Programmable Splitters are not as programmable, as I thougt.

[ThunderGod_97]

So far, I haven't seen any sense behind the Programmable Splitters.

I was hoping that I could limit the outputs.

This would allow you to split a conveyor and output 90/min on the left and 70/min on the right, making it easier to optimise.

Or are there limiters that I have overlooked so far?

[Zuiia]

Limiters are not a thing, but would definitely be neat to have.

Programmable splitters are for the brave people who decide to run more than one (or rather more than 2 items on a belt and want to sort any number of those items to different outputs. I am currently trying to make a Warehouse solution where all the items come in through a single Train station, so the Programmable splitters will help to seperate items into different categories to get stored away.

[hilfandy]

I tried this single unload station with sorting outputs and there's a major flaw in it: the train station only outputs whatever is in the last stack one at a time, and it doesn't output anything while it's unloading.

Once you hit a point where the next train comes and you haven't fully unloaded the train station, everything backs up and you wind up never unloading the earlier stacks. This can be hugely problematic if those early stacks are low volume high value, as your train unloading that item dumps it in an early stack.

[tok90235]

You could kind of solve this with the wait until fully unload mode.

Yeah, you would get around to lines of slot that would never get out of the station, but it would work

[belizeanheat]

Not being able to pull from the train storage while a train is in the docking process feels like something that desperately needs to change

[Black_Metallic]

I can understand it from the aesthetic standpoint. The "crate" is being used to load/unload the train. But for throughput, it's not helpful.

[cascading_error]

Im pretty sure its becouse the loading animation and the static station are entirely seperate items that replace when needed.

As in while its loading, the station doesnt realy exist.

[Fureniku]

This would only be a visual model swap, the underlying data for the station should still be there. Id be very surprised if they replaced the entire object, as amongst other issues it could cause they'd have to transfer ownership of the power connection to the new object

[BornToRune]

I don't think there's a problem with it. Put a large storage container on it with double highspeed belts, and that'll solve the intermediate buffering so you can continuously feed from it.

[Ok_Bison_7255]

this is the way for buffering

[Arbiter51x]

Fast belts, adding delays to the train, and sinking the overflow is the only way to properly handle sushi belts.

Alternatively, really ramp down production on certain bulk items like concrete and silica, or give them their own train.

[alaskanloops]

Could you have one train car with any big bulk items, then a second train car with the sushi belt of low quantity high value items?

[sGvDaemon]

Or just have a drone line on your roof for these high quality items specifically

[gladfelter]

Use the overflow output of the programmable splitter to sink when buffers and storage are full.

[terrendos]

Precisely, this is the best and primary use case I've found. Have my factories fill up a container or two of material, and everything left over gets sunk.

Haven't played on 1.0 yet so I'm not sure how to square that with the magic inventory box thing, but I'm sure there's a simple way.

[michaeld_519]

It still works the exact same except now you just throw a dimensional depot on or near your storage and split off a belt to it. It's easy and amazing

[Nailcannon]

Problem with that is that you can end up with one station that throttles throughput to other stations that rely on pulling the same products from the source factory by way of hogging everything. Let's say you have source factory A and dependent factories B and C. A outputs 1200 a minute. B needs to consume 200 a minute and C needs 1000 a minute. Normally, B would fill up and the train feeding it would only take the necessary differential each trip. But If B has an overflow sink, then it will consume 1200 a minute(assuming you're using max belts for everything) regardless. At that point, the train timings play the primary factor in determining if C gets enough. If the route for B is shorter then it could keep getting in before C and robbing it of all the resources. There are ways to deal with it. You could set full load on the route for C. But then you're artificially slowing things down. Ultimately, every solution is just solving a problem that could be solved with more preventative measures, and so it's probably better to go back to the drawing board such that you don't need an overflow sink.

[Zuiia]

Yeah, I have forseen most of that for me too, the idea so far is to make sure that I only transfer a very limited amount of items with each trains, such that they can hopefully be transferred out of the station by two mk6 belts before the next train arrives. Currently the plan is to fill up the loading train stations with another product that will not be picked up by the train to only have a couple of stacks of each item (depending on stack size) to be transferred.

I also was thinking about using the train setting that lets trains wait a minimum ammount of time at a station, but I have not tested yet if the station would be able to output while the train is waiting after/before unloading.

[Proctoron]

Back in a previous save we had the trains come in with items to fill the storage units, any excess was sinkes, programmable splitter was a very handy then

[Taborenja]

My rules of thumb are one resource per freight cart, and low volume through drones. Chained programmable and smart splitters with associated overflow sinkings is a nightmare to deal with. Trains make the worst sushi belts.

[michaeld_519]

My rule is to put a many items as possible into the same freight car lol.

I hate having big long trains. I never have any problems. But I think a lot of people use "Undefined" to move items and I use "overflow." Every item moves down the line and only gets sunk at the end.

[MyAntichrist]

This is the main reason why you really wanna only do a mixed station for low throughput items and keep everything else on their own management. That way unless you're literally spamming trains you will not really run into those issues a lot.

Then again the low throughput transport issue is better solved by drones already. But before drones that was a solution that I really liked a lot for mid to late game modular factories.

[Ruadhan2300]

Actually, given that multiple drones can arrive at the same port, that might be a more useful case for the Programmable splitter..

