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Just to add my two cents, IRim was brilliant, and it'd be great to have it (or something alike) back. Its (temporary) disappearance led me to create the A2B system of conveyor belts, which has gone a long way since it first came out. I guess that may be one of the mod that covers a little aspect of the original IRim.

On that note, A2B has a good momentum at the moment. We recently went "faceless" to make sure the mod does't rely on a single person, but will hopefully outlast any one of us :-) Dare I suggest - very humbly - a possible interaction between A2B and IRim 2.0 ? If you decide to go for a modular approach, then A2B could be seen as a separate module. Once again, just a very humble suggestion. You may very well want to do things differently to A2B. But the A2B board might also be willing to do some things differently to match some of the IRim 2.0 requirements ...

I second TehJoE's suggestions on getting modding with Rimworld. As you may know, the first version of A2B was built up entirely by altering Haplo's dark matter generator files. https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=3408.0

I never modded before, and used mimetism to figure out how to get the stuff I wanted. Of course, the A2B mod has since massively evolved as other more experienced people offered to help - that's the power of this community, and why getting it all open to suggestions on Github is the best thing I ever did.

Note that I have a fair bit of Python experience, and had very old and rusty C++ knowledge. Looking at the code structure of something "simple" like Haplo's code and moving on from there is how I would suggest you to approach the problem if you have any kind of previous programming experience. After all, to a first order, all programming languages are the same, it's just a difference in the vocabulary that differs (in the first order, the grammar is the same).

Rather than figuring out everything before getting started, just get started and figure things out on the way.

One step by step guide could be :
1) get Haplo's mod to compile as is, and run smoothly in the game.
2) rename all the necessary files to whatever mod name you fancy, and see if you can still compile things
3) think about the key elements required for your code to work. In your case, if you want to build machines, I'd suggest checking for near-by hoppers. The rest, you could all code it.
4) I am using Mono Develop for doing the coding, and it has an 'autocompletion' feature. I tend to just look around for generic variables and such, then use autocompletion to see their properties, until I find what I am looking for.
5) Sure, that may not give you an elegant code, but who cares, if it works ? And if it doesn't, you can always ask for help around. It is a lot more likely for you to get help on an existing albeit buggy mod than just asking pople how to do things from scratch. That's because there's so many million ways to do things from scratch - but fixing a bug is "usually" easier and more straightforward.
6) Haplo's tutorial hasn't been updated to Alpha9, but it should be soon, one would hope.

Hope that helps. Ultimately, TehJoE's advice is right. Dive right in, and take things one step at a time. Looking around for other 'machines' mod with the soruce could also help - the void hopper could be one of these.

Finally, there's quite a few people interested in machines around ... if you were to put something small together, I am sure it could gain momentum.

I like that approach of sending matches left and right (acting as a splitter when connected on both sides) and non-matched item straight ahead; seems like only one would be needed then, no?[/li][/list]

\facepalm That makes perfect sense, would be very elegant, add a lot of freedom while maintaining the same number of components. One input South, the "1" output North, and the "2" outputs left and right, to be fed in alternance or depending which ever exist is connected. Added to the wish list.

In space constrained areas (isn't that everywhere), and of course outdoors with the rain, the teleporter pairs aren't practical. And, for what little its worth, I don't see the technology of teleportation as "lore-friendly" (that's just me overthinking, not a criticism, just data.) So, having even one segment that's passable and one that can (at least intermittently) block temperature equalization, would be a boon for users not using the teleporters (whatever their reasons.)

Fair enough. Will keep this in mind for later on. Will also keep thinking about power management improvements.

Edit: updated wish list is here: https://github.com/A2Bcorp/RW_A2B/issues

Thanks for these suggestions. Some very good ideas in there. They shall be discussed by the A2B board, but I'll write down a couple of personal thoughts for now.

