[MOD] (Alpha 8) A2B: conveyor belts & co. [v0.8.0]

[noone]

A2B: conveyor belts & co. [v0.8.0]
Alpha 8 update & long range teleportation

Is your farm submerged by rotting produces ? Is your base cluttered by enemies' corpses ? Are your colonists repeatedly slacking off ?

If you answered ''Yes !'' to any of these questions, then A2B: conveyor belts & co. is the solution you need !
Our engineers have re-invented the wheel to create *the* 31st century solution to all your goods transport issues. No more endless back-and-forth trips carrying potatoes - let the A2B conveyor belts do it for you !

Features
Order today, and get the full A2B system at no extra charge, including:
- a reliable conveyor belt system that locks items to avoid accidents, but releases them in case of power cuts. No need to starve to death during eclipses !
- a universal curve. No more headaches choosing between left or right turns thanks to our exclusive software design !
- a universal 'Loader', because A2B conveyor belts are sturdy enough to carry anything from berries to rock chunks and rotten corpses !
- a smart 'Unloader' which neatly piles up your material and releases it for your lazy colonists to access - or directly refill your food hoppers with potatoes !
- a 'Splitter' unit, to make two belt lines out of one ...
- a 'Selector' unit. Why sort items by hand if it can be automated ? Thanks to the latest advances in molecular RFID technology, our 'Selector' unit gives YOU the power to sort things out. Equipped with dual inlets and outlets, the 'Selector' unit makes the craziest designs possible !
- a long-range 'Teleporter' and 'Receiver' unit, so that your colonists can cross belt lines, or if you want your belt line to jump a wall !

Wait no more, and enjoy the modularity of the A2B: conveyor belts & co. system today. Isn't it time to turn this rural farm into a money-making factory ?

Partnerships
Conveyor belts are fun and useful as a stand-alone tool, but their true potential is really revealed when they are connected to other 'machines'. And we at A2B are very well aware of that ! Hence, we are always on the lookout for new partnerships to ensure that our belt system can have the widest and most polyvalent applications !

Here are our current partners:
1) 'Vanilla' food hoppers: Yep, that's right, our A2B Unloaders can automatically refill your food hoppers - no more endless trip to the fields for your cooks !
2) Mining & Co. - Deepdriller Mark II by Rikiki: connect the A2B Loaders to this ultimate mining machine, and make sorting metal and chunks a breeze ! Mining & Co. was sadly discontinued at A8 ... http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=5930.0
3) Electric Generator by bolti1703: connect the A2B unloaders to the generator's fuel tanks, and spare your colonists the trip from the distillery ! http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=5709.0
4) TechTreeMinami by minami26: our A2B belt system is now integrated inside TTM. If you fancy big mod-packs, that's the way to go ! https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=3464.0
5) Mechanical Defense 2 by mipen: place an A2B loader next to the ore extractor to send the precious gems/material on their merry way ! https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=7380.0

Do you own a 'machine' that you wish would connect to our belt system ? Get in touch so we can make this happen. We are always looking for new friends !

(Note: we at A2B are strong believers in the famous interstellar motto "The greatest fun comes from the smallest mod", hence our unique partnership system. YOU choose what you need (nothing else, nothing more) and WE make sure it works fine together.) 

Notes
- this mod was originally created using Haplo's DarkMatter Generator example as a canvas, which was subsequently heavily frankensteined into the A2B mod. It has since been subject to a complete structural overhaul.
- I'm happy for anyone to use this as they wish, steal the source code borrow programming ideas, etc ... if you do so, references to this post and credits are welcome but I won't be mad if you don't
- feel free to report any bugs, and I'll do my best to fix them. Or even better, send me your fix directly
- have suggestions ? Send them my way ! But note that this is not going to be a massive mod. It will deal with transport systems only ! But if you have ideas of bell and whistles that could make the A2B mod (even more!) fun, share away ...
- I'm working hard on the look of things, but I'm always happy to get suggestions/contributions about this aspect as well !

Versions
0.6.0: Alpha 6 release.
0.6.1: fixed stupid XML bug - your belts will now connect to the power grid ...
0.6.2: Major code overhaul by asarium, no more error messages with rock and slag chunks (but they still don't behave), minor texture updates.
0.6.3: Major update. Added smooth motion for the items on the belt (thank asarium). Added 3 new belt items (splitter, Teleporter and receiver). Code moved to Github, including an image-based tutorial. Bug fixes (including rock chunks!).
0.6.4: Minor update. Rock and slag chunks are now haulable 'by default' when they come out of the belt system via an Unloader. Textures have been slightly modified for uniformity and XML properties of different belt elements re-balanced.
0.7.0: Alpha 7 release.
0.8.0: Alpha 8 release. Also, the teleporters can now beam objects to large distances at the cost of an increased power consumption (thank FredrikLH) !

Known bugs
The list of existing bugs/wished features can be found on Github: https://github.com/noone57/RW_A2B/issues Any and all contributions & suggestions towards solving and/or implementing any of the features listed there will be warmly welcomed by our engineers, and properly rewarded !

