So, I have a mine that is some distance away from my base. I have a rail that extends from the mine to my base, with lots of powered rails so unmanned minecarts can travel to or from the base. I'm wondering if there is a way to have a cart with a chest arrive at the base, empty itself, and come back to the mine by itself. Also, I would like to use the track myself to travel to and from the base to my mine, as it's very inconvienent to enter the base otherwise. I'm worried about running into the unmanned minecarts, as they are much slower. I'm guessing I need to make the track a big circle, but I don't really know. Any suggestions?
I sould add that this is the current version of Vanilla Minecraft.
Well as far as the chest emptying itself you can hook up a detector rail to a comparator which can detect whether it's empty or not and continue from there. The problem is that it has to be stopped on the detector rail to work, so it won't be able to launch itself back off since its not on a powered rail.
How I've worked around this is to make a loop of tracks and the detector rail and comparator are hooked up with an inverter to change the direction of the track when it is empty, with hoppers under the tracks to pull items out. This will also require you to make a one way entrance to the loop so it can get in but not back out.
However I don't know if it would be possible to make this same track useable by yourself as well without issues with colliding with the other minecarts, so you may have to set up a separate track for yourself.
Need a good universal mob farm? Check out the Double Shift Towers. Designed for 1.9 and gets 22,000 Items / Hour with a very simple redstone set up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL8aoJpjjgU
Absolutely there is. I have this in one of my own worlds, and I only play vanilla minecraft in singleplayer. I use a twin track setup with a track switcher. If I send an empty cart up by accident, it just sends it back. If I send a cart with ANYTHING in it (even one item) it will shunt it to the unloading station where it stops and a comparator empties the cart via a hopper into a chest, then once it is empty it turns on a powered rail that fires the cart back. I use powered rails every 6 rails to keep it moving all the way back. It's a nice way to get ore and loot from the bowels of my level 0-20 caves/abandoned mines/etc without having to lug it all the way back manually.
Mind you, building the protected rail system (to keep mobs off of it) was a bit tricky, but it works!
Spend some time searching on YouTube and you will come up with a few different ways.
Just have a personal minecart that stays at whichever location you are at. For the chest minecart, just put a hopper under the rail linked to a chest, so that when the chest minecart passes over, the items will enter the chest. It may not have enough time to completely empty, but
Another question! Let's say I send a cart with a bunch of stuff back home to my base using this design. The receiving chest at home is full. Is there a way to get the cart to deposit the items in an overflow chest somewhere?
And another thing! Can I connect a redstone lamp that turns on when a cart is currently moving along the rails so I know not to send another one? I am thinking of maybe using a detector rail to turn it on when a cart goes over it the first time, and then off when it comes back. Is there a way to do this?
So, I got home and built an automatic unloader. I'm running into some issues with it though.
If I follow a cart along the tracks, everything seems to work ok (though, the cart might be moving too fast when it hits the unloader). However, if I stay in my mine and send a chest cart to be unloaded, it ends up stopping along the way there or back with a full inventory. The track is not too terribly long--it's maybe a 30 second jorney from beginning to end for an unmanned cart. What's the deal?
Likely when you follow the cart you are unwittingly bumping into it, giving it a small boost. Remember that full minecarts have more "mass" than empty ones, so once they get a kick from a powered rail, they roll further. Also, curves and rises in the track bleed momentum away VERY rapidly from empty minecarts, not so much from full ones. So your return side rail will often need more powered rails than your sending one, depending on the distance traveled, the difference in level between the ends of the rail, and the complexity of the journey.
Additionally, any mobs that might get on the tracks can and will stop minecarts. So make sure that your track is secure by walling or fencing in the railway area and lighting it up really really well. (don't hesitate to go overboard on torches or other sources of light.)
Ultimately, it is a case of trial and error. Just send Empty carts around, then walk the track looking for places they get stuck, and either modify the terrain as needed (IE: Flatten small bumps and rises in the track or straighten out curvy areas) or add in a powered rail to boost them over that spot.
Another question! Let's say I send a cart with a bunch of stuff back home to my base using this design. The receiving chest at home is full. Is there a way to get the cart to deposit the items in an overflow chest somewhere?
You can connect multiple chests together using the funnels. The items will flow to the very last spot available and will fill from the back.
Once all your chests are full the next cart with items will get stuck. So make sure to empty your chests. In practice I found that a single large chest was more than enough for a couple 2 hour long sessions of mining and caving. YMMV.
And another thing! Can I connect a redstone lamp that turns on when a cart is currently moving along the rails so I know not to send another one? I am thinking of maybe using a detector rail to turn it on when a cart goes over it the first time, and then off when it comes back. Is there a way to do this?
Thanks again for all the help.
Yes, but it will require a redstone wire than runs the length of your track to light up the light.
it might be more profitable to simply keep a semi-automatic "loader" in place where you stop the cart. IE, an unpowered-powered rail with a button and a funnel with chest above it. You fill the "loader chest" as you play, and then when the empty cart returns it fills itself from the loader chest. The next time you are back you check the returned cart and if full you hit the button to send it on it's way back to the unloading station, then put your new loot into the loader chest ready for the next trip.
