[Outdated][Not a Bug] Next Slot Not Found (due Conveyors facing the wrong way)

#1

This is on version 1.04
I had a basic line running using all the starting slots.
After i had researched “body specialization” i split off the conveyer after building the chassis and added the three new slots, run the conveyer round and connected it to the paint-slot.
The old complete “fit body” slot was still there when i did this. Then i removed the “fit body” slot and fixed the visual errors on the conveyers.

The problem is once a car run through the “fit door”-slot it just stays there with the error “Next slot not found”-message, but the paint slot is properly connected. Deleting and redoing the conveyer between these two slots didn’t work. I tried deleting and replacing the paint-slot but then the game crashed (maybe thats the crash on looped-belt problem that is already fixed for the next version, so this might be related).
My guess is the problem is that the “fit body” slot was still present when i connected the initial conveyers all up, messing up the internal slot-order or something.

#2

Just had this error in 1.06. I just built the basic line and some research desks. It just stops at Quality Check and gives the error.

I’ve attached the savegame of the line for Cliffski’s perusal.
savegame.zip (426 KB)

#3

tssk tssk :smiley:
Some of your conveyor going towards the export slot are facing the wrong way :smiley:

image
error.jpg700×464 73.2 KB

#4

Ha, silly me!

OK, feature request then: it should be more obvious if you do bollocks like I do!

#5

Cliff, those kind of errors are hard to spot on especially for new players. But it should be easily be detectable in code, right ? When two adjacent conveyors have opposite directions, can’t you show a little warning like for stations not having a next slot ? Or a small visual hint like a red line between the two onveyors ? I think that’d help a lot.

#6

Or somehow making them universal and allowing the cars to travel in either direction so the AI can have a more robust pathfinding system.

#7

Yeah, I’ve watched all the developer videos and played a bit, but I never realized that the conveyor has a direction indicator. That’s why I was so stumped when it told me that it couldn’t find the next slot.

#8

Indeed, it is easy to get it wrong, BUT its harder to write code that detects it than you might think. We have taken some steps this way, so you will notice red warnings on cars if they cannot find the next slot, or the next slot is the wrong one, and I am working towards making that more explicit. Ultimately detecting this is possible, but it has to be foolprof plus fast for me to do this, adn I haven’t managed to find a good way to do that YET.

#9

Would it be possible to have a display mode that shows the connected conveyors from a slot. So in my example above, if you select the QA slot, it highlights the conveyors that go off from that slot. It would stop at the conveyor that is the wrong way and would thus show where the error is.

#10

I’ve been getting this bug every time I try to move on with my production line.

#11

Do you have a screen shot? Sometimes you can miss a slot without realizing it. Also if the conveyors arrows are pointing the wrong way this will happen.

#12

Remove the all conveyor to the next station, and relay it. It might take a couple tries, and make sure you remove it all, all the way to both stations.

#13

Also, be sure to drag the conveyor line from an earlier unit to a later one. For example, from paint to engine. The conveyor has direction that is shown with a lightly painted arrow.

#14

I started a new game, Large Factory.

I worked two production lines pretty much the same.

Window 10 pro, 16 gig

btw, especially in Alpha, it might help you to display the game version somewhere on the gaming screen.

(oh yeah please ignore the artifacts at top of the image… bad editing on my part.)

#15

The conveyors between fit body and paint are facing the wrong way… and also the conveyors between fit engine and fit accessories.

Look closely and you will notice that they have some sort of arrow… pointing in the direction they flow. It really depends on which direction you drag the conveyors.

#16

oh i see!

My apologies!

#17

Its all connected as you can see and the top drying is working but the other two arnt

image
Untitled.png948×410 784 KB

#18

The conveyors for the two lower dryers face the wrong way… look closely… there are arrows on the conveyors indicating the direction of flow.

Always try to drag the conveyors from a source to a target and not the other way around to avoid that issue.

… merged threads together …

For Cliff: On a side note I get the feeling that maybe the Conveyors maybe should be bi-directional… meaning that they have no pre-determined flow direction… and let the path finder look down the conveyor belt in any direction until it finds the next required slot.

Would cause less people to get confused and there wouldn’t have to be any special graphics indicating the flow direction… on top of that it would allow pretty funny designs. :stuck_out_tongue:

#19

Thank you so much restarted 3 saves because i thought it was broken…Should of known it would of been user error. I blame the game for keeping me uplol time has just flown by got the same set up at 9:30pm and its now 1:30am got to get up for work in 3 hours.lol

#20

Glad I could help. :smiley:

But I agree… the conveyors having predefined directions can be annoying sometimes. I had the same issues when I started playing the game a few weeks back

I really think that the conveyors either should have better (in-your-face) indication of which way they are facing… or what would be even better… Bi-directional Conveyors where the player doesn’t have to pay attention and instead the engine sorts out the correct deadlock-free routing itself.