Does Lights Control Panel have distance or quantity limit?

[Dev Rossik]

Does the Lights Control Panel have a limit on the distance a light can be along the wire and still be controlled? Or, is there a limit to the number of lights that can be controlled?

I have a long roadway with street lights along each side, with more than 60 lights per side. The wiring for each side is a separate branch off the main power grid, and the first link in each branch is a Lights Control Panel. I have set the parameters on the panel to 80% white light with the night mode active. When night comes around, the first 20 or so lights in the chain follow the settings, then after that, things get very spotty. Many of the later lights -- but not all -- are just off. Some are on one night, and off the next. Some switch on or off in the same night as you ride the road from one end to the other. If I look at the panel of any individual light, the settings match the control panel, but the light isn't following them.

Most of these lights were originally built using a simple blueprint that was just the light itself with preset parameters (same parameters as mentioned above). I later changed my mind and added the Lights Control Panel to control these lights. The game has cycled day and night many times since the panel was added. I have tried turning the panels off then on, rebuilding the panels, and manually toggling the night mode switch on individual lights, but the problem persists. I have confirmed that the control panels are the right way around, and that no other panels, switches, or power sources touch the branch these lights are on. I really, really don't want to rebuild over 120 street lights, especially since their placement was quite fiddly.

The Q&A site includes varying reports of malfunctioning Lights Control Panels, but all appear to be quite old, and none exactly match my scenario. I would have thought that by now, something like this would either have been fixed, or be better reported.

Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

--- Dev

[Kage Goomba]

1: Your lights switch "Grid" must be entirely isolated to itself. Nothing can connect to that "Segment" except the lights in question - otherwise you will have issues. Power comes through that switch - nothing else outside that is what I'm saying.

2: When you add lights to an active light switch - you may have to turn the panel off and on again to reset all lights or "resynch them" - Stand By Switch is what I use here.

Those 2 points come to mind - there should be no limit on how many lights and where - its just a power switch at best with additional info (colors for example)

Make sure you don't have anything connected to your lights except that switch.
Try turning the switches standby switch on and off to see if they behave.

Also keep in mind lights have a rendering distance so things may get a bit weird at looooong range. Noticed that about mine.

I'm not sure I have 120 lights on mine - but I'd say at 10-12 Poles with 4 big lights on each pole - safe to say they can handle quite a bit.

Worst case you break it up and add additional light switches - but shouldn't have to do that.

I've only occasionally had to rebuild them - but its rare - very rare.

[Dev Rossik]

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

1: Your lights switch "Grid" must be entirely isolated to itself. Nothing can connect to that "Segment" except the lights in question - otherwise you will have issues. Power comes through that switch - nothing else outside that is what I'm saying.

Yes, I have confirmed and reconfirmed that those branches are isolated.

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

2: When you add lights to an active light switch - you may have to turn the panel off and on again to reset all lights or "resynch them" - Stand By Switch is what I use here.

The Lights Control Panel was added last, so no new lights were added afterward. Nonetheless, I have tried using the standby switch.

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

Make sure you don't have anything connected to your lights except that switch.
Try turning the switches standby switch on and off to see if they behave.

There was another control panel linked into the main grid circuit at one point (by accident). That's when I decided to isolate these branches and add my own control panel. I don't see how the lights could "remember" another panel, and why does it only affect the lights farther along the chain? Plus, the settings from that rogue panel are not what appear when I check the individual lights.

Originally posted by Kage Goomba:

Also keep in mind lights have a rendering distance so things may get a bit weird at looooong range. Noticed that about mine.

I have definitely noticed the issues of rendering distance. I always wait until I move closer to confirm if a light is on or off. This shows up most often when driving along the road, and some lights change their condition from one trip to the next.

I should perhaps also point out this is happening on a multiplayer world hosted remotely. I have not yet tried opening the world file in single player to see if that has any effect.

--- Dev

[Kage Goomba]

Multiplayer games get weird across the board.
Only thing I can think of is to restart the server (the game itself - not the hardware) and see if the problem resolves itself.

In terms of "Light Switch" memory - by the time you flip that standby switch and flip it back should clear up any weirdness.

[Dev Rossik]

It appears this issue is indeed a multiplayer issue, which is disappointing. As many people have, we've encountered various lag problems and issues with destructable objects, but this is kind of a new one.

I did manage to copy the world file locally and start it up, and after an initial CTD with an Unreal Engine error (that was encouraging!), the world ran fine. The lights, all of them, came on when they should, and turned off when they should. They responded to changes in the control panel settings.

I did restart the game server, and the host server, more than once, and this issue is not resolved. I'm guessing it's some sort of complex lag issue where some of the messages about the lights aren't reaching my computer to be properly rendered.

It's frustrating that this doesn't look as good on the server, because we're working hard to make a visually interesting world.

Thanks to you folks for your suggestions, but this appears to be unfixable without some changes to the game.

--- Dev

[Kage Goomba]

Originally posted by Dev Rossik:

It appears this issue is indeed a multiplayer issue, which is disappointing. As many people have, we've encountered various lag problems and issues with destructable objects, but this is kind of a new one.

I did manage to copy the world file locally and start it up, and after an initial CTD with an Unreal Engine error (that was encouraging!), the world ran fine. The lights, all of them, came on when they should, and turned off when they should. They responded to changes in the control panel settings.

I did restart the game server, and the host server, more than once, and this issue is not resolved. I'm guessing it's some sort of complex lag issue where some of the messages about the lights aren't reaching my computer to be properly rendered.

It's frustrating that this doesn't look as good on the server, because we're working hard to make a visually interesting world.

Thanks to you folks for your suggestions, but this appears to be unfixable without some changes to the game.

--- Dev

At the risk of opening pandora's box - the multitude of issues with multiplayer is session desynch/disconnect.

In other words - the "packet" that tells you "lights are on" - isn't getting to you or taking too long - or vice versa (lights off).

This is a thing on all kinds of issues - hence why "Fix Multipalyer" is a meme in Satisfactory. :P (has been since I started back in Update 5)

That said - it does work to a point - some better for others - others not so much.
So no surprise there. All you can do is keep trying.
Leave a note on the QA site if there's not one already about it.