Minecraft Forums

So many questions, so little time... First-come first-serve everybody!

Quote from AngelCry»

not a problem actually, just weird appearance and i mean: how is come? is resource pack put furnace texture in wrong place or EA use furnace texture in non-furnace guis?

The furnace texture is fine, as Minecraft picks up on it. I suspect that since EA uses the furnace texture as a guide for its textures, changing it causes EA to get confused. With the Sortex Fanver pack EA's GUIs have the correct background, but different buttons to match the pack. My guess is that Chroma Hills does something to change the texture that EA can't deal with at all.

Quote from TAMT145»

how do I charge my Xray scanner?

Put a portable battery (item, not block) and the scanner both in your inventory. The battery will automatically charge the scanner, and 300W of batteries can power the scanner without it discharging. Note that this is kinda slow, so it's only useful if you need power on-the-go. A faster option is to put it into a charging station, which you should already have if you're using portable batteries in the first place.

Quote from Tabris_»

Sorry if someone has talked about this already. But does the Farming Lamps have any benefit with regards to farming or it's just their name?

That's actually never been asked as far as I can tell, and it's something I've never thought about until now. My initial thought was that farming lamps were simply power-hungry lights with a 15 block radius (largest of all the bulbs). After poking around in the code, however, I found something about vegetable growth rates for lamps, which tells me lamps can affect crop growth. I don't know enough about Java to tell you exactly how much faster they grow, but experimenting with plants in a controlled environment reveals that they definitely grow faster under farming lamps. It's pretty noticeable too, as one crop of wheat grown under a farming lamp will be half-harvestable before another crop even has one stalk harvestable. Yet another cool but undocumented feature about this mod, just like humming transformers under load and swinging lamps in the rain.

Quote from AntonyVW»

Love the mod. A quick question on it. Is it possible to hide the cables? Ie can they be covered over using Immbris microblocks for instance?

Cable concealment is possible by holding the block you want to cover them with in your hand, holding down C, and right-clicking the cable. Note that EA is a bit picky about what blocks you can and can't use. Mainly, any 'regular' block, like glass, stone, wood, etc. is good, while 'odd blocks' like stairs, slabs, and other complex blocks don't work. You can try it with any block, but if you get a message about "wire color care" it means that the block you are holding can't be used as a cover. One of my favorite things to do is cover lamps recessed in the floor with glass to create cool floor lighting.

Quote from AntonyVW»

Im trying to run the geo2holo program (downloaded and installed as per tutorial), but it aborts after a few seconds with the following message:

/usr/bin/geo2holo/lua:20: attempt to index local 'column' (a nil value)

stack traceback:

/usr/bin/geo2holo.lua.20: in main chunk

(...tail calls...)

Im not a programmer so I have no idea what is going wrong or why Im guessing there is a problem on line 20 of the code but beyond that I have no idea. Can anyone help me out please? Thank you.

EDIT: not sure if it helps or not but Im using a tier 2 computer.

Umm, methinks you're in the wrong thread. Doesn't mean I can't help, though! The error in that code is a result of trying to assign a value to a variable (index local 'column') before it gets called (so it's a nil value). That operation happens in line 18, where "local column = component.geolyzer.scan(x, z)". This error comes from the geolyzer. You said the operation stops midway through. Does the hologram produce any output prior to this? Every time the geolyzer scans the hologram lights a cube, so if there's output prior to it crashing it could be there's a block that's causing the geolyzer to throw a bad value. I'd try running the program somewhere else in your world, or in another world to check if it's a mod issue. If not, it might be an issue with the setup of your computer. All you really need for that is a geolyzer and a hologram connected to a computer through a cable. I don't know how complex your network is, but it could be that there's another computer interfering with the transmission from the geolyzer.

Quote from r41n01»

Got a question, i tried to change one of the following variables in the config file.

The problem is that it seems to take effect only on new worlds, it didn't work when I tried to restart the server (talking about MP).

Is there a way or a command to force mod to update\reload the value?

Thanks!

Odd, this updates just fine on my SSP world. Could it be an issue with differing config files somewhere? I know EA can be a bit finicky when it comes to running on servers. There's no actual command to update this value post-startup, though, as it gets set during the mod initialization phase.

