As I was editing the video I realized I could easily make 6 Assembler/Foundry blueprints in the same style as all of these. So I did and added them to the google drive. Thanks for watching!
what do you do with the files after downloading? I saw one vid where the said look for the blueprints file and migrate data to there, but I couldn't fine mine, even with a local file search. Is it because I'm "not on a server?"
@@MEGIDD0 Honestly that file isn't easy to find. I search for '%localappdata%'. Then follow FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\blueprints. I finally just made a shortcut on my desktop because it's a pain to find lol.
Love that you use load balancing. I load balanced my way to my golden mug in early access and can't wait to do the same for 1.0. There's something very satisfying about a perfectly system where there are no backed up manifold belts. I did find myself using 7 way splits a few times. But never needed a blueprint for it. And if I had sufficient beltspeed on the input, I'd use a 9-2=7 split for symmetry.
I couldn’t agree more! I love seeing all the belts moving and all the machines starting up at the same time. Now that you mention it I did kind of use a 7 way split for my Thermal Propulsion Rocket factory. It was 2 next to each other since I needed 14. The symmetry of the 9-2 is a much nicer look. Good luck with 1.0!
@@moo121 yeah for sure, You definitely taught me how much better load balance is over manifolds. And OMG the time I and space I have saved! I just tore down all my old shit lmao, and rebuilt. I'm fairly noobish still, but this has helped immensely. I still have a ton to learn. I saw you doing scroll wheel stuff in your video that I havent been able to figure out, so yeah I R noob. Do you stream? I would watch that for sure!
That's awesome! Hey we've all been noobs before. The crazy thing is I'm still finding new tricks in the game so the learning is still ongoing for me, 3k hours later haha. For the scroll wheel, it's usually to rotate items, even ones on pipes like pumps and vavles. Although some of them rotate after you have already clicked once like the wall mounted lights you can adjust where the light aims. The other thing may have been switching hot bars? If you hold alt you can scroll through 10 different hotbars you can use. You can add colors, blueprints, and even emotes to them. Happy to answer any other questions you have. I haven't streamed in a while although I have been thinking about doing that again. If I do, I'll probably try to multicast stream to both here on UA-cam and Twitch. www.twitch.tv/moodida Thanks again!
I have watched all videos about load balancers, while all of them explain how it works and why, your video is the best since it shows useful example in compact mode.
Load balancing can take up a lot if space but you can reduce that a lot with some verticality. One blueprint I have and will be using is a balanced 4 constructor setup where the input belts are entirely under the floor (lifts attached to the machines) and the outputs are on the floor. The blueprint is 4x3 and blueprint I/O is under the floor. The design allows for a second floor with another 4 constructors to be added, again balanced. A similar blueprint I have made has 2 assemblers, with 2 more on an upper level in the same floor size.
Hi Moo. I really enjoyed this video. I generally prefer manifolds with smart splitters, because I like to limit spikes in power, and for many of my modules (esp. for the ones supplying the dimensional depots) I don't use awesome sinks. But for critical systems like nuclear power, where I'm precisely controlling production rates to avoid excess radiation exposure, load balancing is absolutely essential. You've goven me some ideas and I am excited to try them out!
as for the lift design. Just put the lift straight on the machine and rotate the inputs toward eachother on a lower floor. Then if you place 1 constructor/smelter on 1 foundation each you haven enough space to smack an splitter in between. The input of the splitter can be under the machine and can be manifolded indefinately with perfect balance inputs.
You don't have to delete a belt or elevator to upgrade it. Just select the new belt or elevator you want and highlight the one you want to replace and click.
very cool. Some good tips in there the first time around I've tried to keep things very compressed, but I've decided since I have a giant world with almost endless resources. There's no reason not to make everything big/open. Plus like you said easier to see what's broken when your belts are not packed in like sardines.
Thank you! Letting it take up space is a lot of fun and gives you a lot of flexibility for when you forget a couple machines. Not like I’ve ever done that. Hahaha
@@moo121 I downloaded your blueprints. very impressive in action. I do feel they are compact, yet easy to manage and upgrade. Except for that one little belt. You really have to be standing on top of it to get to upgrade unless there's some trick I don't know about. Anyway great job. Thanks for your hard work and sharing.
I’m so glad you like them! I think that short 1m belt is always going to be tricky unfortunately. My plan is to load up the blueprint and then add the correct recipes and change belts where needed and resave it for each specific project. That will make it so hopefully I’ll only have to change it one time.
I did a playthrough in which I had one not-so-mega factory with a tall, vertical, doughnut-style(ellipse really) main bus. Any overflow from the processes that were drawing from the bus would just circle back around. Not sure if it was a waste of time to use this method, but it had the advantage of being able to "plug in" just about any process I needed on any open spot of the bus in no particular order either to add resources or to withdraw them. I didn't bother with using nuclear power, coal and fuel was enough.
Very cool! I’ve seen setups using those big main buses and I can definitely see the appeal. Having everything come from and go to the same place is nice.
I love these! I'm definitely load balancing in 1.0 to change things up. I was thinking how to balance manifolds using overclocking to match the manifold ratios. If you're interested, I made a reddit post called "Load balanced manifolds". I think it matches perfectly with this play style.
Thank you! It’s a great way to change things up, great nerdy fun. I checked out your post. I was curious if this sort of thing would work and it’s so cool to see all the math and diagrams. Very well done! Especially with being able to make power shards in the end game this seems like very feasible way to do it. Good luck!!
@@moo121 Thank you! I think it requires less splitters than normal load balancing, but I didn't check that. Unfortunately you can't just build 20 machines in a row and overclock the first to 2000%, so it has its limits. But as you said, it's all nerdy fun!
