3161

Yeah…

Well, I already know I’m not getting HV - one of the “rules” of HV is that if you connect anything other than another transformer to an HV cable, it explodes. So I have to figure out why my first transformer isn’t outputting HV. It’s not a big deal for me atm, since I’ve got a few macerators running on the current cable at the bottom of my tower, but I’d eventually like to run the power down to my permanent base.

3162

Apologies if this is all stuff you know, but the way HV transformer output works is the TOP outputs 2000 EU (once it is “built-up”), the BOTTOM outputs 50 EU, and the sides take whatever input you give them. So for long distance transmission you want 2 HVTs with your cable coming out of the TOP of the first one and going in to the side of the second one (potentially hundreds of blocks away). You then want to hook up the BOTTOM of the second HVT to whatever you are trying to power (probably an MFE or two). Hooking up an MFE directly to the power coming from the first HVT will cause an explosion. Note that, similar to real power lines, the high power output means that even if you are losing tens or hundreds of EU over a large distance a big chunk of energy is still reaching its destination (over 200 blocks you still get 1900+ EU).

3163

What is EU then, Energy Units? Man I wish that it functioned as current and voltage instead of like that haha. Who in their right mind would go along a transmission line and measure the Power rather then I and V to make sure it was working properly.

Apologies if I’m misleading you I guess, I’m not an EE either. Also apprently my basic knowledge of transformers is completely useless because it doesn’t work the way I thought it did at all.***

**In minecraft, pretty sure I’m right about real transformers.

3164

Ahh that’s it! I was hooking into the bottom of the HV transformer. That’s why I’m not getting HV!

Is there a minimum amount of EU I have to send into the thing to get the 2000/50 out of it?

Anyway, tonight I am going to hook up some HV and move my crafting operation into the first floor of my in-progress fortress. Eventually I hope to have 4 HV cables coming into the fortress so I can have a dedicated macerator/electro forge for each type of element.

edit: WOOT, HV is go!

3165

EU = energy units.

You are right about real transformers. It’s similar in industrial craft, just that we can’t measure the voltage or current.

The reason it uses a packet system is due to the limitations of minecraft itself. There’s no easy way of saving the data required for a circuit unfortunately.

No minimum. It will charge up and send a 2000EU packet down the HV line.

Same here on the nether thing. I only used for the first time when I installed industrial, because some recipes require glowstone.

3166

Does it need to charge up to 2000EUs over time and then send the HV packet out once it has charged? And what happens at the other end, does that 2000EUs get stored in the HV converter and doled out the bottom in 50EU packets until it runs out?

Also, is current flow instantaneous like in real life (the speed of light in a conductor is for all intents and purposes instantaneous unless you have a wire that is ~1e7 meters long) or does it have a known speed?

HV is kind of a misnomer for this thing haha but I guess it is analogous enough. It’s more of a high power pulse generator than a High Voltage pulse generator. The rules of physics have totally been changed in minecraft, if EUs are a measure of energy then if a wire had 2000EU/Watts flowing through it there would be ridiculous energy losses and the wires would superheat and melt. I guess if there is no other way to do it due to engine limitations then whatever though, what they have done is pretty amazing and I can’t complain that I have to learn a new set of circuit anaylsis rules before planning out my power grid.

3167

Man, this mod sounds like it’s no fucking joke.

3168

It will charge up to 2k then send that 2k down the line. Yep, it stores that 2k at the other end, releasing it at 50EU.

Energy losses through wires is related to current, the higher the current the higher the losses. To send more power down a line you increase the voltage since power= V x I. In minecraft it’s quite similar. Both lines carry the same current only the voltage has increased in the HV line. Increasing the power that can be transmitted.

Pogo’s right I should stop talking. I’m making things more complicated than they need to be :P.

It’s actually not that complicated. It’s easier to use than redstone, but like redstone things can get complicated if you want them to.

3169

Yeah but in a ideal transformer in real life the power would stay the same before and after the transformer since the current and voltage step down and up respectively, proportionally.

3170

I got my base up and running with unlimited power (more than I can ever use). I built my base under a mountain which helped. I use wind generators, 3 at a time connected to one of those switch cables, one on each face. If I added a 4th generator it seemed to cut the average power output down although that may have just been how the wind was working.

Anyway this switch drops power downwards which is were I run about 7 cables. Then I connect a MFE transformer which is set to output 50 units of power and that cable goes to a central hub to one face of a HV transformer. I do each face the same way for a total of 12 generators connected to HV with 4 MFE’s acting as buffers / energy storage. The HV power comes out of the top of the HV (and it hurts a lot to get zapped, be careful). I just run that over and then strait down into the mountain. If you use F3 you can see your X,Y,Z coordinates to help do this.