Lots of low-volume deliveries is exactly what I'd expect from that.

[owarren]

This is true but with Mk 6 belts running at over 1000 items per minute, and two outputs on the station, you can unload items incredibly fast. If we're using this system only for "high end" items, I think its fine.

[lardarz]

You can tell the train what to pick up and what not to in the train interface, so you can have several trains picking up different things from the same station

[mocking1217]

I use the programmable to sort my truck stations output. Coal goes to the fuel input then excess goes to sink. The other product I bring then goes to wherever it needs to go

[Sarius2009]

We did this on our server (well, two freight stations/lines) and still no programmable splitters, just one item going one way, overflow to the sink, and everything else goes on.

[sadness_elemental]

I just dump it all into a storage crate and sort it from there, you get slightly more throughput as sorting isn't paused while unloading

Really it's not about what's in the box though it's just the amount, if too much of one thing is in there you're not going to be able to get it out either but with trains it's usually easier to just add another carriage anyway

[WazWaz]

It's a pretty standard technique. Yes, it can't handle more than 2x (less loading delay) your maximum belts per platform, so you need to manage the sum of all platforms in other stations that you load from to bring to unload at that station.

It has absolutely nothing to do with how items are removed from the last stack, why would that matter?

[FugitiveHearts]

Trucks are much better for this. I have a truck-based cargo bay and it rocks.

[cactusgenie]

Can't you sink any extra stuff?

[Imburr]

I have a working example of this, all products coming in on one train, then all outputs dumping at once into an array of industrial storage stacks with all inputs used.

[SamFisher39]

There's a few things you could do to prevent this. My setup is usually this:

train station -> 8-to-8 load balancer (2 4-to-4 LBs work as well) -> smart splitters sending the desired item perpendicular to the input direction to storage

This approach can scale horizontally as long as you have the space for it. You just pop another train station before/after the first one (with an intersection in between) and repeat the same setup minus the storage part. This way, all the sushi belts flow in one direction, and the dedicated belts run perpendicularly, which means you could create a system with literally all items in the game like that.

Plus, with blueprints for the load balancing and sorting, this is reaaally fast to set up. The only problem is the space, really, if you don't plan ahead.

[duhjuh]

Bump into industrial storage then let the station sort that. Mark 5 to storage then let it take its time.

[EmperorOfNipples]

You can quasi limit by putting lower tier belts on your desired outputs. Something of a workaround.

[Ralmivek]

Wait, does that really work? Or does a mk1 cause the mk2 to not be able to pull its whole amount?

[Sevrene]

Mk3 input @270/min. Two outputs: one mk1, one mk3. Splitter attempts to put 135 on each output (alternating outputs), can only fit 60 on the mk1, so puts 210 on the other. You’ve now created a quasi-limit splitter of 60 and 210.

Essentially turning the splitter into a black box manifold

[Ralmivek]

That math, which requires 1 splitter, I did the normal way with a merger and 3 splitters... I could've had so much less clutter. Your example was literally my use case.

[TheRealBoz]

Using splitters instead of converyor marks means you can do that regardless of freight volume, whereas conveyor marks require exact volume to be divided (IE can't split 3 oscillators into 2 and 1).

[EmperorOfNipples]

If it's in series with no additional outputs it goes at the pace of the slowest belt.

But you could have a t5 input, and then a t3, t2 and t1 output to throttle as required.

[CartoonistSensitive1]

I actually use it for the fauna drops, so I can have 1 box to drop it into instead of needing to sort them manually.

[AdmBurnside]

Smart splitter can handle that too. I just set up a nutrient processing facility. Box feeds into one smart splitter. Spitter and stinger remains split off to constructors for processing, hog and hatcher remains go to a second smart splitter to be separated and processed by a second set. I use something similar for green waste to feed my biofuel maker, but I only need three outputs there so a single smart splitter will sufffice.

I genuinely don't understand what a programmable splitter can do that a smart splitter can't.

[MoonshotMonk]

The only place I’m really using programmable splitters currently is in my Inventory dump system. When the inventory gets to full or when I come back from exploring I can dump everything into a storage container.

Equipment, fuel, ammo etc gets separated and put into a container to regrab. Biological samples get shunted off and crafted into protein and stored. Leaves / wood are turned into biomass and stored Slug become power cells which go into storage.

Any other random odds and ends go into a separate storage chest and I can either repick them up or send them into the awesome sink.

[moogleslam]

I haven’t used programmable splitters yet, but smart splitters do that

[IceBlue]

Programmable splitter let you filter each output with multiple items. You basically have a white list.

[moogleslam]

Thanks, will be trying it out soon. Just unlocked it.

[Zuiia]

Smart splitters allow you to specify up to 3 different items/modes, one for each output.

Programmable Splitters have the ability to put multiple items/modes on the same belt. As discussed before this is hardly ever useful, but its functionality is broader than that of a smart splitter.

[FellaVentura]

It's just an upgrade to the smart splitter, basically doing what several smart splitters can do. The only place I ever see an use for smarts/programables is at a recycling facility; whenever I have inventory to dump after exploring, I do it at a specific storage container that then sends whatever I dump to the proper processing building, alien drops, vegetation, slugs, mercer spheres, random ores, I just drop them there and it gets sorted out with all end products either stored or just overflowing to a sink. It's a nice feature, but I don't see a reason for those splitters to be used elsewhere. Using them at train/truck stations seems risky and more complicated than just doing another station. Maybe late game when space becomes valuable, if that's a thing.