Ok, these are too freaking cool! Where, how in the...did you see or figure out the shorty elevators? I really like when people share their blueprints and saves, but I want to go through the process myself, ya know? I am totally stealing all of these that are not primes over 3. I just can't trust the feedback, it feels icky for some weird reason. I found out the hard way with those 1M belts between the merger/splitter and a machine too. I am still skocked and amazed by your compacted balancers! Bravo!
Thanks so much! Like most things I'm pretty sure I stole it from someone but I've been using them so long I have no idea who haha. I'm right there with you. I like seeing other peoples blueprints but I always recreate them on my own. I like to really understand how it all works and fits together, much easier to troubleshoot later on. Good luck with 1.0!
You can build even smaller, by placing the merger and splitter inside the head or tail of a conveyer lift. Comes in really handy with foundries and assemblers. I really liked building 9-way perfect splits and underclock the machines. When you get faster belts you only need to upgrade the higher levels of the splitter, and underclocked machines consume less power so you get a bit more running before you need to scale power. With the refinery, you can put the load balancer of the input underneath the structure and fit a manifold for the output. Adds a little bit of height but gets the smallest footprint possible.
I just saw a video about that! I’m not sure how I feel about having them clipped like that, just not crazy about the look. It certainly works and is definitely a personal preference. There might be a few places where I use it, we’ll see! The 9 way split and just underclocking is a great way to do it. The savings on power really do add up. Going underneath the refineries and probably some of the other large machines is a good idea. Trade a little bit of height for saving a lot of space in front and behind could make a big difference. Thanks for the suggestions!
@@moo121 i dont like that clipping either. one thing you could do is place a foundation and a floor hole and then connect the lift ends and then get rid of the foundation. it'll get rid of the shute, skirt, or whatever that black part that sticks out is called. however i dont think you can the short connections you are doing in this vid that way as the floor hole does add a bit of space vertically
@@moo121 yeah the clipping is a preference. When I built it by accident the first time I didn't like it either. In a manifold with both input lanes on top of each other and supported by beams etc. i like it.
That’s a great idea. You could have the floor holes trade 1m of space in the x or y axis for 1m of z. lol I hope that made sense. But yeah that’s a great way to get rid of whatever that part of the lift is called!
I think you nailed it. With the right cosmetics you can definitely make some of that kind of clipping look good. The aesthetics part of the game is where I have a LOT of room to grow.
Props to you on getting these together. After watching your video, I think load balancing is a somewhat interesting challenge...but insurmountably less practical than manifold designs. Load balancing is far harder to design, far far less intuitive to grasp what you are looking at, far far far harder to troubleshoot any problems, and far far far far harder to make extensive (as in, adding on to an existing factory). The only drawback to manifold (that I'm aware of) is the need to let the manifold fill up with resources before your factory runs perfectly (a piddling little drawback in comparison).
Thank you! I would agree with assessment for the most part. This all started as a challenge. I saw that many people have videos on the difference between manifold and load balancing but rarely saw load balancing in actual playthroughs. A lot of what you said is pretty accurate, all in all it's more challenging. After 2k hours of only using manifolds, I was looking for a challenge. Now that I've played more than 1k hours load balancing I can say there are a couple more things that for me make it enjoyable. I'm the type of person that finds the math, ratios and fractions fun. And the biggest selling point for me, which is 100% a personal preference, I think load balanced factories look far better than manifolds. I just like to see all the belts constantly moving instead of stuttering.
Making the blueprints with no material cost is genius! You probably didn't come up with it but still. I just got blueprints in my 0.8 game and the cost is rediculous this early (just got tier 5).
Thanks! I most certainly stole that from someone haha. It’s really handy to play around with anything. Something I always forget about is after you save and then clear the BP it should put all the items in the crate on the little bench at the end of the blueprinter. Good luck with blueprints, they are a game changer! Have fun with 1.0!
I'll also create a second world just to make blueprints when i start over with 1.0 i was always annoyed to not be able to create a full set of blueprints for different tiers (that i hadn't unlocked yet) and having to adjust and add higher tier belts later. it will be much easier to create one blueprint and "virtually upgrade" all the belts in advance, instead of later reloading and editing them all the time. edit: how nice would it be when the blueprinter would offer resources (for building inside itself) for free, and delete them afterwards instead of putting them in that chest. it will also benefit a more realistic playtime in a save, instead of adding lots of hours just for doing blueprints (often even going afk or researching something while doing so), and it will also avoid all my storages running unrealistically full in all that time that i spend on creating blueprints, practically voiding the positive effect of having balanced setups.
If you are interested in trying the blueprint mod I'll happily upload my blueprints. I even have a blueprint for a 24GW micro reactor factory. 😜 It uses the Refined Power mod. All in an 8x8 factory mk3 blueprint. Modular so you can plonker down a bunch of them and have all the power you could ever need! Just ask and I'll happily provide my Dropbox links.
I actually just downloaded a blueprint mod yesterday! I don’t think it’s the most popular one but this one has a 5x5 so I could test out the new mk2 in 1.0. I think I’m going to do a very close to vanilla playthrough first, SkyUI and FicsitCam are going to be hard to give up for making the videos. After that I’ll probably dive into the mods like the bigger blueprinters. I can’t wait to see what new stuff everyone comes out with! Thank you for the offer! It may be a while but I’m sure I’ll be interested in those BPs :)
I really like the look of these blueprint being multilevel, gives it a really nice look, but i hope you aren't planning to let those floors floating right?... RIGHT???