Quote from apoclaydon»

ok so ive figured out how to use electricity to power RF machins from other mods but can it be done in reverse (RF from other mods to power electricity)

Unfortunately, EA doesn't support this yet. The mod author mentioned some time back (I forget where) that this was due to the complex conversion between EA power and other mod's power systems.

Quote from dragonFly395»

I dont understand how that "power Inductor" works/what ist doing.

Ehhh. Inductors, and to some extent capacitors, are the two things in this mod that I still can't completely figure out. Technically inductors, along with transformers, shouldn't even work in Electrical Age, due to their reliance on the magnetic field generated by an oscillating AC circuit. In essence the inductor acts as a power choke, preventing sharp changes in power on a cable. For an example of this, hook up an electrical furnace to a voltage source with an inductor in between them. Then take a power and voltage reading off both sides. You'll see that the more inductance you have on the circuit, the more of a 'ramp' effect you get on your power going into the furnace when you turn it on. In theory, this could be used to prevent power spikes on a circuit, though the only thing I've been able to get using inductors on high-load applications is explosions.

Quote from wokkelp»

Too bad Forge hasn't upgraded tot 1.8.3 yet so I can run this on a server.

I wasn't aware that Electrical Age had even updated past 1.7.10. Any reason you're looking to be at the cutting-edge of versions? I'm personally staying with 1.7 until they fix the bad lag that comes with 1.8. The old lappy just can't do anything above short render on 1.7, and 1.8 makes me feel like I'm back in early 1.5.

If you want to make power lines, one option open right now is to make a block transparent. Throw something useless, like a sponge, into a texture pack all by itself and presto, you've got a way to hang cables! You can also plop a transformer or two on top of the pole to give it that 'big power grid' vibe.

Quote from robinson99king»

Nice to see someone else is interested in electrifying existing worlds! I've been working a bit on the Vertoak map myself, though as big as it is I've only got part of uptown wired. Here's a picture of my power plant.

I like how you have all the colored cables running about on your plant, though. Makes for a more realistic-looking setup than mine. Regarding your furnace issues, may I make some suggestions?

First off, you said your turbines were at 200C and your dissipators were at 30C. This is actually lower that the optimal efficiency for both components. You want the temperature difference across the turbine to be at least 250C (or 350C for a 200V turbine). I've taken a turbine up to 800C before I had it explode on me. If the max temp you can reach is only 200C, you are either maxing out your furnaces so they can't provide enough heat/power, or have a load that's too low causing the furnaces to not run hot. I'm going to guess it's the former. Have you added in combustion chamber upgrades? Two of those suckers can double a furnace's power output.

When it comes to cooling, you should be able to fit all the dissipators in those towers. If you pipe some of the power from the turbines into some active dissipators it should be enough to cool them. Since the power doesn't have far to go it won't result in huge losses like the stuff that's going to the town. Copper cables also cool down as they transmit, meaning that lots of cables between the furnaces and turbines will cause heat loss. Running a 150W electric furnace off a turbine causes a loss of roughly 5C and 50W per 10 copper cable segments. This is bad for the heat you want to get to the turbines, but is good for cooling and reducing the number of dissipators in your system. In a nutshell, large Temp_Turbine-Temp_Dissipator + combustion chambers + short furnace to turbine cable length+ long turbine to dissipator cable length + dissipators under 50C = more efficent system = less stone furnaces = profit

Also like the idea of potentiometers. I'd certianly get more use out of 'em than the explosion-causing inductors. Better still if they could be controlled by a signal. Hook one up to a signal trimmer and boom, dimmable lights.

Quote from Dumboldoor5»

Looks neat

Never thought I'd see a regular from the ROW forum on here; or a regular from any thread for that matter. As a fervent track and cable layer myself I say Welcome!

It's funny you should mention aesthetics, as that's what caught my eye with this mod (and ROW, of course). I'm more of a crafter than a miner myself, so after installing BigReactors for the turbines and Flaxbeard's mod for the steam system I had a bunch of power I sure as heck wasn't going to spend on quarries (my rails go around the mountain, thank you). I spent half a day looking for ideas when I saw the lights in this mod. Although I eventually found that you can only export power from this mod :(, the lights and other items were too cool to pass up. I'll admit, it's not the easiest system to learn by any count, but what it lacks in simplicity it makes up with coolness. You might blow up a house (or three), but at the end of the day it's worth it to be able to go down into the power plant and watch the coolers spin, make the dials on the control panel move, and listen to the transformers hum as they light up a 13 story building.

