Petroleum Generator (A Forestry-esque BC/IC crossover mod)

[DrCeph]

Petroleum Generator 1.2.1 for MC1.4.6
A buildcraft <> IC2 crossover mod. Tasty on its own; Delicious served with a main course of Forestry.
This mod adds a Petroleum Generator to the game. This generator will produce EU directly from Buildcraft Fuel/Oil, which can be either pumped in as a buildcraft liquid pipes, or manually deposited using containers. Want to burn some Biofuel in this? Tough. DrCeph Industries doesn't believe in the green revolution. It is just a fad that will pass, like hypercolor and scrunchies.

Also recently added was an IC2-based processing chain to turn raw materials from TrainCraft (Oily Sands and Crude Oil ore) into Buildcraft oil. This chain is only enabled if TrainCraft is installed.

DOWNLOAD NOW (v1.2.1 for MC1.4.6, IC2 v1.112; Dropbox link)
older versions are here

NEWS: Now also available in the MindCrack modpack!

Why another BC/IC conversion mod?
Because Challenge maps!
Do you like balance? How about completeness? The focus of this mod is to make conversion of oil/fuel to EU a lossy process and to fix the scaling issues that come with using BC power directly.

Most conversion mods out there use coal as a conversion point between BC and IC2. Whilst I understand this position, once you get to higher tier fuels you have a conversion ratio that gets out of control. For example, Fuel producing about 1.5 million EU using a combustion engine through a MJ to EU conversion block (last tested using MC1.4.2, BC3.1.8, IC1.108 and Transformers 1.6). As SirSengir, of Forestry/Buildcraft points out, using coal to build the ratio ignores the different scaling between the two mods' power systems.

Enter Forestry: Forestry is great. It has an EU generator for Biofuels and a MJ engine that runs on EU. What it misses out however is EU generation using Buildcraft's oil resource. When combined with the Forestry mod this covers all aspects of the buildcraft power/fuel to EU conversions, with delicious inefficiencies.
How much EU will I get for oil and fuel?
I've modelled this generator on the EU conversion rates on the Bio Generator in the Forestry mod.

A bucket of oil will produce 30,000 EU at 10EU/t
A bucket of fuel will produce 300,000 EU at 25EU/t

Note 1: These values were derived by looking at the MJ output of oil compared to biomass, and of fuel compared to biofuel. Then a small boost due to Biofuels being super-nerfed due to being a renewable resource, which our favoured black-gold definitely is not!
Note 2: They have been tweaked slightly to make everything work nicely in integer space.
Note 3: Notice that the power ratio between fuel and oil is 10:1, conserving the BC power differential.(currently slightly better until I get around to an EU refinery mod!).
Crafting Recipe
The crafting recipe is as follows:
x A x
x B x
D C D
Where:
x = blank spot
A = Generator
B = Piston
C = Flint and Steel
D = Water Cell

In picture form:

Traincraft oily sands and ore processing chain

If Traincraft is installed PetroGen will enable a processing chain to convert the Oil Sands (oily sands) and Crude Oil (oily ore) from Traincraft into Petroleum Generator compatible BC oil. The conversion rate is 10x sands or 5x ore, plus work, giving one bucket of oil.

Step 1: Macerate ores into Bituminous Sludge (2x sands for 1 sludge, 1x ore for 1 sludge)

Step 2: Craft 5x Bituminous Sludge and 1x Empty Bucket to get 1x Bituminous Sludge Bucket (shapeless recipe, non-reversable)

Step 3: Extract 1x Bituminous Sludge Bucket into 1x Oil Bucket.

SCREENSHOTS

TODO


See the Github Issue Tracker.
Requirements
IC2 v1.110; BuildCraft 3.2.2 and Minecraft 1.4.5.
Installation
Follow the installation instructions for Forge, IndustrialCraft2 and BuildCraft. Once these are installed successfully, place the PetroGen mod file in the same 'mods' directory. Shake then stir.

Or simply use the Minecrack Modpack!
Change Log

• 1.2.1: Fixed bug where naturally generated TC ore blocks would not macerate due to non-standard ore generation
• 1.2:
  - Block front panel now faces player on placement
  - Cross-mod compatability - now able to convert TrainCraft ores into Buildcraft oil.
• See github for the full list of changes

License
See the github read me, due to post size constraints

In the interest of full disclosure, here are other places this mod has a presence:
Github (Source code) http://github.com/chrisduran/petroleumgenerator
IndustrialCraft2 forums (required dependancy): http://forum.industrial-craft.net/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=8385

 

[NosajDraw]

That's really cool, and I like the effort youve gone to balance things, next time I update I will certainly give your mod a go.

However for me, the thing really missing from FTB in this department is straight MJ to EU conversion, I have a large MJ power grid and generating plant in my base already, I need to convert to EU, not generate more power that happens to be EU.

 

[DrCeph]

Yeah I hear you mate. My plugin is focused on the scaling issues between the two systems. High tier BC items are orders of magnitude more powerful than high tier IC items (in terms of energy production), which is in turn "exploitable". That scale issue makes this mod ideal for challenge maps or people who want to make it a bit more difficult resource-wise.

For everyday 'build heaps of cool stuff' maps, I use Snyke's Transformers mod. You can just drop this into the FTB mods folder and it works sweet as.

