OK, I still am having difficulty with the whole redstone thingie. When I can create a simple bridge with it, I'm pleased, and I look on YouTube to see people building offshore oil drilling platforms using it. I think I need some remedial redstone coaching, if you would please be my tutor.
Let me start with what I believe is true about redstone. Please tell me if I'm anywhere between "not exactly" and "dead wrong."
Redstone is, for all intents and purposes, electricity for Minecraft.
Redstone devices are activated by a pressure plate, a switch or a button adjacent to the item or a redstone trial.
A switch turn the power ON, whereas a button will briefly "flash" the power, and a pressure plate will be active as long as there is weight.
A "live" redstone wire will activate everything the pulse touches, regardless of how many devices.
A redstone torch provides constant power to any redstone-powered devices.
A redstone repeater will act as a delayer of the circuit for 0-4 ticks.
You have to leave a trail of redstone to move the "energy pulse" across distances.
mostly. technically, buttons, levers, plates and torches are all power sources.
In normal electricity, it basically takes 2 wires from a power source to a device to power it (plus and minus). In redstone, there is only the one line (redstone dust).
Power emits from the block space the source exists in AND the block it is attached to.
So, if you put a lever on one side of a block, power can be drawn from the other 5 sides of the block, as well as the space the lever sits in.
You can reverse the on/off signal on the redstone by placing a block in the line of redstone, with redstone dust on top of it, and a redstone torch on the side of the block, leading to the rest of the redstone line. See this side-view:
00-00 --X/-- XXXXXX symbols: 0 = open air X = block - = redstone dust line / = redstone torch
redstone repeaters are mono-directional. They actually have an arrow shape on them showing the direction the energy goes. Without it, if you had a redstone torch (like for the diagram above), it would be sending juice backwards toward your switch (potentially screwing up other pistons, etc you have before the reversal). The repeater will stop that, making the "juice" flow in one expected direction from your starting point to the stuff you want to happen.
Seriously I would look up GenerikB on YouTube and watch his redstone academy series it's great for the basics of redstone. After watching that and some helpful advice I'm taking on a huge redstone project. Not computer big, but still cool none the less.
Redstone is, for all intents and purposes, electricity for Minecraft.
No, the biggest mistake most people make is thinking of it this way. Completely disconnect it from any power source you've ever heard of. Redstone is a conduct of a type of energy that is unlike any existing in reality, including electricity.
If you want, I could explain some of this to you. However, this knowledge isn't necessarily relevant to building with redstone. Redstone Theory is the practice of studying the underlying mechanics of this mysterious power source. Not going to lie, it's a bit deep
Redstone devices are activated by a pressure plate, a switch or a button adjacent to the item or a redstone trial.
Right and wrong, the real answer is, not necessarily. Some machines can operate independently from any interaction or user input, I specialize in a certain genre of these machines.
A switch turn the power ON, whereas a button will briefly "flash" the power, and a pressure plate will be active as long as there is weight.
Correct, a button will send a 10 tick pulse, whereas a lever will generate a solid signal as long as it is in the on position. A pressure plate, when activated for only an instant will act as a button, sending a 10 tick pulse. Under constant pressure, it will act as a lever until the item or entity is removed.
A "live" redstone wire will activate everything the pulse touches, regardless of how many devices.
Correct, as long as the wire is connected to or leading directly into a device. Pistons are a different story, they can be activated using several methods.
A redstone torch provides constant power to any redstone-powered devices.
Partially correct. A torch can act as a power source, or an inverter. But yes, as a power source it will provide a constant signal until altered. A torch is also a generator of "hard" power, meaning it can send a signal through a solid block.
A redstone repeater will act as a delayer of the circuit for 0-4 ticks.
A repeater acts as many things. It acts as a repeater, a resistor, as well as a diode. It also acts as a source of hard power, like the torch. And it can delay from 1 - 4 ticks, it can't be instant.
Seriously I would look up GenerikB on YouTube and watch his redstone academy series it's great for the basics of redstone. After watching that and some helpful advice I'm taking on a huge redstone project. Not computer big, but still cool none the less.
This.
Actually saw this topic and came here to recommend it. Seriously though, cousin Genny B (generikB on youtube) is a great teacher.
You can reverse the on/off signal on the redstone by placing a block in the line of redstone, with redstone dust on top of it, and a redstone torch on the side of the block, leading to the rest of the redstone line. See this side-view:
00-00 --X/-- XXXXXX symbols: 0 = open air X = block - = redstone dust line / = redstone torch
You actually don't need the redstone on top of the block to make the inverter.
You actually don't need the redstone on top of the block to make the inverter.
