How to feed a Bioreactor (MFR)

[MilConDoin]

What is a good way to make sure, that a Bioreactor from MFR only runs with all 9 internal slots filled (for max efficiency of 160mB Biofuel/item)?
My current ideas are:
a) Two buffers from RP2, where 9 of the 10 sides are filled by different seeds/saplings/..., on an external input (e.g. biofuel tank half empty) a redstone signal will first pull the two filters adjacent to the buffers for filling the Bioreactor and after that activating the Bioreactor (=deactivating a redstone signal to it) for the time needed to convert the material to liquid.
b) Some kind of logic (e.g. via ComputerCraft) fills a turtle with one stack of each material. The turtle then first transfers all the material into the Bioreactor and activating it afterwards for the time needed, like above.

Are there any different methods, that would work? Better ones?

Edit: Can an RP2 manager keep a turtle filled with an exact amount of stacks?

 

[Ako_the_Builder]

I've not played with these yet as I'm on the launcher ultimate pack with no updates. What I planned on trying once I get it is an emerald buildcraft pipe with an autarchic gate. They have 9 filter slots and work on a round robin insert.

 

[Hoff]

Railcraft works pretty well. Someone posted a visual for it awhile back I'll see if I can find it. If using logistic pipes it becomes exceedingly easy with supplier pipes. What it comes down to is having a check for each item send a redstone signal to the reactor if there are none left or below a certain number. Pretty sure you could add a gate to a chest/barrel to check for a certain % left in the inventory then have it send the redstone signal and wire it over.


E: AE should also make this pretty easy I would think.

 

[Peppe]

What is a good way to make sure, that a Bioreactor from MFR only runs with all 9 internal slots filled (for max efficiency of 160mB Biofuel/item)?
My current ideas are:
a) Two buffers from RP2, where 9 of the 10 sides are filled by different seeds/saplings/..., on an external input (e.g. biofuel tank half empty) a redstone signal will first pull the two filters adjacent to the buffers for filling the Bioreactor and after that activating the Bioreactor (=deactivating a redstone signal to it) for the time needed to convert the material to liquid.
b) Some kind of logic (e.g. via ComputerCraft) fills a turtle with one stack of each material. The turtle then first transfers all the material into the Bioreactor and activating it afterwards for the time needed, like above.

Are there any different methods, that would work? Better ones?

Edit: Can an RP2 manager keep a turtle filled with an exact amount of stacks?

Why use a turtle and a manager? Turtles would be an unnecessary middle man.

Manager should work directly on the reactor.

Clay Golems/advanced clay golems should work directly on the reactor.

Cheapest option I have done is railcraft loaders/unloaders. Example:
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/mfr-bioreactor-values.16643/page-3#post-199958

To control when it runs with the railcraft system i just used a buildcraft gate. The gate can only see the upper inventory, so if you activate it on empty it will not let the reactor run unless there are items in the upper buffer inventory. With railcraft you can tell it to wait for specific inventory level when filling the cart chest, so you can be sure a chest cart always delivers a certain set of items.

For other level management system you can do reactor on/off more exact with a diamond gate and inventory settings on a per item basis -- it has 8 filter slots, so you could use an or gate and filter for 8 item types and turn the reactor off if any one of the items is missing from the upper inventory. This we you can ensure at least 8 different items are in the upper inventory, if you wanted to filter for all the types you could do the final item on a gold gate.

 

[Milaha]

I just used AE and made sure I never ran out of any of the mats. Not exactly the most foolproof plan, but it worked just fine and never caused a problem.

 

[MilConDoin]

Why use a turtle and a manager? Turtles would be an unnecessary middle man.

Manager should work directly on the reactor.

My thought was, that the manager brings the stuff in over time, so there would be times when the reactor runs with less than 9 fermentables in it. The turtle would check if it had all 9, then insert them into the manager and finally activate the reactor.

Clay Golems/advanced clay golems should work directly on the reactor.

Same problem like the direct manager.

Cheapest option I have done is railcraft loaders/unloaders. Example:
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/mfr-bioreactor-values.16643/page-3#post-199958

To control when it runs with the railcraft system i just used a buildcraft gate. The gate can only see the upper inventory, so if you activate it on empty it will not let the reactor run unless there are items in the upper buffer inventory. With railcraft you can tell it to wait for specific inventory level when filling the cart chest, so you can be sure a chest cart always delivers a certain set of items.

For other level management system you can do reactor on/off more exact with a diamond gate and inventory settings on a per item basis -- it has 8 filter slots, so you could use an or gate and filter for 8 item types and turn the reactor off if any one of the items is missing from the upper inventory. This we you can ensure at least 8 different items are in the upper inventory, if you wanted to filter for all the types you could do the final item on a gold gate.

Looks great, I'll probably implement something like this.

 

[Peppe]

My thought was, that the manager brings the stuff in over time, so there would be times when the reactor runs with less than 9 fermentables in it. The turtle would check if it had all 9, then insert them into the manager and finally activate the reactor.


