[B18] Storage Crates v1.18.2 (3/23/2018) [Chemfuel Barrels! (now fixed)]

[l2evy]

Could you add a power switch to the basic packers? Not sure if it's still drawing power when it's not in use but a switch built in would remove my worries.

Sure can, Power can be flicked on and off now. This will come in the next update! Thanks for the suggestion.

The "version" number at the top of the about.xml (and all other xml files) is for xml version, not mod version. Leave it at 1.0 or you'll get errors.

The mod itself is an interesting take on storage, I haven't played with it enough to have much more of an opinion yet. It seems at first glance to be a bit expensive, I started to pack some of my excess sandstone away last game and stopped pretty quickly as it was eating all my steel. I didn't have much at the time, but when you are packing 10k or more items away, that steel cost can add up.

Thanks for the heads up! Yea I was really strung out that day, for some reason thought it was just another version tag, lol...*facedesk*. Fixed in the next update. Thanks as well for the feedback too about the steel usage. I might adjust the steel values temporarily but the real balance changes will be later on when I get feedback after I add in wooden crates. They will be the renewable option but will need to be placed indoors out of the elements to avoid damage. Steel will be good anywhere and be required for food storage maybe for balance reasons. Another idea is to require food crates entirely to be placed in a refrigerated enviro. I plan to add in the steel cost to the total value of crates so traders will not get a free crate too.

What about using a beacon on them? Does this work?

Like a trading beacon? Yes they should be able to be bartered with ships or people passing by just fine. I assume all that stuff is ok in 1.0 and not broken. I still need to test it and will do so later on. Let me know though how it works out if you wish and I can work with that.

Just FYI, the recipes for packing canned foods are incorrect. Making a crate of veggie or meat cans takes 375 of the appropriate can, and unpacking the resulting crate will only produce 75 cans, according to the recipies.

Super quick fix on my end, but thought I'd mention it for the next update.

Nice find! Yeah when I started looking at the code there for the cans, it drew my attention to another issue. I fixed the packing just fine but in my testing there seems to be bugs with both the cans of veg/meat themselves and the crate of canned veg/meat. Crate gets crafted just fine, but tossing out errors when trying to drop the crate after carrying it from the bench to the stockpile. Also the canned food they were consuming all of the cans available if that was the only food source cause the nutrition values were set wrong.

Just need to get those things fixed to push out the update. Fixed the cans nutrition rate I think...(I may tweak this later with more testing) but the crate code for the cans of food is different and not sure why, most likely just the graphic but it looks incomplete or something.

If all goes well and no huge complication update should be out later today.

[l2evy]

Going to start reply'n the changes for updates from now on when it was complete, to go along with the changelog.

4/23/16: 1.01 > 1.02
-Fixed the facepalm xml version edit...*facepalm again*
-Fixed a crate packing error with veg/meat cans (wrong packing number).
-Fixed meat/veg food can nutrition values, value was incorrectly set above the limit which made it 0. (May need balanced)
-Fixed error with meat/veg food can crates. After crafting got stuck in a loop of not able to place anywhere.
-The workbenches are now flickable.

*~Next Update 1.03 Plans: Still unknown status on the sub menu ability for workbenches. I will post in the mod
help section sometime to clarify but I think it may not be possible. More graphics and maybe support for a few
things from the new updates 12 and 13, meat and materials from the animals. Might go over a few balance changes
like the steel crates getting added to the value of the crates of goods.

[WaYa]

great concept but here's a bug:  when making canned food the colonists seem to pick up a lot as part of their inventory (like they would with say "fine meal" but instead of 1 they might pick up over 100)  sorta makes it hard to build up or even put orders to crate them.

[l2evy]

great concept but here's a bug:  when making canned food the colonists seem to pick up a lot as part of their inventory (like they would with say "fine meal" but instead of 1 they might pick up over 100)  sorta makes it hard to build up or even put orders to crate them.

Yep, I have duplicated this myself just now and get a weird error. I think they are going to pickup 1 and get stuck in a loop. I will look more into it and try to figure it out.

*Edit*
Fixed and uploading the hotfix now.

