Suggestion: Luminators

  • First of all, I'm pretty psyched about the luminators. It takes building to a whole new level, if you really want to be a pro and use hidden wiring, redstone etc. Awesome!


    But I really hate the fact that they have internal storage. This makes it very difficult to use them as lamps with either automatic on/off system (see pic) or manual on/off via a lever.


    This is the way I want them to work:


    Which, well, they already do. At night at least. They will still be powered at sunrise (even though they wont receive any power; solar panel works as a day/night detector).


    It just doesn't make any sense to me that they have internal storage. It may be more practical if you just want them to light up your house all the time, but then you might as well use a torch.


    Oh, and they aren't included in the overview at the bottom of the IC2 wiki pages. I might add them myself later (under 'Uncatagorized' i guess), but if someone already have a wiki account and knows what they're doing, please go ahead, so I don't mess anything up ;)


    Edit: It seems like I'm not allowed to edit the wiki navigation bar and thank god for that. I just saw the code. Also fixed the picture.

  • You can use redstone to give them limited power, so they shine only limited amount of time, that's what i did. But hell yes, internal storage of luminator is not good imo. Also i tried to power single luminator (input 0.25EU/t) with one water mill (output 0.25EU/t) and it was blinking like crazy, and CPU was mad. If possible, i'd like this to be changed, so luminator can be powered with single water mill.

  • Thats why they should only accept ~5 eus of storage from wires, and up to the standard 10k from batteries. That way, cut the wire, they die in one second, but a battery will keep em running for a while.

  • Thats why they should only accept ~5 eus of storage from wires, and up to the standard 10k from batteries. That way, cut the wire, they die in one second, but a battery will keep em running for a while.

    I'd like that very much. Maybe they should only run on SU-batteries in your scenario? This would give an actual purpose to them (at least for me).



    It seems like people agree on the whole storage thing, so I hope they'll include this in a future update.

  • Quote

    Luminators are on a list for full rework.


    Why were they reworked from IC1 btw? I liked how they were frying everything around.

  • Luminators are on a list for full rework.



    If I would "rework" Luminators to be useful more than cheap & bright opportunities, I would think about:


    1. To be bright - several air blocks on the straight line before lit Luminator's side (or face) forced to full light (number of lit air blocks proportional to power stored);


    2. To be controllable - RS signal turn light off, power still consumed to recharge (can be turned off directly by charging detector cable);


    3. To be customizable - has inventory for energy cell/crystal/battery (may be several) instead of own buffer.

  • There's more problems with them.


    1. Hit box takes the place of a whole block. If you like really compact work stations, it can make it difficult or impossible to use a machine next to it if there's a luminator by it.


    2. Energy consumption is too great for a dinky ass light. Storage time is too small for the amount of energy it requires to run.


    3. Skin between 'off' and 'on' is not noticeably different. It can be very difficult to tell if a luminator amongst a series of luminators is on or not.


    4. No way to pick them up, you can only break them. Why?


    5. Sometimes it will eat an entire crystal.


    6. Can't place two luminators that share the same block, much like a sign. I don't see a solution for it, and its probably not a big deal, as we're all used to that problem with signs and paintings, just something to note.


    Suggestions:


    1. Colored luminators? :D


    2. Strobe, pulse, or motion detection settings?





    Thanks for reading, also keep up the good work, this is the best minecraft mod I've ever played. My group of friends have been playing this for days on end. We're already working on a functioning power grid!

  • I didn't feel like making a new thread therefore I ask here. If the rework of the Luminators is done could there be an extra item like a floodlight, which is way brighter has a bigger radius and even burns skeletons and zombies if they are directly under it? In exchange it only lights from one side an only like a funnel. Also it would cost way more energy to supply it.