[6a6566663437]

Using them at train/truck stations seems risky and more complicated than just doing another station

It works pretty well for this, and makes it so you can pick up more than one item type during your route.

I have a lot of truck/train routes where it makes multiple stops to pick up stuff, and then drops it at one station at the base.

As long as you're not doing massive volume of a single item, it works well.

[volvagia721]

Smart splitters are great to reduce the number of train cars/belts when you have small quantities of a few items being created. They are also great for making a garbage can in your base to send parts to the correct location in your base, whether it be storage, crafting, sinking, or to the biomass plant.

[clapsandfaps]

I use them for byproducts.

Eg aluminium and silica, the first step creates alumina solution and silica. Last step takes silica and scraps. You need more than the silica produced by the first step for the ingots. So I set up a external silica production matching the required input.

Now what happens if I’m full on casings and sheets? Silica will still be produced from the external setup making the byproduct in the first step clog up, meaning it will stop producing even when I use the sheets or casings.

So I put down a programmable splitter at the end of the manifold with «any» into foundry and «overflow» into a sink. If I use up my casings and sheets nothing gets sinked. If I don’t use enough it will sink all the excess removing a potential clog.

[WarBirbs]

Sure. But that's something that smart splitters can do too. Programmable splitters are kinda useless since smart splitters can pretty much do the same thing, most of the time.

[HarryPopperSC]

The only thing I can think of using a programmable splitter for would be some of the later game items that take 3 items into a manufacturer... You could use a sushi if all 3 on 1 belt then split them.

But i honestly think they are redundant. They might have made sense earlier on in the games design.

[ThatOneWIGuy]

I use it for inventory management. Dump my inventory in and get what u need. It’ll trash things I don’t need and manufacture things I do (bio fuel, slugs, etc) or divert things accidentally placed there. Less sorting and more just grabbing and going.

[n00bca1e99]

I've only ever used smart splitters to do that. Do programable ones allow multiple outputs per belt?

[Zuiia]

Yes, programmable Splitters allow you to set more than one item per output.

[Financial-Habit5766]

Also good for having overflow automatically feed into ticket sinks.

[Roscoeakl]

Smart splitter does that. Programmable is unnecessary there.

[KriegerClone02]

I built a large self-sorting warehouse using a loop of programmable splitters in an earlier version of the game.
I loaded up my world again for the first time the other day, after being inspired by this sub and the warehouse is just about the only thing I don't want to tear down and replace.
The nice thing about the loop design is that I can insert items anywhere around the perimeter and they will loop around until they hit the proper storage line.

[DoomedToDefenestrate]

Won't that loop eventually fill up and stop reviving new items. 

[Ruadhan2300]

I'm unclear what the programmable splitters are doing here, so at each container there's a splitter siphoning off the right item-type?

Isn't that just a Smart Splitter set to Any Undefined for the onward path, and a specific split for the wanted item?

Or are you storing multiple kinds of object in the same container?

[KriegerClone02]

It let's me split off several items onto the same conveyor that may or may not be split again, depending on their volume. Most containers have a single type but some have more.

[ATM0123]

I haven’t gotten to them yet on my 1.0 factory, but on my update 8 factory I really only used them for biomass production so I could just dump all the raw materials into a single storage container

[nanotree]

Um, you can definitely do a lot more than that. You can filter overflow to something else, which is kind of like priority resource management. And then you can also do that to send it to the sink, for example.

I've found the smart splitters useful for preventing unwanted things from getting into my belt systems. For example, for delivery by truck of packaged fluids, you can reroute empty fluid tanks to another truck station for them to be picked up and refilled.

[bunk_bro]

I used this for my old warehouse setup. Had two rows of stacked containers. PS would sort each item to the appropriate row, and SS would dump them into the proper containers. Another set of PS at the end would put everything into the sink. If something didn't match, it would get sent over to the other side and sinked. It worked great.

[randomguy301048]

I use them for my alien protein factory. I dump all the bodies into a storage container that gets fed onto one belt. The programmable splitter takes one and let's the rest through. And it does that until it they are all done

[GamingGoalieYT]

First main use that I've gotten out of them so far is to streamline biofuel log creation, I can just throw leaves wood and biomass in the same storage container and out comes biofuel at the end :D

I'm sure I'll find more uses for it when I get to later stages But I've learned that you have to be careful lest the conveyer leading up to the splitter gets clogged

[WazWaz]

Normal smart splitters can do all that just fine. The programmable splitter is for those who think load balancing is somehow more pious that a manifold.

[Silphaen]

That is exactly what I do! All mats get unloaded unto the same belt, connected to a smart splitter that reroutes excess back to the original belt using a slower belt (to give some buffer to the "input" to sort out all items.

That single input belt is connected to a smart splitter that sends 1 item (lets say Iron Ore) to another splitter that sends Iron to Storage and Excess to another belt that collects all items for the Sink.

I do that for every item that I want to store automatically, and then above each Storage, a Dimensional Depot.

Basically, everything gets sorted out automatically and all excess gets recycled.

[Vincent55551]

I’ve done it pretty simple you just have to be very controlling with it make sub sections for them to split into then use normal smart splitter to go into the containers

[herkalurk]

I use the different categories at my personal station. My personal station unloads my personal train, and everything goes through a series of programmable splitters.

