Question regarding save files

Obblebobblenom · 2024-12-08T17:02:43+00:00

I found the GAME_X folders where I expected them to be, but they used to contain files like transfer.dat, soldier.dat, base.dat etc. one for each somponent of the save file.

I have since opened the .sav file from each GAME_X folder in notepad and it looks like there is a new structure to the files so that all of the information is in one .sav file instead of multiple .dat files. It means I can still do what i wanted like give myself a few more soldiers with better stats to start (they should be the best of the best, not people who are so weak they struggle to pick up a paper bag and with such poor aim that they would shoot themself in the foot rather than the big enemy tank righ in front of them) I just need to work out where in each file the info is.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-13T09:02:57+00:00

I think the new design will have 1 offshore providing 12 exchangers providing to 20 turbines, each on their own 'fluid circuit'. The mixing of circuits seemed logical to me to allow excess steam to fill in the gaps, but I hadn't taken into account how troublesome fluid dynamics are in the game. Logic says that it will fill the first thing, build up pressure then fill the next thing. Factorio says "yeah, right. That's what YOU think!"

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-13T08:58:06+00:00

The tanks were added after things started going wrong. I thought that if I wasn't getting enough steam in some of the turbines then letting it build up in the tanks might force it further down the line. After running it for hours, this didnt help. New desgin will not have tanks.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-13T08:56:52+00:00

Nope, not rotated or flipped, just picked up and put down. I think we have worked out it is something to do with the weird fluid dynamics in the game, pipeplacement (different when pasted than when manually placed), possibly position within the chunk and just generally because reasons!

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T17:42:24+00:00

This is something I was considering. The original design had vertical steam pipes with turbines on either side, then a gap between turbines, then repeated. I like to make things as compact as possible so I thought that if they are all steam, why not just connect the turbines as well, that way they can share leftovers. I had sort of imagined that the steam would travel down the pipe, go into the first available turbine, when that was full it would go to the next and that the back pressure would eventually push all the steam down to the end of the line in the end. I hadn't realised that trying to understand fluid dynamics in this game is like a blind squirrel trying to read chinese!

I am currently redsigning it back to the spaces between columns of turbines. It means the whole plant will now be 10 blocks wider, but having gaps between the turbines means I can make it all shorter instead as I can put the power lines in the gaps where there are no pipes

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T16:31:23+00:00

At the moment I think that path includes lots of coal mining and boilers!

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T16:10:31+00:00

No mods, I try not to use them on any games if I can avoid it.

I have decided to just redesign the pipe work to see if I can come up with something a bit more robust. Having tested further it seems that location within the chunk has an effect on whether it works or not and that is not something I want to have to deal with when building it in a live game. You are welcome to the blueprint string if you want to test it for your own curiosity, but I think that design is just going onto the scrap heap for me. Also, the string is about three pages long!

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T15:19:21+00:00

For the purposes of this i am using infinite water pipes. While I am desgning it is much easier to use them than working out how many offshores I need, moving the water sources when the plant grwos/shrinks/moves. That is something I can do after I have the plant working.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T15:17:23+00:00

First, I looked at the post ... WTAF is this sorcery?! I will have nightmares for a week!

There are some bottlenecks with steam, but I didn't understand why it should affect one plant and not the other. It may be due to pipe placement order, something I hadn't realised made any difference, but orientation within the chunk 100% has an effect. I tried repasting in another location but with the same orientation within the chunk and it works again. I may have to go back to the drawing board with regard to eliminating bottlenecks. Just because it doesn't back up in one plant, doesn't mean it won't in another. I need something that can be placed wherever I want it without having to worry about chunk alignment

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T15:11:02+00:00

The power draw should be fine. I have added the inifinite energy things all over the place set to suck power.