*Edit 2*
Hotfix Uploaded and applied to main post. They should now only pick up 1 can if that is all there is. The priority for the canned food is the same as raw food so they should not pickup a can for later if there is actual meals available. If there is no meal they should eat the canned food before they eat raw food, and pickup a single can for later consumption.

I tested and verified they picked up one can. Nothing else has changed to they should prioritize fine but I will do more testing on that aspect later.

[WaYa]

great concept but here's a bug:  when making canned food the colonists seem to pick up a lot as part of their inventory (like they would with say "fine meal" but instead of 1 they might pick up over 100)  sorta makes it hard to build up or even put orders to crate them.

Yep, I have duplicated this myself just now and get a weird error. I think they are going to pickup 1 and get stuck in a loop. I will look more into it and try to figure it out.

*Edit*
Fixed and uploading the hotfix now.

*Edit 2*
Hotfix Uploaded and applied to main post. They should now only pick up 1 can if that is all there is. The priority for the canned food is the same as raw food so they should not pickup a can for later if there is actual meals available. If there is no meal they should eat the canned food before they eat raw food, and pickup a single can for later consumption.

I tested and verified they picked up one can. Nothing else has changed to they should prioritize fine but I will do more testing on that aspect later.

yeah it's still doing it.  I just canned a bunch of food and some have taken 60+ cans again.  (and I did go through them all to drop any they initially had)

post update: the part where the hauler would drop then pick it up into the inventory does seem fixed, now it seems at random even if hauling something else, other colonists will pick it up into their inventory

[l2evy]

yeah it's still doing it.  I just canned a bunch of food and some have taken 60+ cans again.  (and I did go through them all to drop any they initially had)

post update: the part where the hauler would drop then pick it up into the inventory does seem fixed, now it seems at random even if hauling something else, other colonists will pick it up into their inventory

Oh it is doing it other places? I only noticed when they got hungry and went to eat they just grabbed a ton in their inventory and did not stop until they got it all. When I fixed that I tested by starting new colony, tossing down some canned food in dev mode and then dropping the hunger. They ate 1 can and grabbed a single can for later and all was good. Time for more testing to see if I can reproduce the issue. Will report back in a bit. Thanks for the reports!

*Edit*
Yes can confirm at what seems like random they go and start hoarding cans of food in their inventory...More investigating to find the cause.

[WaYa]

yeah it's still doing it.  I just canned a bunch of food and some have taken 60+ cans again.  (and I did go through them all to drop any they initially had)

post update: the part where the hauler would drop then pick it up into the inventory does seem fixed, now it seems at random even if hauling something else, other colonists will pick it up into their inventory

Oh it is doing it other places? I only noticed when they got hungry and went to eat they just grabbed a ton in their inventory and did not stop until they got it all. When I fixed that I tested by starting new colony, tossing down some canned food in dev mode and then dropping the hunger. They ate 1 can and grabbed a single can for later and all was good. Time for more testing to see if I can reproduce the issue. Will report back in a bit. Thanks for the reports!

*Edit*
Yes can confirm at what seems like random they go and start hoarding cans of food in their inventory...More investigating to find the cause.

it's just a guess but know how with the normal meals the colonists like having one in their inventory?  maybe they are trying to do the same endlessly with the cans?

[l2evy]

it's just a guess but know how with the normal meals the colonists like having one in their inventory?  maybe they are trying to do the same endlessly with the cans?

I may have fixed it. I wrote an entire new base and cleaned it up, then set the resourceReadoutPriority from medium to last, also changed the category. I reloaded a current save where they were stuffing their pockets full of cans and they all stopped and wandered off for a long time now. I will attach the fix here for you to try out too see if you can reproduce the error again. I gave them a TV, Pool Table, and tons of cans, will monitor and let it run awhile, then start a new save and try again.

File path for this file is Storage Crates > Defs > ThingDefs

[attachment deleted by admin - too old]

[WaYa]

it's just a guess but know how with the normal meals the colonists like having one in their inventory?  maybe they are trying to do the same endlessly with the cans?