I will try to be more careful when following my carts, but I'm probably 90% certian that I'm not bumping into them. I tend to try to stay well behind them to avoid such a thing. So, it sounds like it shouldn't be a question of being too far away from me to work, right?
I am currently playing on peaceful, and the track is inaccessable to mobs of any kind.
Steey, without experimenting with it more, It sure looks like the mechanism won't work if I'm not near it. Also, the carts appear to just stop moving at one point. How can I make sure the required chunks stay loaded besides actually being in them?
I am currently playing on peaceful, and the track is inaccessable to mobs of any kind.
Steey, without experimenting with it more, It sure looks like the mechanism won't work if I'm not near it. Also, the carts appear to just stop moving at one point. How can I make sure the required chunks stay loaded besides actually being in them?
Ply om hrd mode newb.
Around you, chunks (16 x 16 squares that make up the world) are loaded. They run perfectly smoooth and everything is processed inside them. As soon as your minecart goes outside your loaded chuck range (10 chunks?) it will stop being processed by your computer. Using distance = rate x time your track is about 240 blocks long. If I'm correct in saying the loaded chunks around you is 10, your minecarts should stop about 160 blocks from the start of your track. The only way to load chunks right now is using hoppers at the edge of chunks to load them continuously or this:
Both options are not really worth it to transfer mining goodies 250 blocks. However do what you want.
A more compact item drop off system is in this video.
The rail is 212 blocks long. I just tried sending an empty cart along the track and I left my computer for a few minutes. The cart came back just fine, so that's not a concern anymore. Does the draw distance have anything to do with chunks staying loaded? I upped the draw distance before I tried from 9 to full (my computer is not so great). However, my unloader is not unloading my carts In these pictures, you can see the approach and the unloader itself. If I throw an item into the hopper under the powered rail, everything works and the rail turns off. When a cart approaches, it bounces back. I've moved the last powered rail around to test everything out, and th cart approaches the loader either too slowly or too quickly. I can't seem to get it just right.
Around you, chunks (16 x 16 squares that make up the world) are loaded. They run perfectly smoooth and everything is processed inside them. As soon as your minecart goes outside your loaded chuck range (10 chunks?) it will stop being processed by your computer. Using distance = rate x time your track is about 240 blocks long. If I'm correct in saying the loaded chunks around you is 10, your minecarts should stop about 160 blocks from the start of your track. The only way to load chunks right now is using hoppers at the edge of chunks to load them continuously or this:
Both options are not really worth it to transfer mining goodies 250 blocks. However do what you want.
A more compact item drop off system is in this video.
I usually don't play on peaceful, but I know you were just joking. I'm in Peaceful mode right now just to figure this rail situation out and while my wife is hopelessly lost in a cave carrying a bunch of diamonds.
I've got two points to make:
1. The mobs won't spawn if you're not near the minecart (aka following it)
2. If the chunks are not loaded, the mechanism contained in them will not work (unless I am mistaken)
So basically the unloader won't work if you're not loading the chunks it's in and the minecart will stop running on the border of the farthest loaded chunk.
Am I right?
#1 is partly correct. Peaceful mobs will spawn and can block mine carts.
#2 is incorrect. The rail system itself will cause the chunks to load, since an entity like the minecart cannot enter an unloaded chunk. Specifically, once a minecart, empty or full, is sent along the rails, it causes those chunks to load so that it can complete it's journey. Also, since the rail goes back to the main base it is likely he is loading those chunks before he goes down to the mine anyway.
The rail is 212 blocks long. I just tried sending an empty cart along the track and I left my computer for a few minutes. The cart came back just fine, so that's not a concern anymore. Does the draw distance have anything to do with chunks staying loaded? I upped the draw distance before I tried from 9 to full (my computer is not so great). However, my unloader is not unloading my carts In these pictures, you can see the approach and the unloader itself. If I throw an item into the hopper under the powered rail, everything works and the rail turns off. When a cart approaches, it bounces back. I've moved the last powered rail around to test everything out, and th cart approaches the loader either too slowly or too quickly. I can't seem to get it just right.
I usually don't play on peaceful, but I know you were just joking. I'm in Peaceful mode right now just to figure this rail situation out and while my wife is hopelessly lost in a cave carrying a bunch of diamonds.
The powered rail should be the very last rail in the line. That way the cart hits it and stops when it bumps against the block at the end. it should be OFF when a cart arrives and not turn on again until the cart is empty. I mention this because in your screenshot is appears that the rail is on with no cart on it.
The powered rail is indeed on when no cart is unloading. I belive that the tutorial I followed showed that this should work, as the minecart hits the top and starts to unload, which causes the rail to turn off--of course, I could have misunderstood...I'm fairly new to building mechanisims more complex than a lever + Sticky piston door.
