Better than Wolves review, MC Forge 1.0.0!

Minecrat Forge for Minecraft 1.0.0 has been released! Grab it at MCForum! But keep in mind that, while MC Forge and ModLoader might be up to date, the mods themselves might not. And make backups before any actualization! That includes the mincraft.jar file! And of the big mods that use MCForge, I thing only Buildcraft has been actualized, and it's a version 2.2.6 (not 3.0, which seems to still be on beta).


So I was a little "saturated" from the let's play (frankly, I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong, but I tend to face heavy FPS losses every now and then... maybe it's the outrageous amount of engines I use, or the huge concentration of teleporting pipes, or...), and I decided to go check some of the new parts of Better Than Wolves I had missed the last time I was able to play it with other mods. It's a pain in the ass, by the way, because the mod has to be injected inside the minecraft.jar file and uses a lot of itemIDs, but it is also a great mod, with a lot of interactions between its components ouside of machines (kinda like Buildcraft 2's interactions between the engines and the blocks).

Anyway, I was looking some awesome videos made by Battosay52 and I really wanted to make an automated pottery "factory". Well, not really automated (but changing the button for a timer would have made it fully automated) but I liked the way it looked at the end. Hell, I even installed a second .minecraft folder and I've been playing around in a clean world trying some stuff. And truth be said, Redpower 2 is a lifesaver (aah, those gems that you can only use to craft diamond-level tools... sadly, they don't seem to be hooked at BTW, unlike the Nethercoal working into an alloy furnace, but oh well...). Anyway, I'll stop the rambling and show you the final product here, in two videos. Yes, I know FlowerChild (BTW's developer) has decided to drop out from the MC Forge project.

And don't worry, tomorrow you will have your dose of Tale of Kingdoms ^^

Fully automated Wheat Farm

Here we are again, revising an old concept. We already have an wheat farm with automated harvesting options, but the planting process is a nightmare. Ok, there is this mod called Minefactory Reloaded (llok for it in the sidebar) which gives us a "planter" block; a block that will put a seed or sapling on the prepared dirt block over itself when it receives a redstone pulse.

With this and Buildcraft pipes we can make this:

EDIT: New version of the video, with fixed audio and better quality.

I used the distribution pipes from Additional Pipes mod (previously called Teleport Pipes). As you can see, I added a small part on the end of the video about using Redpower 2 logic blocks to make it fully automated (so we won't need to do anything but receive the stuff). However, I left a mistake on the video and put a comment on the description telling the people to come here and look at the fully functional version. I know, I'm evil... or a little annoyed with the people who don't bother looking the description. So here it is, the solution to the enigma:

As you can see, I added two logic blocks and some cabling between the piston control and the planting control. The toggle latch will allow the timer to start working once the pistons unpower (and release the water), so that timer needs a value equal to the time it takes for the water to take all the wheat and seeds to reach the collecting channel and dissapear (it will be different for each farm, depending on how long they are). That new timer will repower the toggle latch (blocking itself) and start the planting process.

And for my next update, I promise you an infinite source of pneumatic power using combustion engines. Equivalent Exchange and lava are involved, and the release will be first in this blog (with a video, of course), and some time later in my youtube channel.

Have fun!

Edit: Since I had a crash in the game, I can put a full list of my mods, here you have it ^^


modLoader Beta 1.8.1
mod_AdditionalBuildcraftObjects 0.5b (MC 1.8.1, BC 2.2.4)
mod_BuildCraftCore 2.2.5
mod_BuildCraftBuilders 2.2.5
mod_BuildCraftEnergy 2.2.5
mod_BuildCraftFactory 2.2.5
mod_BuildCraftTransport 2.2.5
mod_EE 1.8.1
mod_IC2 v1.23
mod_IC2_AdvMachine v2.1 modded by CPW
mod_MineFactory 1.8.1R1.3.1
mod_MineFactoryCompat_Grass 1.3.0B
mod_MineFactoryReloaded_Compat_IndustrialCraft 1.0.0
mod_mocreatures v2.13 (MC 1.8_1)
mod_PortalGun 1.8.1v1
mod_PowerConverters 1.8.1R1.0.1
mod_RedPowerArray 2.0pr3b
mod_RedPowerCore 2.0pr3b
mod_RedPowerLighting 2.0pr3b
mod_RedPowerLogic 2.0pr3b
mod_RedPowerMachine 2.0pr3b
mod_RedPowerWiring 2.0pr3b
mod_RedPowerWorld 2.0pr3b
mod_HeroesGuild 1.8.1
mod_zAdditionalPipes Rev26
mod_WirelessRemote 0.4
mod_WirelessRedstone 1.4
mod_IDResolver 1.8.1 - Update 0
mod_TooManyItems 1.8.1 2011-09-27
mod_FCBetterThanWolves 2.95
mod_WorldEditCUI v0.9.1 for mc1.8
mod_RecipeBook Beta 1.8

Lava bridge

Hi people, and sorry for the the week without updates. I've been busy with stuff not related to Minecraft, so I had little time to devote to playing or testing some ideas I had, and I also have been waiting for the new versions of RedPower and Buildcraft (and trying to make a small and tidy wood farm as automated as possible). Anyway, I decided to make a small video about making a secret bridge to protect your base. Yeah, someone with blocks can laugh at this security measures, but that's what we have xD.