I may have fixed it. I wrote an entire new base and cleaned it up, then set the resourceReadoutPriority from medium to last, also changed the category. I reloaded a current save where they were stuffing their pockets full of cans and they all stopped and wandered off for a long time now. I will attach the fix here for you to try out too see if you can reproduce the error again. I gave them a TV, Pool Table, and tons of cans, will monitor and let it run awhile, then start a new save and try again.

File path for this file is Storage Crates > Defs > ThingDefs

This all does give an idea for a new colonist trait:  Horder.  Affects: non-parishable foods and small art work will randomly be relocated close to the horder's bed.

So far the fixed file is working properly.

[l2evy]

This all does give an idea for a new colonist trait:  Horder.  Affects: non-parishable foods and small art work will randomly be relocated close to the horder's bed.

Haha yeah really...about 10 days with this fix and good sofar so I will start working on packaging it up. While I am at it I noticed the rate for cans was low and you do not get the cans back when you eat. There was mention of steel rates being too stiff at 6 steel per 2 plates, and a plate only got you 2 cans so I made some balance changes to steel plate cost, steel plates produced, and cans produced for version 1.03. Hopefully that is all the strange bugs squished and more affordable rates until I can make all the graphics and write the new code for the renewable wood alternative, then balance everything out.

I should have 1.03 up around midnight ET.

[WaYa]

This all does give an idea for a new colonist trait:  Horder.  Affects: non-parishable foods and small art work will randomly be relocated close to the horder's bed.

Haha yeah really...about 10 days with this fix and good sofar so I will start working on packaging it up. While I am at it I noticed the rate for cans was low and you do not get the cans back when you eat. There was mention of steel rates being too stiff at 6 steel per 2 plates, and a plate only got you 2 cans so I made some balance changes to steel plate cost, steel plates produced, and cans produced for version 1.03. Hopefully that is all the strange bugs squished and more affordable rates until I can make all the graphics and write the new code for the renewable wood alternative, then balance everything out.

I should have 1.03 up around midnight ET.

Maybe in a future (2.0) version you could have both "canning jars" and "steel cans" where the canning jars take more to make but are reusable and the steel cans just drop steel?

[l2evy]

4/24/16 1.02a > 1.03
-Fixed crazy hording colonist bug with the food cans....for good this time..hopefully
-Fixed canning food to use 2 cans and give 2 cans instead of taking 1 can and magically making 2
-Changed Steel requirements for making Steel Plates, Now uses 4 steel and makes 5 plates
-Changed Steel Plate requirements for making Empty Cans, Now uses 1 plate and makes 25 empty cans
-Changed Basic/Food Packing benches to benefit from Tool cabinet's and also enabled breakdowns (Will balance work time soon).
-Added changelog.txt to mod folder for anyone who wishes to just download and read a txt file after.

*~Next Update 1.04 Plans: This was a sooner update than planned due to some bugs needing fixed. Next update is unknown
at this point but maybe more balance changes. Will go back to brainstorming about graphics changes, wooden crates, and
other things. Will try and do a bigger update provided no bugs, and maybe release everything all at once.

Maybe in a future (2.0) version you could have both "canning jars" and "steel cans" where the canning jars take more to make but are reusable and the steel cans just drop steel?

Well I already use a mod called Vegetable Garden and they might want to add in jarring food at some point as it would make more sense there and I don't want to discourage a nice feature from such a good mod. They already have canning food in there. Really this mod's focus is crates and storage compression and when I started maintaining the 1.0 version they already had the food cans in. I may or may not leave in the food cans for legacy reasons but I might change how food is stored.

I could change from cans to some kind of plastic. Could link that into a growable renewable resource. Then crate up the meals for storage. Maybe put a survivalist feel to it where you are essentially packaging little homemade MRE's with a long shelflife. I always liked the theme of this mod being sort of like a prepper. I do want to make wooden little baskets of food that decay at the same rate as the food, so you can still have the farmer feeling. You take them to a workbench and put them in a barrel or basket and in the freezer they go to remain fresh. I used to use a old mod for this purpose, it had cool looking baskets the food could be put in like shelves but that was long ago and I think the author stopped updating it. I may look about adding something like that, or maybe just go the crate route and give it a graphic of a open barrel or basket with the produce so you will know its not preserved just collected into the basket for smaller storage, maybe set them max stacking of 15-20 for more realism. Which brings up another point I am not so sure stacking a crate of 75 items 75 times is great for balance. Sure it may be fine for smaller items but I may nerf larger items in the future based on the public opinion about it.

