[Suggestion]: Compact Solar Panel Arrays for performance.

  • Yes I want to say the reason I'm posting this now is because how bad things have been going with Advance Machines. IC has added many other mods that were made for IC with a lot less popularity and this ones probably one the more easier ones let alone great on server and I would assume client performance.


    Having lets say 2000 Solar Panels sending out 2000 x 1 tick is pretty costly to cpu time. VS 4 x 512. What this means is instead of 2000 packets being sent out per tick I assume this would only be sending out 4 packets per tick and that is sure a save on cpu usage on calculations.


    Please before you turn this into a debate there is nothing to debate about. This is pretty damn legit besides some missing tin and if that is an issue then make us construct something special for the center I don't care the whole point of this is to make it newbie friendly but to actually save on performance.


    I think to many Admins are stuck with 1.0 and etc and getting tired of how bugging Advance Machines have come and it looks like the Author might have retired as well and rather then always relaying on third party I think it be nice to bring it into the IC Core. (as a option in the config)


    Please refer to the advance machines mod with an example of what they are like:
    LV Solar Array:




    :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine:


    :Advanced Machine: :HV-Transformer: :Advanced Machine:


    :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine:




    Where :Advanced Machine: = Solar Panel and :HV-Transformer: = LV Transformer




    Outputs 8 EU/t




    MV Solar Array:




    :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine:


    :Advanced Machine: :HV-Transformer: :Advanced Machine:


    :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine:




    Where :Advanced Machine: = LV Solar Array and :HV-Transformer: = MV Transformer




    Outputs 64 EU/t




    HV Solar Array:




    :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine:


    :Advanced Machine: :HV-Transformer: :Advanced Machine:


    :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine: :Advanced Machine:




    Where :Advanced Machine: = MV Solar Array and :HV-Transformer: = HV Transformer




    Outputs 512 EU/tick

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  • Yea i see the reason for having less active devices throwing out packets on SMP, however unless someone is willing to take over the project, you'll be stuck with this semi-dead dev.


    Perhaps Player/Alblaka can be approached for a solution, they too must see this problem.


    VV

  • I utilize the Solar Arrays in Adv Machines in SMP, and while I definitely agree that server performance needs to be considered, I find that the upper tiers of solar arrays in this form are overpowered. It's too easy. There's no motivation for looking for alternative power like nuclear reactors if you can keep incrementally increasing your solar plant for cheap, fuel free power and just keep condensing them down into 2 or 3 blocks. There has to be a downside to balance things out, such as additionally required infrastructure or reduced efficiency.


    Also, I think we need more machines that take up significant amounts of power to run besides the mass fabricator to justify it. Because if you're building massive power farms, I can almost guarantee that 99% of that power is going straight into the massfab. Without middle tiers of power consumption there's no big need for middle tiers of power generation. Maybe the overclockers fill that role a little bit, but not really.

  • I utilize the Solar Arrays in Adv Machines in SMP, and while I definitely agree that server performance needs to be considered, I find that the upper tiers of solar arrays in this form are overpowered. It's too easy. There's no motivation for looking for alternative power like nuclear reactors if you can keep incrementally increasing your solar plant for cheap, fuel free power and just keep condensing them down into 2 or 3 blocks. There has to be a downside to balance things out, such as additionally required infrastructure or reduced efficiency.


    Also, I think we need more machines that take up significant amounts of power to run besides the mass fabricator to justify it. Because if you're building massive power farms, I can almost guarantee that 99% of that power is going straight into the massfab. Without middle tiers of power consumption there's no big need for middle tiers of power generation. Maybe the overclockers fill that role a little bit, but not really.

    Hey I have no problem having and making 40000 solar panel machines legit. What server do you play id love to ruin it for ya ;) I have never ever had a issue having massive large farm my issue is the lag it causes but I don't mind sacrificing others for my own gain :)


    I mean if they want to make it harder fine but if there going to nerf it then no one will use it and the whole point reducing lag really never actually happen.

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  • Hey I have no problem having and making 40000 solar panel machines legit.

    And that's the problem. Not with you, with how power generation is set up. Of course you wouldn't mind making 40,000 solar panels. They don't need fuel, you can build them incrementally, they only have one downside which can be solved with storage blocks and more panels, and with arrays you can condense them down to a minimal footprint and less server hit with the paltry cost of a transformer. Why mess with a nuclear reactor if it's that simple and risk free?