So far, the A2B systems have been driven by one concept: allow the most polyvalent setups while restricting the number of components to a minimum. The game already contains a lot of stuff to build in various categories, and things get even worse with mods. I am all in favor of new items if they add to the abilities of the belt - but if they merely add "alternatives" to the existing system, then I will have very strong doubts regarding their addition.

Specifically:

1. to 5. : Sure, these would look nice and fancy. But you can already allow colonists to walk through a belt line using the teleporter/receiver pair. Plus, from a "look" perspective, I do not think that we could achieve anything looking really nice for such components. In my mind, these bring no functional gain, complexify the code and its maintenance, and add clutter to the item's menu.
6. to 7. : Very interesting concept. Rather than a separate items, though, I would hope to integrate this into the Selector directly, and avoid adding two additional items. Unless searching the selector becomes too tedious, but I think it should be alright. Added to the Github wish list, for now or later.
8. : We're working on fun things like that .. stay tuned !
9. : Power control is a tricky one, especially now that colonists have to walk to switch things off. I don't like the idea of switching on/off all the time if the belts are empty - too much variations all the time. But I agree that the possibility of switching off an entire belt line would be a useful feature. Not quite sure how to achieve that just yet ...
10. : That would just work like the existing selector and be very confusing for everyone. Not convinced right now that it would bring anything but clutter the item's menu.
11. : Good point. Added to the request list on Github.
12. : These would be great. But I would not like to see them inside A2B conveyor belts & co. I like small and dedicated mods, because players can install what they want piece by piece, rather than getting large combos and only use half. I am very much in favor of a dedicated series of machines compatible with the A2B belt systems (and these have been requested a lot in the past already), but I would rather have them placed inside a separate mod, e.g. A2B machines & co.

Once again, these are some personal thoughts, and do not represent the final position of the A2B corp. on your suggestions. We'll see what other members on the board think.

A2B has evolved into a fully fledged corporation. The new thread is here:
https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=10644.0

With this change, we at A2B hope to secure a bright future for the mod while allowing easy contributions from the community.

This thread is now closed.

Just to add my two cents on the splitter clogging issue: I delayed fixing it because I saw it as a fun unintentional feature - it's a less advanced equipment than the selector, and so sometime it's not quite perfect. Also, I liked the idea of the users pesting against malfunctioning A2B software, having to draft a colonist to un-clog the belt ...

This being said, I won't complain the issue is gone. Thanks for all your input TehJoE ! It is genuinely much appreciated.

That's what I meant all along. Are you saying you never understood what I meant? And I tried to be as clear as possible. Grrr.

Oh, I understood perfectly ... I was just waiting a) to be convinced about it, and b) for the proper opportunity to implement the change I will update my own SVG vectorial copy along what you did ... I like to work with vectorial graphics - it makes updating the textures a lot easier.

The color codes are an improvement too but why didn't you color code the splitter too?

Actually, I did ... I just forgot to post it on Github  ...
Also, I like your suggestion on the curve. Are you ok for me to swap mines for yours ?

[attachment deleted due to age]

[Run the mod at your own risk !]

We at A2B are pleased to announce our latest release (v0.8.1), in which 'ye old Splitter was replaced by a) a 3-ways Splitter and b) a 3-ways Merger.

You requested them, here they are at last, and with an improved (?) design for even more clarity ! These new components will allow for smarter and less convoluted designs, especially in tight places. All credit goes to TehJoe for this update, available on the Github page of the mod: https://github.com/noone57/RW_A2B/releases

Disclaimer 1: this is an A8 update. A9 is right around the corner, but there's no knowing when A2B will be updated.
Disclaimer 2: there are still other issues I need to look at (https://github.com/noone57/RW_A2B/issues)
Disclaimer 3: should not say this, but I did not test the update myself. I fell victim to the 2011 MBP GPU issue, and can't run Rimworld anymore. I am forced to non-GPU demanding tasks for now, but can fix the mod "if you can tell me where the bug is" ... Run the mod at your own risk ! (this is why it is not yet announced on the main post, btw...)