As always, feedback appreciated! Constructive Crits welcome.

*Edit*
Also thanks abunch WaYa for all the help and finding that bug/testing the fix! I appreciate it bunches!

[WaYa]

4/24/16 1.02a > 1.03
-Fixed crazy hording colonist bug with the food cans....for good this time..hopefully
-Fixed canning food to use 2 cans and give 2 cans instead of taking 1 can and magically making 2
-Changed Steel requirements for making Steel Plates, Now uses 4 steel and makes 5 plates
-Changed Steel Plate requirements for making Empty Cans, Now uses 1 plate and makes 25 empty cans
-Changed Basic/Food Packing benches to benefit from Tool cabinet's and also enabled breakdowns (Will balance work time soon).
-Added changelog.txt to mod folder for anyone who wishes to just download and read a txt file after.

*~Next Update 1.04 Plans: This was a sooner update than planned due to some bugs needing fixed. Next update is unknown
at this point but maybe more balance changes. Will go back to brainstorming about graphics changes, wooden crates, and
other things. Will try and do a bigger update provided no bugs, and maybe release everything all at once.

Maybe in a future (2.0) version you could have both "canning jars" and "steel cans" where the canning jars take more to make but are reusable and the steel cans just drop steel?

Well I already use a mod called Vegetable Garden and they might want to add in jarring food at some point as it would make more sense there and I don't want to discourage a nice feature from such a good mod. They already have canning food in there. Really this mod's focus is crates and storage compression and when I started maintaining the 1.0 version they already had the food cans in. I may or may not leave in the food cans for legacy reasons but I might change how food is stored.

I could change from cans to some kind of plastic. Could link that into a growable renewable resource. Then crate up the meals for storage. Maybe put a survivalist feel to it where you are essentially packaging little homemade MRE's with a long shelflife. I always liked the theme of this mod being sort of like a prepper. I do want to make wooden little baskets of food that decay at the same rate as the food, so you can still have the farmer feeling. You take them to a workbench and put them in a barrel or basket and in the freezer they go to remain fresh. I used to use a old mod for this purpose, it had cool looking baskets the food could be put in like shelves but that was long ago and I think the author stopped updating it. I may look about adding something like that, or maybe just go the crate route and give it a graphic of a open barrel or basket with the produce so you will know its not preserved just collected into the basket for smaller storage, maybe set them max stacking of 15-20 for more realism. Which brings up another point I am not so sure stacking a crate of 75 items 75 times is great for balance. Sure it may be fine for smaller items but I may nerf larger items in the future based on the public opinion about it.

As always, feedback appreciated! Constructive Crits welcome.

*Edit*
Also thanks abunch WaYa for all the help and finding that bug/testing the fix! I appreciate it bunches!

yeah.  there's always breaking off the canning and creating a new mod in general too.

another thing that'd be nice to have but tedious to make is a way to box up all those textiles.  when the defenses take out a few dozen manhunters those tend to build up really fast, or if I build up a massive cattle farm.

[WaYa]

another slight error I found:  your gold crate value is currently set to 1200 instead of 7500.  i'm guessing you were going to change the stack to 80 like uranium?

update: a couple labels that are slightly off:
    <label>Un-pack Meat Can Crate (15)</label>
    <label>Un-pack Vegetables Can Crate (15)</label>
the actual unpack can count is correct on those two listings

[mrofa]

Regarding the force unpack, it was unfinished feature, dunno why/how it made into realese.
General idea of it was that either you can spend crafting time and retain metal plates from the box, or use force unpack to loose the plates.
So basicly it would just create the resources from the crate on the spot no need for colonist to take it back to bench