what does the fill amount mean on the ModuleResourceConverter

[fusedbean89]

i have been crating a mod lately i was making a generator that turns uranium into energy i was editing some stuff and i came across this

MODULE
    {
         name = ModuleResourceConverter
         ConverterName = Generator
         StartActionName = Start Generator
         StopActionName = Stop Generator
         FillAmount = 0.95
        AutoShutdown = false
        GeneratesHeat = false
        UseSpecialistBonus = false

what does the fill amount mean?

[Fwiffo]

Can't say authoritatively what it is, but for what it's worth, I can describe what it looks like.

It doesn't seem to scale with bigger, higher-volume parts.  e.g. Look at FuelCell.cfg and FuelCellArray.cfg.  Even though the latter generally has values 12x the former (e.g. input and output resource Ratio's, and ElectricCharge amount), they both have 0.95 as the FillAmount.

It defaults to 1 in code, but is 0.95 in Squad's stock CFG's.  If I had to venture a wild guess, I'd posit that it's something to do with how much % of the part's local output resource storage is filled per cycle or frame or something.  You always want a converter to store a small amount of the output, maybe this limits how much can be utilized, for whatever reason.

It is probably the compliment of TakeAmount, and possibly the 0.95 is used to represent some (5%) of the input resources being lost during conversion.

You could try putting FillAmount and TakeAmount attributes on a custom converter part and playing with their values to see what happens.

Let us know if you find out more!

Edited December 4, 2016 by Fwiffo

[mikerl]

The fuel cell can only fill up to 95% capacity of EC.  If your vessel has more than that it turns off, so it won't consume fuel.

[RoverDude]

@mikerl is correct.  It ensures you do not fill the output of the given resource by x% (i.e. 0.95 = 95% for fuel cells so that solar has time to fill up batteries as well).  There is also a TakeAmount that ensures a converter does not drain your power and kill your kerbals