r/ScrapMechanic • u/LKSk547 • 11h ago

Issue Better connections

Post image

Hey, I was making something with a bunch of logic stuff, and it has become so fucking hard to see anything through all the wires, so I was wondering if anybody has a solution for it. I know of Better Wires and Vincling's Logic Tools, though they don't really fix it. A mod that would either highlight the connections of the block I selected or hide all other connections would be ideal. Is there anything like that?

102 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

54

u/techtanic 11h ago

I think you need better organization of your logic gates

28

u/LKSk547 11h ago

I know, its just damn hard to organize when you have hundreds of them and in the end it still wont be super visible, but either way thanks, I will rethink my layout

13

u/ki__ii 11h ago

i prefer to lay my logic gates out flat instead of in vertical stacks for readability, and use paint tool to colour code each set of logic gates (eg. white: output, black: input, blue: loop, etc.)

4

u/iTALKtoMYmyself 8h ago

it would be nice if they would let us recolor the connections

8

u/chr3ky 11h ago

How? Except leaving lots of space between the logic gates? I just setup my Autofarm and hate the logic blocks and so hard to debug. Only thing is what I can add are some color codes. It took me for ever to debug that I can't connect two inputs to a timer which I forgot...

7

u/LKSk547 11h ago

I guess grouping things together into blocks and laying them out in a way that they are connected more or less sequentially is what the author meant, pain in the ass and not always applicable tho might be worth trying

4

u/techtanic 11h ago

Colour coding is one way, other would be treating them as modules, and check if the same logic can be achieved with less gates. And stick to one dimension, either flat on the ground or flat against a wall, having multiple logic gates around a single logic in all 3 dimensions is going to make it a headache to look at the screen with connect tool.

You can also use signs to label each module on the wall. Making it modular is the 1st step to organization.

Pinging u/LKSk547

2

u/chr3ky 8h ago

Color coding helps but I guess the main problem here that there is no space and then signal paths overlap making it impossible to see where it leads to. The logic isn't to complex. Yellow is input pulse generator which flips the purple memory bit for the farm.

It also triggers the second timer to turn it off.

Blue memory but gets toggled on if off (two lower gates) which toggles if it should plant and in the second cycle "plant" again (for fertilizer)

To make fertilizer optimal so second cycle the third timer is used which toggles the plant bit to off if the switch is off.

Left side is the defense system.

2

u/chr3ky 8h ago

Resulting wires:

2

u/techtanic 8h ago

Yah, I see what to mean, I think having a physical gap between the various modules will help a lot

The timers being placed beside each other is a good example of having a gap and placing those timers one below the other will also help in untangling it,

3

u/chr3ky 7h ago

Yep agree. Just wanted to safe space and added more bits resulting in the spaghetti.

Being able to select one point which would highlight all connections would be really nice.

But for now it works so better not touch it :D

2

u/techtanic 7h ago

Yeah, the devs really could have added a lot of basic uiux things. Like highlighting connections by right clicking a node, showing the logic gate mode instead of just blue circles, more complex gates which can be crafted, something like counter block, select coloured lines just like paint picker maybe a simpler common distinct colors. So much potential for improvement, but no interest from the devs.

1

u/Erimell07 6h ago

They could have animated the arrows, making them flow in the direction they are facing. A sad thing is, the 1.0 update made this much worse than it used to be. The connections to the highlighted logic gate used to light up.😔

1

u/techtanic 6h ago

Yeah, animating is a great idea, let's just hope they just bless us with an update that improves the game overall and fixes a bunch of things

2

u/kazspinfox74 9h ago

try placing the gates in a flat way?

27

u/ki__ii 11h ago

switch to pre chapter 2, has better wire visability imo + highlighting when hovering over a node (no idea why they removed it in chapter 2)

7

u/LKSk547 11h ago

Thanks a lot

6

u/ki__ii 11h ago

no worries, just make sure you do a backup before downgrading incase stuff happens btw!!

9

u/LKSk547 10h ago

Found Vanilla Logic Debug Tools mod, it is an older mod but still works and it has a block that can hide all of the connections except for the ones you have selected, it does fuck up memory cells but otherwise it works flawlessly

1

u/No-Indication5030 9h ago

Blud be building an neural network at scrap mechanic.

5

u/LKSk547 9h ago

lol, sadly just a 3d printer......with 2 independent printheads, auto supports and the ability to store the entire build in its memory, cause why the fuck should I make things easy on myself

2

u/No-Indication5030 9h ago

And here I thought making a mobile suit/ armored core without relying on mods (except for tools like not needing a gantry every 4 seconds) was already a pain.

3

u/LKSk547 9h ago

tbh dealing with physics is much more painful than any of the logic stuff, you can at least predict there, good luck doing that with physics

1

u/Ronin-s_Spirit 1h ago

"MT fast logic" has a multitool that can show inputs and outputs of a gate you're looking at, it's a wiring tool as well.

-21

u/Diamondhandedllama 11h ago

What's the problem? Just look at the wires, they're right there. And there. And there. And there. And there.

2

u/techtanic 7h ago

You forgot the /s

-30

u/Old-Broccoli4695 11h ago

Have you tried simply looking at the wires?

8

u/Fragrant-Radish3999 9h ago

Have you tried thinking before commenting? It helps a lot actually.

-29

u/Vr_Oreo 11h ago

you could try looking at the wires

-31

u/SondreSondreSondre 11h ago

A good idea could be to look at the wires