(Note: the reward for helping improve and expand the A2B mod will be strictly limited to the glory and fame possibly but not certainly resulting from being added to the exclusive list of contributors to the mod. Don't expect silver ...) 

Contributors
noone, asarium, FredrikLH

Download
All the code is on Github:
https://github.com/noone57/RW_A2B/releases/latest

The image-based tutorial as well:
https://github.com/noone57/RW_A2B/wiki

Screenshot

[123nick]

finally, a new conveyor belt mod while better power is being updated to alpha 6.

[Rannzou]

Hey nice mod!

[sstareven]

emm.. I download this mod and used it. But conveyor belt, curve, unloader, selector and loader are hard to work when I try to put them down. I have enough power to turn on it, however, It display "Not connected to power" and some things can't work. What happened?

[noone]

I have enough power to turn on it, however, It display "Not connected to power" and some things can't work. What happened?

Well, that's embarrassing ... looks like I stuffed up some power-related thingy in my Alpha 6 update. I'll have a look and report back ...

[noone]

Problem fixed. We encourage all our valued customers to upgrade to the latest version [v0.6.1] of the mod. Be reassured that our chief engineer was fired on the spot.

[sstareven]

another problem... I haul the rock chunk to loader. Then, my error log was fulled.
It look like "Tried to SetForbidden on non-thingWithComponents Thing ChunkRock13311".
Can fix it? It make my game so lag.

[noone]

Oh, that's a nice one. Didn't realize rock chunks are a tad different from other things. Our engineers are working hard on this. I'd suggest steering clear of rock chunks for the time being ...

[Neurotoxin]

I never thought I'd say something like this:
Some code is hard to read because it has no comments. Yours is hard to read because it's like 75% comments. Hahaha. Maybe I should have loaded it in VS instead of notepad++. Seriously thought, I've been looking forward to this since I saw it in unfinished, dem curves. Well done on your first release.

Edit: typo

[noone]

I never thought I'd say something like this:
Some code is hard to read because it has no comments. Yours is hard to read because it's like 75% comments.

Yeah, I'm using MonoDevelop, and all the comments are in a nice, lush and relaxing green. I wouldn't dare opening it in notepad
To be honest, I too am surprised about the amount of comments in there. I'm not that dedicated usually. But given that I work in Python daily, I'm having a tough time remembering my old C# tips and tricks - hence the commenting spree ... plus, I figured it might help mod-newbies like me. Comments really helped me a lot initially ...

Seriously thought, I've been looking forward to this since I saw it in unfinished, dem curves. Well done on your first release.

Well, it's gone less smoothly than anticipated, but I'm certainly glad for all the bug reports ... hopefully I'll mend it all for good soon.

[Neurotoxin]

Yeah, I'm using MonoDevelop, and all the comments are in a nice, lush and relaxing green. I wouldn't dare opening it in notepad

Well, not just notepad but Notepad++, has syntax highlighting and stuff. I usually use it when I'm just browsing code because VS takes a while to start.

example


and with XML

But given that I work in Python daily

What do you do with python? I kinda started learning programming with Lua (ComputerCraft) but didn't really start grasping things till I started java, from there I've moved to C#

[asarium]

This is an amazing mod and I really like it.

I looked at the code and noticed some issues so I decided to improve the code a bit. I moved each class into its own file and also extracted most of the redundant code into one common function that handles movement of the items.
I have attached a new package which contains the updated source code and a minor adjustment to the folder naming so translation works.

[attachment deleted by admin: too old]

[DorgoDorato]

The future of RimWorld = Factorio?

[Architect]

There's more than one issue with moving chunks around the map, the map drawer doesn't handle them in the same way at all, which is a problem I ran into when making the belts in BP+. I'd be happy to lend a hand if you need when I finally get back to home ground

[noone]

I'd be happy to lend a hand if you need when I finally get back to home ground

That'd be very nice! The errors have been fixed, but as you pointed out, the rock and slag chunks still don't move properly because of their inherent structures. Any suggestions regarding where to look would certainly be very welcome !

The future of RimWorld = Factorio?

We at A2B are committed to share the latest technologies with everyone, including rimworld colonies! At this day and age, why should some be forced to carry potatoes day-in day-out, while others in the Galactic center enjoy fine dining on golden plates ? We at A2B believe in the distribution of knowledge and the freedom of choice for every World!

On a more serious note, there comes a point in my colonies where I can't sustain further growth because of a lack of colonists. I find conveyor belts to be a good (i.e. great) solution to free a lot of their time to do more important things like fixing turrets, mending walls, having fun, etc ... rather than carry stuff back and forth. Which doesn't mean that the game doesn't crush me like a spec of dust anymore: it simply delays this inevitable fate somewhat longer ...

But it raises an important philosophical choice: is getting bigger at all cost (including unhappiness) worth it, or aren't we all better off living simple and less stressful lives where growth isn't the end goal ?

We at A2B have chosen our camp: growth growth growth !