Hi, I'm updating my mods for my next colony and I notice you don't include the version in the about info. Can you add the version in future versions please.

Will do.

Just a single question: what is the length of teleportation and where can I change it?

The distance is set automatically based on the location of the receiver. Just built the teleporter and the receiver where you need/want them, and voilà. Note that both must be aligned and with the same rotation. If multiple receivers are on the same 'line', the items will be teleported to the first one.

What do you guys use the belts for? could i get a screen shot i am just confused at what you use em for?

Here's what I usually use them for (cleaning up my farms):
https://github.com/noone57/RW_A2B/wiki/Screenshots

The idea basically to reduce the amount of repetitive hauling for your colonists. They still need to load the belts, but the hauling distance is greatly reduced, which speeds up the process. long story short, my fields were always field with zillions of potatoes in the past - they are now clean and tidy, as the belt reduced the hauling time by a lot.

In am sure others will be happy to oblige and share varied screenshots.

Interesting ideas ... I sort of like the concept of separating the splitter and the merger into their respective functions, and turn them into "3 sides + 1 side" items. I combined them initially to limit the number of components to a minimum ... but I see why it could be nice and elegant to separate them ... I shall ponder over this choice ...

But as a counterpart, I would then restrict the Selector to a single entry, and perhaps make it 2x1 in size for the fun of it. That would add one belt item (the "merger"), but I suppose it would indeed allow for more efficient designs ...

If someone already has a base or they want to extend the belt to a section they weren't initially intending to put belts, it will be practically impossible to do so if they haven't got the room for these huge complex belt structures. If they could be more simple in their design they could use them in more places.

I think you are mistaken on the intentions of the A2B company: we don't try to make your life easier, we're trying to make money. Forcing you to expand your base means more digging means more colonists means more stuff to carry means more A2B Belt systems required. You call them "huge complex belt structures", we at A2B think they are beautiful work of art generating money

would it be possible to make the belts be able to output onto a belt like in factorio

Nope. That's why we have the "Selector" with two entries.

i find it hard to use the belts because they make walls and block off rooms, is there any chance in the future that that could change?

Yes, this hopefully will change in the future. I'm waiting for A9 right now to see how temperatures will fluctuate through walls and so on.

Hey Rock5,

Thanks for the feedback, always appreciated. I fear I have no time available for any major upgrade these days - at least not until March anyway. But this being said, here are a couple of points:

   
• The textures need to be clearer;
  
  
        
  • Curved Belt - the dots make it look like there are lines opposite to the ones that are there, sort of like an optical illusion. Needs to be clearer. Maybe take the outer corner off altogether. A real conveyor belt corner wouldn't have a pointed corner like that.
  • Selector - The numbers could be bigger. Maybe have different colors for the numbers and arrows to help differentiate them.
  • Splitter - Again, the arrows could be larger to make them easier to see and maybe color coded as well.

Agreed, some textures could be upgraded. I'll happily consider any suggestions - I will also happily share the existing textures as SVGs if anyone feels like improving on them. Just PM me. A quick note on the Curve: I tried 'chopping off' the corner before, but then the shadows would not look really good, hence my full square current design. I could not live with myself knowing that there was a square shadow for a round corner ...

   
• Does the teleporter have to be so large? It takes up too much space especially when following a wall and you want to turn into and across the wall.

Well, teleporters are awesome because they allow you not to break walls. And given how the raiders tends not to attack walls if they're complete, that's a huge strategic advantage. So, the size is my way of balancing this a bit by forcing you think about your belt design

   
• The splitter gets stuck sometimes. I understand you consider this bug a feature now, and I agree it's fitting as a feature, but that means all splitters need to be accessible. When an inaccessible Splitters get stuck in my set up I have to save then reload to get it moving. If I have to do that, instead of sending someone over to clear it, then it's no longer a quaint feature but an annoyance. So I'd rather it just be fixed.
• Sometimes the belts can get stuck. This only happened twice to me so far. This is not so easy to clear. I had to power down the belt. send someone over to clear it, save the game, reload, clear the belt again (as there was more items there), then it would go. So I agree, as was previously reported, that it is due to too many items on the belt. How it happens I'm not sure.

