rhn's continued adventures: a build journal, guide collection etc.

[rhn]

Regarding mysterious light-source i suggest you check its not behind block which appear to be lighted-up or exactly above on ceiling. If you had floodlamps installed you may know about debug option to show light-source-beam which helped a lot as those lamps use to leave some light-sources behind. Other way around is to use forge-wordedit and cut specific block. I had multiple problems with unplaceable blocks or bugged areas all solved with above tool. Disabling smooth lighting can help you pinpoint exact location.

I found the exact location. Was pretty simple using the F3 light meter. It is a block smack in the middle of the air in one of the pits, rather puzzling location. I suppose it could be a left over from the Wrath Lamps I used before I added the water (and glass that keeps the water away from the reactors for easier access). If it persists I might try worldedit on this and a few other troublesome spots. Have had some different multipart components(PR wires, Mekanism pipes etc.) bug out in a few locations too.

I think i remember you showing us those holes for reactors. Control room looks nice. I was a bit disappointed that loading crane is only aesthetic, lightning is pretty basic and there is no special entrance to these rooms as far as i can see but meh. On right side of last picture i see some fancy displays is it part of control room ? I guess reactors are fed by/controlled by AE.

Yeah would be awesome if the crane thingy was functional

I agree on the lighting, I will probably try and redo that somehow. Just not sure how. In other places I have added fictive lamps and then used hidden torches covered by microblocks in the floors/walls to give the actual lights where I wanted it(generally where the lamps in RL would have cast its light). But that idea doesn't work with the water Also hate how the shadows work on the water...

Yes since the reactor room grew out as part of normal early survival need for power there is no real entrance for the place. It is generally just another room in the bunker(at least the control room is). Had it been a creative build or later than it was I definitely would have made it a separate section/building. (there is a slight problem I think in how close the nuclear fuel refinery is to the kitchen )
I could make the entrance to the nuclear reactors go through the lockerrooms of the fuel refinery area. That probably makes more sense than through the control area. Will look into that.

The "fancy displays" are CC Monitors showing the status of my BigReactor reactors. That section is still a WiP. Very much so because I am having problems with that any CC scripts that I try will randomly terminate themselves without any error messages and the Computers will not reboot themselves again. All my other CC scripts runs fine, it is only the ones that interact with the BR reactors that cause problems...
Best guess is that it is some problem with how my server runs, as I think it was fine before I transferred it over. Could be that one of the requests is timing out or something due to the large load in the area.

I guess reactors are fed by/controlled by AE.

I have set up a ME subnetwork(don't want radioactive matter in my normal network!) yes that handles the fuel for the reactors. The actual fuel is inserted/extracted with Routers(It was easier since two pairs can service all of the reactors, 32xUranium and 4xMOX). ME then crafts the fuel to insert into the routers and processes the spent cells.

 

[KingTriaxx]

I don't think the problem lies with Big Reactors. I had that issue with computers in both 1.5, and 1.6 worlds. In the former, it hit all the computers at once, in the latter it would only hit a computer, then I had to actually trash can that computer and make a new one before it would work.

And of course the Reactor is beside the kitchen. How else do you nuke lunch?

 

[rhn]

Looking into building a new PC and would be grateful is anyone would look it over and come with some feedback:
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/building-new-pc-feedback-appreciated.127096/

 

[dranier]

First like to give my congratulations for your work, really your detail level is amazing, I was amazed.

Sorry to bring a so ancient part of their job, but I was very curious in relation to suspended pipelines did you do at that stage, I imagine they are pure aesthetics, but could not identify how you did the curves, knees pipes. You tell me which method you use?

 

[masterzh]

First like to give my congratulations for your work, really your detail level is amazing, I was amazed.

Sorry to bring a so ancient part of their job, but I was very curious in relation to suspended pipelines did you do at that stage, I imagine they are pure aesthetics, but could not identify how you did the curves, knees pipes. You tell me which method you use?

I am not sure what you mean, (if knees pipe is technical term i am not aware of) but most of aesthetic things you see on picture are microblocks. For pipes e.g. less then full block he use pillars(you can adjust thickness) and for mechanical support of pipes e.g. pillars from ceiling he used microblock stripes build on inside perimeter of pipe e.g. pillar. Sloped block is obviously Carpenter's mod.

[Edit] Corrected some errors in my post. sorry

 

[rhn]

First like to give my congratulations for your work, really your detail level is amazing, I was amazed.

Sorry to bring a so ancient part of their job, but I was very curious in relation to suspended pipelines did you do at that stage, I imagine they are pure aesthetics, but could not identify how you did the curves, knees pipes. You tell me which method you use?

I am not sure what you mean, (if knees pipe is technical term i am not aware of) but most of aesthetic things you see on picture are microblocks. For pipes e.g. less then full block he use pillars(you can adjust thickness) and for mechanical support of pipes e.g. pillars from ceiling he used microblock stripes build on inside perimeter of pipe e.g. pillar. Sloped block is obviously Carpenter's mod.

