full disclosure... im "quite" new to rust; the bulk of my previous experience revolves around minecraft server development and level programming.
I'd come to this server to learn as much as humanly possible about rust game mechanics and rust modded servers, as in the future I plan to develop and host my own rust servers that are pretty much adaptations of classic game modes you would find in games like minecraft(factions, survival, skyblock, acid island, prison, etc)... but ported to rust and umod.
~
anyways...
this morning before work id taken the time to manually switch over all the old jpipes in my factory for the new syncpipes(ofc experimenting along the way), near as I can tell syncpipes is arguably a superior plugin functionality wise.
previously with the jpipes system id pretty much built a differential computer to move items around and split stacks... scooping off just the right amount to keep my pumpjacks functioning while also diverting the excess to where ever(a chest, a quarry, a vending machine), to achieve this with jpipes I had to use less upgraded pipes at storage junctions.
this setup worked quite well, at most id have to reprime my refineries after a server restart.
this new syncpipes setup on the other hand does away with the need to use differing qualities of pipes to achieve this effect, you can simply select which pipe has priority.
in the future this will be quite handy, as it allows for greater flow control and will allow for players to build much superior differential item sorting machines.
unfortunately however superior this new setup is, there are a few short comings that should be addressed.(short comings that arnt exactly your fault, they are just development oversights)
I will list them in point form and add to the list as I think up more:
1. syncpipes leading to vending machines will only transport 1 and only 1 material type at a time regardless of what is set in the filter.
too clarify, if you have a chest filled with a mixture of items... sulphur, hqm, metal fragments, etc... the sync pipe will choose only one of those items and get stuck on transporting only that item regardless if its become idle from running out of that item.
you could have 10 stacks of stone and 1 stack of sulphur, and if its stuck on sulphur... thats all its going to transport period.
2. within syncpipes configuration there is no facility developed to set the flow control of items other then the 5 listed in its configuration(wood, stone, sulphur ore, metal ore, high quality metal ore), even if you buffed the 5 listed... players are going to run into bottle necking issues with other materials such as crude oil, lgf, and other items that are not "raw" materials... which are all locked at a much lower rate then raw materials.
as a matter of QOL, this should be corrected by the developer and improved upon.
3. syncpipes developer should implement a less static method for handling item flow speeds, ideally something permission based; imma wager that would give server op's alot more control over "how" and by "who" the plugin is used by.
in the case of jpipes, this was handled by pipe quality, in syncpipes their material quality has no bearing on flow speeds.(far as I can tell)
4. demolishing syncpipes via command and wooden hammer is kinda clunky, this could benefit from some remover tool plugin(I presume thats what is utilized in your plugin stack) compatibility worked into its code.
the developer could consider "borrowing" some code ideas from jpipes, as they seem to have that functionality working quite well.
