Refined Network Storage Redux — FAQ
What does this mod do?
It stores items and fluids digitally. Instead of moving goods with belts, pipes or robots, you store them in Storage Drives and move them in and out with IO Buses. Everything is reached from a Network Controller over cables.
How do I start?
Research Advanced Storage Handling. It unlocks the Network Controller, the 4k item drive, the 25k fluid drive, all three IO buses, the Network Grid, the cables and their underground versions. From there you can branch into bigger drives, faster transfers and the wireless parts.
What is the smallest working network?
- Place a Network Controller.
- Connect at least one cable from the controller to a Storage Drive.
- Put an Item IO Bus (or Fluid IO Bus) on the same cable, facing the chest or machine you want to trade with.
- Open the Network Grid (or the controller) to see and move the contents.
Without a controller, cables and drives do nothing. Everything reachable over cables from one controller is one network.
How do I keep several networks apart?
Two ways, and they can be combined:
- Colours. Cables and underground cables come in 10 colours. Different colours never connect, so you can run networks side by side.
- Controllers. Give each Network Controller a distinctive name; it is shown in the controller's window.
Which part does what?
| Part | Job |
|---|---|
| Network Controller | The centre of a network. Everything cabled to it belongs to it. |
| Storage Drive | Holds the items or fluid. Item drives: 4k / 16k / 64k / 256k. Fluid drives: 25k / 100k / 400k / 1600k. |
| Cables | Connect the parts. 10 colours. Underground cables bridge up to 9 tiles. |
| Item IO Bus | Moves items between the network and the chest, wagon or machine it points at. |
| Fluid IO Bus | The same for fluids. |
| External IO Bus | Makes a chest or machine part of the network directly, without copying its contents into a drive first. |
| Network Grid | Opens the whole network and lets you move items by hand. |
The wireless parts
These are researched later and have their own tasks:
| Part | Job |
|---|---|
| Wireless Transmitter | Adds nearby characters to the network. Whoever stands in range can use the network inventory. Its range grows with research and connects to its own cable colour. |
| Portable Wireless Grid | Place it and open it to reach the network inventory while a Wireless Transmitter is in range. It joins the controller you pick in its window. |
| Personal Player Port | Worn in the armour grid. While in range it fills your logistics requests from the network. |
| Network Transmitter / Receiver | Link two networks by radio over any distance; no cable runs between them. Pick the receiver in the transmitter's window. |
| Detector | Reads a quantity from the network onto a circuit wire, or disconnects cables while a condition holds. |
The receiver/transmitter pair and the infinite wireless range are late research and need Space Age (space science).
How do I move items?
Open the Network Grid. Left click moves one, shift + left click a stack, right click half a stack, and ctrl + left click everything. The list is sortable and
searchable.
An IO Bus moves items on its own. Base rate is 15 items/s for the item bus and 1200/s for the fluid bus, raised by research and adjustable per bus. Every bus
switches between input, output and input/output.
How do I control what a drive accepts?
Each drive has its own filter list and works as a whitelist or a blacklist, so you decide what it takes. A drive is capacity based, not slot based: it holds the
amount it says, no matter how many different item types that is.
What is priority?
Every network component (drives and buses) takes a priority from -5 to 5. The network fills and drains higher priorities first. Use it to keep important reserves full, or to consume one stock before another.
Can buses be controlled by the circuit network?
Yes. A bus can be enabled or disabled, have its filters set, and have its stack or fluid size overridden from a circuit signal.
Does item quality survive storage?
Yes. Drives store through engine inventories, so quality, ammo, durability, health and item tags come back out the way they went in. Quality items are refused at the drive input rather than being silently merged or downgraded.
Does it work with Space Age?
Yes. Space Age is optional, except for the Network Transmitter/Receiver and the infinite wireless range, which need space science.
Known limitations
- Hovering over a placed drive shows
Storage: 0/0. The drive's own window shows the real contents. - A cable of a second colour connected to a drive that is already part of a network bridges the two networks, even though different colours otherwise never
connect. Connect only one cable colour per drive. - The Item IO Bus does not take items straight out of a mining drill. Route through a chest, or place the bus at the machine that uses the ore.
- The Network Grid can flicker for a moment when a new item type is added by hand. Stored amounts are not affected.
Where do I report a bug?
Use the discussion page on the mod portal:
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/RNSRedux