Resource Chunk Remanagement

[watlingj]

So, it seems to me that the current style of resource storage can sometimes bog the game down and cause FPS loss. even just having a bunch of resource chunks at all cause cause performance drops which makes crafting much less fun so here's what I'm thinking;

Instead of having the resources just stack up as they are vertically in silos, do the equivalent amount of chunk storage, but clump the resources into one blob, not represented as individual items that all need to be positionally calculated and such. and then when as resources are added, make the blob get visually larger. you could even add a UI element that shows the count in the silo when you hover it or something, and then obviously when resources are removed from the silo the large ore chunk would shrink down.

If the silo is destroyed then you could either make it stay as a clump and force the player to re-mine it to be able to transport it again, or a scrapper could break it down, or you could just have it turn back to ore chunks on it's own, when a silo is destroyed either immediately or slowly over time to prevent sudden performance drops.

one way or another, it seems either the game's method of handling resource chunks in the world needs to be further optimized, or the effect needs to be mitigated. i might also suggest making it so that ore chunks laying on the ground next to eachother could clump up into large chunks that you have to re-mine a little to break up to transport.

 

[Zonko]

So, this has been asked for a whole stack of times.
I know i want it.

 

[stickman_king_28]

Yeah, I think silos as they are seem a tad inefficient.

 

[watlingj]

Yeah, I think silos as they are seem a tad inefficient.

they do look cool though (at 10 frames per second)

 

[Zonko]

Every time people have complained, they did work to optimize the rendering.
Which was nice, and got us some frames back.
But in order to have a working base capable of manufacturing high end stuff, i need piles of silos with thousands of chunks, and that makes a big base, and things slow down.

You can fake it with a scrapper, but that has issues if you move anything.

 

[Bazzietuk]

How about just a vertical silo that can hold up to a 1000 chunks of one material each. You can store them in the silo then until needed then call them out of the silo. The silo would need a counter (not a line) to show how many chunks of each type are in them. The silo should have the option to compress the 1000 chunks down into a block for that material which can be stored. The only time then you have individual chunks is when they're mined but you could build a facility to store them in the same way as they're mined. I build a mini/factory/launcher setup for each mine I set up as I always have a massive amount at a base ready for crafting. When you have the portable shops for each faction you don't need the materials anyway it's simpler/easier to just buy the things you need if you have enough cash for it. Another reason to just mine and launch/sell materials instead of storing them.

 

[Zonko]

How about just a vertical silo that can hold up to a 1000 chunks of one material each. You can store them in the silo then until needed then call them out of the silo. The silo would need a counter (not a line) to show how many chunks of each type are in them. The silo should have the option to compress the 1000 chunks down into a block for that material which can be stored. The only time then you have individual chunks is when they're mined but you could build a facility to store them in the same way as they're mined. I build a mini/factory/launcher setup for each mine I set up as I always have a massive amount at a base ready for crafting. When you have the portable shops for each faction you don't need the materials anyway it's simpler/easier to just buy the things you need if you have enough cash for it. Another reason to just mine and launch/sell materials instead of storing them.

Anything convenient that does not render them.
I've got a mod with Giant pads holing like 1200 chunks per pad, and even that is a pian to deal with.

 

[Bazzietuk]

It's the individual chunks that cause the fps drop, if they're contained in one item that only has a few frames of animation the fps hit won't be as big. So for your 1200 chunks you'd need two silo's with my idea. The alternative method is to compress them into the blocks that each faction allow and store those instead. The drawback with that though is you can't take them out as needed whereas with my silo idea you could extract just what you need to craft items the rest remain in the silo and the item count goes down. But like I said though the crafting system is generally obsolete anyway when your full rank with each faction as you have the devices to purchase all the items from. So why even store material to begin with anymore, it's only really any good as a fuel source (some of it).

 

[Zonko]

It's the individual chunks that cause the fps drop, if they're contained in one item that only has a few frames of animation the fps hit won't be as big. So for your 1200 chunks you'd need two silo's with my idea. The alternative method is to compress them into the blocks that each faction allow and store those instead. The drawback with that though is you can't take them out as needed whereas with my silo idea you could extract just what you need to craft items the rest remain in the silo and the item count goes down. But like I said though the crafting system is generally obsolete anyway when your full rank with each faction as you have the devices to purchase all the items from. So why even store material to begin with anymore, it's only really any good as a fuel source (some of it).

Yuppers.

I store material mainly to build/discover new blocks, and then spend my millions to buy them as needed.
Or [since i have a decent setup,] stamp out a stack of blocks.
but yeah, buying is way easier.
One trip around a forest with a bulk harvest/refine/sell vehicle, or a couple of big erudite veins and a mine/refine/sell base, and you never have to worry again.

This is my base.
Why yes, those ARE nuke launchers.

 

[watlingj]

How about just a vertical silo that can hold up to a 1000 chunks of one material each. You can store them in the silo then until needed then call them out of the silo. The silo would need a counter (not a line) to show how many chunks of each type are in them. The silo should have the option to compress the 1000 chunks down into a block for that material which can be stored. The only time then you have individual chunks is when they're mined but you could build a facility to store them in the same way as they're mined. I build a mini/factory/launcher setup for each mine I set up as I always have a massive amount at a base ready for crafting. When you have the portable shops for each faction you don't need the materials anyway it's simpler/easier to just buy the things you need if you have enough cash for it. Another reason to just mine and launch/sell materials instead of storing them.

Yeah i had that idea too about the vertical silos. kind of a command and conquer vibe, i just thought of a large growing chunk as a slightly more visual way to display it similar how it is displayed currently.

Anything convenient that does not render them.

