With the addition of the new WIP hopper block, I was excited to see this feature implemented into minecraft, enabling a lot of automation of things like farms, mob grinders, etc, HOWEVER, what I have found is:
The hopper block's edges can catch the items before they actually enter the hopper mouth, decreasing the efficiency of any automatic mechanisms
When blocks like melons or pumpkins are broken, the blocks tend to go flying in random directions from the pistons. This causes quite a bit of inefficiency with automatic farming of melons/pumpkins in general.
So, with the concept of a hopper in mind I like the idea, however, I believe that the hopper itself should be altered in order to take this into account. Perhaps the block should be altered so that it accepts item inputs from the air block above it, instead of just whatever falls into the lip, because if automation is the direction Mojang is taking Minecraft, the hopper block is currently faulty.
Note: I was considering putting this in the suggestions forum, however, I thought it would be more relevant to this forum due to the fact that 13w01a is as of now completely new material. I think that Mojang should notice this, because their WIP block is, well, a work in progress, and in my opinion, these issues should be addressed when reworking it.
I have not tried out the snapshot, but I think a feature that should be added to the hopper is the ability for items to fall out of the bottom of the hopper even if there is no chest to catch the items below. You should be able to control whether the hopper dispenses the items or holds them if there is no chest, probably via a toggle switch (perhaps controlled by redstone or manual toggleing)
A mechanism like this would work perfectly with the new weighted pressure plates, providing an easy way to have a redstone timer controlled by the hopper flow, perhaps for adventure maps.
Ex. Drop all of the specified collected items into the hopper, and it's a timed race to the door before the items dispense onto a pressure plate that is triggered far enough to close a door. Not sure if there is already a mechanism that is does this easier, but it's a neat way to change the time a player has depending on how much of the item is collected to put in the hopper.
This, and the fact that hoppers deposit into the output slot in furnaces are the only issues I have with hoppers at all. But it's a work in progress, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.
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"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokémon they love best."
I have not tried out the snapshot, but I think a feature that should be added to the hopper is the ability for items to fall out of the bottom of the hopper even if there is no chest to catch the items below. You should be able to control whether the hopper dispenses the items or holds them if there is no chest, probably via a toggle switch (perhaps controlled by redstone or manual toggleing)
A mechanism like this would work perfectly with the new weighted pressure plates, providing an easy way to have a redstone timer controlled by the hopper flow, perhaps for adventure maps.
Ex. Drop all of the specified collected items into the hopper, and it's a timed race to the door before the items dispense onto a pressure plate that is triggered far enough to close a door. Not sure if there is already a mechanism that is does this easier, but it's a neat way to change the time a player has depending on how much of the item is collected to put in the hopper.
You can put a dispenser beneath it.
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I'm the bard. Always will be. And no one EVER respects the bard.
Far higher transfer rate. At the current rate it takes 20 minutes to transfer a full storage minecart into a chest, making it impractical.
The ability to send a signal when the inventory is not empty, perhaps with altering strength dependent on the amount of items inside the hopper. This would allow stacked containers, where you could read off how many where full above you when you took from the bottom.
The ability to switch the hopper on and off. This might get into problems with above suggestion, but if the hopper itself had a redpower value, repeaters could be used as diodes.
In addition, I have heard talk of filters. This could be nice, especially if the hopper had two outlets: One for the filtered items and one for the rest.
To add on to the list, the hopper should not only be able to input items from the side, but suck out items from the side as well. Currently, they only suck out from the bottom, which does make sense, but it would be better if they could do it from the side. Though I wouldn't know how to be able to implement that.
Of course, it is a WIP, so some of the things said here might be added in.
This, and the fact that hoppers deposit into the output slot in furnaces are the only issues I have with hoppers at all. But it's a work in progress, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.
Fixed already? There goes my only real issue with the block, even in a WIP stage. Thanks for the info.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokémon they love best."
"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokémon they love best."
Yeah, items now fall into the hopper perfectly (yay!), but hoppers still refuse to take from the output slot of a furnace, but rather take the item being smelted. To bypass it I tried putting one of the output item in each slot of the hopper so only that could be taken, but rather than fill with more stone it just does nothing. Not a big issue I know, but when it's fixed mass smelting will become so much easier with a little set up.
"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokémon they love best."
I know this works in the Buildcraft mod, so maybe the same principle will apply. Try putting the receiving hopper on the right side of the furnace, and it might take out of the right furnace slot
Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you only receive from the bottom of a furnace/chest/whatever? The top and sides are all input.
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"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokémon they love best."
And once again we have people complaining about buggy features of a completely new item that is known to be unfinished. Mojang even clearly state it's a WIP in their snapshot release statement.
It's fine to suggest new ways you'd like to see it work, but that goes in suggestions.
Complaining about glitches though? We know there are bugs with it, Mojang know there are bugs with it, they said there would be bugs with it. Do we really need threads just to say it doesn't work properly when everyone already knows it doesn't?
And once again we have people complaining about the complaints!
Just give it a rest Rufus, they aren't being rude. And it doesn't hurt to point out possible bugs.... yes even if its already in the bug tracker thingy.
Note: I was considering putting this in the suggestions forum, however, I thought it would be more relevant to this forum due to the fact that 13w01a is as of now completely new material. I think that Mojang should notice this, because their WIP block is, well, a work in progress, and in my opinion, these issues should be addressed when reworking it.
A mechanism like this would work perfectly with the new weighted pressure plates, providing an easy way to have a redstone timer controlled by the hopper flow, perhaps for adventure maps.
Ex. Drop all of the specified collected items into the hopper, and it's a timed race to the door before the items dispense onto a pressure plate that is triggered far enough to close a door. Not sure if there is already a mechanism that is does this easier, but it's a neat way to change the time a player has depending on how much of the item is collected to put in the hopper.
You can put a dispenser beneath it.
Of course, it is a WIP, so some of the things said here might be added in.
This is an acknowledged and fixed bug:https://mojang.atlassian.net/browse/MC-5748
Fixed already? There goes my only real issue with the block, even in a WIP stage. Thanks for the info.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you only receive from the bottom of a furnace/chest/whatever? The top and sides are all input.
I'm sure Mojang could make the hopper effecient while they're working on it.
And once again we have people complaining about the complaints!
Just give it a rest Rufus, they aren't being rude. And it doesn't hurt to point out possible bugs.... yes even if its already in the bug tracker thingy.