Yup, a redstone dust is a source of "soft" power. Any blocks the dust is connected to, or leading to is also filled with soft power when the signal is high. Torches and repeaters can draw soft power from a block, as well as generate hard power through a block. Dust, obviously, cannot do this.
i am really interested in learning how to use redstone effectively and for bigger cooler projects. so far i have built a drawbridge, very basic combo lock, trap floor over a pit, basic single line automated train station and a couple of experiments.
my advice, is find a good series of youtube tutorials like i have. start with basic circuits, and then practice until you have the theory behind a certain circuit mastered and understood, before moving onto something a little more complex.
it is a time consuming, slow learning process, but i find lessons learned slowly and thoroughly stick in the mind better. plus its's fun experimenting with the new things you learn, fiddling with them until you finally have that 'eureka' moment when everything clicks and you understand.
Can you recommend any good (simple) youtube tutorials?
I know there are loads out there, but if you have used some with some success I'm interested.
I built a bunch of clocks for cobblestone generators. The piston clock is the simplest circuit that shows most of the basic properties of redstone. Some of which are surprising.
I'm not building an 8-bit calculator with display tomorrow, but getting to this point taught me a lot. What I want to do is a cobblestone generator that can extrude whatever number of bricks you input. Need 8? Flip one lever. 9? Two levers, binary-style.
I think of redstone as pneumatic or hydraulic, rather than as electricity. But that's when I'm not calling it "magic."
Can you recommend any good (simple) youtube tutorials?
I know there are loads out there, but if you have used some with some success I'm interested.
M
That depends. What kind of tutorials are you looking for? It all factors on what you're interested in, electronics, computers, redstone games, (Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect 4, Snake etc.) more interactive games, (Tower Defense, archery minigames, redstone bosses, etc.) or generic survival contraptions. (piston doors, auto-farms, light switches, etc.)
For anything intermediate - advanced, you probably won't find any Xbox tutorials. But it honestly doesn't make a difference. Once at that level, it shouldn't be hard to modify a 1.4.2 design to be compatible with Beta 1.8.2 anyway.
I'm not building an 8-bit calculator with display tomorrow, but getting to this point taught me a lot. What I want to do is a cobblestone generator that can extrude whatever number of bricks you input. Need 8? Flip one lever. 9? Two levers, binary-style.
This is actually easier than you may thank it is. Some time back I built a piston-based hard disc drive, using an indexing mechanism that would be perfect for what you need.
It uses a binary counter, which is running off the same clock the "disc" is cycled with. Seeking is done with levers, enabling selective AND gates with pistons. This detects when the counter has reached the correct address and stops the clock, shutting down the "disc" as well as the counter. And this disc is actually just an array of 8 different 29-bit piston tapes. With a little modification, this indexing mechanism could easily be used for a cobblestone generator.
That depends. What kind of tutorials are you looking for? It all factors on what you're interested in, electronics, computers, redstone games, (Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect 4, Snake etc.) more interactive games, (Tower Defense, archery minigames, redstone bosses, etc.) or generic survival contraptions. (piston doors, auto-farms, light switches, etc.)
For anything intermediate - advanced, you probably won't find any Xbox tutorials. But it honestly doesn't make a difference. Once at that level, it shouldn't be hard to modify a 1.4.2 design to be compatible with Beta 1.8.2 anyway.
I'm looking for anything mechanical.
Made a few hidden doors, cobble generator from tutorials but thats about it.
Tbh my main problem at the moment is finding time to get on and try to get stuff built.
The main problem I've seen from people who want to build something is that they have no basic understanding of how those logic gates they saw in that tutorial video actually works. Redstone mechanics are exactly the same as nearly anything else you might want to do. You can't go from not even knowing the D minor scale to playing Toccata and Fugue in D minor with ease. Why should redstone be any different?
Learn how those logic gates affect the redstone and how they affect the blocks around them, and building something big will be only time-consuming.
EDIT: Consequently, I'm in the middle of creating a redstone tutorial/show-off world that, when open, anyone with the thirst for knowledge of redstone is welcome to join. If you wish to follow the progress: http://www.minecraft...necart-station/
I'm looking for anything mechanical.
Made a few hidden doors, cobble generator from tutorials but thats about it.
Tbh my main problem at the moment is finding time to get on and try to get stuff built.
In that case, if it's only basic piston builds, you don't need to know much past the basics. Watch the two videos below, and go play with some pistons. Don't worry, basic doors, cobblestone generators, auto-farms and whatnot are pretty easy to figure out.
for me, I spent a good chunk of time last night on my piston doors, figuring out where to connect the power to the pistons.
In my build, I've made the ISS (to scale, but not to exact specification). The docking chamber where the shuttle crew enters is a 4-way chamber in my build.
So I needed a lever that closes the 3 interior doors and opens the one exterior door. Add to that that the lever had to be positioned in a spot that I can stand in the central chamber, reach the lever and flip it, so I can go outside. Then I can re-enter the station, and reach the lever THROUGH the piston shafts to close the outer door, and enter the rest of the station.
