Mods such as mesecons currently work on a per-node basis, and require the area to be loaded to operate. This results in inefficiency when the size of the circuit is particularly large.
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== Mesecons ==
S W W W W W L S=Switch
W W=Wire
W L=Lamp
W
L
My idea is to automatically generate a graph from the world to use for quick calculations. This would be stored in memory separately from the world, and be able to work when the area is unloaded. This could even be offloaded to separate processes.
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== Graph-based electronics ==
S -- L Letters are graph nodes
| Lines are graph edges
L
Such a graph builder would also be useful for transport networks and such.
In summary, this idea has multiple parts:
- Building and maintaining a graph based on an ingame Mesecons-like network. This includes handling the merging of two networks, or the splitting of edges.
- Updating the network efficiently in-memory.
- Updating the world if loaded or when mapblocks load.
Has anything been done like this before? In Minetest or otherwise? Would anyone be interested in implementing this?
Related IRC discussion/rant by me: http://irc.minetest.net/minetest-hub/20 ... #i_5330612