[GregTech-5][1.7.10-FORGE-1355+][Unofficial but approved Port][Stable] Even GT5 Experimental is slowly getting stable.

    The Dimensions section says "Nether_true=true" for Nether Quartz mixed veins, as does the mix {} section.

    The way variables get declared in the config is weird. Why would you include the value of a variable in the name? The Nether Mix section declares "OrePrimaryLayer_522" to be 522, rather than what I'd expect, which would be declaring "OrePrimaryLayer" and the value is the ore ID. I get the impression the code is only looking for the presences of certain variables and the value is immaterial. But then, I've never done any Minecraft mod coding - my experience is all with C++ and similar languages.

    It still seems odd to me, since it implies the code is checking for dozens of different variables names for PrimaryOre values instead of one.

    Anyway, I digress. I'm still running the default worldgen config, which means I should expect nether quartz veins to generate. So far I've seen no evidence that they do. Up until the point I started using the seismic prospector, I assumed it was just because I was having trouble sinking exploratory shafts in the Nether.

    Does it matter what you use to activate the Prospector? I've been using 8x stick of dynamite, since that was the easiest to make. My understanding is that the search box is 5x5 chunks no matter how you activate it, that the only difference between dynamite, TNT, industrial TNT, and nitro glycerol cells was the cost. I've taken to activating at (+48, +48 ) relative to the 96x multiple, on the theory I'm hitting 4 vein chunk centers from there. My grid is in multiples of 96, since the vein grid is 3 chunks apart and the oil grid is 6 chunks apart. That means I've got a 1 chunk gap between search areas, but that shouldn't matter.

    Quote from Gus_Smedstad

    It still seems odd to me, since it implies the code is checking for dozens of different variables names for PrimaryOre values instead of one.


    It's not checking multiple variable names in the config (for a given PrimaryOre in a given mix). It's constructing the variable name to check in the config based on the hard-coded default material for that mix.

    Quote from Gus_Smedstad

    Anyway, I digress. I'm still running the default worldgen config, which means I should expect nether quartz veins to generate. So far I've seen no evidence that they do. Up until the point I started using the seismic prospector, I assumed it was just because I was having trouble sinking exploratory shafts in the Nether.


    I think the dimensions section you found is evidence that it at least tried to generate a nether quartz vein somewhere in the Nether, though possibly in an area where there was no substrate for it to actually generate in.

    Quote from Gus_Smedstad

    Does it matter what you use to activate the Prospector? I've been using 8x stick of dynamite, since that was the easiest to make. My understanding is that the search box is 5x5 chunks no matter how you activate it, that the only difference between dynamite, TNT, industrial TNT, and nitro glycerol cells was the cost. I've taken to activating at (+48, +48 ) relative to the 96x multiple, on the theory I'm hitting 4 vein chunk centers from there. My grid is in multiples of 96, since the vein grid is 3 chunks apart and the oil grid is 6 chunks apart. That means I've got a 1 chunk gap between search areas, but that shouldn't matter.


    As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter what explosive type you use. However, the search box is 5x5 blocks, not 5x5 chunks. At least with the regular seismic prospector. There's an advanced seismic prospector on GItHub (not in .28pre, possibly in one of the newer preview builds, though) with a radius specified in the constructor, but GitHub search won't show me where that's called, so I don't know what value(s) that gets.

    Well, shoot. I thought the Wiki said 5x5 chunks, but when I double-checked, you're right, it's 5x5 blocks. It seems likely that because I was deliberately choosing spots midway between veins, I'm missing most of the veins.

    5x5 blocks is very small, but my usual spiral 3x3 spiral staircase for manual exploration exposes about that many blocks, and I've had good results with that. I need to re-do my search with (+24, +24 ) offsets searching 3 chunks apart, like my original, manual search for ore.

    Ah, understood.
    Well, I'm using default ore gen too, and found two veins of quartz until now.
    But I spent a lot of time exploring there, looking for Nickel.
    I think, at least on nether, you will find it fasters just running, instead prospecting. Just be careful to not get lost :D

    "Careful not to get killed" is the bigger issue. My experience with running around in the large open spaces in the Nether is that ghasts are everywhere.

    Getting lost is a problem too, even with a map mod installed. The map mod works well with the Overworld, but in the Nether what it shows rarely resembles the maze-like actual spaces. It's been a been help in keeping track of where I've tunneled and prospected, but not so great if I just explore the existing spaces.

    I spent some time today in Creative mode, learning some things about IC2 crops (and by extension, Gregtech crops).

    My motivation is a bit convoluted. I like the Project Red lighting options, particularly now that I have a very large supply of glowstone from redstone processing. It requires dye, however, and for the most part I want white or at most light gray dye for my lights. Currently I'm primarily limited by dye for replacing all my torches with overhead light fixtures on those big block lamps.

    There aren't a lot of good options for getting dye, particularly white dye, in industrial quantities. I mean 10+ stack quantities, not 20-30 bonemeal. I have not found a Skeleton Spawner, for example, and waiting for skeletons to spawn in a darkened mob-grinder seems kind of slow, and also potentially annoying - zombie gargling irritates me.

    Besides, I'm aware that there are some interesting plants available, and I didn't really understand the system.

    Anyway, some online research and testing revealed a few things I didn't know. Namely, that a Forestry multifarm in Manual Orchard mode is actually pretty good at growing Gregtech crops. It keeps the Fertilizer and Hydration levels high, and it non-destructively harvests crops when they mature. While the material cost is somewhat high, it's not nearly as difficult to make a multifarm as it is to make an IC2 Crop Harvester under Gregtech rules. It services a much larger area than the IC2 Cropmatron or Harvester. You can even build the ideal 4-deep stack of dirt under your crops, because the vertical reach of the Multifarm above the farmland brick layer is considerable.