Sincerely! Thank you for making your blueprints available! And for taking the time to explain how you made them. I have subscribed! Looking forward 1.0 on Wednesday (by the time I'll get the load it up) and seeing what you do with your save! Personally, I've used the blueprint mod extensively for early access. You don't even need to use mk 4 or 5... These are enormous! Mk3 gives you an 8x8 grid to build on and that's enough to make a whole factory. It's awesome having a factory blueprint (ie a whole building in one blueprint) for each component! Want an aluminium factory...? Click - done! 😋 Need some cement here...? Click - done! By the way I go by the name Noo 😉 Keep building! 😁
Hey Noo! Thank you so much for the kind words! The blueprints are such a game changer and it took me way too long to realize it. Enjoy the 1.0 journey!
Great Video. The black on black makes it a bit hard to see what's happening though. Some colours thrown in would help to differentiate the mergers from the splitters, the return belt, etc.
Thank you! And I totally agree. I wish I made the concrete a lighter color. Adding a little more color to different parts to make it easier to see is a great suggestion, thanks!
having the main platform built from standard foundations also adds a lot of "optical strain" to detect and see what is really important. at first, i almost didn't notice that there were blueprinter machines on it :-) for optics (and also to not having to carry different materials when building) i mostly use alternate foundations from the awesome shop. but thanks for showing this kind of setup. I always wanted to do it like that, but never had the patience to do such larger and more complicated (at least more work) setups than doing simple and fast manifolds. I also often build a few machines first that then can be extended in a long row when using manifolds, but would require partial rebuilds when building like this. And thanks also to showing how to place the lifts (with temporary stackable belt supports). Even though i have a few k of playtime, i was always struggling aligning lifts depending on whether i build them upwards or downwards from splitters or mergers, and they often didn't connect properly. ps: the one time i absolutely needed to build a balanced setup instead of a manifold was after i did the calculation how long it would take for a manifold to fill all nuclear powerplants. it would have been months of realtime, LOL, and of course also poisoned the world with kilometers of belts full of nuclear fuel.
bro I have been stressing out over how to make a 5 way split for assemblers to work with 2 inputs and this literally jut solves everything including space since my original idea took up too much space then necessary. I have everything set up for efficient modular frames but to make 15 per minute is kind of a kick in the mouth given they only give 3 per cycle
I'm happy to hear this helps! The 5 way split was definitely the trickiest to make compact. My previous versions took up WAY more space. Good luck with the modular frames!
Unless you have a supercomputer, I would advise against a mega-factory. The performance hit to your computer makes the save almost unplayable in the late game. At least break up your mega factories into tiers so you can spread out the load.
You make an excellent point. I certainly do not have a supercomputer. I should probably stop saying mega factory, saying 4-5 large factories just doesn’t sound as cool but it’s much more accurate. I’m hoping that all the optimization will let my computer still handle that.
Thankyou, these are very cool. I was thinking about trying a load balanced factory for 1.0. The only bits that seem to be annoying are the weird fractional numbers that pop up everywhere in certain processes. Or bulk transporting of materials. Especially from all the way across the map, it feels like there's no way around having the train network and buffers effectively be a manifold without having many more trains on the network, even if the factories are load balanced. Is that something you've managed to solve through better planning, or just going for best effort?
Thanks! You point out some of the big challenges with a load balanced factory. Once things scale up the logistics can get pretty interesting. What made these things a lot easier was definitely planning ahead. Really taking a look at different combinations of recipes, some weren't the most efficient on paper, but the numbers would magically line up and I could get all whole numbers instead of those crazy decimals. The other change was not maxing out every node because I wasn't going to use them all anyways. If I needed copper for wire and copper sheets in a factory instead of using 1 node and having to split it, if it was feasible I would use 2 nodes so I could clock each one to exactly the amount I need. Trains do help but the first time I ever beat the game was on a playthrough where I only used belts and drones so I could have 1 power grid that everything was on 100% of the time. In my last save I was able to load balance right out of the storage buffer coming from the trains and it worked pretty well.
quick question if i may, if i create some factory blueprints in a creative world and save them to the BP book, can i then go to a normal survival world and use the bp's i created there or do i have to make the bp's in the survival world and save them on that save to be able to use them?
Thanks for the great question! You can absolutely create blueprints on one save and copy them to another. Keep in mind each blueprint is 2 files. They are saved here: %LocalAppData%\FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\blueprints\{SESSION NAME} This means you can download them from other people or websites as well. There is a google drive link in the description that has all of these available if you want to check any out. Have fun!
so excited for 1.0! what do you think of the new quantum tech stuff? also love shapez 2! I just finished my first MAM, im now optimizing it. your plans for 1.0 seem similar to what I plan on doing! although I dont like compact, im just going to sprawl more lol. I wonder what the changes are to blueprints.
I can’t wait! The quantum tech stuff is super exciting. I think it’ll give a lot of us that first playthrough feeling. So many shiny new toys to play with! The little comment at the end of that video does make me a little nervous that I’ll have to redo all this but that’s okay! I don’t blame you for not liking compact. I rarely ever try and just let it sprawl too.
That really would be a game changer! I don't imagine they will get too big, but it would be really nice if you could fit all the machines in the designer.
Honestly the quality made me expect more subs, but I was surprised to only see 720 (now 721). Anyways is there a way to get these blueprints? I’m still new so it would be cool to use and look at.
Thank you, I really appreciate that! Yes they are available to download here: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1os25MYvHKj2e0kalMbe99A4lcQOzEKD_?usp=sharing Have fun with 1.0!
I have sprawled out before and am going to go compact, did manifolds religiously before, going to do load balancers now. Rushed to end-game before, going to enjoy the ride/story this time. built on ground level before, can you say "floating city"??? hehe Did I miss something while waiting for 1.0? How the heck did you get a conveyor lift to work on a splitter directly above the other one? (saw it on the smelter BP at 14 min)
Haha I know the feeling, it’s been a long early access. I can’t wait. I think I know which one you are talking about. If it’s the one at the top that was short, I used some temporary foundations. Each merger/splitter is 2m tall. And that lets me put a conveyor pole in the right spot to manipulate the lift. Or zoop up the stackable conveyor poles but foundations are easier to delete after. If I guessed which one wrong let me know! Good luck!
