Improving the Return Button for Crafting Input Bus/Buffer

[LeoGuys1]

Your GTNH Discord Username

LeoGuys

Your Pack Version

2.7.0

Your Proposal

Let's make the "Return all internally stored items back to AE" button smarter and more flexible. Instead of returning everything at once, give players more control over what they want to send back - and how much of it. This change would be a lifesaver in situations where you need to cancel or adjust crafting tasks without losing track of important materials.

Your Goal

The goal is to improve usability for the "Crafting Input Bus (ME)" and "Crafting Input Buffer (ME)" interfaces. Right now, the "Return all" button is great, but it's all-or-nothing. If you're running multiple crafting tasks and decide to cancel just one - or realize you-re working with more materials than you need - you're forced to return everything, even stuff you’d prefer to keep. That's frustrating and inefficient.

Why This Matters
This small tweak would make managing complex crafting tasks much less stressful. It's especially useful for high-volume crafters, where mistakes or changes in plans are common. The current system works fine, but this improvement would make it great.

Your Vision

Here's how we can make this process better:

1. Shift + Click for Item Selection
   Add a feature where holding Shift and left-clicking the "Return all" button opens a menu. In this menu, players can pick specific items they want to send back to AE.

2. Add Quantity Options
   Inside the menu, allow players to specify how much of an item to return. For example, if you’re crafting a million steel and realize that’s too much, you can input the amount you want to keep (e.g., 10k). After confirming, the system sends the excess back to AE and leaves the rest in the buffer.

Final Checklist

• I have searched this issue tracker and there is nothing similar already. Posting on a closed issue saying I like this feature please reconsider adding it will prompt us to investigate and reopen it once we confirm your report.
• I believe there is nothing similar in the pack already, or the existing solution isn't good enough.
• I understand this change request may not attract enough attention and thus not be implemented.
• I understand this change request may be rejected due to other community members thinking it's inappropriate.
• I believe this feature would make the pack better.

[LeoGuys1]

Continuation: Additional Feature for Cancelled Craft Returns

I had another idea: what if we also implement an option to automatically return items to the ME system after cancelling a craft?

For example, let's say you place an order for 100k steel ingots. Later, you place another order for 100k steel. Important note: the two crafts are not merged - they are processed as separate jobs.

Now, in the buffer, you end up with 200k iron ready for crafting. If you cancel the first craft (let's assume the first one processed 1,000 steel so far), the system should return the remaining 99k iron to the ME network. The second craft would then continue using the iron left in the buffer.

Why Keep This Option?
This feature could be especially useful for players who use subnets. By returning items that were specifically tied to a cancelled craft, we avoid clutter in the buffer and allow the ME network to manage resources more effectively.

If cancelling a craft isn't possible in some setups, this feature becomes even more valuable. It ensures the materials in the buffer aren’t wasted and can be properly returned to the main ME system for other uses.

Combining Features
Both ideas - manual selection (from the Shift + Click menu) and automatic return for cancelled crafts - can work together.

• Manual selection gives players precise control over what they want to keep or return.
• Automatic return ensures cancelled crafts don’t leave unused materials stranded in the buffer, simplifying resource management for everyone.

Whether you use a main network or subnets, these changes would bring much-needed flexibility and clarity to handling crafting cancellations and resource returns.

[LeoGuys1]

Craft Priorities – Who Goes First?

Alright, let's make it easier to manage crafting queues by adding priorities to the buffers. Each template (or item) already takes up its own slot, right? So, how about letting players set what should get crafted first and what can wait a bit?

How it could work:

1. You assign priorities to individual crafts. For example, you want the system to knock out your machine frames first because they’re super important, and leave the bulk steel ingots for later.

Why This Makes Sense
Imagine you've got a bunch of orders queued up. You start crafting gears (let's say you need them to build a machine) and then throw in an order for 1 million steel ingots. But guess what? The system gets stuck pumping out steel while your poor gears are sitting in line doing nothing.

Now, if you could set the gears to high priority, they’d jump to the front of the line, get crafted right away, and you’d be back to building your machines in no time. Meanwhile, the steel can just keep cranking in the background.

This would be a lifesaver for players who juggle small, quick crafts with massive resource dumps. You could keep everything running smoothly without stressing over which craft is hogging the system.