Features, features, they're all features Again, conveyor belts are awesome, but can be a pain if they get stuck, and these 'features' are good balance to me. Also, again, it forces you to think about your design to allow for 'repairs', making it soooo much more rewarding when it finally works the way you intended ...

   
• I know you should be able to make any set up with the components currently available but catering to the limited orientations of the parts takes up a lot of space. We really need more orientations of the parts. I know you can't have a button for every orientation of every part but maybe you could have a control on the placed parts that allow you to change the orientation. Consider it a manual control. I assume real conveyor belts have ways to manually control the flow to deal with emergencies and such. By orientation I mean different patterns of input and output for the Splitter and selector.

That sounds overly complicated to me. Especially if one would need to set each belt component individually. Plus, that's beyond my current programming skills. I don't see this becoming reality anytime soon. Frankly, I like better the idea of forcing the user to think and cope with the limitations of the existing system, rather than give him full freedom to do what he wants. Sounds much more fun to me

That sounds like a lot of meals ... I can see why you would be having issues spots o the floor getting busy and stopping your delivery chain. I have been thinking about making colonist able to pick-up items from the unloaders, but ended up making them drop things on the floor instead for a variety of reasons. I am not a big fan of having both systems enabled at the same time. While I can see why it would be useful in your case, I also know many more other examples where this would not be a good thing.

That's the beauty of these conveyor belts. They are polyvalent, and often you would wish for one or more tweaks, but often such tweaks would instead reduce how polyvalent the system is. Note that I am all up for upgrades in general, but I have doubts on that one ...

One suggestions that I could offer is to make the square in front of the Unloader a stockpile with no meals allowed. Or even better, make the area around the beacon a stockpile for your meals (minus the square in front of the Unloader) and set the recipe to bring the meals to the best stockpile. But I suspect you have already considered this option ...

It would be nice if the unloader could just dump the items on the floor around it. Or maybe fill up a zone set up around it.

And you're not alone, this has been requested for a while. I might eventually make Unloaders drop items in a larger zone. But I'm flat out these days, so not anytime soon (and there's also a few things on my to-do list ahead of this). But if you want to contribute some code that does this, I'll happily merge it in

What I wanted to ask is do perishables such as meals waste on the conveyor belt? Because I noticed that it says "Outside" and shows the outside temperature when pointing at them even though they are inside a freezer.

No idea if meals perish or not o belts. Haven't actually tested this ... Right now, the belts are like walls. There's some changes coming in A.9 regarding the heat conductivity of walls, so I'll delay looking into this issue until A.9.

FYI here is my to-do list: https://github.com/noone57/RW_A2B/issues
Just in case anyone is bored and looking for something to do, that is ...

1) Going from a warm room to a cold room with the standard conveyor yields two different temperatures.  The freezer part stayed cold, the exterior room without control stayed similar to the outside.  It was handy for me, but I don't know if that's your intended action.

Hum ... this is because I did not have time to properly include any 'temperature' effect to the belts yet. They pretty much behave like walls, and as such have no thermal conductivity. I'll add this to my to-do list (getting longer...). Thanks for spotting this.

2) The reason I might not have been able to teleport was that there was a power conduit running under it.  When I switched to the regular conveyor it stopped in the exact same place.  I had power conduit running under the conveyor (the original setup I showed you as well).  When I removed the power conduit, the conveyor worked well. 

Good catch, that's your problem right there (and I could reproduce it). Building a power conduit under the receiver will make it look 'busy' (this is linked to how the code checks for availability at that spot). Removing the undelrying power conduit will fix it. I'll fix this eventually, but for now, simply avoid building power conduits under the receiver. Thanks for your dedication in troubleshooting this !