[MOD/Script] LI Freight Distribution Network (FDN) - v7.2 21/11/2010

[stealthhammer]

Thanks LA, I'll try the new spk out and have a go at it again.

Also will this send resources back into my complexes, I still have to ship them with freighters.

Post a screen of your Complexes, the info screen so I can see what’s in them. I'll re-create and try and trace the issue.

LA

Don't worry about the complex stuff, I think its doing it because it has to fill such a HUGE node with wares while supplying the factories. I did use DWM to set limits though and did work till I started messing with the node.
However I did have the complexes showing up in the node, but that left and now the FDN trade station menu wont come up. But thats a minor thing for me. I'll send the links of the screenys for ya though still, I really don't want you to go through all the building it though.

[amirite]

This mod did get complex rather quickly, but there are also tons of possibilities now. I've been trying to set up some crazy configurations all day

I may or may not have run into a bug too. I set up a Large FDN Node and a Trade Station in the same sector. I added Silicon Wafers as a ware to the Node with Dockware Manager ma ually, because I have a bunch of Prospectors I want to drop off there. The idea is that this node will feed into the Trading Station as storage, along with other Nodes in nearby sectors. Problem is, the trading station isn't bringing up an FDN config menu.

This happened to me with the first one I built, but that was fixed as soon as I built a relay in the sector. That one was a pretty normal setup and didn't involve manually adding anything though. Mind checking this out?

[stealthhammer]

Ya, Thats my snag to. since the update I am no longer able to bring up the FDN trade station menu. However I think only one FDN trading station can be attached to a single node. Not a mass of nodes to one Trading Station. Also I don't think DWM is working on my end...Still love the mod and concept of it.

Edit - Also if I remember correct LA said this is in beta?

LA - Also I re added the spk to the mod manager and don't have the fabs in the node still.

[Logain Abler]

@ amirite & stealthhammer,

Investigating now.

LA


@ stealthhammer thats one fraking hell of a complex

[Logain Abler]

LA - Also I re added the spk to the mod manager and don't have the fabs in the node still.

Are you sure that all the factories/complex are within the sensor range of a adv?

Could you pm me the sector map with the issue please, it may help.

LA

[Logain Abler]

22/02/2009
This is to correct a reported issue with Trade Dock Menu not showing in sectors with a Node. Also includes the previous fix:

http://rapidshare.com/files/201126672/F ... 2.2009.spk

Many thanks to amirite

LA

[amirite]

No, many thanks to YOU Quickest bugfixes ever. Testing it out now.

[Logain Abler]

No, many thanks to YOU Quickest bugfixes ever. Testing it out now.

Let me know how you get on.

LA

[amirite]

Well the FDN menus are coming up now, but they're completely blank . I have a node stocked with Silicon in the sector, it just isn't coming from a factory. It should be showing up as an add-able ware in the trade post right (assuming this issue isn't intended). Anyway there's nothing on the menu except for the dark blue info box near the top.

[Logain Abler]

Well the FDN menus are coming up now, but they're completely blank . I have a node stocked with Silicon in the sector, it just isn't coming from a factory. It should be showing up as an add-able ware in the trade post right (assuming this issue isn't intended). Anyway there's nothing on the menu except for the dark blue info box near the top.

Very strange, is it within range of a Adv? Could you send me a screen.

LA

[amirite]

Sure.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=10zv78o&s=5

Without the map. Trade Station is in the lower-left behind my weapons, the node is upper-right.
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=ae4as1&s=5

I just added the satellite, but it didn't change anything. The two Relays there are inactive too, so I don't THINK they're interfering...?

EDIT: Incedentilly, when I activate the nodes, the Silicon appears as a ware to add. So that part does work now, although recreating the trade dock a second ago may have also fixed that.

[Logain Abler]

Thanks amirite,

The two relays could be an issue, not sure as I didn’t build FDN for how you are using it in mind.

FDN was built with only one Node or Relay deployed in a sector.

If there are multiple in a sector they all have access to the same Advance Satellites and access to all the same stations within the Adv range.
Off shoot of this is that the station will still be supplied by both nodes, with only the first Node receiving the stations Products. Once it’s supplied by the first Node the second Node will skip it when it checks the stations wares level. One of the Nodes is always going to miss out.

The only way to have multiple Nodes controlling the same sector via Relays is if the Advance Satellites are linked the one of the Relays and only supply that Relay/Node Network with the station data. Another level of linkage is to be honest a daunting task.......

Hope that all makes sense?

Still does not explain why the Trade Post‘s menu is not displaying. I’ve tested by having two trade dock in the same sector linked to one node with no issues, added a second relay and that didn’t make any difference to which Node the two Trade Posts were linked to, or the menus.
If the Trade Post or Dock was out of range of the FDN network it would say so.

Can you post a screen of the Trade Post menu your seeing?

Edit: The only other way around this multi Relay to sector issue is to link Stations to Relays. Again a change with a fair bit of work involved, I'll have a look into it but I very much doubt it will be in v3.1 final, depends on how much work.....

I can't view the pics you posted, for some reason imageshack locks-up

[StormMagi]

I have read through the mod description and some of the posts and I am still not quite sure if this will work for what I want to use it for.

I want to mine out all the silicon and ore mines in Aldrin and use relays to link the mines to an XL Node near the jump in point so I can use TL's to move the ore/silicon to other complexes. Is this essentially how it will work?

[stealthhammer]

LA - Thats two complexes that I took pics of. one is for resources one is for weapons, but like I said. I think it is running short because its having to fill up the node with wares and the other complexes. Anyway to limit the wares on the node? tried the DWM.

However please, don't spend your time working on that. You have other things you have to do then build that huge monstrosity. Also I'll send a sector map when I get the chance.