 

[Dravarden]

Some ideas:

It should need power, like oil refineries need engines, this should use 1 steam engine power or maybe 3 redstone engines. And the recipe should be more expensive, like using an oil refinery, or tanks.

 

[Omicron]

That would be a bit counter-intuitive, Dravarden. No other energy-producing device needs engines. They are engines themselves - they consume fuel and output energy.

Think of this as a combustion engine, just without a movement animation. It wouldn't make sense to power a combustion engine with redstone engines to make it work, would it now?

 

[ScottWears]

Look interesting once FTB is updated to 1.4.5 I will certainly give it a go. Also I like the crafting recipe makes allot of sence

• The current texture is dire at best, learn to texture/model and/or blackmail somebody else to do it.

As a suggestion why don't you upload the texture file here and let the community help you out (there is allot of talent in the community) then just make sure you get permissions from the one you choose

 

[Dravarden]

That would be a bit counter-intuitive, Dravarden. No other energy-producing device needs engines. They are engines themselves - they consume fuel and output energy.

Think of this as a combustion engine, just without a movement animation. It wouldn't make sense to power a combustion engine with redstone engines to make it work, would it now?

Well, a steam engine needs coal to produce energy, just like redstone engine needs redstone to produce energy, just like the refinery needs power to produce fuel.

Of course, they take something and convert it into energy, and the petrolium takes oil and converts it (like a geotermal) so...

 

[NosajDraw]

Well, a steam engine needs coal to produce energy, just like redstone engine needs redstone to produce energy, just like the refinery needs power to produce fuel.

Of course, they take something and convert it into energy, and the petrolium takes oil and converts it (like a geotermal) so...

Huh? The engine, like an internal combustion engine takes refined fuel oils (petroleum amongst others) and converts them to energy, why on earth does it require another engine to do... to do... to do what? The engine in a car doesn't require another engine to first convert the petroleum into something else before it gets converted to kinetic energy.

 

[Dravarden]

Well, let's take another example, for food to be cooked, you need fire, is not like you put the food and then suddenly the kitchen starts, needs something to keep it going (just like a car engine, you don't pour fuel and magically does energy), in this case, you need fire to cook the food (or electricity for a car) and something to keep the fire going, wood for example.

So, for this, you just dont pour oil and wait for it to do magic, you need some tipe of energy to make it, or convert it, into electricity.

And that's my opinion.

 

[NosajDraw]

No, really, no, it requires an ignition source, like a flame, or a spark plug... or in the case of some internal combustion engines high pressure in the combustion chamber (which is why old cars and planes are kick started, they have no ignition, just pressure and fuel). But even where ignition is needed, it doesn't require another engine. My gas cooker is self lighting, and most modern day engines include their ignition system.

 

[Omicron]

Seriously... what you are saying is that if you build a campfire IRL, you need to supply electricity to keep it burning?! It makes no sense whatsoever.

This generator takes in fuel, and burns it, and gives off energy (in the form of EU).

It works exactly the same as:
- a vanilla furnace
- a generator
- a geothermal generator
- a nuclear reactor
- a stirling engine
- a steam engine
- a combustion engine
- a magmatic engine
- an electric engine
- a biogas engine
- a peat-fired engine
- do I need to keep going?

 

[Dravarden]

If you do a camp fire and don't put wood, it will eventually run out...

And if a Petroleum generator does not need an engine, then why a refinery does? It can just use 2% of the oil or something

 

[Mikey_R]

Although engines do need a redstone signal to turn them on and off, that might be an idea here so you can turn it off and prevent it from burning the fuel when you don't need it. Making it require another engine is not a good idea.

 

[Dravarden]

Although engines do need a redstone signal to turn them on and off, that might be an idea here so you can turn it off and prevent it from burning the fuel when you don't need it. Making it require another engine is not a good idea.

Redstone engine could be enough, or maybe just a redstone signal to be able to burn the fuel.

 

[Mikey_R]

It doesn't need an engine to run. You keep mentioning refineries, but the petroleum generator doesn't refine anything. It just takes in the fuel and burns it.

Putting it in a different way, it's like a combustion engine. You put fuel in, apply a redstone signal and it runs. It's the same principle here, put fuel in (make it redstone controllable) and it runs. The only difference between the two is that the combustion engine outputs MJ while the petroleum generator outputs EU.

 

[Dravarden]

Then you need something to start it (a car engine needs an ignition source to start burning fuel) so it needs a... redstone signal maybe?

 

[NosajDraw]

Then you need something to start it (a car engine needs an ignition source to start burning fuel) so it needs a... redstone signal maybe?

Why when virtually nothing works like that in Minecraft? And as I already pointed out, some combustion engine designs don't require an ignition source, mearly pressured fuel, at which point it explodes (combustion) and the engine is now running.

 

[Omicron]

I'd love for you to point me towards the ignition source of the vanilla furnace then...

 

[NosajDraw]

And if a Petroleum generator does not need an engine, then why a refinery does? It can just use 2% of the oil or something

An engine doesn't require an engine to work, because it is an engine, if engines required working engines to start work, you'd never be able to build the first working engine. The reason a refinery needs an engine is because its a refinery, and not an engine.

 

[ScottWears]

I agree that it should only need a red stone signal (lever) to start since and Engine Generator has all of the components for starting and running built in.