Please help with redpower "sorting" (LOL YEAH RIGHT) machine

[dieselfuelonly]

After having spent plenty of time with Logistics pipes in our old server I was disappointed to see it not included with any of the FTB packs, and adding it to my server really wasn't an option as it would result in more "omg how do i install this mod pls windows broke my minecraft.jar.exe.zip.tar.gz file when I tried to install it i mad now" whining than I'd ever want to have to deal with.

SO, with that being said, I decided to try to use a redpower sorting machine to accomplish the following task:

I have a stevescart set up to farm trees. It handles a couple things really well, such as placing saplings in its own "sapling" inventory before putting them in the main storage inventory. Unfortunately, it doesn't do that for its coal engine - it won't auto-fill the fuel slots with wood from the trees it cuts down. No problem, I'll just set up a cargo manager and distributor to handle this with a redpower sorting machine... right?

NOPE.

Here is the setup:

A sorting machine is connected to the cargo distributor. When the cart arrives it unloads all of its inventory, and that goes into the sorting machine. From the sorting machine, I want to have as much wood as possible go back into the cargo manager into the fuel section, and the rest pumped out to a lazy-store system with 15000 barrels. So, I set up my sorting machine with wood in the "red" column, and a tube connecting back to a different side of the distributor also painted red. The sorting machine is configured to default route stacks of items. In practice this works perfectly. Until the cart unloads saplings, apples, etc. They ALSO get sent to the red painted pipe, even though the sorting machine is set up to default route items to "no color" pipes.

Why is it doing this? Why doesn't it send items that don't have a specific route (or overflow for that matter, but that's another story) down to the no-color pipes to the barrels?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If there is any confusion I will get a video and/or screenshots tomorrow.

Thanks!

 

[Golrith]

Assign a colour to the unsorted items for safety. Uncoloured items will pass through any uncoloured tubes and their coloured tubes only. Not sure why they are being painted red though.

I'm not an expert at the sorting machines, but I've always made a point of assigning white to my unsorted items.

 

[Saice]

Uncolored items can go anywhere. If you want an over flow you are looking for the Restriction tube. This acts like its 500 some blocks away making it the last choice for any time.

Just as a rule RP sorts by color uncolored is unsorted and unsorted does not follow any rules but looking for closest inventory it can go in.

 

[Exedra]

I do believe its actually more around 10000 saice.

 

[vScourge]

I tripped on the same issue when I was first using tubes. It seemed logical that uncolored items would only go to uncolored destinations, but as mentioned above they go anywhere. When you color a pipe red, for instance, what you're really doing is saying "do not send any colored items that are not red down this pipe". It's still a valid destination for red-colored items and uncolored items.

 

[MilConDoin]

Something completely different:
Change your cargo manager mode to shared slots (one big inventory), start with unloading in the top left with refuelling (wood+saplings) after that (I have them in the bottom options). Pull your stuff out with filter+timer and disable that timer while the cart is near the manager. use two detector tracks and a latch for that. This way the engine can refuel itself just fine.
If you want to upgrade to charcoal as fuel (better efficiency of logs from your farm), use two managers instead of the filter+timer setup. The manager next to the cargo manager is set to one stack of saplings and one stack of charcoal (exact-mode), the other manager connected to your charcoal chest (one charcoal in the manager set to the other mode which ignores the exact numbers). This way all the logs, apples and overfill of saplings are churned out automagically, while the cart can refuel itself without hassle. If you use the charcoal made from sawdust for the plank fueled 36 HP boilers, you will get more than enough charcoal to keep the cart running.

 

[nevakanezah]

I have to agree with MilCon, your problem can be solved by changing the configuration of your cargo manager. Keep in mind that the operations it performs are done in order from right-to-left, top-to-bottom, so the bottom right arrow should drag wood to the fuel section of your cart.

I set up a steves cart tree farm using nothing more than 5 barrels and a cargo manager, and that thing runs eternally.

 

[dieselfuelonly]

I like these ideas so far, thanks for the help. Here is another issue that I'm noticing: when the cart unloads and the fermenter is already full of saplings and can't take the entire stack that the sorting machine sends, they go back and jam up the sorting machine. Is there any way I can get "rejected" items to follow the default route to storage? The saplings are painted yellow from the sorting machine and so when the excess ones return, they don't seem to take the default "purple" route that the other items take. Any suggestions?

 

[nevakanezah]

Use some sort of inventory buffer that allows for a bit of backup. A redpower relay is an absolutely ideal, if costly solution.

 

[bigtwisty]

I like these ideas so far, thanks for the help. Here is another issue that I'm noticing: when the cart unloads and the fermenter is already full of saplings and can't take the entire stack that the sorting machine sends, they go back and jam up the sorting machine. Is there any way I can get "rejected" items to follow the default route to storage? The saplings are painted yellow from the sorting machine and so when the excess ones return, they don't seem to take the default "purple" route that the other items take. Any suggestions?

Do not paint the "default" pipe path. If you use a restriction tube, all non-sorted items and any color sorted items that have no place to go will go down the default route. Color-sorted items with valid destinations will still ignore this default path due to the restriction tube.


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A reasonable facsimile of intelligence...

 

[Evil Hamster]

Just a quick question- why are you using a sorting machine on your cargo manager? The manager is it's own sorting machine.

 

[Icarus White]

More precisely, I believe there's another block you can stick onto the manager which allows you to access each slot separately. This allows for more fine-grained control.

 

[Saice]

I do believe its actually more around 10000 saice.

Might be I do not know the number but I do know its BFE away so basicly always is the last choice.

 

[dieselfuelonly]

More precisely, I believe there's another block you can stick onto the manager which allows you to access each slot separately. This allows for more fine-grained control.

Yep, the cargo distributor. I'm using that now, my sorting machine is connected to that block.

Do not paint the "default" pipe path. If you use a restriction tube, all non-sorted items and any color sorted items that have no place to go will go down the default route. Color-sorted items with valid destinations will still ignore this default path due to the restriction tube.

So, color code my items I want to be sorted. Are you saying put the restriction tube on the path(s) that the color sorted items go to, or put the restriction tube on the default route pipe?

 

[MrSwisstobi]

[ Sorting Machine ] <--- sort all items you want with a color

.. [ all other Items] <--- they just try to go to the next valid inventory => could be another Sorting Machine, chest or another restriction tube/normal tube.

If you set a color @Sorting machine but have no tube where it can go to, it will go to the default route => *look above*

 

[Saice]

Not ture abotu all other times. Most have a color option on the lower left so you can have say a filter pump out items to blue.

I use just such a setup in my suply system. I have three filters pulling tools from autocrafters and then send them down red blue and green tubes.

 

[MrZwij]

If I were setting this up from scratch today I'd use a clay golem and tell him to keep 64 wood in the appropriate side of the distributor, and give him a place to get it from. Keep in mind I've never actually done this with Steve's Carts blocks, but I think it should work.