Gregtech veins - How to find them?

[netmc]

I know it has been a couple weeks, but I'm having the same issue. I for the life of me cannot find any casserite/tin veins. I think I have found every type of ore vein except the tin I need to really get going. I'm about 1/2 way through building the bronze blast furnace to make steel. All the tin I've found so far has been from the small tin ores and dungeon loot chests. I did find enough steel in loot chests to make a plate mold for the alloy smelter. It's slow, but saves on the hammers.

I have been vertical mining the highland's rocky mountain biome to try and find some casserite veins, but have been really unlucky so far. I'm really considering skipping a lot of the GT content for now and starting up with Thaumcraft and Botania instead. I've looked at the recipe's needed to start the electrical age, and they require tons and tons of tin. I know my first machines will be the plate bender and wire mill, but the amount of tin needed for just those is about equal to all the tin I have found thus far. I was trying to make a go of GT without relying on the magic mods, but I may not have a choice...

 

[Pyure]

netmc, you really shouldn't have to do any mining to find tin. Just run past those high-elevation area with exposed rock face and look carefully to see if any tin/cassiterite is showing. 95% of everyone's tin is found this way.

 

[netmc]

I guess I will have to keep exploring then. I've searched the outside of the rock mountains completely, and haven't found any. I have found quite a few exposed veins of lignite, magnetite and others, but no tin. I'll see of I can get lucky generating new terrain that has exposed stone. I will definitely need a nether hub when I find some as I have already traveled over 1000 blocks in each direction without much luck. My seed keeps generating plains, oceans, or super high mountains.

 

[Pyure]

Just make sure you peer really closely at those mountains. Tin visually blends into stone, its almost impossible to see even when you're close to it.

 

[netmc]

I ran off about 2500 blocks away in a wide arc, and looked at anything that even remotely looked like it might contain some exposed stone. Most of the stone that was in the right Y level had other veins in it (I must have found a half dozen or more gold/magnetite veins). I had absolutely no luck with the tin veins although I did find several mini-dungeons and a few obelisks. I started looking through thaumcraft and researching a bit. With the GT additions, it looks like I can just transmute other metals into the tin I need, or get a little bit of automated alchemy set up, and completely bypass the bronze age (or at least the bronze blast furnace). I already have over half of the bronze blast furnace built though...

 

[madnewmy]

Well if this will help, one vein of tin will pretty much get you through the bronze age, unless you spend it like an idiot!

 

[The_Real_Gaw8y4]

The best thing you can do to find veins in GregTech 1.7 is to dig a straight mineshaft down the middle of every 3x3 chunk area. You'll find all the veins for the chunk 99% of the time. Tin is found high up on mountainous areas, copper is kinda in the middle, and graphite/diamond is way down at the bottom. Once you find a vein of everything, you'll be good until at least the electric age.

 

[netmc]

The best thing you can do to find veins in GregTech 1.7 is to dig a straight mineshaft down the middle of every 3x3 chunk area. You'll find all the veins for the chunk 99% of the time. Tin is found high up on mountainous areas, copper is kinda in the middle, and graphite/diamond is way down at the bottom. Once you find a vein of everything, you'll be good until at least the electric age.

I had been doing this, just having horrible luck. I occasionally would stumble upon a cave system or ravine and do a bit of spelunking. I did often find other veins doing this, and could mark off chunks I didn't need to vertical mine... I also found small tin ores in the process, so I have some to continue smelting to try and finish off the blast furnace. I've been rather stingy with my bronze age. I only have a steam furnace, macerator, 2 small boilers, and the minimum of required piping. Two small boilers aren't enough to keep an alloy smelter going all the time, so I have to wait until the steam builds up before I can smelt. I have been finding enough resources though to pretty much keep the smelter running as often as I can. Either making bronze or making plates. I think I have enough tin now to finish the blast furnace, but I will still need more tin to really get going into the electrical age... Wish me luck.

 

[Pyure]

The alloy smelter has a lot of extremely expensive recipes. You'll get into the habit of shutting down any other consumers while its running.

 

[asb3pe]

If you're really desperate you could install Pyrolusite's GregTech Alternate Textures (a resource pack). You'll never miss a tin vein again, trust me!

Oh, he updated his screenshots too. Ores/gems are now shown in their own image. See what I mean? You'll never miss a GT ore deposit ever again!! I'm not a huge fan of the resource pack's graphics, but in my opinion it is a must-have because not finding tin is a game-killer, you will soon drift off and not want to play if you can't find tin.