Hey, first thing: I love this mod. How many times did I think: “How nice would it be if I could just somehow… I don't know… teleport this from here to there or something.” And that mod makes it possible.

Using signals this way is really an accessible approach, unlike LTN for instance which takes a lot of adaptation. But there's an issue: as signals grow in number, it becomes hard to remember what's used for what. Would some sort of GUI be a realistic option?

What I have in mind is something like LTN Tracker (https://mods.factorio.com/mod/LTN_Tracker) which displays the signals and the available items for each station.

Another approach would be to add filters to outputs. Maybe with an item signal or something? That way, one could more easily reduce the amount of different signals by grouping the networks in a way that makes sense (or not?).

I have to find time to read up on the GUI API... Currently, I do this sort of thing on the map.

I didn't quite understand your last paragraph about filters. Mind elaborating?

I'm literally doing the same thing at this point. But since I'm using many small networks (in order to not trivialize logistics too much mostly) that tends to get a bit messy. Still, that's a working makeshift solution.

Sorry 'bout the last paragraph, I still had LTN in mind so it seemed clear in my head. Let's see…

At the moment, if you want Iron Ores to go to a given rematerializer and Copper Ores to go to another one, you have to hook one pair to A-1 for instance, and the other to A-2. And so on and so forth until you are swarmed by networks.

With filters, you could hook all your ores on the same arbitrarily-chosen network and then set a filter on the receiving end so the rematerializer only accepts those items (or use the default behavior if left blank).

As for the said filter…

What I had in mind was setting up an item signal on the combinator. (Since we're using one to set the network anyway, why not put it to use all the way?) So if you set an Iron Ore signal with any intensity, the rematerializer would only pull iron ores from the dematerializers.

Depending on what you can/want to do, you might also use the strength of the item signal to act as a "request amount" kind of thing, but that would defeat the purpose of the shipments thing and possibly make things way more complicated.

Now, about multiple items… from what I understand going by the deciding factors for dematerializers, you didn't make this mod with that in mind. If that's the case, have it ignore item signals and revert to default behavior/become inactive if it's receiving more than one?

If you had multiple items in mind… I'm all out of simple ideas to solve that, sorry. Going the LTN way with request amounts would work, but it would go against the simplicity of this mod.

(Beside, if you really need multiple items, that's for a very specific end, so you could as well make a dedicated network for that. There's no real need to remember it anyway, since it will only be used for that one purpose.)

Anyway, that's just some very basic ideas, hope that any will be of interest to you.

As an aside, have you ever played with AAI Programmable Vehicles? Its Vehicle Depot has a built-in combinator (as a separate, invisible entity I believe). With Teleporters having to be hooked up to a combinator anyway, having a built-in one might make sense.

Ok, got it now. I hadn't considered a second separate signal used this way. It might actually, indirectly, solve this request.

The built-in combinator I'm of two minds about. It certainly could ease some difficulties people encounter. But, for example, with a separate combinator it's easy to blueprint a layout and remove the combinators, giving the option of a network-independent blueprint. Perhaps built-in/external control should be a modal option, similar to controlling how a rail stop or an inserter responds to the circuit network.

Hah, I saw that request after posting my message and found it oddly familiar.

(To be honest, my main difficulty with an external combinator is that I can't center it on these 4×4 or 6×6 buildings…) More seriously though, that's a fair point with the blueprints but on the other hand, unless a blueprint is using an unhealthy amount of these, it doesn't take much more time to simply paste on the inbuilt combinators from an empty one to clear them of any content.

I can't really imagine how you'd integrate the modal option. Wouldn't that mean that you'd have two combinators, with one being inactive, if you choose the external control? Or can you add/remove the built-in combinator entity as needed?

Can you forget it about that suggestion? I'll give you the full story since it's a quite funny one.

So, to solve the issue of having to remember all these signals without making a mess out of my map, I figured I might try some mods, and notably mods about signals. After a while, I turned my interest to wireless circuits, something like radio signals so I can centralize everything and set it here.

At some point, I happened upon that mod: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/shortwave

It was by far the best wireless circuits mod I found, and it was suspiciously a perfect match for Bulk Teleporters. I mean, it was as simple as setting an item signal for channel, and connecting a combinator with a virtual signal I won't ever have to remember, and then simply set a radio with the item signal for my teleporters. Basically, I could centralize everything AND use item signals now. Just how neat is that?!

Anyway. I was about to come here to recommend this mod since it's such a perfect fit… and that's when I saw the author's name. Everything made sense all of a sudden, so much that it felt a bit silly for a moment.

TL;DR: you should really advertise that awesome mod on Bulk Teleporter's description. Not only does it fix the lack of item signals, it enhances the result.

:-)

Must admit, I didn't build Shortwave to explicitly make BT simpler, but if it helps simplify your mental map of networks despite the more complex central location, great! I also find it useful for:

• LTN and regular train station control
• Comms with remote mining outposts
• Broadcasting a small set of general purpose channels (eg, a single Roboport reporting logistic network contents; a single Accumulator reporting electricity state; etc)

Shortwave does need some attention though, similar to the recent BT updates for dual entity handling (pipette, ghosts, blueprints). Once it's up to speed I'll put in the BT FAQ.

You didn't? I would have sworn that you did build it specifically as a companion mod to BT. I mean, it just all fits so well together that it was suspicious even without knowing that you were its author.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1818494476

With that kind of "comms center", it's much more than a mental map: you can just visualize it all. As for setting signals, you just have to do it once and then forget it for general-purpose networks, and for specialized ones, make a note on the map to remember the location or whatnot. And as an added bonus, you can even see how much of a resource you have, since all item signals from connected radios appear in that comms center too. (And with some buffer combinators to avoid circuits mixing, link everything to a pole to view it all at once.)

Seriously, from a conceptual standpoint, I can't reproach anything to Shortwave. Just like BT, it's at once simple but clever, and light on UPS. The fact that you can use any signal and any value as channel is much more practical than most other mods of its kind. Beside, the structure itself is 1×1 so it can easily fit any production line, unlike the badass-looking-but-unpractical transmitters/receivers from AAI for instance.

Given all that, the potential is certainly huge since it can be used efficiently in a variety of situations as you noted. I'll without a doubt try it for my LTN networks somehow in the future.

The dual entity handling needs some work, indeed. Though unlike BT, even in cheat mode, I haven't encountered any issue other than pipetting an I/O port by mistake. (Guess you'd have seen a bug report by now otherwise…) So on that end, all it lacks is a foolproof safety I guess? I suppose that the fact that it's a 1×1 structure makes it more difficult to accidentally only blueprint/copy one of the entities.

So yeah, TL;DR, Shortwave was an unexpected discovery that is now in my must-have list.

Shortwave was meant to solve:

• Long distance circuit networks
• Separation of circuit networks
• Lower UPS impact than other similar mods

The rest you can attribute to my mods being naturally similar in design, and Factorio's awesome emergent game play :-)