I've got a mod with Giant pads holing like 1200 chunks per pad, and even that is a pian to deal with.

I agree. i'd really take anything that doesn't kill FPS. reuse the model for the GSO big poppa fuel tank. it makes it hard to want to keep playing in a campaign save late game for me.

Yuppers.

I store material mainly to build/discover new blocks, and then spend my millions to buy them as needed.
Or [since i have a decent setup,] stamp out a stack of blocks.
but yeah, buying is way easier.
One trip around a forest with a bulk harvest/refine/sell vehicle, or a couple of big erudite veins and a mine/refine/sell base, and you never have to worry again.

This is my base.
Why yes, those ARE nuke launchers. View attachment 35669

I've gone vertical before, but not that compact. i'll have to go back to the ol' r&d test chamber and try to come up with something like that

Those are my last couple bases

 

[Bazzietuk]

Yeah i had that idea too about the vertical silos. kind of a command and conquer vibe, i just thought of a large growing chunk as a slightly more visual way to display it similar how it is displayed currently.

I agree. i'd really take anything that doesn't kill FPS. reuse the model for the GSO big poppa fuel tank. it makes it hard to want to keep playing in a campaign save late game for me.



I've gone vertical before, but not that compact. i'll have to go back to the ol' r&d test chamber and try to come up with something like that

Those are my last couple bases

I was mainly concentrating on building vertical and compact factories/refinery/fabrication plants. I have a few posted that sort of work (suffer from the chunk ordering issues and sometimes getting stuck) but generally they worked. At the time I made them each base had fabricators, scrappers and refineries from each faction so you could make almost any part in the game using them. I'm sure you'd be able to find them with a search on this site to check them out and maybe even modify them to get them working properly. Most had vertical storage pads so they'd sort the chunks and stack them together, the FPS took a massive drop if you took the anchor off the base and it fell, all the chunks would fall out. I started out with a horizontal base but found it was too large and easily attacked which is why I ended up designing vertical ones instead.

 

[Zonko]

Yeah i had that idea too about the vertical silos. kind of a command and conquer vibe, i just thought of a large growing chunk as a slightly more visual way to display it similar how it is displayed currently.

I agree. i'd really take anything that doesn't kill FPS. reuse the model for the GSO big poppa fuel tank. it makes it hard to want to keep playing in a campaign save late game for me.



I've gone vertical before, but not that compact. i'll have to go back to the ol' r&d test chamber and try to come up with something like that

Those are my last couple bases

I went vertical to limit the distance between resource stacks, component factories, and fabricators.
Cut down on the distance, goes faster.

 

[Kevin Vanderhoef]

Even an option on the Current Silos to Activate a Shroud mode that just renders as a solid color block, instead of a collection of spinning chunks, would be helpful.

 

[Zonko]

Even an option on the Current Silos to Activate a Shroud mode that just renders as a solid color block, instead of a collection of spinning chunks, would be helpful.

Oh! that could work well.
Just a textured block that raised and lowered.
Rendering issue:s none.

doiwnside: what happens with mixed silos?

Think we might need a seperate resource tank, and leave silos as they are.

 

[Kevin Vanderhoef]

Oh! that could work well.
Just a textured block that raised and lowered.
Rendering issue:s none.

doiwnside: what happens with mixed silos?

Mixed silos are Gray, Meaning unprocessed, or a B&W checker board, meaning Components.
If the Shroud Switch is in the ring UI it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Kevin Vanderhoef]

I've gone vertical before, but not that compact. i'll have to go back to the ol' r&d test chamber and try to come up with something like that

Those are my last couple bases

Did you know that you can "Stack" the Silos? you still have to have them attached to something, but other than that you can layer them without spacing as deep as you need, and use a combination of an Alternator, and a filtered silo to indicate content. You can do the same thing with collectors.

 

[Zonko]

Did you know that you can "Stack" the Silos? you still have to have them attached to something, but other than that you can layer them without spacing as deep as you need, and use a combination of an Alternator, and a filtered silo to indicate content. You can do the same thing with collectors.

Yes.
but i don't for two reasons:
1: You cannot easily tell how much stuff is in each Silo.
2: You get lag when too many chunks are passing through other objects.

 

[Bazzietuk]

Some of my compact bases use stacked silo's. I agree it causes a massive FPS drop rendering the chunks as they're spinning. Things would be easier with the mixed silo's or rending them as a silo with a gauge for each chunk you put in them. It'd help with mining as well as you could mind then have a conveyor to take them to a refinery then out to a silo for storage so they're not laying on the ground or being stacked up on storage pads etc. Personally I can't be bothered with it, I'd rather just mine, set up a refinery, offload to a pad then output then to a launcher to sell them straight away.

 

[Zonko]

Some of my compact bases use stacked silo's. I agree it causes a massive FPS drop rendering the chunks as they're spinning. Things would be easier with the mixed silo's or rending them as a silo with a gauge for each chunk you put in them. It'd help with mining as well as you could mind then have a conveyor to take them to a refinery then out to a silo for storage so they're not laying on the ground or being stacked up on storage pads etc. Personally I can't be bothered with it, I'd rather just mine, set up a refinery, offload to a pad then output then to a launcher to sell them straight away.

Pfft.
Innefficient.

Mobile refinery, mobile launcher.
Base?

What base?

 

[Bazzietuk]

Not mobile launcher and mobile refinery. They have to be anchored in place although I have seen a mobile refinery setup. Check out my post on here for my tech, the base builds I have done are on there.

My Vehicle And Base Techs

Here's a list of vehicles I've made for people to use if they want to or modify as well. Any suggestions are taken on board and appreciated.

forum.terratechgame.com