On a side note, how DO you get power to transmit in Thermal Expansion? I could never figure out what I needed to place next to what. Is it the same as Buildcraft where you have a connector-transmitter system? Just wondering if I ever decide/need to switch out from ExtraUtilites.

So that's why I couldn't power anything! I've never caught on to the Buildcraft energy system either. They use a 'puller' type system, in that you need a specific block next to a generator or chest to get power out of it. Other mods are the same way, but many, like EnderIO, detect that you've placed a transport-type block next to a power-type block and automatically convert it to the appropriate type. Buildcraft also adds a layer of weird by making it so the pipes pulling energy out of an engine need energy themselves to work. I guess it's due to the fact that the wooden pipes do double duty there for items and energy. One of the main reasons I stick with Electrical Age is that although the concepts are complex, the implementation is simple. i.e. if I put a cable on a generator I know dang well that there's going to be power going through it!

Totally agree on the subject of complex circuits. One of the other reasons I keep this mod around is the challenge. Anybody can make a power system in other mods, but it takes time to make one in Electrical Age. When making my power plant I was determined not to use any wireless devices or colored cables; when you're hooking up a 12 dial display this isn't easy! The hardest part for me was working on the ceiling with the signal, 50V, and 200V wires. I ended up cross-feeding two hubs, blowing out the ceiling, and setting off a cooling alarm. I know Electrical Age isn't for everybody, but for those who want to learn, like a challenge, and want to be able to look at their work and feel like they've accomplished something, I heartily recommend.

P.S. Just spent some time with Ancient Warfare. The things people can fit in mods nowadays... Now I just have to find a use for the windmills.

Out of curiosity, what reason do you have for wanting this? As it stands you can cover cables with blocks, you just have to hold C and right-click.

Any suggestions for other mods to add along side this one? I want this to be the only mod producing power and adding machines

It really depends on what you're going for. I like to separate EA additions into three categories: Realism, Visuals, and Industry.

If you're going for realism in your modset, I recommend adding Enviromine and CodeChickenCore. Setting finite water to true in both configs and setting burnable torches to true in Enviromine makes mining more hazardous and darkness more dangerous. This works perfectly with EA, as building a power network becomes a huge benefit, as it allows for creating of a safe lighting system. It also means you can use autominers to avoid going underground and flashlights for safer exploration of caves.

For cool visuals, MrCrayfish's Furniture Mod is a must. It goes nicely with the variety of lights, especially if you're building a house. Granted, the lights in his mod kind of break the power system of EA, but you don't have to use them. Bibliocraft is also nice for decoration. If you're going for a large city or multiple-base type world you might think about adding the larger, realistic trains of the Rails of War Mod, though they can be a bit taxing on lower-end computers.

As far as industry goes, there isn't actually much Electrical Age can't do. If you're looking for a power-free way to move items sans-minecarts I recommend ExtraUtilites. It has the benefit of allowing you to remove any block you want and offers a relatively simple liquid, energy, and item piping system. If you're looking to store liquids, go with Simple Fluid Tanks for the same reason; i.e. tanks are the only item added. Just be careful with it if you run Optifine, as multi-core render mode will cause random crashes. These two mods, when coupled with Electrical Age, provide essentially the same functionality as Buildcraft with much less item overhead.

A couple of final notes about mechanization with Electrical Age. If you're planning on making a large power plant I recommend removing the 200V turbine sound from the mod file. If you don't every furnace (and transformer) in the room will produce sound at load, which can lead to audio stuttering. Also, when an autominer has finished mining you can hit its drill pipe and it will retract it back into the miner, dropping all the pipes as items. Finally, if you have spare coal that you don't need for a heat furnace you can compress it into coal plates. These can be compressed even further to make diamonds. This takes a long time, but since Electrical Age items run when chunks are unloaded you can always do something else in the interim.

Hope this helps!

What is the best layout for a power room in a 9x9 room? The 9x9 is the interior space