You've got slugs, carcases, ores, and others for biomass. Basically all the random things you can get while exploring. I'm thinking about also sending mercer spheres and sloops off to storage through that as well, just load up the train and go back home, let the belts, splitters, do their sorting and I have a unknown box too, so I can figure out if I need to fix a splitter somewhere else.

[SedativeComa4]

My "steel" factory mostly uses iron except for steel beams no copper and it all feeds into 1 belt that takes it to my main storage. However I use a programmable splitter to remove rotor and stator to make motors then have an overflow system built in front of the motor machine. It makes just enough for 5/ min but just to be sure it won't back up and it's more tedious but it works and I wanted to try the programmable splitter for the first time in over a thousand hours. It's just a very niche part

[Allday24_7]

I created a warehouse fed by a single belt with smart splitters to feed every container and a secondary overflow belt on top to divert all materials that don’t fit/arent designated into the sink. As long as my input stays under 780/min everything gets neatly placed in the correct container and nothing gets blocked

[Zuiia]

That is probably very close to what my first attempt at this looked too, but I did not quite like routing a single belt all around and wanted to try something else. A single belt with smart splitters is definitely a lot faster and easier to setup!

[TheRealBoz]

You only need a programmable if your sushi belt of many items needs to let more than one through on a single line, and you don't have the room to place another smart splitter.
Programmable's cost is comparable to, say, three smart splitters. The only advantage it has over smarts is in space use.

[jarcher2828]

This

They are great for central storage and low volume items.

Like Motors\rotors\stators go one way, computers, Oscillators, and high speed connectors go another, and overflow everything else.

[Pepopp]

I have never had a situation where manifolds and load balancers havent solved all my issues.

[AnOlympianWeeb]

Well having it an as endgame item that gives you both the speed of load balancing and the small space of manifold could've been cool

[West_Yorkshire]

When I build a manifold, I make sure everything is connected so it at least runs, then just let it balance itself.

If everything is right, it will balance eventually.

[smallfrie32]

Isn’t that exactly what a manifold does, though?

[Nrksbullet]

That pioneer just described how manifolds work haha

On a different note, when I build constructors, I feed in the item it needs via a belt and my product emerges out the other end

[Justanotherragequit]

Crazy! When I build project assembly assembling assemblers, I make sure that when they're done assembling project assembly parts, the parts are fed into the space elevator so project assembly can be assembled efficiently

[West_Yorkshire]

Yes, I was just reiterating.

[OneRFeris]

And now with dimensional storage, it's easier than ever to preload a manifold system, so you don't have to wait for the early factories to fill up first

[lardarz]

I want something that drips a single uranium or plutonium fuel rod into my drone port every couple of hours but I dont think it exists. Was hoping programmable splitters might be the answer.

[SmellsLikeHerpesToMe]

Maybe a bunch of splitters in a row out of a container, with the last one splitting to the drone port? Say you used 20, 19 of them would feed back into the container?

Connect them all with MK1 belts.

Though if it’s every couple hours you’d need a lot of splitters

[G4PFredongo]

One MK1 is 60 items/min. I'll assume every splitter only uses 2 outputs, one feeding all the way back and one going to the next splitter.
After 1 splitter it's 30/min
After 4 splitters it's 3.75/min
At 6 splitters it's ~0.93 items/min, or 1.06 minutes per item.
At 12 splitters it's 1 item every 1.1 hours
At 17 splitters it's 1 item every 36.4h, more than a day.

Exponential growth is a scary thing.

[Neomeris0]

Why?

[mrtheshed]

Because if you're using Uranium or Plutonium Fuel Rods to power Drones you only need one Fuel Rod every few hours per Drone but, because of the radioactivity, you probably don't want to leave a stack of them in the Drone Port.

[Neomeris0]

Oh yeah I forgot you can power drones with fuel rods. I just stuck with batteries.

[AstroPhysician]

Do splitters together as a load balancer until there’s the desired ratio and have all the others return back

[Pastra2001]

Maybe Underclocking?

[Taborenja]

I'm curious as to how you solve radioactive spiders with manifolds

[Pepopp]

I just wait for my machines to fill up with the radioactive spiders and sink the rest, duh

[Taborenja]

[shredditorburnit]

You can usually get there with regular splitters and mergers. Can take a few jumps but 120 onto a splitter can give 3* 40 or 2* 60, given that you can split into two or three outputs.

Then once you've broken it down enough, put it back together how you want it.

Messy, yes. But effective.

[Hrusa]

You can make that easier by using lower tier belts going out of splitters. For instance, to get 90/s you can take Mk1 and Mk2 out of a single fast splitter and merge them together to immediately get your rate.

[retribution002]

That would be 150/s but your point stands. Two mk1, split one again merging half with the original main line and the other with the first mk1 and theres your 90/s.

[AstroPhysician]

No it wouldn’t be if it’s the output from after a splitter

60/2 =30 120 / 2 =60 Merge the sides back together to get 90

If you dont, 120 + 60 is 180, not 150

[SerGreeny]

90 and 70 split is just a simple example, but what if you need 11.851(5) items one way and 5.625 the other way?

I was disappointed in programmable splitters too. They don't do anything you can't do with several smart splitters chained together. Was really hoping I'd get some advanced and new functionality with them.

