I am going to ask this here since IC2 ingots are covered by this question also. Hopefully people in this forum are a bit more mature and can read more than these first two sentences before responding (the entire post would be excellent!)
What I am trying to figure out is how to unify all ingots/dust/nuggets across all installed mods. Seems like a simple goal since TE copper = Forestry Copper = IC2 Copper etc. Obviously I could take the easy way out and just use something like the Forge Lexicon (from Omnitools) or the Unifier (from MFR). For the most part the option in GT to unify ingots works. However there are still some that don't most notably, Steel. Simply setting the ID=0 for Steel in Railcraft effectively disables steel production in the RC Blast Furnace (not a bad thing but not the desired effect). This also has the side effect of Steel Ingots not being generated as chest loot in villages/dungeons etc.
What I am looking to do is make all ingots equal and stackable and recognized by all mods as a valid replacement WITHOUT using another mod to change it into something else after the fact. This also applies to steel and iron plates, and metal dust. Is this even possible? If not, why?
I am afraid to change the ID to the same thing in all the mods because it seems like it would cause a conflict with everybody fighting to make their own version of whatever ingot.