Storm - Thats a good Idea, wonder if it would work since it only sees player stations...

[StormMagi]

I was hoping to get an answer before attempting to build this massive infrastructure, I would really rather not waste a few hours setting something like this up for it not to work >_< (can you imagine all the TS's I would need to do it w/o the FDN? O_O)

[stealthhammer]

Storm - Have LA talk to you about the two complexes I built in Avarice...I asked him not to build it to test the FDN but I think his building it anyhow but that is massive. I had a grand total of 9 Mistral SF shipping resources to one complex on the other side of Avarice from the resource complex on the other side. I don't remember how many days it took me... Anyhow I'm hopping FDN will let free the SF to become UT.

All I can do is hope LA likes to wage war, if not he has a boat load of weapons to sell. But storm. I think you would have to so much lag in the system after a short time it would be unplayable. happened to me in Avarice with the two mega complexes after awhile i ran out of memory when I was in the system, still be nice to try.

[StormMagi]

The only slow thing on my comp atm is my cpu =/ C2D 2.66ghz oc'd to 2.8ghz, other than that I have an ati 4870, 4g ddr2 800 ram and vista x64

Also I think it depends if it is in visual range. Aldrin is a 2000km or so sector with most of the roids way out there so visual lag shouldn't be much of a problem since you can just warp in and place from wherever. That and there are only about 100ish (i think, never counted) ore and silicon roids that are mainly in the 40 range you can mine ^_^

[Logain Abler]

@ StormMagi.

The idea around FDN is that you have a Node in on sector which controls the ware distribution of wares in that sector, you can control which station contribute their products to the Node from the Node menu.

All the relay does is allow the Node it is linked with to extend its coverage to another sector, again the Relay menu like the Node menu allows you to set if the station passes its products to the Node.

That’s it really in a nutshell.

I advise only one Node per sector, if you have two whichever is call first in the FDN cycle will receiver all the Products and supply all the wares to the stations in sector. Same goes with the Relays; it was built with only one per sector in mind.

Turns out this may be a bit short sighted on my side. I did look at linking stations to Nodes & Relays which would allow multiple Nodes & Relays per sector but thought it would get too complicated…….

There is nothing stopping the player using multiple Nodes & Relays in a sector, but it is limited.
Scenario:

1) You have a sector in which a station(s) needs ware ‘X’ and the station(s) is linked Node ‘A’ via Relay ‘A’. Unfortunately Node ‘A’ does not have the ware required by the station(s), but Node ‘B’ does. You could deploy another Relay to the sector linked to Node ‘B’ which will enable Node ‘B’ via Relay ‘B’ to supply the required ware.

2) I have three nodes in one sector but there are no stations to fight over, they are linked to other sectors by Relays. I then move selected wares between them using TS’s, which gives the Nodes access to each others wares. I have not incorporated direct Node to Node teleportation as I wanted to limit how powerful FDN was, but in a later version I may write in in-sector Node to Node connectivity…….

The key thing to remember is that only one Node (whichever the script calls first) will receive the Products from a sector.

Relays cannot be daisy chained together to extend the Nodes limit.
Relays can only be linked to one Node.

This is a Beta version which as had a couple of bugs which have mainly been typos on my part and stealthhammers issue which I’m looking at. If there is demand for in-sector Node to Node connectivity (I envisage doing this via a similar system that links the Docks to Nodes rather than automatic) and that the players want the flexibility of setting the Station to Node & Station to Relays relationship I will make the changes.

I want this to be a useful as possible, I know not everyone will like or use it, I sure some people see it as a cheat. But for those that do want it I will make changes if it’s in my ability to do so and it does not go against what I want FDN to be.

LA

[Logain Abler]

Putting some thoughts down based on feedback & questions raised from v3.1 beta.

FDN needs to be more flexible with multi Node & Relay operations in a sector.
The only way forward I see for this is as follows:

- Stations need to be linked to a Node or Relay to stop FDN conflicts, by this I mean Nodes & Relays trying to receive wares from the same station. I will keep the ability for two Nodes to supply the same station as I expect there are situations where this would be beneficial.
- Docks as above; need to be linked to a specific Node and can select from the Nodes whose range it falls in. Currently it defines its link by the Relay in sector, rather than player defined.
Edit: Should I update so a Dock can link to any/all Nodes its in range of?

The above I will work on and release a new beta when done.

The next option I’m thinking of is how to implement Node to Node connectivity.
- At the moment I’m looking down the lines of player defined links between Nodes in a very similar way the Docks work.
The Nodes will be able to link to other Nodes within there range.
Each version will have a limited number of Node to Node connections:
Small = 1
Medium = 2
Large = 3
Extra Large = 4

So if you connect a Small to a Medium it will use a connection slot on both.
The movement of wares between the Nodes will be user set exactly like how it works with the Docks. From testing there are too many variables to automate Node to Node transfer.

This is all based on feedback so hopefully covers the bases….

LA

[amirite]

I fixed my screenshots above, take a quick look if you can to see if my setup is indeed done wrong. As you can see I actually only have one node, so the product list should be popping up.

My assumption was that after the Node is Linked to the trade dock as normal, then I could just activate the relays and they would feed into the dock using the same ware limits etc. But I see now that you would have had to code this in.

Personally I would like the additional linkage stuff. That would make things so versitile. You should probably still find some way to cap the maximum number of jumps an entire network can span though. The more I think about the daisychaining idea I mentioned ealier, the lamer it sounds.

EDIT: Okay the problem was having the relays in the same sector with the node. As soon as I removed the two relays, leaving just the node and the dock, everything works fine. So basically this entire thing was never really a bug. My bad, and godspeed on those additions