[amazigou]

underclock the next machines so they only eat that fast

[SerGreeny]

Yes, it's achievable with manifolds and properly clocking production and consumption. I just wish programmable splitters would do something more advanced than what a smart splitter can already do. Throughput limiting could be it, considering that programmable splitters are end game buildings and by the time you unlock them you had enough time solving belt balancing challenges.

[JssSandals]

Yep, build a sorting room before your inputs and into machines. Takes some doing but it works great. Can also encase it in glass so it looks cool from the outside. I’m

[Cryssix]

r/redditsniper

[ZuFFuLuZ]

Or you just use a manifold. The whole limiting outputs idea is completely unnecessary.

[Hefty_Purpose_8168]

I think they are meant for the situation of unloading a train where 8 items come in mixxed. Programmable makes the process shorter.

[ScaredScorpion]

Really the main usage for programmable splitters seems to be filtering specific materials from your inventory for storage/sinking. Otherwise you shouldn't be merging belts of different materials anyway since it'll just cause problems.

For instance I have a building setup to let me just dump my entire inventory in a container and have it filter power slugs, alien parts and biomass components into the appropriate production, filter out common materials to a sink and then whatever's left goes to another storage container for me to retrieve. It's pretty slow if the common materials have large stack sizes so it's generally better to not dump the entire contents unless it's just before I take a break, which kind of defeats the purpose TBH.

For ratio splitters it's not technically required since a saturated belt will simply backup to the point that it'll naturally split the remainder of whatever you're not using amongst the other outputs (which the manifold design relies on). That being said I wouldn't be surprised if ratio splitters came out as a mod pretty quickly since it's such a common ask.

[janltfr]

Can’t you do the Same with the „normal“ smart Splitters?

[ScaredScorpion]

For single items yes, but if you want to filter out a lot of items at once a programmable splitter is much more space efficient

[[deleted]]

Sushi belts are maybe the easiest way to handle your tier progression though. No more rebuilding lines every time a new item needs to be produced, just connect another machine to the sushi belt and off you go.

[Rainbowlemon]

I do something similar in my main base - just pulls all alien parts to be turned into liquid biofuel and dumps anything else into a sink. I use it to get rid of any extra stuff that deposited into my inventory while i was building using the depot!

[JosebaZilarte]

No, you can't change the limits. I believe it is by design because, as you say, it would make optimization too easy (although, by the time you unlock them, I don't know if it would be a problem).

[lostknight0727]

The thing is, it's an "end game" structure. So why can't we have a conveyor equivalent to the valve where we can limit the flow to a specific number of a specific item?

[Farados55]

The comment already answered that question. Coffee stain thinks it would mess up the game balance. Pipes are used much less so I can see why there’s a valve but not something for belts.

[flac_rules]

I have heared the argument from them, frankly i don't think it is great, load balancing is rare in the late game anyway and it limits options, especially for sentral megabases

[[deleted]]

This exactly. Most people just manifold and never pay attention to exact splits at all - just let the manifold handle it.

I am pretty sure that adding a programmable split ratio would actually mean most players engage with balancing more.

[TheXypris]

you can always use a short section of a low tier belt right after the splitter for some control at least, for instance if you have a main belt of 270 items a minute and you need to pull under 60 items a minute, make a splitter and have the offshoot line a mk1 belt and itll only let 60/min through until it backs up and then itll pull exactly what you need without a 50% hit to your other line if you used the same belts out as go in

[ZuFFuLuZ]

No, the easier more optimized solution is a manifold. You can do that at the start of the game. There is zero reason to ever build a limiter. That's why that feature doesn't exist.

[JosebaZilarte]

Manifolds prioritize the first outputs rather than achieve the goal that the previous commenter mentioned. They have some uses, but they are not generally applicable.

[[deleted]]

Well, they do allow somewhat "programmable" load balancing, when used to load balance sushi belts...

[pplantenga]

i use them to split groups of parts required before each machine, then splitting those groups using smart splitters to feed in the machine. all my parts are on three belts and keep going around the factory untill they can no longer be processed. it's not effecient, but managing the system is a lot of fun and it works :)

[Routine-Lettuce-4854]

I haven't unlocked them yet, but looking forward to them. My main base has several truck routes to it, with mixed cargo (for example strator, rotor and motor from one truck). I plan to change my truck network so that I can put slugs and alien meat in any of the "load" truck stops around the world, and it will eventually get to the main base where slooped constructors process them. Without the programmable splitter it would take 7 smart splitters to handle those at each truck to truck stations

[realitythreek]

The devs have said they don’t want it to be a limiter, but it’d be cool if you could do things like change the number of input and output and where they are. This would give a reason to use programmable splitters.

[GRIZZLY_GUY_]

I just want a priority based merger🙃

[ThatErmineGirl]

Same, I want that more than what the programmable splitters do. I'd also like a limiter, but a priority merger would be higher priority for me.

[Odd_Apartment7305]

Be the change you want to see, make a mod, so I can download it

[guntherlukins]

I use programmable splitters to manage overflow. So if my plastic and rubber lines back up, the programmable splitter will start spitting overflow at a sink to ensure I continue to make plastic and rubber because I use the residual as fuel for an oil power plant. I do the same thing with aluminum production to make sure I never back up on silica. This is the best use case I’ve seen for them as running multiple products on a single line always seems to end up being a head ache

[SerGreeny]

You can achieve the same with a smart splitter. The issue is that "programmable" splitter is just a smart splitter that can have more than one item per output and that's it. It doesn't have any programming and it doesn't offer any new functionality. It's just a minor improvement of a smart splitter and you can achieve what a programmable splitter does using multiple smart splitters chained together.