    The tricorder can work as a limited version of the Cropnalyzer. It doesn't give growth stages like the Cropnalyzer does, but it does show you the hidden stats like nutrition and air quality.

    The precise effect of air quality is still obscure. Height's very important - a ground level farm has very poor air quality compared to one at level 80 or 100. Several pages have mentioned that "flowers require high air quality," but no there are no numbers giving minimum air quality, as there is with light levels. The Cropnalyzer doesn't tell you that either when you look at a plant or a seed bag.

    Anyway, on my "to do eventually" list is now to breed Gregtech crops like the Corpseplant and Corium. Oilberries not so much, since I've got a very steady supply of oil from drilling now.

    Well, I'm learning about crops myself, this may help: https://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/ic2-cr…-indepth.14316/
    Read the commentaries too, they correct somethings there. I believe +124 is enough for air quality, clear skies, and no block around the plants.

    I just can't make myself to like forestry machines, so I will try using the IC² harvester. I used before, and liked, may need to spam a few, but they cover a 9x9 area, I don't think I will use a lot.

    For maps, I use Rei minimap, as I can set a waypoint, which emit a beacon of light, so is very easy to use. it sets a point too, that you can see even trough walls.

    Gregtech does have White Dyes, but seems that there's not recipe for them: http://ftb.gamepedia.com/Dye_(GregTech_5)
    Another source are tulips, but I don't know if you can farm them.

    I'm not fond of most of the Forestry machines either, but I like the Multifarm well enough. I try and use Gregtech substitutes when I can.

    I did have to use Forestry's Carpenter to make Bog Earth for the Peat Farm. It turns out that the Regulator can put things into specific slots in the Carpenter, so it's guaranteed not to jam when using multiple ingredients. The slot #''s for the input spaces start at 13.

    Xaero's Minimap has waypoints, and you can see them an infinite distance away, including through walls. That's helpful, but I still find that the Nether's twisting passages of mazes all alike can confuse me.

    I knew about Gregtech's white dye. I'm a little tempted to use Minetweaker to make a reasonable White Dye recipe. I.e. Calcium -> White Dye through the Chem Reactor or something. Given that Bonemeal is considered "white dye," calcium doesn't seem inconsistent. I've got a large supply of Calcium from ore.

    White Tulips produce gray dye, not white. They're sort-of farmable. I've seen some videos for generic flower farming in vanilla Minecraft, doing things like using pistons to push the ground back and forth to break the flowers, and a hopper minecart running continuously to collect the drops.

    I really hadn't intended to shut you down.

    As for being better informed, I learned about white tulips being light gray and flower-farming yesterday morning, when I started griping to myself about sources of white dye.

    Last night I looked up "calcium white dye" and discovered that calcium compounds were only used as inert stabilizers in organic dyes, not as dyes themselves. Unless you count whitewash, which is not really a pigment and impermanent when used as a paint. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a commonly used white pigment today, and something it would be entirely reasonable to make in a chemical reactor.

    Historically there's white lead (2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2), which no one uses anymore because of lead poisoning. There's also titanium white (TiO2), but there's no way I or anyone else would want to sacrifice titanium for white dye.

    My minetweaker-fu is still weak. I don't know how to discover object / resource names on my own, so I have to search other people's scripts for the proper syntax.

    EDIT: Here's the Minetweaker script I created for white dye:

    It doesn't really matter what color I chose. Yeah, sure, I didn't want to put up purple overhead lights everywhere, but I really didn't have enough dye of any color to put up a significant number of lights. Heck, white used to be the color I had in large quantities, because I'd picked up a fair amount of bonemeal from skeletons during regular play.

    The only easily renewable colors are green, brown, and red. You can farm those - brown from cocoa pods, green from cactus, and red from "roses." Put any flower into an IC2 crop stick, no matter what the color, and it turns into a "rose" which can then be farmed like any other crop.

    There are the flowers and the complicated methods for farming those, but honestly, those farming methods rather suck. They're not crops the way cactus, cocoa, and roses are. You're basically at the mercy of the random number generator, and flowers don't generate all that quickly even if you've got Forestry bees running around.

    I'm aware that my motivation's a bit frivolous, since torches do the job. Sometimes you have to put the torch on the floor if the room is big, and that's ugly, but it works, and that's the stopgap I've got in quite a few places.

    Well, there is anyone who plays Gregtech, without frivolous reasons? Also, congratz on your quartz, finally.

    On my energy topic, anyone tried crop -> Methane as fuel?
    I tried Centrifuging potatoes, and had a gain of about 1000 Eu per potato, using a lv Gas Turbine. It's slow, and I would need a big farm to do it, but it is possible to automatize (The harvester can run on 3 solar panels).
    Just don't know if a bigger setup would be viable...

    Quote from MarcNemesis

    Hmm, is it normal that 3 Large Gas Turbine do not burn out a basic Platinum Cable? (2A - 8192V)


    How much power are you getting out of the turbines? If you have 3 IV dynamo hatches you aren't necessarily sending an amp from each dynamo hatch every tick. There's some randomness there and you may or may not ever have a tick where all three output an amp at the same time. I would wire it such that two of them are on a 2x cable and the third is on a separate 1x or you combine it and go to 4x.