[Edit] Corrected some errors in my post. sorry

The small diameter pipes are actually Project Red "Framed Wires" that have applied Microblock Covers to them. You can use the default wire(cheaper in wool) or any of the coloured ones if you need multiple lines to stay apart.
I am using those because you can make smoother bends with them. Using Microblock Pillars would just make "crosses" and not the knee bends like you see on the picture.

Example:

And the supports are of course just microblock strips. They can exist inside the block alongside the wire since they are multipart compatible.

As a bonus you can run redstone signals through them if you need to

 

[imPlayin]

You could also do the same thing with extra utilities pipe jackets if you need to actually use the pipe for something (like items, liquid, rf)

 

[rhn]

You could also do the same thing with extra utilities pipe jackets if you need to actually use the pipe for something (like items, liquid, rf)

That is a very good idea. But mostly I make them purely for cosmetic purposes, and then I want something with as little a resource "footprint" as possible.

 

[imPlayin]

I honestly don't think there's a big difference in resource "footprint" between inactive redstone wires and unused extraUtils pipes. As far as I know the Transfer Nodes are doing all the "thinking" and the pipes themselves don't do aneything (might be wrong about that) I just think that extraUtils pipes are easier to work with.

 

[rhn]

I have decided to put my TPPI world on pause for a while. At least for a bit. Still keeping it around and might go back and do a bit of work on it now and again.Just thought I needed a bit of a diversion for the moment.
So I wanted to make sure you all had the latest up to date save, find it here:
http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/thr...uide-collection-etc.42664/page-20#post-790941
This includes the Fusion reactor and other recent additions.
As usual: If you take the teleport from the spawn area you will find all my gear close by.

I am tinkering on a new project, more on that shortly.

 

[rhn]

Going Medieval(and magic) on the TPPI2 pack
As mentioned above, I felt like I needed a diversion. I have also had this urge to build castles and generally in a medieval style for a while, but it just did not fit into my TPPI world. I also realise that I probably need to start playing some of the "new"(more than a year old now...) 1.7 mods to keep up

I shopped around for a while to figure out what pack to base the new world on, but must admit that I found nothing that was "medieval and magic" focused, well balanced while also being good for creative(not the game mode) building.
I ended up making a list of mods that I absolutely wanted with the prospect of heavily modifying something like Infinity(dreading the amount of configuring and possible tweaking I needed to do). But while I was using the TPPI2 list as inspiration for mods I realised to my surprise that it was nearly a perfect fit! I have always treated it like a tech modpack(and disabled the magic mods ), but there is quite a well-rounded base for magic too. And it is well rounded with lots of building support, and nicely balanced(compared to still being in beta, missing GT).

What I ended up with then was using TPPI2 as a basis for my world. So far I have added only a few mods:

• Decocraft: Because building.
• Realistic World Generation: Better world generation(the mod is actually discontinued, but its successor RTG is in a very rough state).
• Immersive Engineering: I am not going to be able to skip all tech completely. This mod adds some nice low tech solutions to power gen etc. that I could work in a medieval world(with a bit of building magic).
• Journeymap: Because maps.

Disabled:

• Hats: Why...
• Infernal Mobs: I am not playing Minecraft because it is a good hack'n'slash.
• Morph: Always seemed like a gimmick mixed with OP abilities to me.
• Super Massive Tech: Trying too hard to be OP I think, I don't want or need that.

I could disable more of the tech mods I suppose, but I might want to use parts of them(cosmetic blocks, machines hidden in a cosmetic facade, tools...).

 

[rhn]

Early days and I managed to spawn a perfect world for what I had in mind on the very first try!
(well I might have spawned a couple of worlds while I was configuring and adding mods, but once everything was set the first world was perfect)

Seed for anyone interested:
-3871149556056249562

Spawned right near this nice little village(these Witchery tweaks to villages are really great):

(It is a full time job almost to clear out all the trees lol. Easy early game wood at least once I got some Stone Lumber Axes made )

Perfect place to call home while I set up.
Disclaimer: I cheated my first and only time here. I cheated in a single Magnum Torch. I simply love the bustling life of the villagers, but my constant presence would quickly kill them off(despite of the guards) I think.

I set up in this Railcraft workshop:

The usual early game setups:

I like the Storage Drawers, nice and compact way of storing items you have in multiple stacks. Lower capacity than Barrels so still using those for the bulk items.

I really wanted some automated ore doubling and smelting, so went with a set from EnderIO. Will try and find a solution more in style or hide it better later.

To power the Ore doubling etc. I went with a Immersive Engineering Windmill:

I simply slapped it unto the nearby guard tower But I definitely see potential in this(and the water wheel). Could be a good medieval style way of powering things as long as I just hide all the RF stuff. And they look neat
I will definitely be building some proper windmills and water mills later.

