Hopper usage poll

Servers have no impact on a user's computer preformance. But if the server itself is having technical difficulties or the user doesn't have a strong internet connection to it, that's is when you get the irregular events in-game.

Now if I'm right, the framerate on any computer's screen(s), or 'FPS', is determined by the remaining processing power in most of the interrior computer components.

I'm curious to why we just started seeing this. We have been using hoppers a lot and in great quantity. What was this "tipping the scale" event that happened this weekend that caused the TPS to drop in half over such a large range of servers. I saw no ramping up to this, no gradual change in performance. Just BAM, crappy TPS Sunday.

Did a hopper fairy go around to every server and create giant hopper sorters in one night? Before you start changing major game mechanics again, can you insure us that this problem is really the root problem, not a side affect from something else that just so happened to cause the hoppers to lag us out.

Pay no attention to my selection in the poll - I was thinking of droppers...

Using hoppers to carry stacks instead of just 1 (unless 1 - 63 is all that's in the hopper) would help optimize performance; most of the creations I can think of that would need to use 1 item of each (to say trigger timers, etc) - could technically move multiple at same time as well and work just the same...

Only time this would be a problem - is if you need to exchange 1 item instead of a stack, but to fix this just use a dropper or dispenser.

Also, I think this would break the sorters. The basics are that when the top hopper receives 1 item, it will raise the signal strength from the comparator one level which will take power off the bottom hopper to allow one item to drain. This action frees one spot in the bottom hopper which in turn allows for the original item to pass down into it, which then reduces the comparator signal and re-powering the bottom hopper to prevent further draining. No matter how many items you suck in the top doesn't matter, its the draining a whole stack at a time that breaks it. If the bottom hopper is allowed to drain a whole stack, it frees an entire space, which will be filled with the entire stack from the top hopper, which opens the first spot in it up for anything to drop in. Whatever the next item that flows down the pipe is will reclaim that sorter. Same thing that happens when you get the torch burnout glitch but it will be 100% of the time.

Edit: Also, lets say a half a stack gets sucked into the slot of a specific item, the remaining portion of the stack would carry on down the pipe so you would have to have double slots per item. All that doesn't matter if you can't figure out how to control the outflow of each slot anyways.

Right now if you have an array of 14 furnaces, and you put 14 items on the input chest, then each furnace gets 1 item and you get your 14 smelted items quite fast. That is because the hopper takes from the chest 1 item at a time, so when the first item reaches the last hopper in the chain, each hopper has 1 item in it and then you can send those into the furnaces.

If the hopper takes all 14 items from the chest in one move, then those 14 items will end up in 1 furnace, and the rest of the furnaces won't do a thing.

You're right, I haven't thought of that. Yes, I think this change would break sorters, I don't like that.

Lets say you have a minecart track with a minecart+chest. If you have 50 furnaces, but only, lets say, 15 stacks of coal, then the early furnaces fill up, and the ones after that would stay empty.

And on this subject of minecart hopper setups, I have found they don't work as is, they usually skip over half the hoppers, and fill the other half. At least, thats how it was about 2-3 weeks ago. Not a huge dilemma, just something that requires a change in design.

Currently you fill the last 4 of the hoppers spaces with "waste" items, so they don't interfere, and you put 1 item of the kind you want to sort on the first hopper space.

You feed this hopper from the top from a running chain of hoppers, in this chain a variety of items if flowing, since the down has priority, any item in the chain will first try to enter your sorter hopper, and only if it can't continue on the chain.

Since all spaces on the sorter hopper are filled, the only items this hopper accepts are the ones that correspond with the kind you want to sort.

Finally, you lock another hopper below your sorter hopper so it won't take item from your sorter hopper unless your sorter has a certain number of items in it, and stop before it empties it, so you sorter hopper always has at least 1 of you kind of item to sort.

This is the "sorting hopper" ( as I like to call it). it will only pull out the redstone from the hopper above it no other item (but the dirt do not let dirt in the sorter messes things up). So when there is more them 1 redstone, a comparator powers 2 redstone dust that power a repeater under the dust. Witch will then tern off the redstone torch, that lets the hopper, under the sorting hopper, to take items, till the sorting hopper is back to what is in the image. But if the hopper is aloud to take more then 1 item it will remove the item that is meant to say and mess that sorter up.

Since signs take up a bit of room, which is very much needed in compact machines, would it be possible to make it so that the sign could be placed above everything, and just have a vertical column of "single item flag"?

the sign would work for me

A sign would work if you can code it (I don't know any thing about coding so i have no idea if you can do it or not). Maybe just put like "single sort" or just "single" in the tip line on the sign.

I know we try not to add items into the game but how difficult would it be to duplicate the hopper and make a second version that did it by stack, maybe make it a separate color of something to easily distinguish them.

Maybe a res flag?

Ah
I knew something was different

I was planning on upgrading my auto smelter,and this might break it,so this would be a good idea.

I like the idea, but it will destroy all sorter systems

Given the use of compact sorters, I strongly suggest making "single" the default setting, and "group/stack" the sign-coded variant. Generally speaking when it comes to sorters, space is at a premium and the idea is to keep things as minimal as possible. Other applications such as farms will have greater capacity, and the room to use "Stack Signs" instead, as needed.

Either way, this is going to alter some of the game's core functionality, so thank you for taking the time to discuss it with us and iron out a plan of action Personally I'm hoping the spigot fix is enough to bring things back to manageable standards.