It took a lot of testing, messing around on the ground to figure out how to power 2 stacked pistons correctly.
One of the interesting discoveries is that if you bring power to an adjacent block to a piston, the piston will be powered. So, running power lines over the top of my station was inadvertantly supplying power to the top piston on the door. Once I realized this mechanic, I could then incorporate it into my solution.
L--XP
L-- 00X 00P
For instance, the above 2 examples should result in a piston firing when you flip the lever. Both are side views.
In that case, if it's only basic piston builds, you don't need to know much past the basics. Watch the two videos below, and go play with some pistons. Don't worry, basic doors, cobblestone generators, auto-farms and whatnot are pretty easy to figure out.
Those two videos were very informative and clarified a few questions I had. Thanks for the link!
for me, I spent a good chunk of time last night on my piston doors, figuring out where to connect the power to the pistons.
In my build, I've made the ISS (to scale, but not to exact specification). The docking chamber where the shuttle crew enters is a 4-way chamber in my build.
So I needed a lever that closes the 3 interior doors and opens the one exterior door. Add to that that the lever had to be positioned in a spot that I can stand in the central chamber, reach the lever and flip it, so I can go outside. Then I can re-enter the station, and reach the lever THROUGH the piston shafts to close the outer door, and enter the rest of the station.
It took a lot of testing, messing around on the ground to figure out how to power 2 stacked pistons correctly.
One of the interesting discoveries is that if you bring power to an adjacent block to a piston, the piston will be powered. So, running power lines over the top of my station was inadvertantly supplying power to the top piston on the door. Once I realized this mechanic, I could then incorporate it into my solution.
L--XP
L-- 00X 00P
For instance, the above 2 examples should result in a piston firing when you flip the lever. Both are side views.
That's something I forgot to mention earlier, pistons can also draw from a source of soft power. But here's where they differ, pistons and dispensers are the only tiles that can draw from the bottom side of a block instilled with soft power. A piston with a source of soft power one meter adjacent to the top of the piston turns into a block update detector. When this block is active, an update directly adjacent to the piston will cause it to extend. When this block is inactive, another update to the piston will cause it to retract.
A dispenser should also work this way. I haven't personally test it, but all of the other mechanics of the dispenser match the piston exactly. So it's a safe bet a dispenser BUD would work in the exact same fashion. Also, using a simple glitch will allow you to place redstone items directly on a dispenser. Redstone dust placed directly on top of a dispenser will also activate the dispenser.
Let me start with what I believe is true about redstone. Please tell me if I'm anywhere between "not exactly" and "dead wrong."
Am I near target on these?
In normal electricity, it basically takes 2 wires from a power source to a device to power it (plus and minus). In redstone, there is only the one line (redstone dust).
Power emits from the block space the source exists in AND the block it is attached to.
So, if you put a lever on one side of a block, power can be drawn from the other 5 sides of the block, as well as the space the lever sits in.
You can reverse the on/off signal on the redstone by placing a block in the line of redstone, with redstone dust on top of it, and a redstone torch on the side of the block, leading to the rest of the redstone line. See this side-view:
00-00
--X/--
XXXXXX
symbols:
0 = open air
X = block
- = redstone dust line
/ = redstone torch
redstone repeaters are mono-directional. They actually have an arrow shape on them showing the direction the energy goes. Without it, if you had a redstone torch (like for the diagram above), it would be sending juice backwards toward your switch (potentially screwing up other pistons, etc you have before the reversal). The repeater will stop that, making the "juice" flow in one expected direction from your starting point to the stuff you want to happen.
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Retired StaffNo, the biggest mistake most people make is thinking of it this way. Completely disconnect it from any power source you've ever heard of. Redstone is a conduct of a type of energy that is unlike any existing in reality, including electricity.
If you want, I could explain some of this to you. However, this knowledge isn't necessarily relevant to building with redstone. Redstone Theory is the practice of studying the underlying mechanics of this mysterious power source. Not going to lie, it's a bit deep
Right and wrong, the real answer is, not necessarily. Some machines can operate independently from any interaction or user input, I specialize in a certain genre of these machines.
Correct, a button will send a 10 tick pulse, whereas a lever will generate a solid signal as long as it is in the on position. A pressure plate, when activated for only an instant will act as a button, sending a 10 tick pulse. Under constant pressure, it will act as a lever until the item or entity is removed.
Correct, as long as the wire is connected to or leading directly into a device. Pistons are a different story, they can be activated using several methods.
Partially correct. A torch can act as a power source, or an inverter. But yes, as a power source it will provide a constant signal until altered. A torch is also a generator of "hard" power, meaning it can send a signal through a solid block.