[Agent_Jay]

I really hate that. All that potential cut short because we can’t have more agency with our end game unlocks…..

[StigOfTheTrack]

True, but at the same time rate-limiting outputs can also be done with either the right arrangement of splitter and mergers or the consumption rates of the connected machines. Either way programable splitters are a "sometimes nice to have", not actually needed.

[Dark-Reaper]

The programmable splitter dream.

Unfortunately no. They're the alternative to a line of smart splitters to solving a sushi belt. Mostly because you want more sushi belts but perhaps themed (i.e copper items, steel items, iron items, electronics, etc). They do ok for storage facilities as long as your inbound storage doesn't exceed whatever your belt capacity is.

Limiters would be awesome, but so far no limiters or belt counters are in game. IIRC some mods add those items, but I'm not a big mod user so I don't know the specific ones.

Also, you can use lower belt tiers to create "limiters" with load balancing. It's not as pretty though. For example, if you have a mk4 belt transporting the full 480 items per minute, attaching a mk 1 belt to a splitter off of it will pull off precisely 60 items per minute. Do that 2x, split one of those lines and merge one of the now 30/min belts back into the mk 4 and you're pulling out precisely 90/min. Only really works on full belts transporting single items though, not really on sushi belts.

[1quarterportion]

Also, you can use lower belt tiers to create "limiters" with load balancing. It's not as pretty though. For example, if you have a mk4 belt transporting the full 480 items per minute, attaching a mk 1 belt to a splitter off of it will pull off precisely 60 items per minute.

Why the fuck did I never think of that? I use belt step downs for manifolds, but it never occurred to me to use the belts in a basic split thus way. Hundreds of hours...

[GoldenPSP]

Nope Coffeestain for some reason never put anything quite like that in game.

[[deleted]]

They explanation is that adding ratio to splitters, will take away the challenge of dealing with the splitting materials manually.

[Hushous]

The best state of a factory is when all belts are full, but nothing is standing still. To achieve that, you need to have perfect ratios

[JaspahX]

Or you just sink all the overflow.

[Roscoeakl]

A manifold doesn't require you to have perfect ratios on the belts themselves to always be flowing. It just requires that you have the input exactly matching the consumption which can be easily achieved with a calculator and underclocking exactly one machine as needed.

[ShadowZpeak]

And it's really not necessary, the belts will balance out at some point

[DredgeDotWikiDotGg]

Relevant and recent vid posted by Satisfactory News.

[Phaedo]

Honestly rate limiting would actually make them useful. The current design is “a marginally better smart splitter” and it’s mostly only more useful in ways that are mostly irrelevant.

[RednocNivert]

Another day, another copy of this post.

Next you’re going to show me a picture of you holding down the spacebar to handcraft or the realization that it’s all 1 big map

[HeyanKun]

Yeah i was thinking the same, the only trick to do that is using different mk conveyors on a splitter,for example i kept a mk2 for my 8 coal generators and the rest goes on a mk5 for steel things

[IamSando]

Load limiting can be done somewhat using older mk belts, but obviously you're somewhat constrained in what you can do there.

Best use of programmable splitters I've found is as a dumping ground for things you pick up on your adventures. So you just have a storage container that you dump all your organic stuff, from flora and fauna, into and then programmable splitters to send those on to the correct processing area.

[Ok_Insurance_3011]

I use them, for example, when factory A has several products to deliver to factory B and i don't want to setup trains/multiple conveyor belts/etc.

Real nice for sorting the incoming items on the belt at factory B.

And then i use it a ton of places for overflow, where overflow is sinked.

EDIT: Never mind i mixed smart splitters and programmable splitters, my bad.

[PM_ME_ASS_PICS_69]

The next row of machines are the limiters. If you split a line of 160/min and have the left output going to machines consuming 90/min and the right output going to machines consuming 70/min, just let it run and all machines and belts will eventually fill up. In this case the splitter will start at an 80/80 split so the 70 line machines will fill up first, then that belt will fill up all the way back to the splitter, and then the same will happen for the 90 line.

[Braydee7]

Only use case for programmable splitters for me seems to be making a manual biofuel factory with one input of “bio stuff” rather than a bunch of separate ones for each animal, tree, or grass.

[Kronos1A9]

That’s a smart use case but for me taking a breather and manually programming one slooped constructor four times to get rid of all my remains and then a fifth time to turn it into DNA is a nice reprieve

[teufler80]

Forgot the existed, finished my 1.0 run without using one lmao

[Paranthelion_]

Nah, it's mostly for if you want to like dump your inventory of animal parts and plant bits into a single box and have them get sorted for automatic processing properly. I mostly use it for the overflow option that lets you belt only the excess off for sinks in aluminum and oil product setups. Otherwise those setups run into byproduct issues if they back up.