@@moo121 It appears I missed something somehow, after more than 3000 hours in game I just figured it out, place the stack of 2 splitters the right way and the conveyor lift just plops into place. Udderly amazing, I know I'll have to milk this new ability for all it's worth. haha
Why do you also "load balance" the outputs? I don't think that has any benefit since there is no machines that need to fill up there, only a belt - you could probably save some more space by collecting the output "manifold-style".
That is an excellent question. Honestly I don’t know why, it started because I liked the symmetry and I wasn’t trying to save space. Now that I’m trying to do it a little bit more compact this time around I very may well start making them more like manifolds. Thanks for the suggestion!
So true! I'm really excited to see what is now possible even with just that extra foundation in each direction. It definitely will open a lot of possibilities!
having twice the volume (4³=64, 5³=125) is nice, but for (almost?) all my previous blueprints, i would prefer 6² x3=108 or 6² x4=144 instead, or sometimes even 7² x2=98 or 8² x2=128 ... except for some taller single machines, i then could build large floors, long bridges, etc, and stack them when needed, instead of planning a small footprint with 3+ or 4+ floors
Thanks for the good question! I should used different colors to help differentiate the final merger. There should be 1 input and 1 output. The final output is on the bottom level, in the middle, top most merger. The output will be facing to the side so that if you place the B version next to it they will point towards each other, place 1 more merger in the middle and you have 16 balanced. I hope that made sense. Let me know if you have any other questions! Good luck!
@@moo121 I got it for this one. It just needed another lift between those 2 mergers for to make sense. But I was ahppy with two outputs as I need to splt them in two anyway for my case. Color coding is a good idea!
I haven’t had any issues with the belts and lifts so far. What were the issues? I know they won’t connect blueprint to blueprint and that’s still a thing. You’ll need to join the two halves manually if that’s what you mean.
@@moo121 There was a period of time where elevators and belts used in a blueprint would turn into non-functional pretzels or simply lose connection when placed (internal to the blueprint, not external). Glad to see it's finally working :)
oh wow! I think I was still very new to the game when that was a thing and I had no idea. It took me WAY too long to start using blueprints, and now I can't imagine building without them. I'm sure there are still some funky things, but for the most part they have been really reliable for me. Good luck and thanks again!
I would love to help! Unfortunately mods aren't out for 1.0, yet. They are definitely coming and I will probably do a short video to help install them when they do. In the past it was very easy to do. Check out the website, you'll need the Satisfactory Mod Manager (SMM). They also have a discord if you want to know as soon as mods become available or have questions. Good luck!
I don't quite get your build philosophy. You want load-balancing and you want your production lines to have a small footprint ... so why don't you use logistics floors? Especially when you make heavy use of blueprints that seems like a no-brainer. If you use 'nudge' you can even shove floor holes underneath machines and clip the lifts into the machines completely. Doesn't get more compact than that. E.g I have a blueprint with 10 smelters, a central catwalk, hidden power cables, lighting panel, power switch, external catwalks and a staircase on a 4x4 base and a version w/o catwalks and stairs on a 3x4. All manifold of course since 'load balancing' is pointless, but there is always enough space for that on a dedicated logistics floor ... if running your machines with empty buffers, synching them to the input belts and taxing your cpu is a feature in your eyes.
You make a great point, a logistics floor would allow you to make things a bit more compact. However I don't really like the look of clipping the lifts into the machines. The looks are a big reason I do the load balancing. I like to see all the parts moving around the factory so I'm not going to use logistics floors. I also much prefer the look of the belts constantly moving instead of the stop, start, stuttering belts with manifolds. I wouldn't call it pointless, if you ask a lot of people who have done nuclear if you should manifold or load balance the power plants, many will tell you to load balance it. There are definitely ways around the long start up time with manifolds, like adding in the materials to jump start it, but on large factories you have to make the choice between a lot of extra parts or a lot of extra time. After 2k+ hours of only using manifolds I wanted a challenge and load balancing has been a great way to do that for me. It's certainly not for everyone.
The Satisfactory community is very welcoming. We are happy to have the casual gaming nerd or the ones with too much free time. Although if you download the game, you may loose all that free time :)
As I was editing the video I realized I could easily make 6 Assembler/Foundry blueprints in the same style as all of these. So I did and added them to the google drive.
Thanks for watching!
what do you do with the files after downloading? I saw one vid where the said look for the blueprints file and migrate data to there, but I couldn't fine mine, even with a local file search. Is it because I'm "not on a server?"
@@MEGIDD0 Honestly that file isn't easy to find. I search for '%localappdata%'. Then follow FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\blueprints. I finally just made a shortcut on my desktop because it's a pain to find lol.
Love that you use load balancing. I load balanced my way to my golden mug in early access and can't wait to do the same for 1.0. There's something very satisfying about a perfectly system where there are no backed up manifold belts. I did find myself using 7 way splits a few times. But never needed a blueprint for it. And if I had sufficient beltspeed on the input, I'd use a 9-2=7 split for symmetry.
I couldn’t agree more! I love seeing all the belts moving and all the machines starting up at the same time. Now that you mention it I did kind of use a 7 way split for my Thermal Propulsion Rocket factory. It was 2 next to each other since I needed 14. The symmetry of the 9-2 is a much nicer look.
Good luck with 1.0!
MOO!!! These Blueprints helped so much already, lol. I appreciate your effort! Great video :)
Thank you! I’m so happy they have been useful!