It is clear that I need to rebuild my unloader. You say that it needs to be off when a cart arrives and then turn on to send the cart back. I understand why that is. I am not sure how to get that to happen. As you can see in the images, I don't have a lot of room to work with. I'd like to keep everything contained to the roof of my base though maybe I'll move the unloader to the roof of my farm that can be seen in the first picture since there's a lot more room there.
I sould add that this is the current version of Vanilla Minecraft.
How I've worked around this is to make a loop of tracks and the detector rail and comparator are hooked up with an inverter to change the direction of the track when it is empty, with hoppers under the tracks to pull items out. This will also require you to make a one way entrance to the loop so it can get in but not back out.
However I don't know if it would be possible to make this same track useable by yourself as well without issues with colliding with the other minecarts, so you may have to set up a separate track for yourself.
Bored enough to watch some vanilla lets plays? http://www.youtube.com/user/Crump3txxix
Need a good universal mob farm? Check out the Double Shift Towers. Designed for 1.9 and gets 22,000 Items / Hour with a very simple redstone set up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL8aoJpjjgU
Mind you, building the protected rail system (to keep mobs off of it) was a bit tricky, but it works!
Spend some time searching on YouTube and you will come up with a few different ways.
EDIT: I should note that I used the second design he shows. I don't use an automatic loader, just the unloader.
For the chest minecart, just put a hopper under the rail linked to a chest, so that when the chest minecart passes over, the items will enter the chest. It may not have enough time to completely empty, butJust use what's there, it's better than what I've got.
Thanks again for all the help.
If I follow a cart along the tracks, everything seems to work ok (though, the cart might be moving too fast when it hits the unloader). However, if I stay in my mine and send a chest cart to be unloaded, it ends up stopping along the way there or back with a full inventory. The track is not too terribly long--it's maybe a 30 second jorney from beginning to end for an unmanned cart. What's the deal?
Additionally, any mobs that might get on the tracks can and will stop minecarts. So make sure that your track is secure by walling or fencing in the railway area and lighting it up really really well. (don't hesitate to go overboard on torches or other sources of light.)
Ultimately, it is a case of trial and error. Just send Empty carts around, then walk the track looking for places they get stuck, and either modify the terrain as needed (IE: Flatten small bumps and rises in the track or straighten out curvy areas) or add in a powered rail to boost them over that spot.
You can connect multiple chests together using the funnels. The items will flow to the very last spot available and will fill from the back.
Once all your chests are full the next cart with items will get stuck. So make sure to empty your chests. In practice I found that a single large chest was more than enough for a couple 2 hour long sessions of mining and caving. YMMV.
Yes, but it will require a redstone wire than runs the length of your track to light up the light.
it might be more profitable to simply keep a semi-automatic "loader" in place where you stop the cart. IE, an unpowered-powered rail with a button and a funnel with chest above it. You fill the "loader chest" as you play, and then when the empty cart returns it fills itself from the loader chest. The next time you are back you check the returned cart and if full you hit the button to send it on it's way back to the unloading station, then put your new loot into the loader chest ready for the next trip.
Steey, without experimenting with it more, It sure looks like the mechanism won't work if I'm not near it. Also, the carts appear to just stop moving at one point. How can I make sure the required chunks stay loaded besides actually being in them?
Ply om hrd mode newb.
Around you, chunks (16 x 16 squares that make up the world) are loaded. They run perfectly smoooth and everything is processed inside them. As soon as your minecart goes outside your loaded chuck range (10 chunks?) it will stop being processed by your computer. Using distance = rate x time your track is about 240 blocks long. If I'm correct in saying the loaded chunks around you is 10, your minecarts should stop about 160 blocks from the start of your track. The only way to load chunks right now is using hoppers at the edge of chunks to load them continuously or this:
Both options are not really worth it to transfer mining goodies 250 blocks. However do what you want.
A more compact item drop off system is in this video.
I usually don't play on peaceful, but I know you were just joking. I'm in Peaceful mode right now just to figure this rail situation out and while my wife is hopelessly lost in a cave carrying a bunch of diamonds.
Skip to 6 minutes to see his design of the unloader. Never once had a problem when I built mine.
#1 is partly correct. Peaceful mobs will spawn and can block mine carts.
#2 is incorrect. The rail system itself will cause the chunks to load, since an entity like the minecart cannot enter an unloaded chunk. Specifically, once a minecart, empty or full, is sent along the rails, it causes those chunks to load so that it can complete it's journey. Also, since the rail goes back to the main base it is likely he is loading those chunks before he goes down to the mine anyway.
The powered rail should be the very last rail in the line. That way the cart hits it and stops when it bumps against the block at the end. it should be OFF when a cart arrives and not turn on again until the cart is empty. I mention this because in your screenshot is appears that the rail is on with no cart on it.
It is clear that I need to rebuild my unloader. You say that it needs to be off when a cart arrives and then turn on to send the cart back. I understand why that is. I am not sure how to get that to happen. As you can see in the images, I don't have a lot of room to work with. I'd like to keep everything contained to the roof of my base though maybe I'll move the unloader to the roof of my farm that can be seen in the first picture since there's a lot more room there.
Thanks again for all of the replies.