All this descends into my power-room which has two HV taps on the HV line. The 50 EU feeds are from the bottom. Which each split into two 25 EU feeds which once again go to a MFE each. Then these MFE’s split power out multiple times to power several devices each. I tune them so my power feeds out-put just the minimum power. For example I have 4 electric furnaces so the MFE splits the cable into two branches which in turn split twice. These furnaces each require 3 power or a total of 12 for 4 of them. So my MFE outputs 12 which splits to 6 and then splits again to 3. This way I am using only the minimum power needed. Another nice feature is that machines do not consume power if they are not in use. All those MFEs will bank the wasted energy for you.

Early on I built a bunch of solar plants and attached them to a chest. You can stack batteries in the plants and they will drop the charged ones in the chest. After you get like 4 or more of these things going, you will have all the charged batteries you need, especially if you sleep the night away.

I also made an auto-miner. They have limited uses and even with ‘free’ power they seem to require a lot of your time to check on them, move them, load more digging stuff or filler material for what they yield, although I have gotten quite a few diamonds from them. I do have a self-powered trick for them as well. They require 5 power to operate. You will need 5 solar generators, 1 switch cable, 2 normal cables, 1 chest, your miner and drilling tubes.

First select the site for the miner. Next to it place a pile of two high dirt. On top of this stack place your switch cable. Place 4 solar panels on the faces of the switch cable. Remove the dirt, place two cables under the switch cable. It should look like a tree. Then place the miner down next to the cable. It now has 4 of 5 power. Place the chest and place the 5th solar panel next to the miner for your 5th power. Now put in your drilling tubes and you have your self-powered auto-miner. No batteries needed.

It would be nice if the guy had an advanced miner that had a much larger radius (currently 2). Its free minerals but you will end up moving it a lot and not necessarily getting much of what you want.

If you are just starting out with this mod, the first few machines you want in order are the generator, the extractor (1 rubber per tree), the macerator, and then 4 solar collectors around a chest to charge those batteries.

3171

With as potent as wind generators + HV is, is there any reason to bother with nukes? Other than the fact that they’re cool?

Also I’ve seen folks mention here and there that they have electric lights - any idea how this is done?

3172

Thats the only reason. When you can easily get all the power you need from wind, why bother with anything else?

I tried playing with watermills but I couldn’t figure out how to get much power out of them beyond putting a bucket of water in them which is a total no-go for me. They are listed as 4 power which would be really nice if they could be made to work consistently.

I tried putting them in a pool of still water, water being poured over them from great hight, and be next to flowing streams of water. Once in a while you would get a tick of 4 power, but most of the time it was zeros.

Oh, don’t bother making chainsaws. They bust when they run out of power. This is a bug apparently.

BTW can anyone make plant-clump? That is the first stage in bio-fuel. Its a 3x3 grid of saplings. I put that pattern in and it doesn’t craft anything.

3173

1.5 is out now, and nobody has anything better to play, right?

  • Weather (rain, snow, thunder)
  • Statistics
  • Achievements
  • Detector rail
  • Booster rail
  • Performance improvements

And other things people have noted or that should also be in:

  • Side-block tinting of biome-coloured grass should work now for custom texture packs (will need an updated pack, but you will anyway for the other new stuff)
  • If lightning strikes a pig it turns into a zombie pigman
  • Saplings specific to each tree type, so you can plant birch and pine trees now
3174

And there goes Industrial Craft until they update it. Good thing Portal 2 is out now.

3175

Ah bummer. I was just starting to make some progress with IC last night. Hooray for mining drills!

3176

I, for one, am kinda glad to see the Minecraft single player thread return to Minecraft discussions rather than all things IC for a while. :P

Off to update my server and give 1.5 a try.

EDIT: Both updates went seamlessly. At first, the initial achievement for opening the inventory wouldn’t trigger on a multiplayer server but triggered fine in single player. After that, subsequent achievements like harvesting wood triggered in multiplayer as well.

So if you get stuck with “Press I to open Inventory” and play multiplayer, just log on to a single player world and get that one there.

Wendelius

3177

At the risk of re-derailing: will Minecraft still work with IC installed? Is it just going to totally overrite my minecraft.jar when I update?

3178

Updating totally overwrites the minecraft.jar. Your only options are to not update Minecraft (when it asks you) and keep playing with your mods, or to update Minecraft and wait for your favorite mods to get updated, then install them from scratch again.

3179

How can you get it to ask you? Minecraft auto-updates for me whenever I launch it. I don’t get a choice.

3180

You’re probably still using the old launcher, then. Grab the new minecraft.exe from the official site and then it should start prompting you in the future.