@@moo121 yeah for sure, You definitely taught me how much better load balance is over manifolds. And OMG the time I and space I have saved! I just tore down all my old shit lmao, and rebuilt. I'm fairly noobish still, but this has helped immensely. I still have a ton to learn. I saw you doing scroll wheel stuff in your video that I havent been able to figure out, so yeah I R noob. Do you stream? I would watch that for sure!
That's awesome! Hey we've all been noobs before. The crazy thing is I'm still finding new tricks in the game so the learning is still ongoing for me, 3k hours later haha. For the scroll wheel, it's usually to rotate items, even ones on pipes like pumps and vavles. Although some of them rotate after you have already clicked once like the wall mounted lights you can adjust where the light aims. The other thing may have been switching hot bars? If you hold alt you can scroll through 10 different hotbars you can use. You can add colors, blueprints, and even emotes to them. Happy to answer any other questions you have. I haven't streamed in a while although I have been thinking about doing that again. If I do, I'll probably try to multicast stream to both here on UA-cam and Twitch.
www.twitch.tv/moodida
Thanks again!
I have watched all videos about load balancers, while all of them explain how it works and why, your video is the best since it shows useful example in compact mode.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that!
Really love the vid. I can tell a lot of effort went into it. Hoping to learn a bit on how to space out machines, belts, and pipes!
Thank you so much!
Cant wait for your 1.0 playthrough dude! Looking forward to finding some great inspo from you 🤘👍
Thanks so much! I can’t wait, just 1 more week. Good luck with your 1.0 journey!
Load balancing can take up a lot if space but you can reduce that a lot with some verticality.
One blueprint I have and will be using is a balanced 4 constructor setup where the input belts are entirely under the floor (lifts attached to the machines) and the outputs are on the floor. The blueprint is 4x3 and blueprint I/O is under the floor. The design allows for a second floor with another 4 constructors to be added, again balanced.
A similar blueprint I have made has 2 assemblers, with 2 more on an upper level in the same floor size.
Those sound great! I’m sure you’ll get good use out of them. Good luck with 1.0!
Hi Moo. I really enjoyed this video.
I generally prefer manifolds with smart splitters, because I like to limit spikes in power, and for many of my modules (esp. for the ones supplying the dimensional depots) I don't use awesome sinks.
But for critical systems like nuclear power, where I'm precisely controlling production rates to avoid excess radiation exposure, load balancing is absolutely essential.
You've goven me some ideas and I am excited to try them out!
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate that.
I’m happy this has sparked some inspiration! Good luck!!
as for the lift design.
Just put the lift straight on the machine and rotate the inputs toward eachother on a lower floor.
Then if you place 1 constructor/smelter on 1 foundation each you haven enough space to smack an splitter in between. The input of the splitter can be under the machine and can be manifolded indefinately with perfect balance inputs.
You don't have to delete a belt or elevator to upgrade it. Just select the new belt or elevator you want and highlight the one you want to replace and click.
That’s a great tip, thanks!
this is exactly what i was making but i take too much time to make 1 bp this is very helpful ty so much
I'm happy they are useful! I had time to kill before 1.0 :)
very cool. Some good tips in there the first time around I've tried to keep things very compressed, but I've decided since I have a giant world with almost endless resources. There's no reason not to make everything big/open. Plus like you said easier to see what's broken when your belts are not packed in like sardines.
Thank you! Letting it take up space is a lot of fun and gives you a lot of flexibility for when you forget a couple machines. Not like I’ve ever done that. Hahaha
@@moo121 I downloaded your blueprints. very impressive in action. I do feel they are compact, yet easy to manage and upgrade. Except for that one little belt. You really have to be standing on top of it to get to upgrade unless there's some trick I don't know about. Anyway great job. Thanks for your hard work and sharing.
I’m so glad you like them! I think that short 1m belt is always going to be tricky unfortunately. My plan is to load up the blueprint and then add the correct recipes and change belts where needed and resave it for each specific project. That will make it so hopefully I’ll only have to change it one time.
I did a playthrough in which I had one not-so-mega factory with a tall, vertical, doughnut-style(ellipse really) main bus. Any overflow from the processes that were drawing from the bus would just circle back around. Not sure if it was a waste of time to use this method, but it had the advantage of being able to "plug in" just about any process I needed on any open spot of the bus in no particular order either to add resources or to withdraw them. I didn't bother with using nuclear power, coal and fuel was enough.
Very cool! I’ve seen setups using those big main buses and I can definitely see the appeal. Having everything come from and go to the same place is nice.
Incredible designs, you earned a Sub!
Thank you so much!
I love these! I'm definitely load balancing in 1.0 to change things up.
I was thinking how to balance manifolds using overclocking to match the manifold ratios. If you're interested, I made a reddit post called "Load balanced manifolds". I think it matches perfectly with this play style.
Thank you! It’s a great way to change things up, great nerdy fun.
I checked out your post. I was curious if this sort of thing would work and it’s so cool to see all the math and diagrams. Very well done! Especially with being able to make power shards in the end game this seems like very feasible way to do it. Good luck!!
@@moo121 Thank you! I think it requires less splitters than normal load balancing, but I didn't check that. Unfortunately you can't just build 20 machines in a row and overclock the first to 2000%, so it has its limits. But as you said, it's all nerdy fun!
Ok, these are too freaking cool! Where, how in the...did you see or figure out the shorty elevators?
I really like when people share their blueprints and saves, but I want to go through the process myself, ya know? I am totally stealing all of these that are not primes over 3. I just can't trust the feedback, it feels icky for some weird reason.
I found out the hard way with those 1M belts between the merger/splitter and a machine too.
I am still skocked and amazed by your compacted balancers! Bravo!
Thanks so much! Like most things I'm pretty sure I stole it from someone but I've been using them so long I have no idea who haha. I'm right there with you. I like seeing other peoples blueprints but I always recreate them on my own. I like to really understand how it all works and fits together, much easier to troubleshoot later on. Good luck with 1.0!