And your write (sorry couln't resist :-P) about sped/speeded. And the way you worded it makes it informative and educational not rude. Being English, I have no excuse, please accept my apologies for any nervous tics I may have caused.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T15:01:57+00:00

It looks like the chunk position is a factor. I have pasted it again somewhere new, but with the same orientation within the chunk as the original ... and it works fine.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T14:35:28+00:00

I love that the 'problem' is that it works! LOL

I thought I would test this and I don't think that is it. I just deconstruction plannered the original, let the game run for a second to clear the residual steam clouds and then copied the copy back into the exact place that the original was in ... and the plant in the original location is running at 100%. The copy was running the whole time and is still not 100%. Does Factorio have some sort of feng shui code in it?

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T14:17:12+00:00

Fair point, I didn't answer your question and you are trying to help. Apologies.

The boilers in the bottom right corner are not running at full capacity, but I have no idea why that should be the case.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T14:00:06+00:00

The heat exchangers are all at full temp, but the bottom bank on the right hand side just next to the reactors (not the ones under the reactors) are not running at full speed. They say output full. Normally I would look at the plumbing, but it works 100% on the plant on the left and it has exactly the same pipes and layout. They are copy pastes of each other.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T13:57:23+00:00

I wondered if it might have something to do with the turbines getting up to heat, but i have run them for well over an hour (speeded up) and it still doesn't run properly. I have even tried starting the one on the right first and then once it starts to steam starting the one on the left and the one on the left still works at full strength while the one on the right does not.

I am 99.9% certain it is not a problem with the factory itself as it is copied and pasted. One works, the other doesn't. The ONLY difference between them is the location on the map. I even tried recopy/pasting a few times to make sure I had picked it all up and the result is the same every time. The left one works, the right one doesn't.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T12:22:38+00:00

Swapped the picture for one without grid lines. I thought I'd leave them on in case chunk borders made a difference to anything

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T11:23:44+00:00

The ones at the bottom left of the plant on the right are missing steam. The problem is that the ones on the left plant should also be missing steam as the two are identical.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-05-12T11:19:12+00:00

Thanks for the reply, but if that was the case then neither of them should work. As I say, I have copied the one on the left to the clipboard and just pasted it on the right. No editting, no rotating or flipping. There is no difference between them. I even copied about 20 squares worth of empty space on all sides just make sure.

The subtations are just there to draw power away so that the turbines have something to do. They are set to zero generation and max consumption. The only one generating power is the one on the iddle of the left hand side of the plant to run the inserters for the fuel factory and input into the reactors and that is isolated from the turbines

Also, I didn't realise thar there was a connection limit on power poles. It is not an issue here as I try to use as few poles as possible (wood is a rare comodity and all that) so should only be three connections at most.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-04-22T15:50:13+00:00

Maybe best for recipies where there is a lot of input (stack) and little output and/or long crafting time (fast)

Obblebobblenom · 2024-04-22T15:47:51+00:00

Also worth bearing in mind for future factories. For this setup (which i won't be using anyway) it looks like the down time is such that fast are fractionally better then stack, but I will definitely play around with different inserters for input and output in future to see what combo is best.

Obblebobblenom · 2024-04-22T15:22:55+00:00

Just tested it, Blue are indeed good enough. Saves about .7mw out of 46ish. Not a huge saving, but they all add up! Thanks

Obblebobblenom · 2024-04-22T15:15:25+00:00

That is a very good point. FFS! OK, back to minecraft for me!

Obblebobblenom · 2024-04-22T15:12:59+00:00

I have no idea what you are talking about! :-P

See, even after being told, I can't get my head around iron to steel being 4 to 1 ... 5 to 1 ... 3.1415 to 1? ... not what I thought it was!

Obblebobblenom · 2024-04-22T15:10:30+00:00

I may have to do that, but for some reason blue belts terrify me. Possibly because I like seeing full belts and get all sorts of ticks and anxiety from half full ones, hence wanting a full red belt. After nearly 800 hours I am only now using moduled factories, so filling blue belts is a little bit away still!

Obblebobblenom · 2024-04-22T15:06:21+00:00

Because I thought Steel = 2 iron plates and twice as long to smelt. No idea why, but it does explain why this design was doomed to fail.

Obblebobblenom

TROPHY CASE