A repeater acts as many things. It acts as a repeater, a resistor, as well as a diode. It also acts as a source of hard power, like the torch. And it can delay from 1 - 4 ticks, it can't be instant.
This.
Actually saw this topic and came here to recommend it. Seriously though, cousin Genny B (generikB on youtube) is a great teacher.
You actually don't need the redstone on top of the block to make the inverter.
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Retired StaffYup, a redstone dust is a source of "soft" power. Any blocks the dust is connected to, or leading to is also filled with soft power when the signal is high. Torches and repeaters can draw soft power from a block, as well as generate hard power through a block. Dust, obviously, cannot do this.
Can you recommend any good (simple) youtube tutorials?
I know there are loads out there, but if you have used some with some success I'm interested.
M
- I built a bunch of clocks for cobblestone generators. The piston clock is the simplest circuit that shows most of the basic properties of redstone. Some of which are surprising.
I'm not building an 8-bit calculator with display tomorrow, but getting to this point taught me a lot. What I want to do is a cobblestone generator that can extrude whatever number of bricks you input. Need 8? Flip one lever. 9? Two levers, binary-style.I think of redstone as pneumatic or hydraulic, rather than as electricity. But that's when I'm not calling it "magic."
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Retired StaffThat depends. What kind of tutorials are you looking for? It all factors on what you're interested in, electronics, computers, redstone games, (Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect 4, Snake etc.) more interactive games, (Tower Defense, archery minigames, redstone bosses, etc.) or generic survival contraptions. (piston doors, auto-farms, light switches, etc.)
For anything intermediate - advanced, you probably won't find any Xbox tutorials. But it honestly doesn't make a difference. Once at that level, it shouldn't be hard to modify a 1.4.2 design to be compatible with Beta 1.8.2 anyway.
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Retired StaffThis is actually easier than you may thank it is. Some time back I built a piston-based hard disc drive, using an indexing mechanism that would be perfect for what you need.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1521315-most-complex-piston-creation-in-mcxbla-irpe-11/#entry18570590
It uses a binary counter, which is running off the same clock the "disc" is cycled with. Seeking is done with levers, enabling selective AND gates with pistons. This detects when the counter has reached the correct address and stops the clock, shutting down the "disc" as well as the counter. And this disc is actually just an array of 8 different 29-bit piston tapes. With a little modification, this indexing mechanism could easily be used for a cobblestone generator.
I'm looking for anything mechanical.
Made a few hidden doors, cobble generator from tutorials but thats about it.
Tbh my main problem at the moment is finding time to get on and try to get stuff built.
Learn how those logic gates affect the redstone and how they affect the blocks around them, and building something big will be only time-consuming.
EDIT: Consequently, I'm in the middle of creating a redstone tutorial/show-off world that, when open, anyone with the thirst for knowledge of redstone is welcome to join. If you wish to follow the progress: http://www.minecraft...necart-station/
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Retired StaffIn that case, if it's only basic piston builds, you don't need to know much past the basics. Watch the two videos below, and go play with some pistons. Don't worry, basic doors, cobblestone generators, auto-farms and whatnot are pretty easy to figure out.
In my build, I've made the ISS (to scale, but not to exact specification). The docking chamber where the shuttle crew enters is a 4-way chamber in my build.
So I needed a lever that closes the 3 interior doors and opens the one exterior door. Add to that that the lever had to be positioned in a spot that I can stand in the central chamber, reach the lever and flip it, so I can go outside. Then I can re-enter the station, and reach the lever THROUGH the piston shafts to close the outer door, and enter the rest of the station.
It took a lot of testing, messing around on the ground to figure out how to power 2 stacked pistons correctly.
One of the interesting discoveries is that if you bring power to an adjacent block to a piston, the piston will be powered. So, running power lines over the top of my station was inadvertantly supplying power to the top piston on the door. Once I realized this mechanic, I could then incorporate it into my solution.
L--XP
L--
00X
00P
For instance, the above 2 examples should result in a piston firing when you flip the lever. Both are side views.
Those two videos were very informative and clarified a few questions I had. Thanks for the link!
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Retired StaffNo problem.
That's something I forgot to mention earlier, pistons can also draw from a source of soft power. But here's where they differ, pistons and dispensers are the only tiles that can draw from the bottom side of a block instilled with soft power. A piston with a source of soft power one meter adjacent to the top of the piston turns into a block update detector. When this block is active, an update directly adjacent to the piston will cause it to extend. When this block is inactive, another update to the piston will cause it to retract.
A dispenser should also work this way. I haven't personally test it, but all of the other mechanics of the dispenser match the piston exactly. So it's a safe bet a dispenser BUD would work in the exact same fashion. Also, using a simple glitch will allow you to place redstone items directly on a dispenser. Redstone dust placed directly on top of a dispenser will also activate the dispenser.