You can build even smaller, by placing the merger and splitter inside the head or tail of a conveyer lift. Comes in really handy with foundries and assemblers.
I really liked building 9-way perfect splits and underclock the machines. When you get faster belts you only need to upgrade the higher levels of the splitter, and underclocked machines consume less power so you get a bit more running before you need to scale power.
With the refinery, you can put the load balancer of the input underneath the structure and fit a manifold for the output. Adds a little bit of height but gets the smallest footprint possible.
I just saw a video about that! I’m not sure how I feel about having them clipped like that, just not crazy about the look. It certainly works and is definitely a personal preference. There might be a few places where I use it, we’ll see!
The 9 way split and just underclocking is a great way to do it. The savings on power really do add up.
Going underneath the refineries and probably some of the other large machines is a good idea. Trade a little bit of height for saving a lot of space in front and behind could make a big difference. Thanks for the suggestions!
@@moo121 i dont like that clipping either. one thing you could do is place a foundation and a floor hole and then connect the lift ends and then get rid of the foundation. it'll get rid of the shute, skirt, or whatever that black part that sticks out is called. however i dont think you can the short connections you are doing in this vid that way as the floor hole does add a bit of space vertically
@@moo121 yeah the clipping is a preference. When I built it by accident the first time I didn't like it either.
In a manifold with both input lanes on top of each other and supported by beams etc. i like it.
That’s a great idea. You could have the floor holes trade 1m of space in the x or y axis for 1m of z. lol I hope that made sense. But yeah that’s a great way to get rid of whatever that part of the lift is called!
I think you nailed it. With the right cosmetics you can definitely make some of that kind of clipping look good. The aesthetics part of the game is where I have a LOT of room to grow.
Props to you on getting these together. After watching your video, I think load balancing is a somewhat interesting challenge...but insurmountably less practical than manifold designs. Load balancing is far harder to design, far far less intuitive to grasp what you are looking at, far far far harder to troubleshoot any problems, and far far far far harder to make extensive (as in, adding on to an existing factory). The only drawback to manifold (that I'm aware of) is the need to let the manifold fill up with resources before your factory runs perfectly (a piddling little drawback in comparison).
Thank you! I would agree with assessment for the most part. This all started as a challenge. I saw that many people have videos on the difference between manifold and load balancing but rarely saw load balancing in actual playthroughs. A lot of what you said is pretty accurate, all in all it's more challenging. After 2k hours of only using manifolds, I was looking for a challenge. Now that I've played more than 1k hours load balancing I can say there are a couple more things that for me make it enjoyable. I'm the type of person that finds the math, ratios and fractions fun. And the biggest selling point for me, which is 100% a personal preference, I think load balanced factories look far better than manifolds. I just like to see all the belts constantly moving instead of stuttering.
Making the blueprints with no material cost is genius! You probably didn't come up with it but still. I just got blueprints in my 0.8 game and the cost is rediculous this early (just got tier 5).
Thanks! I most certainly stole that from someone haha. It’s really handy to play around with anything. Something I always forget about is after you save and then clear the BP it should put all the items in the crate on the little bench at the end of the blueprinter.
Good luck with blueprints, they are a game changer! Have fun with 1.0!
I'll also create a second world just to make blueprints when i start over with 1.0
i was always annoyed to not be able to create a full set of blueprints for different tiers (that i hadn't unlocked yet) and having to adjust and add higher tier belts later.
it will be much easier to create one blueprint and "virtually upgrade" all the belts in advance, instead of later reloading and editing them all the time.
edit: how nice would it be when the blueprinter would offer resources (for building inside itself) for free, and delete them afterwards instead of putting them in that chest.
it will also benefit a more realistic playtime in a save, instead of adding lots of hours just for doing blueprints (often even going afk or researching something while doing so),
and it will also avoid all my storages running unrealistically full in all that time that i spend on creating blueprints, practically voiding the positive effect of having balanced setups.
If you are interested in trying the blueprint mod I'll happily upload my blueprints. I even have a blueprint for a 24GW micro reactor factory. 😜 It uses the Refined Power mod. All in an 8x8 factory mk3 blueprint. Modular so you can plonker down a bunch of them and have all the power you could ever need!
Just ask and I'll happily provide my Dropbox links.
I actually just downloaded a blueprint mod yesterday! I don’t think it’s the most popular one but this one has a 5x5 so I could test out the new mk2 in 1.0. I think I’m going to do a very close to vanilla playthrough first, SkyUI and FicsitCam are going to be hard to give up for making the videos. After that I’ll probably dive into the mods like the bigger blueprinters. I can’t wait to see what new stuff everyone comes out with! Thank you for the offer! It may be a while but I’m sure I’ll be interested in those BPs :)
I really like the look of these blueprint being multilevel, gives it a really nice look, but i hope you aren't planning to let those floors floating right?...
RIGHT???
:)
Sincerely! Thank you for making your blueprints available! And for taking the time to explain how you made them. I have subscribed! Looking forward 1.0 on Wednesday (by the time I'll get the load it up) and seeing what you do with your save!
Personally, I've used the blueprint mod extensively for early access. You don't even need to use mk 4 or 5... These are enormous! Mk3 gives you an 8x8 grid to build on and that's enough to make a whole factory. It's awesome having a factory blueprint (ie a whole building in one blueprint) for each component!
Want an aluminium factory...? Click - done! 😋
Need some cement here...? Click - done!
By the way I go by the name Noo 😉
Keep building! 😁
Hey Noo! Thank you so much for the kind words! The blueprints are such a game changer and it took me way too long to realize it. Enjoy the 1.0 journey!
Great Video.