A nearby house and courtyard got dedicated to Botania:

So far just some very basic stuff to allow me to make Baubles, tools, armour, cheap improvised flight(Rod of the Skies+Hang Glider) etc.

Was a bit lucky that the village came with a smeltery as well:

Took relatively few materials to get a working smeltery going because of it, and I have since also expropriated another villages smeltery to expand it.
Mining is much easier now with an Osmium based Hammer and Manasteel(Fortune III, Efficiency IV <- Lucky enchant ) Pickaxe. Made myself some mossy cobble through the crafting recipe(cobble, bucket of water and wheat) to get repair on the hammer and so far I have not had to repair it.

Once again I was pretty lucky:

Inside the village walls actually had plenty of cows. And just outside I found more cows, sheep and chickens. Was an easy task of simply leading them inside.

Since there were loads of books in the village I also managed to get an Enchantment Table set up pretty early:

Used another of the houses for it. Quite like it how I slowly turn all the houses into actually functional locations(albeit temporarily probably)


Nearby the village I found this mountain side:

IMO it is just ideal for a mine entrance and I plan to turn the entire area her into a mine later. So far I just used it to go manually mining inside.

But, now to probably the main reason why this seed was so ideal:

The castle mound!
I already started playing around with Building Guides to test the different plateaus as you can see. The Building guide you can see is going to be the location of the main entrance to the castle. The big snowy plateau is probably going to be a courtyard and then there will be different towers and buildings on the summits and other plateaus(the mountain it quite a lot larger than indicated here).

So to get an overview of the seed and my plan:

The grand plan is to create a large castle housing all my different needs(areas for different magic etc.). The village will then be supporting(both in a cosmetic, but also a real sense there possible) the castle with food, wood, stone and ore through farms, logging camps and the mine.

A further indication to how perfect this seed seems, that bright green biome is a Magical Forest from Thaumcraft A great environment for some outdoor magic and manabeen farming.

 

[davecats]

How you get further than all my modded world progress put together in a single stint confounds me. It just simply confounds me.

 

[rhn]

How you get further than all my modded world progress put together in a single stint confounds me. It just simply confounds me.

Oh I have been playing this for a few days already to test it out if I really wanted to go with it or not

 

[KingTriaxx]

Storage Drawers are upgradeable, like the barrels. But where they're incredibly cool, is actually compacting ones. You can store things like redstone as both dust and blocks, or ingots as nugget/ingot/block. If you hide ye olde AE system, it reads them properly. Plus it looks really cool.

I like your mine. Just needs some window dressing.

 

[rhn]

Storage Drawers are upgradeable, like the barrels. But where they're incredibly cool, is actually compacting ones. You can store things like redstone as both dust and blocks, or ingots as nugget/ingot/block. If you hide ye olde AE system, it reads them properly. Plus it looks really cool.

I like your mine. Just needs some window dressing.

Yeah I have already upgraded them once with Iron(you can probably spot the iron edges on them).
When I have a place with more room, I will definitely use the compacting drawers. Really handy for easy access to nuggets/Blocks for example.
Also looking forward to trying the controller once I have been to the nether a trip(I should do that soon).

I have not yet decided, but feel like I would like to keep things simpler this world and possible avoid a ME system. At least on a large scale. I will try and force myself to use other more "low tech" solutions instead where applicable(Logistic Pipes, minecarts, golems etc.). But suspect that a hidden ME crafting network linked to some physical storages might simply be too convenient to go without.

The plan for the mine(so far) is to dig out large pits and make multiple mine entrances in the hillside. Dress it all up with support beams, roads, cranes, lifts and minecart tracks etc.

 

[KingTriaxx]

Yeah, I like the low tech feel, but I've noticed a handy way to hide the high tech, is to have the walls several blocks thick, and use a piston or drawbridge to move a block. When the block is moved away, each of the four faces has a terminal on it. When you're done, the concealing block reappears, and the terminals are completely out of sight.

Mostly though it's because I know that AE can interface with the drawer controller, and with LP, but I don't know if LP can interface with the drawer controller. Of course if it can't it's a two block AE jumper cable to fix it. Haven't tried yet.

 

[splashblue]

It's great to see you back in action again, can't wait for the 'medieval' builds you've planned.
Immersive Engineering seems to be a good fit for this style. Go inspire people

 

[rhn]

Started the rather daunting task of mapping out the basic castle outline on the mountain:

I am trying my best to use the terrain as it is and use it to a strategical advantage to make it seem realistic.
For example the main gate here only opens up into a smaller courtyard. Another set of walls, gatehouse and a long gauntlet serves as a second layer of protection.

The second, main? courtyard:

The free standing tower is planned to be a more direct route to and from the mines(probably for minecarts) for ores and such. Not really sure about it yet. Might change it.

Still loads to do, the mountain is big Only about 1/3rd around the mountain with the outer walls so far.

 

[KingTriaxx]

Usually it'd be upper and lower courtyards, not necessarily defined by actual altitude as size. Still, I like the look. Nice work.