  • I know Al said that luminators are up for rework but I have a suggestion/idea for them. As much as I love the cables being inside CF (that would give me a reason to use them). I think it could work better if you could add some slots and a right click function to them, with or without a wrench in hand. If you look at the MFFS it has freq cards, anything on that freq is attached to the field generator. I would suggest that you add a slot to the lums and to the storage devices (Batbox, MFE, MFSU, or add a new storage block for the lums.). This could either use a new item like a card or just have a number in that box that would go with the same number on the lums. When this box receives redstone power and has EUs in it it will turn on all lums attached to the same "freq" or number. Then when the redstone is turned off so are the lums. This would allow for multiple rooms to be in different states. The lums would drain power when on but none when turned off. Perhaps you could have it drain more than normal for lums to work. I'm not sure how to balance it out. So what do yall think?

  • cant wait to see what the new changes to them are, luminators have so much potential.



    Hmm, I wonder if some kind of device could be made that detects light levels in an aria and switches lighting on at night automatically...


    Also, any chance of an Luminator desk-lamp? Something that looks like an camping lantern or an lightbulb or generic desk-lamp or whatever I could put on my kitchen table? :D

  • Just want to add my voice to the luminator crowd.


    Luminators as they are right now are basically super inconvenient torches. I'd like to see one of two things.


    1. Permanently powered luminators
    Not as cool as having them consume power, it's true, but without redpower- which honestly I just don't like much outside the paneling - the amount of space hidden wiring takes up is crazy, especially if you want to put lights on the walls or on the second floor of a building. And using batteries on them is even more useless, 2 days is like 20 minutes. That's nothing. I'd be okay with charging them once and that's it. That would be awesome, actually. Torches that require EU input but don't suck.


    2. Special features
    If luminators still consume power continuously, make them do something cool like incinerate mobs ala IC1 luminators, or - I"m not sure if this is possible (probably not) but it would be awesome - make them more powerful than torches. Much more powerful. If I could light an entire floor with two luminators and put them outside to keep mobs from spawning anywhere nearby, that would be worth any inconvenience.

  • 2. Special features
    If luminators still consume power continuously, make them do something cool like incinerate mobs ala IC1 luminators, or - I"m not sure if this is possible (probably not) but it would be awesome - make them more powerful than torches. Much more powerful. If I could light an entire floor with two luminators and put them outside to keep mobs from spawning anywhere nearby, that would be worth any inconvenience.


    Not possible due to lighting engine limitations. The max amount the initial light source can have its 15 and it goes down by 1 per block of distance.

    • Official Post

    Just want to add my voice to the luminator crowd.


    Luminators as they are right now are basically super inconvenient torches. I'd like to see one of two things.


    1. Permanently powered luminators
    Not as cool as having them consume power, it's true, but without redpower- which honestly I just don't like much outside the paneling - the amount of space hidden wiring takes up is crazy, especially if you want to put lights on the walls or on the second floor of a building. And using batteries on them is even more useless, 2 days is like 20 minutes. That's nothing. I'd be okay with charging them once and that's it. That would be awesome, actually. Torches that require EU input but don't suck.

    Add the possibility to keep them charged with a lapotron crystal ? 1kk EU would last for about 55hours

  • What about giving them an inventory slot and the ability to use power storage items in them like batteries and such? 8|

  • Not possible due to lighting engine limitations. The max amount the initial light source can have its 15 and it goes down by 1 per block of distance.

    Is it possible to set light to 15 to several air blocks in front of luminator?

    • Official Post

    Is it possible to set light to 15 to several air blocks in front of luminator?

    yes,but you would have to use pseudo-air blocks, which aren't good. Minecraft Engine is supposed to recognize only ID 0 as air.

  • Not possible due to lighting engine limitations. The max amount the initial light source can have its 15 and it goes down by 1 per block of distance.

    A lot of things that were supposedly impossible were cleverly coded in. For instance, you could have a luminator simulate multiple light source blocks. I could think of a couple ways that could be done, although it would be awkward and stupid. Perhaps someone could think of an elegant solution.


    EDIT: Pseudo-air was exactly what I was thinking of.