The black on black makes it a bit hard to see what's happening though.
Some colours thrown in would help to differentiate the mergers from the splitters, the return belt, etc.
Thank you! And I totally agree. I wish I made the concrete a lighter color. Adding a little more color to different parts to make it easier to see is a great suggestion, thanks!
having the main platform built from standard foundations also adds a lot of "optical strain" to detect and see what is really important.
at first, i almost didn't notice that there were blueprinter machines on it :-)
for optics (and also to not having to carry different materials when building) i mostly use alternate foundations from the awesome shop.
but thanks for showing this kind of setup. I always wanted to do it like that, but never had the patience to do such larger and more complicated (at least more work) setups than doing simple and fast manifolds. I also often build a few machines first that then can be extended in a long row when using manifolds, but would require partial rebuilds when building like this.
And thanks also to showing how to place the lifts (with temporary stackable belt supports). Even though i have a few k of playtime, i was always struggling aligning lifts depending on whether i build them upwards or downwards from splitters or mergers, and they often didn't connect properly.
ps: the one time i absolutely needed to build a balanced setup instead of a manifold was after i did the calculation how long it would take for a manifold to fill all nuclear powerplants. it would have been months of realtime, LOL, and of course also poisoned the world with kilometers of belts full of nuclear fuel.
@@Anson_AKB Nuclear is one of the best places to use load balancing, good call!
bro I have been stressing out over how to make a 5 way split for assemblers to work with 2 inputs and this literally jut solves everything including space since my original idea took up too much space then necessary. I have everything set up for efficient modular frames but to make 15 per minute is kind of a kick in the mouth given they only give 3 per cycle
I'm happy to hear this helps! The 5 way split was definitely the trickiest to make compact. My previous versions took up WAY more space. Good luck with the modular frames!
Unless you have a supercomputer, I would advise against a mega-factory. The performance hit to your computer makes the save almost unplayable in the late game. At least break up your mega factories into tiers so you can spread out the load.
You make an excellent point. I certainly do not have a supercomputer. I should probably stop saying mega factory, saying 4-5 large factories just doesn’t sound as cool but it’s much more accurate. I’m hoping that all the optimization will let my computer still handle that.
Thankyou, these are very cool. I was thinking about trying a load balanced factory for 1.0.
The only bits that seem to be annoying are the weird fractional numbers that pop up everywhere in certain processes. Or bulk transporting of materials. Especially from all the way across the map, it feels like there's no way around having the train network and buffers effectively be a manifold without having many more trains on the network, even if the factories are load balanced. Is that something you've managed to solve through better planning, or just going for best effort?
Thanks! You point out some of the big challenges with a load balanced factory. Once things scale up the logistics can get pretty interesting. What made these things a lot easier was definitely planning ahead. Really taking a look at different combinations of recipes, some weren't the most efficient on paper, but the numbers would magically line up and I could get all whole numbers instead of those crazy decimals. The other change was not maxing out every node because I wasn't going to use them all anyways. If I needed copper for wire and copper sheets in a factory instead of using 1 node and having to split it, if it was feasible I would use 2 nodes so I could clock each one to exactly the amount I need.
Trains do help but the first time I ever beat the game was on a playthrough where I only used belts and drones so I could have 1 power grid that everything was on 100% of the time. In my last save I was able to load balance right out of the storage buffer coming from the trains and it worked pretty well.
quick question if i may, if i create some factory blueprints in a creative world and save them to the BP book, can i then go to a normal survival world and use the bp's i created there or do i have to make the bp's in the survival world and save them on that save to be able to use them?
Thanks for the great question! You can absolutely create blueprints on one save and copy them to another. Keep in mind each blueprint is 2 files. They are saved here:
%LocalAppData%\FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\blueprints\{SESSION NAME}
This means you can download them from other people or websites as well. There is a google drive link in the description that has all of these available if you want to check any out. Have fun!
you can attach lifts to spliter inside it can be more compact
so excited for 1.0! what do you think of the new quantum tech stuff? also love shapez 2! I just finished my first MAM, im now optimizing it. your plans for 1.0 seem similar to what I plan on doing! although I dont like compact, im just going to sprawl more lol. I wonder what the changes are to blueprints.
I can’t wait! The quantum tech stuff is super exciting. I think it’ll give a lot of us that first playthrough feeling. So many shiny new toys to play with! The little comment at the end of that video does make me a little nervous that I’ll have to redo all this but that’s okay! I don’t blame you for not liking compact. I rarely ever try and just let it sprawl too.
@@moo121most likely we will get the ability to make larger blueprints since the new machines do not fit in the current ones
@@ppeezGood catch, I didn't see that! I bet you are right, I can't imagine how cool it will be!
@@tehNashty maybe we will get mk2 and mk3 blueprint machines or similiar, could be a gamechanger
That really would be a game changer! I don't imagine they will get too big, but it would be really nice if you could fit all the machines in the designer.
Honestly the quality made me expect more subs, but I was surprised to only see 720 (now 721). Anyways is there a way to get these blueprints? I’m still new so it would be cool to use and look at.
Thank you, I really appreciate that! Yes they are available to download here: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1os25MYvHKj2e0kalMbe99A4lcQOzEKD_?usp=sharing
Have fun with 1.0!
@@moo121 oh thanks dude and always I like supporting the smaller creators :)
I have sprawled out before and am going to go compact, did manifolds religiously before, going to do load balancers now. Rushed to end-game before, going to enjoy the ride/story this time. built on ground level before, can you say "floating city"??? hehe
Did I miss something while waiting for 1.0? How the heck did you get a conveyor lift to work on a splitter directly above the other one? (saw it on the smelter BP at 14 min)
Haha I know the feeling, it’s been a long early access. I can’t wait.