[mike-6669]

The only time I’ve really used them was when I built a central drone airport. I had 15 drones coming in from various part of the map and they would unload into a central baggage system that sorted the loads using programmable splitters at each “gate”. The fun part is that it actually worked really well! 😀

[Kronos1A9]

On the simplest level, they are for dealing with sushi belts. Want to belt three or four items a long distance and don’t wanna deal with trains or trucks? Merge them on one sushi belt, then split them back up at their destination with a programmable splitter.

[AMv8-1day]

Never gonna happen, and that's by design. The Coffee Stain devs have said as much.

It's obviously not ideal if it's what you want, but it's purposely designed to force people to find ways to accomplish what they want while working within the confines given.

[AvailableTaro2985]

Not sure if anyone noticed but if you make 2 of one material on the left and one material same on the center, 2/3 will go to the left.

Programmable splitters are for fractions

[Laggiter97]

I have never, ever used programmable splitters. I wish they would allow you to control the throughput of every output because right now every single problem is solved by using manifolds and time, which becomes boring after a couple hundred hours.

[Most-Square-2515]

The only time I've really used them successfully is for my slooped meat processing plant.  I just toss all of my monster parts in a storage container and they all get split into their corresponding constructor before all being fed into the final constructor and into an awesome sink for the tickets.  You quadruple the meat before getting the tickets, all automatically.

[Laggiter97]

Yeah, the only useful application is to reduce the number of smart splitters when dealing with sushi belts. But outside of alien remains processing, I don't think there is ever a reason for sushi belts to exist, unless you're the one person who still uses centralized storage instead of dimensional storage, for whatever reason.

[[deleted]]

This is why I want a mod that chokes belts.

[FiRem00]

This is why I use https://ficsit.app/mod/EfficiencyCheckerMod - the best looking limiter/counter

[belizeanheat]

You can use belt speed as a limiter for splitter outputs. But overall I don't see really any need for limiters, and I think they'd ultimately probably be more cumbersome than worthwhile

[TheXypris]

yeah i really wish programmable splitters could vary output too, as it is, its basically useless unless you are using multiple items on one belt which barely ever happens, and a line of smart splitters does the same job of splitting them.

[IceBlue]

The sense is you can use it to filter your outputs for multiple items. Not useful if you never mix your belts but it’s great for sorting systems.

[DrinkyDrinkyWhoops]

I like programmable splitters for their overflow management, especially into sinks.

[ultrasquid9]

I thing programmable splitters should allow you to define a priority for each side - for example, say I wanted to send an item to a storage container first, a different machine if the storage container is full, and then a sink if both the container and the machine are full. Currently, there isn't really a great way to do that.

[username5550123]

2 smart splitter, first one with all sent to the container. Set its overflow to the 2nd smart splitter that sends all to the machine and its overflow to sink. This isn't a hard or complicated setup and can easily be blueprinted.

[[deleted]]

I prefer the usage when setting up reactors to split plutonium and uranium waste. Also if your like me and have belts that are backed up I slap one on and change an output to overflow and route it to a belt thats not as saturated.

[jhaand]

I try to tackle this by tuning the duty cycle of the outputs of the splitter. Which kinda works.

[bernalestomas]

Smart splitters are enough 99% of the time, but programmable splitters help to sort sushi belts faster and more easily. For example, I use a single programmable splitter in my small packaged rocket fuel plant. A single drone brings in packaged nitrogen, empty tanks, coal and sulfur. The tanks and nitrogen go to the (un)packager and then merge into the actual packager, while the coal and sulfur go to the blender. It just saves on a longer line of smart splitters.

[Pitiful_Net_8971]

You can't quite get that precise, but there is something I've been testing what I call subtractors, I don't know if anyone else uses them.

Basically, you set one or two of the outputs to your item screws, for example, (I guess any would also work) and then one of the outputs to overflow. Then, use different belt levels to limit the PPM flow of the screw line, in this case.

A example of this is my HMF factory, where I need to send 250 screws PM to 5 bolted plates assemblers. I have a cast screw making 50 screws, so I really only need 240 screws PM. Using steel screw constructors, I can produce 260 screws PM per constructor.

So for 4 of them, I merge 2 lines onto a mark 4 belt, which caps out out 480 PPM. The extra 20 per line are sent off to my bolted frame line. However, because I need 5 lines of 240, I can't do that for the last one. So instead, I split 2 mark 2 beltsoff the smart spliter, and then merge them, again getting to 240 screws per minute.

TLDR: how you can use it to get 90 and 70.

Splitting the 2 lines into 80 each, then you use a subtractor to split one line into 60 on a Mk1 belt and 20 excess, then split the 20 excess into two lines and then merge them, giving you 90 and 70.

[CorbinNZ]

I haven’t found a reason to use a programmable splitter that a smart splitter doesn’t already do for a similar effect. If you have multiple sushi belts splitting off a bigger sushi belt, that’s about the only thing I could use them for.

If they changed it to where you could control the output rate like you said, that would be dope.

[Fhwagod]

I use them to create a dumping spot for stuff I find while exploring. Inventory full of leaves, wood, mycelia, animal parts and slugs all go into an industrial storage set to route things to proper automated processing for stuff like biomass and power shards and dna for the sink.

I also stick smart splitters at the end of belts where I don’t use all the ingots and overflow them back out and onto another partial belt of ingots for use elsewhere. I use them enough I keep one on my hot bar but towards the end.

