93 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
93 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
# Bulk Rail Loaders
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This mod adds dedicated train loaders and unloaders for granular bulk cargo,
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as often used in reality at mines, power stations, etc. A large hopper placed
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directly over the track drops granular solids into the top of a hopper car,
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and at the destination the bottom of the car is opened and the cargo pours out
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through metal grates and onto conveyors.
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Loaders benefit from inserter stack size bonus. When fully researched they will
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fill or empty a cargo wagon in about 5 seconds.
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The Bulk Rail Loader and Unloader items will show a preview of the loader and
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an image of a cargo wagon, to help position the loader correctly. The
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concrete pad of the Bulk Rail Unloader serves a similar purpose.
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Note that rails are placed every other tile, but cargo wagons in stations
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stop every 7 tiles. Depending on the exact loader placement, it may appear
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with two or three rail segments underneath. You cannot place a BRL if it
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could not align with other rails.
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BRLs are circuit-connectable chest entities that output their content. You
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can connect them to Logistic Train Network stops to manage automatic creation
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of transport orders. Sending a BRL the special "Disable rail loader" signal
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will stop the BRL from loading/unloading a cargo wagon. Due to their speed,
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you are likely to load or unload a few more items than expected.
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## Boosting Throughput with Interface Chests
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Rail loaders and unloaders can fit 4 inserters or loaders on each side, for
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an inherent 8 belts of throughput. If this is insufficient, you can add up to
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4 chests to the corners of the loaders, and they will automatically push or
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pull items into these chests. I recommend limiting these chests to just a few
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stacks to prevent them from getting too out of balance.
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With vanilla 1x1 chests, this system allows up to 12 belts of throughput, 6
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per side. However, chests can be of any size. Interface chests can also be
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logistics chests, if you wish to directly connect your bulk rail loaders to
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your logistics network.
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## What items are supported?
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Anything that would tolerate a long drop onto the hard metal floor of a cargo
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wagon, then would fit through a metal grate, and would survive a trip up a
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[screw conveyor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw_conveyor).
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By default, this does not include plates, but a setting is available to enable
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them if you wish to abandon realism. You can even enable Bulk Rail Loaders to
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handle any item at all.
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From base:
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* Coal, stone, copper ore, iron ore, uranium ore
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* Landfill
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* Plastic (realistically these are likely pellets, not shaped bars)
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* Sulfur
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From mods:
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* Items named "ore", "powder", "sand", "gravel", etc.
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The following mods and mod sets have specific additional support:
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* Angel's Mods
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* Bob's Mods
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* Krastorio
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* MadClown's Extended AngelBob Minerals
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* Py's Mods (pycoalprocessing, pyrawores)
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* Xander-Mod
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Mod authors can add their own items or classes of items to be handled
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by Bulk Rail Loaders using the remote interface:
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```lua
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-- call either of these during your mod's on_init and on_load event handlers
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-- takes the exact name of an item
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remote.call("railloader", "add_bulk_item", item_name)
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-- takes a Lua pattern (https://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/manual.html#6.4.1)
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remote.call("railloader", "add_bulk_item_pattern", lua_pattern)
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```
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If you feel something that meets the above generic description is not
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included, let me know. You can also edit `bulk.lua` if you would like
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to change the set of supported items for your own use, or change the
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mod setting to allow any item.
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## Acknowledgements
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* Arch666Angel for the loader graphics.
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