As shown in screenshots attached, I have a conveyor loop that I was hoping would create a queue for the products to travel if their respective drop off via a product sorter was full. Think of an airport baggage claim, if nobody picks up the bag, the belt doesn't stop, the bag just goes around again. Note in my screenshots, there are 2 bottlenecks, because the destinations are full. If there was an option for the product sorter, like a check box saying something similar to "bypass this sorter if already full" then the belt would stay running and other products can then get sorted. Otherwise I gotta keep spinning my wheels and pausing things or building more storage which isn't always doable.
allow for bypass of loose product sorter if full
Those loops will not help you, they will only delay a problem for a moment. But you can simply add balancer before that sorter, make output to sorter a priority and then add second output and connect it behind that sorter - and you have your bypass.
When sorting products from farms loop will not help you, as it will always backup with some product. only solution is to add balancer behind sorter on sorted product (so before your storage) and send overflow to be turned into animal feed or sludge and gas. Animal feed can be burned or turned into bio fertilizer and sent back to farms. The goal is to always process overflow to not allow any backing it up.
You can add a balancer after the sorted, but it would be very nice to have multiple machines in line, the handle the products by preference. The other factory game which has a sorted, has this as an option, I would say the pass on overflow is set more than not. Its far simpler and compact than dealing with an overflow apparatus.
I think I just realized what the writer of this article wants.
With the proper installation of sorters and balancers, in my Waste Sorting Plant the scraps are classified so that they properly go in their storages unless the belt system is overwhelmed.
I would also like to see an "allow overflow" option added to sorters. All, not just loose.
When I setup my food sorting line I was disappointed to find my citizens starving due to a stopped belt. I ended up tearing down and rebuilding with balancers. The result was a wall of transport supports that no longer allowed my trucks to pass through. I ended up rebuilding again... I simple checkbox could solve this.