Same problem like the direct manager.


Looks great, I'll probably implement something like this.

I guess you could write a turtle program to do that last buffer check, but buildcraft 'or' gates gold or better can easily check for missing item types and emit a signal until they are all satisfied.

Milaha method also works with any inventory system if you can be sure you will overproduce on all item types then you will always keep the MFR topped off.

 

[Hoff]

You could also do golems/manager with gates on the reactor checking the inventory to see if satisfied for all 9.

 

[DoctorOr]

You could also do golems/manager with gates on the reactor checking the inventory to see if satisfied for all 9.

Gates only investigate the 9 "pre-processing" inventory slots. You would need to load it in a manner that no one item was taking two slots.

The only true solution I've found to only allow it to run when it has 9 unique items is a turtle that holds items until it has a full stack, turns off the reactor, loads all nine stacks, and then turns it back on.

A much better solution is 9 routers pointed to specific slots that you keep supplied and not worrying about it if it happens to run with 6 or 7. Since in 1.5.1, only 3 unique items still means you're generating more biofuel than you would with vanilla saplings (and much more than with lower items) it's just not a big issue.

 

[Hoff]

Gates only investigate the 9 "pre-processing" inventory slots. You would need to load it in a manner that no one item was taking two slots.

The only true solution I've found to only allow it to run when it has 9 unique items is a turtle that holds items until it has a full stack, turns off the reactor, loads all nine stacks, and then turns it back on.

A much better solution is 9 routers pointed to specific slots that you keep supplied and not worrying about it if it happens to run with 6 or 7. Since in 1.5.1, only 3 unique items still means you're generating more biofuel than you would with vanilla saplings (and much more than with lower items) it's just not a big issue.

Why would it matter which they look at? It'd just be pumping in items until each of the slots has one of each type or you can pre-load it that way. Either is a non-issue. Unless you're that hard up for having a nest egg of 64 of each type in it, in which case; why are you automating it?

 

[DoctorOr]

Why would it matter which they look at? It'd just be pumping in items until each of the slots has one of each type or you can pre-load it that way. Either is a non-issue. Unless you're that hard up for having a nest egg of 64 of each type in it, in which case; why are you automating it?

Because the pre-processing slots will happily fill with 9 full stacks of 1 item.

 

[Hoff]

Because the pre-processing slots will happily fill with 9 full stacks of 1 item.

Again pre-load. From there just set it up to do partial requests.

 

[Zjarek_S]

I started 1.5 world focused mainly on MFR and it seems that nothing beats pumpkins/melons as a energy source for bioreactor. They can be farmed so easily with IC2 crops (or just with pistons) and one pumpkin provides 4 seeds, which equals to 320 mB of biofuel without any bonus.

 

[qap]

I had a manager directly connected to bio reactors, they kept the buffer slots stocked up exactly to my set ammount.
The problem I had with that setup was the bio reactor just stopped working at any given time.
I then just let the managers put the items into a chest that feeds the bio reactor with four emerald pipes to maintain the correct ratio. That does work until now.
This is a setup for a maximum of four ingredients tho...
Nonetheless giving me about 750 EU/t for each bio reactor->3 High pressure liquid boilers->Power converter setup. I _think_, i may be able to add a fourth.

This was on ultimate 1.01, maybe the updated MFR mod allows for using the manager without the reactor stopping now.

 

[Hoff]

I had a manager directly connected to bio reactors, they kept the buffer slots stocked up exactly to my set ammount.
The problem I had with that setup was the bio reactor just stopped working at any given time.
I then just let the managers put the items into a chest that feeds the bio reactor with four emerald pipes to maintain the correct ratio. That does work until now.
This is a setup for a maximum of four ingredients tho...
Nonetheless giving me about 750 EU/t for each bio reactor->3 High pressure liquid boilers->Power converter setup. I _think_, i may be able to add a fourth.

This was on ultimate 1.01, maybe the updated MFR mod allows for using the manager without the reactor stopping now.

I assume the manager outputs a redstone signal when it has accomplished what it is set to do? If so that would be your problem.

 

[qap]

D'oh!
You very righteously do assume so

 

[Dare2Win]

*sigh, i wish the server i played on had MFR, but it isnt exactly FTB either, would make farms so much better

 

[Hoff]

D'oh!
You very righteously do assume so

Glad I could be of service :3

 

[Berserkenstein]

*sigh, i wish the server i played on had MFR, but it isnt exactly FTB either, would make farms so much better

This may seem like salt on a wound, but the best part about MFR is how awesome it makes farming.

 

[power crystals]

I just pushed a change for the newest MFR betas (for 1.5.1) that will make BioReactors refuse duplicate inputs. Anything that behaves nicely with the new vanilla ISidedInventory (I tried MFR and vanilla hoppers) will respect this, so you can just jam whatever in there and not need to worry about it being filled with 8 stacks of oak saplings. Now you're just down to figuring out how to send it 9 kinds of things at once.