Without more delay, here is the video:

So as you can see, it's a quite wide lava pit (consider the dirt as temporal blocks so I don't have to build an entire castle, pit, etc... XD), and the opening sequence depends on powering two blocks to activate an AND gate that powers a toggle block, and the toggle block activates a variation of the circuit I've been using in the blast doors/secret doors contraptions: a 0.4 seconds delay, an AND gate and an OR gate: the AND gate goes to the upper row (or in the doors, to the central group) of pistons, and the OR gate goes to the bottom row (the side pistons in the doors). It would be possible to add more rows of pistons, but it would complicate the contraption without much real gain.

As for the activation of the bridge (from the outisde of the "castle", that is) I'm using a trick I wathced on a youtube video a while ago that required redstone dust, the Redpower version requires other disposition of the block you want to power (but aside from needing the torch behind the block, you could place it anywhere you want). Also, I used two blocks to be powered, but it would be possible to use from one to whatever number you want (by chaining AND gates), or add self-resetting qualities to the bridge (by putting a clock near the toggle latch that starts ticking when the bridge extends, stopping after reactivating the toggle).

Have fun!

I was asked to make a full building tutorial about the blast doors, so here it is:

Cobblestone Generator with Buildcraft 2.X

I was looking into old stuff when I found a pretty worrying situation: the infinite cobblestone generator, the way they were before, no longer worked.

The old version:

The problem that appeared is simple: in the last 15 or so seconds of the video you see how the pipes left by the mining wells dissapear when pushed. This no longer happens, so they block the way for more cobblestone to be made. At first, I tried to add a filler in the front to delete the pipes, but that proved too slow and wasteful. So I went and made a single-lane cobblestone generator replacing the mining wells with the filler (with the 3x3 glass disposition) dropping the blocks into obsidian pipes. However, soon the new engines would run a little too quick, so the filler would think it's done with the job and go idle (yeah, with the engines, it's like working with continuous current, so it doesn't check if there is something or not after a full cycle with an empty area). So I ended making a two-lanes cobblestone generator again, but using the second one as a backup.

Here is the new video:

At first I show you the patched old version, then the new version, and the last three minutes or so show how to make the new version.
Short explanation for those who already know how to make the old one: make it like always, without the mining wells, and put the obisian blocks one block more away, then put a filler with the "clear area" program (a 3x3 glass grid) with the area selected over the two exiting lanes for cobblestone. Behind the three blocks the filler will clear put obsidian pipes, connect them to steel pipes and those to the main pipe lane (in the video I connected the central steel pipe to some stone pipes, and those to a chest), then fill the borders so the cleared blocks will fall over the obsidian pistons.

Old Vs New: comparison.
The old version, with the patch and the new needed filler adding, would use tfour stone engines, 2 mining wells and two fillers (or it will have one of the mining wells idle most of the time).
The new version eliminates the mining wells and, while it will produce less cobblestone, it will need only one engine and one filler.

New problems:
I have noticed that, from time to time, the stone engines overheats and start accelerating. This can only be solved by removing the engine and putting it again, so don't put more than 8-10 coal/charcoal inside. Also, if for some reason the filler shows red lights instead of green ones (after you set up the clearing program), just removing one of the glass blocks and putting it again into the programming slot will restart the machine.
Also, the wooden engines (the slowest ones that don't need fuel or coal, just redstone current) cannot power fillers, so...

I will attemp to make a tree farming for the next video, but I'm afraid each tree will require its own filler, so it might be "awesome but inpractical" (yeah, I know there is already a mod called "factory mod". However, I think it isn't actualized to 1.7.3... and I think it is not integrated with Minecraft Forge).

Until the next time, have fun!

Another on secret doors

Well, I had this one in my hard disk, so... ^^U.

First, a new way to open doors, in the video I make it with Buildcraft pipes, RedPower and Integrated Redstone... but you could make it with just buildcraft:

The basic idea: drop an item in the pipe system and get the door open. more than just one block to act as a lock can be added, both as an option ("any of this blocks will open the door") or as a need ("you need X blocks of each one of this list to open the door")

And here we can see the application to make a (somehow) snealy door with pistons:

The best part of this is that I managed to squeeze the circuit for the pistons in just 4 blocks of depth.

Well, enjoy the videos and think how to put them into your worlds ^^ I'll see you all on the weekend.

Some circuitry, pistons and secret doors

Well, following with my ecclectic development of entries, today I offer you some videos from my Youtube channel that I uploaded between yesterday and today.

The first is just a new version of the already existing concept of blast doors using 20 sticky pistons to have a secret double door in a 6 blocks-wide wall, but this time using only the RedPower addon:

The second is just a "logical" evolution of the previous concept, that is, putting the "door" on the floor, so the secret passage can even be outdoors! The only change in the circuitry is that now all is in the same vertical height and into a side of the moving parts, instead of having part under the doors and part over them:

And the third is just another logical evolution of the previous idea: instead of a secret passage, it's now a trap you cannot get out from (unless you are carrying some extra blocks, that is XD) that can be turned with ease into a deadly, self resetting trap:

A small edit to this entry: an even more reduced version of the circuitry for the floor's trapdoor:

I hope you enjoy watching the videos as much as I enjoyed making the designs. Be warned, however: RedPower turns minecraft into something much, much more addictive than it was!