    And there-in lies the issue. Making solar energy that easy negates any need for any other source of power. What you really want is something in between a solar panel and a nuke plant. A nuke plant takes a significant amount of infrastructure and setup to build, but in the end you're getting power from a single output. Game balance and server load both happy. Now take that and scale it down to something like a solar energy plant, like those in the desert that reflect sun to a central location. Has a large footprint, gives a challenge to set up and build, and produces power out of a single output. The downside to this of course is someone would have to develop it, but it's an idea.

  • i highly agree with this idea, i am currently very limited as to my generator usage simply because if anyone even goes remotely close to it that their computer locks up and sometimes crashes, also if i leave my energy grid running it will crash the server an a couple of days and even quicker is other people build something similar. at the very least could we have Tin Cable tolerance upped to like 52, cannot be insulated or painted, and increase almost all generators internal compacity and have them send packs of 52 instead of 1? reason being is i use ALOT of solar and wind generators in a perfect assembly at layer 125 and would like for my wind turbines to also not cause so much strain on my servers.


    Or we could just go with the solar array recipe as stated above. Would this only take up 1 block and have the transformer designs on the side to designate what type of array it is?

    "the more people i kill, the better the chances are that i got the right one" ~Goblin Assassin: MtG

  • There's really no reason not to add this...


    And if the MV/HV tiers were nerfed at all, then you would just have people spamming LV ones- thus not fixing/helping the issue.


    It gives no bonus EU/Tick. It only saves space.

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  • the reason to add this would be to minimalize the packet spam on a server, it fixes the issue and saves space. and i agree, the higher teirs should not be nerfed, it's simply more expensive to maintain server integrety, it's not like it's making it more efficient, and when you got 6-10 people on a server, this would help ALOT!

    "the more people i kill, the better the chances are that i got the right one" ~Goblin Assassin: MtG

  • And people who hate the idea then just simply ask for a config option to disable it. Slight change in land usage vs a shit ton of lag hmm :P

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  • I'm with Kane Hart on this one - please add this to ic2 or someone make it happen. Just get it done. :p

    God blesses the child that can hold its own.

  • Not just one thing. Tired of passed down and down and down of the mod that's used by so many people and being the most popular mod and yet not added to the game yet.

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  • This thread was created because of the other one...


    And I agree this should be added to base IC.


    I also think Geos, wind, water, and even the nuke should receive similar treatment though I understand that is asking a lot.


    I would also like another use for all that energy but now that's probably asking too much. ;)

  • Not just one thing. Tired of passed down and down and down of the mod that's used by so many people and being the most popular mod and yet not added to the game yet.


    Being used by many people and being popular sub-mod, doesnt mean a first class ticket to the base mod/game. Minecraft its the prime example of this, so many good and popular mods yet none of those gets added to vainilla minecraft. Why? Because it crashes with the vision the devs have of their own game, its the same here with ic, if alblaka doesnt like it he doesnt have any obligation to add it to his game.

  • Being used by many people and being popular sub-mod, doesnt mean a first class ticket to the base mod/game. Minecraft its the prime example of this, so many good and popular mods yet none of those gets added to vainilla minecraft. Why? Because it crashes with the vision the devs have of their own game, its the same here with ic, if alblaka doesnt like it he doesnt have any obligation to add it to his game.

    Does Alblaka like it? In my opinion, it fits very well with IC2. And for those saying that solar arrays are too OP, you have to spend diamond and a smattering of other things to make an array. Solars are actually quite expensive, and don't produce much power each.

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  • So far i think alblaka havent said anything about it, and Solar arrays arent OP because they generate too much energy or because the materials are not expensive enough, its because you compress 512 Blocks (From the placed solar panels) + Who many other blocks of space from the tin cables.


    Thats a pretty big issue because it destroys what balanced the solar panels flowers (Having a clear view of the sky, placing them in good spots, and wiring them correctly), with solar panels arrays you just need to place one single block and not bother with it again.

  • The reason of why i linked that directly, is cause it is the newest compressed solar panel version (1.70)... and yes, i know that IC2 is now 1.71, but give it time, that guy might update it some more (unofficially)

  • Adjust the recipe to allow for nerfing... maybe make a new 'solar array circuit' item to use in the recipe (a couple Adv.Circuits + EnderEye (or blaze rods or...) + more redstone, glowstone and lapis).


    Point is that this could be handy for reducing 'solar lag'. Throw an option in the config to disable solar array's if it's absolutely necessary (or be funny about it and make the config default to 'Allow Solar Array = False').

    I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.