I think I know which one you are talking about. If it’s the one at the top that was short, I used some temporary foundations. Each merger/splitter is 2m tall. And that lets me put a conveyor pole in the right spot to manipulate the lift. Or zoop up the stackable conveyor poles but foundations are easier to delete after.
If I guessed which one wrong let me know! Good luck!
@@moo121 It appears I missed something somehow, after more than 3000 hours in game I just figured it out, place the stack of 2 splitters the right way and the conveyor lift just plops into place. Udderly amazing, I know I'll have to milk this new ability for all it's worth. haha
I know this feeling!! It’s amazing how much there is still to learn even with so many hours in the game. Enjoy the new knowledge in 1.0!
Why do you also "load balance" the outputs? I don't think that has any benefit since there is no machines that need to fill up there, only a belt - you could probably save some more space by collecting the output "manifold-style".
That is an excellent question. Honestly I don’t know why, it started because I liked the symmetry and I wasn’t trying to save space. Now that I’m trying to do it a little bit more compact this time around I very may well start making them more like manifolds. Thanks for the suggestion!
would you happen to be the same MOO as the one who made Counter strike source maps for zombiemod back in the day?
No unfortunately not, that sounds cool though.
The only problem now is not having the new Mk.2 blueprint designer yet, which has a 5x5 area :)
So true! I'm really excited to see what is now possible even with just that extra foundation in each direction. It definitely will open a lot of possibilities!
having twice the volume (4³=64, 5³=125) is nice, but for (almost?) all my previous blueprints, i would prefer 6² x3=108 or 6² x4=144 instead, or sometimes even 7² x2=98 or 8² x2=128 ...
except for some taller single machines, i then could build large floors, long bridges, etc, and stack them when needed, instead of planning a small footprint with 3+ or 4+ floors
@@Anson_AKB Many people won't be happy until they can plop down skyscrapers in one go ;)
I am using your A version of the 8 Smelter Blueprint. It took a while to get it. But am I right that it takes one input and has two outputs?
Thanks for the good question! I should used different colors to help differentiate the final merger. There should be 1 input and 1 output. The final output is on the bottom level, in the middle, top most merger. The output will be facing to the side so that if you place the B version next to it they will point towards each other, place 1 more merger in the middle and you have 16 balanced.
I hope that made sense. Let me know if you have any other questions! Good luck!
@@moo121 I got it for this one. It just needed another lift between those 2 mergers for to make sense. But I was ahppy with two outputs as I need to splt them in two anyway for my case. Color coding is a good idea!
I just noticed this video part of a series :-)
this is fk nice
Thank you!
Did the devs finally fix the problems with lifts & belts in a blueprint?
I haven’t had any issues with the belts and lifts so far. What were the issues? I know they won’t connect blueprint to blueprint and that’s still a thing. You’ll need to join the two halves manually if that’s what you mean.
@@moo121 There was a period of time where elevators and belts used in a blueprint would turn into non-functional pretzels or simply lose connection when placed (internal to the blueprint, not external). Glad to see it's finally working :)
@@moo121 I have unlocked blueprints in 1.0 but haven't started using them since I began my new game. I haven't played Satisfactory since 8.0.
oh wow! I think I was still very new to the game when that was a thing and I had no idea. It took me WAY too long to start using blueprints, and now I can't imagine building without them. I'm sure there are still some funky things, but for the most part they have been really reliable for me. Good luck and thanks again!
Can you guide me how to install mods into the game?😊
I would love to help! Unfortunately mods aren't out for 1.0, yet. They are definitely coming and I will probably do a short video to help install them when they do.
In the past it was very easy to do. Check out the website, you'll need the Satisfactory Mod Manager (SMM). They also have a discord if you want to know as soon as mods become available or have questions. Good luck!
Math... Oddly fun? You are a weirdo - But so am I and I have No math skills! Good intro.
Thank you! There's a good few of us math enjoying weirdos in the Satisfactory community :)
Holy shit someone who got to the same playing process than me the builds preferences and style are similar to mine ... weird
Very cool! I really enjoy this play style. Isn’t for everyone but it’s a great challenge. Good luck with your 1.0 journey!
I don't quite get your build philosophy. You want load-balancing and you want your production lines to have a small footprint ... so why don't you use logistics floors? Especially when you make heavy use of blueprints that seems like a no-brainer. If you use 'nudge' you can even shove floor holes underneath machines and clip the lifts into the machines completely. Doesn't get more compact than that. E.g I have a blueprint with 10 smelters, a central catwalk, hidden power cables, lighting panel, power switch, external catwalks and a staircase on a 4x4 base and a version w/o catwalks and stairs on a 3x4. All manifold of course since 'load balancing' is pointless, but there is always enough space for that on a dedicated logistics floor ... if running your machines with empty buffers, synching them to the input belts and taxing your cpu is a feature in your eyes.
You make a great point, a logistics floor would allow you to make things a bit more compact. However I don't really like the look of clipping the lifts into the machines. The looks are a big reason I do the load balancing. I like to see all the parts moving around the factory so I'm not going to use logistics floors. I also much prefer the look of the belts constantly moving instead of the stop, start, stuttering belts with manifolds. I wouldn't call it pointless, if you ask a lot of people who have done nuclear if you should manifold or load balance the power plants, many will tell you to load balance it. There are definitely ways around the long start up time with manifolds, like adding in the materials to jump start it, but on large factories you have to make the choice between a lot of extra parts or a lot of extra time. After 2k+ hours of only using manifolds I wanted a challenge and load balancing has been a great way to do that for me. It's certainly not for everyone.
Satisfactory is for gaming nerds who have way too much free time to spend.
The Satisfactory community is very welcoming. We are happy to have the casual gaming nerd or the ones with too much free time. Although if you download the game, you may loose all that free time :)