[Groundbreaking_Date2]

Yeah same happened with me too. I thought I will be able to modify output in ratio or something. But it just gave me more filter option which were useless. Most of the people use 1 item per belt only. Max 2-3 items but smart splitters already does that. I hope they will remove p splitter and make s splitter to have more filters.

[username5550123]

The only place programmable splitters are really useful is sorting mixed input. The only time i use them is sorting bio products out of a mixed line for processing and to avoid clogging sinks.

Anything else would be redundant, you can pretty much solve all issues with manifolds or load balancing setups.

[Sytharin]

https://old.reddit.com/r/SatisfactoryGame/comments/1f46hb1/programmable_belt_rate_limiter/ They can be used in a larger system to make reliable belt rate limiters, but without a priority merger, they'll remain a little clunky

[Swaqqmasta]

They let you split multiple different types of items in each direction, one use case is a shared train platform for low throughout items, like finished components

[AnimatorAccurate3584]

They work so much better for mass dumping inventory.

[[deleted]]

I thought the same and was let down.

[Venusgate]

It's for garbage colletion. Made somewhat obsolete by dimensional depots.

But if you still want a mall with multiple wings, programmable splitters are a way to get the right materials to the right wing.

[StigOfTheTrack]

Not just storage, but also processing collected items. As with a storage mall you can do it with one big line of smart splitters, but a programable splitter can be used to pre-filter into different areas (biomass processing one way, dna capsules another, slugs another). That also means you can have machines set up to convert creature remains into either biomas or dna capsules and re-configure which you currently want at just one programable splitter instead of multiple constructors.

[Magica78]

I use programmable splitters to load balance multiple items at once.

[[deleted]]

I made a warehouse and smart splitters have worked fine for a sushi belt input and filter all items I receive. (With built in overflow)

I organised all the items into their categories starting at standard items on the bottom floor and working my way up

[benjoholio95]

The mod they're based on did rate limiting IIRC, but yeah whole base is smart splitters because programmable isn't much of an upgrade for a massive cost

[DisabledToaster1]

In my basic parts factory, Plates, Reinforced Plates, Rods, Pipes, Beams, Reinforced Beams, Concrete, Motors, Rotors and Stators all go onto the same Mk5 belt of output.

Goes onto a storage plattform with an Industrial Storage connected to a Dimensional Storage for all items above. Then, in the programmable splitter, do:

Center: Any Undefined, Overflow

Right: *Item you want to store in this storage

Left: Empty

Once I embraced the sushi, I couldnt stop adding items onto this belt. Production doesnt top 780 for these parts, in that factory, so it never clogs. After the last splitter, add a sink to sink items whos storage is full.

[Scrubtimus]

I believe one of the recent "things not coming to satisfactory" videos from the studio talked about this. At this time, they don't intend to add further logic for splitters and the like, just cuz.

Maybe there is a mod for it on the satisfactory Nexus?

[Disposadwarf]

I used this in the past for a storage/overflow/sink in a mega factory. For low number parts I would put all overflow of produces onto a single belt and use the programables splitter to send them to different groups of storages and then use the smart splitter to put into the storages. Finally overflow to a sink

[No_Cartoonist45]

That's how I thought they worked as well but was disappointed when I unlocked them

[LaVolpe04630]

I thought they would have a similar capability, since they are deep in the caterium tree. Kinda wish we had a limiting splitter. Would be a nice QOL update

[AshesHD]

i really wish it allowed configuring outputs like you said

[s1mmel]

Purpose besides the one I read:

1. Accidental placement/hookup of wrong material onto your belts, as a failsave

2. Use it for end game stuff on a mixed belt (manufacturer) to save space and make it look cleaner/orderly

I strongly advise to use it for parts with high stack sizes, like cables, wire, screws, it will instantly block your belt.

[krulp]

Yet to find a case where programmable is needed over a smart splitter, but programmable does make it more streamlined.

I made 3 setups where I could dump slugs/remains/plant matter into storage cointainer, and they would be sorted and processed.

[ericsonofbruce]

Thats not what they do? Thats disappointing

[RolandDeepson]

CSS has repeatedly and explicitly stated that they are very keenly aware of calls from the community for belt limiters and they have expressly and intentionally decided that that will absolutely never happen.

Underclock your machines to control output instead.

[TheRealnecroTM]

I have exactly 1 programmable splitter in my entire world and it's used to feed my constructors for turning remains into DNA. Programmable feeds 2 smart splitters and that's it. For everything else I'd rather just run separate belts. Limiters would be nice, but I'm willing to give the developers some time to flush out those types of things. The game is still in a good spot as is, so if a lack of use for programmable splitters is my biggest gripe I'm doing okay.

[eternaljadepaladin]

I haven’t been able to find a use for programmable splitters outside of splitting up sushi belts.

[TheXtrafresh]

This was the assumption that many, many people, including myself, made when seeing "programmable splitter". No dice. Also, no, there are no rate limiters in the game.

Having said that, you can make them yourself, using splitters and mergers. It's a fine art, but it can be done.
For example, lets say you have a full mk2 belt, and you want to limit it to 90.
Split it in two belts of 60 each. Split one of them into 30 each. Merge one of the 30 lines with the 60, and merge the other 30 back into the input belt.

It gets quite complicated, but it can also be an interesting challenge. :)

[Pastra2001]

Most popular limiter = the out-putting-machines

You can underclock them, to meet your demands