybe something in another mod is conflicting

If so then guess I'm sol either way. Thanks for your help anyway ^^

capthavic wrote:

Afforess wrote:

capthavic wrote:Well the game doesn't crash now but I'm still having issues. It will queue concrete to be placed but no bots will place them under some structures. Started a sandbox map, using base game structures only but it wouldn't place concrete under basic stone furnace. They did under regular inserters and conveyors and open ground beside them, but not under the furnace. Also idk how to open that menu for the hub, clicking on it does nothing.

Sorry for all this trouble v.v

You have to open the GUI by crafting the wrench and right clicking with that in your hand - there is no way for mods to detect a right click w/o a special object in the players hands. This is an annoying limitation that hopefully 0.13. will fix.

Stone furnaces might not be in the list of entities that receive concrete, I will take a look. It's possible that was accidentally left out.

Just crafted wrench but it didn't work and just gave me this error: https://www.dropbox.com/s/orkrrrgltl3vh ... r.png?dl=0

Also it wasn't just stone furnaces, it also didn't work for other stuff on my other maps. I am using another mod for improved assemblers, inserters, etc. so I figured it just wasn't recognizing them, but it did the same thing for the normal furnace and idk what else. Maybe something in another mod is conflicting

If so then guess I'm sol either way. Thanks for your help anyway ^^

I'll take a look at that error, I am pretty sure I know why it happens. As for extra mod objects, it should recognize them. Concrete Logistics detects items by the category they are in (all assembling machines) not by name. It's possible I left out a few early categories (I am not sure if stone-furnaces are categorized differently due to being in the demo game).

Anyway, I can try to have a fix for your errors and investigate the stone furnace thing in a few hours.

capthavic wrote: Just crafted wrench but it didn't work and just gave me this error: https://www.dropbox.com/s/orkrrrgltl3vh ... r.png?dl=0

Also it wasn't just stone furnaces, it also didn't work for other stuff on my other maps. I am using another mod for improved assemblers, inserters, etc. so I figured it just wasn't recognizing them, but it did the same thing for the normal furnace and idk what else. Maybe something in another mod is conflicting

If so then guess I'm sol either way. Thanks for your help anyway ^^

Alright, I fixed the issue that was causing the settings error when you used the wrench. Also, based on your experience, I wrote some code that will create a "tutorial" pop explanation when any player places their first concrete logistics hub. This should give new players a good introduction to how to use them. I made sure placing a hub also pops up their configuration GUI, to make it easier to access immediately.

Another note: I tested stone furnaces and they definitely received concrete. Again, modded items should also be recognized. I added a status indicator to the title of the GUI, when it's green, all concrete has been placed, when it is yellow, active concrete placement is still on-going. So while the stone furnace in your game might not have received concrete, it may be just because it hasn't been gotten to it yet.

Any other suggestions to how I could make this mod easier to use? You've had a rough experience, but I want to make sure I learn & improve the mod from it.

Afforess wrote:

capthavic wrote: Just crafted wrench but it didn't work and just gave me this error: https://www.dropbox.com/s/orkrrrgltl3vh ... r.png?dl=0

Also it wasn't just stone furnaces, it also didn't work for other stuff on my other maps. I am using another mod for improved assemblers, inserters, etc. so I figured it just wasn't recognizing them, but it did the same thing for the normal furnace and idk what else. Maybe something in another mod is conflicting

If so then guess I'm sol either way. Thanks for your help anyway ^^

Alright, I fixed the issue that was causing the settings error when you used the wrench. Also, based on your experience, I wrote some code that will create a "tutorial" pop explanation when any player places their first concrete logistics hub. This should give new players a good introduction to how to use them. I made sure placing a hub also pops up their configuration GUI, to make it easier to access immediately.

Another note: I tested stone furnaces and they definitely received concrete. Again, modded items should also be recognized. I added a status indicator to the title of the GUI, when it's green, all concrete has been placed, when it is yellow, active concrete placement is still on-going. So while the stone furnace in your game might not have received concrete, it may be just because it hasn't been gotten to it yet.

Any other suggestions to how I could make this mod easier to use? You've had a rough experience, but I want to make sure I learn & improve the mod from it.

Thanks for being so patient and helpful ^w^

Working fine now, my only complaint is there doesn't seem to be a default concrete option, only the colored ones. Other than that seems to be working perfectly now!

capthavic wrote:

Afforess wrote: Thanks for being so patient and helpful ^w^

Working fine now, my only complaint is there doesn't seem to be a default concrete option, only the colored ones. Other than that seems to be working perfectly now!

Dang! Talk about obvious mistakes. Fixed in 1.0.4!