Barrel Rant

[Georgyo]

I really like factorization's barrels, however I do have one gripe about them. They are only top loadable. As I started creating pipes to sort all my stuff, I had to make it ugly, and use a ton more pipes.

In the screenshots bellow, there are 33 barrels. If I could back load them, this would only require: 11 Diamond Pipes, 10 Cobblestone Pipes, 12 Stone Pipes

But instead, this setup took 11 Diamond Pipes, 44 iron pipes, 15 Cobblestone, 18 stone pipes. All so I could ensure items go though the top, and don't go side to side because there is so many pipes touching pipes and the wrong sides of the barrels. And it not very pretty.

[freakachu]

Deep storage units from mine factory reloaded. They store more, and are configurable as to which sides are in and outputs.

[immense]

Deep storage units from mine factory reloaded. They store more, and are configurable as to which sides are in and outputs.

I cannot find any items with this name in Tekkit Lite 0.5.7 - can you please elaborate?

[Georgyo]

I also can't find that item.

But the main reason why I like barrels is because it shows the item and the count on its face. And because it only holds one type, there is no chance of miss-organization. I debated on using crystal chests, but it would have required 66 diamonds just to make the chests... Also, you can't stack them directly on top of each other. So while would use less pipes, it would be just as ugly and require far more resources.

In terms of storing more, 4096 of a single item is quite a bit. If your going over that count you either don't use/need that item or its extremely abundant. The only thing that I could ever see going above that count is cobblestone. And maybe nicolite since nothing uses it and it comes out it massive bundles. So space is not a concern. Once you hit a number you think you'll never use up, the rest goes directly into the recycler.

[Maxis010]

And maybe nicolite since nothing uses it and it comes out it massive bundles. So space is not a concern. Once you hit a number you think you'll never use up, the rest goes directly into the recycler.

Redpower uses Nicolite, and speaking of Redpower, if you used tubes it wouldn't be able to spill out saving the need for all the sorting pipes in the back there

[freakachu]

I cannot find any items with this name in Tekkit Lite 0.5.7 - can you please elaborate?

unfortunately, they were added in to MFR after 0.5.7 came out, which is why you can't find them. they are worth the update though, believe me.

[Industrial Miner]

I was gonna suggest Routers from Factorization. They work great with barrels.

[Michael101]

I just use a logistic itemsink on the top, and a provider underneath for the few barrels in my sorting system.

But now that I have my wall of autocrafters setup I'm using the condensed blocks mod more to store stuff as blocks->condensed blocks->super condensed blocks->extreme condensed blocks. I can fit a lot more stuff in my storage system now, which helps prevent the usual peat/wood/sapling overflows I've had with past systems.

[bwillb]

Yeah, use routers. barrels were designed to work with them.

[Georgyo]

Spent much of yesterday playing with this.

I never used tubes before, they are pretty awesome. They are much smarter then pipes. If you put them on an invalid input/output they don't connect at all. I could get rid of all the iron pipes if pipes did that. On the other side, there is no way to maintain order. If I run out of an item, the next item item being sorted may take the blank. And since I am doing barrels, there are not enough colors in the world to using sorting machines. If there was something like a sorting tube similar to a diamod pipe, that would be awesome.

Routers have the same problem as above, but are less predictable. Even with the thoroughness upgrade it will fill multiple chests; at least one barrel per level. There is also no way to have a default chest at the end only for items that didn't have a place to go. Routers also have an extremely long setup time. Dark iron isn't in NEI because it isn't craftable, so you actually have to research how to get it out of the game. Not to mention that it requires a block of diamonds. And the wrath igniter seems like the ultimate greifer tool. One spark, and destroy a great work. I may want to ban that tool on my server. That has the side effect of banning all machines that use dark iron.

Logistic pipes I was sure would be the answer. They don't obey the sides, so I can pull items out of any side. They are fairly cheap, 64 basic pipes only costs two diamonds. But they won't put something in a barrel unless its requested. So close.

Anyway, I suppose the fact that I want so much control means I am doomed to it this way. Its a little odd that routers are also from factorization and can do whatever they want. I don't understand why he would make barrels more restrictive then chests. For this base, I will continue with this complicate pipe setup. It is the only way to ensure absolute order. For the next base I will use tubes and logistic pipes to chests. I can then hide everything out of the way and request things at will.

[freakachu]

logipipes will put things into barrels (from the top only of course) if you tell it to request the item. even a basic logistics pipe can do this, just right click with a wrench and put the item you want in the barrel into the pipe's UI. you now have a barrel that will only ever be full of that item, no matter what. repeat as much as you want for any number of items. you can also specify a chest to send anything that doesn't belong (this is the default route button). the only thing is that you need to know or decide what you want where slightly ahead of time, though that isn't usually a problem. using provider pipes on the bottom of the barrels will allow them to be accessed from request pipes.

alternatively, you could use tubes to input items into the barrels, then logipipes to remove items. set the provider pipes to leave 1st stack or something and the items will never be fully depleted (I have not tested this with barrels. works with chests though so I assume it does on barrels). with this method you don't need to know what order things are. in fact you could hide the entire setup, barrels and all, somewhere out of sight and just use a request pipe to get what you need on demand. the logipipes will sort out the locations and all that for you.

[Slot Zero]

If you want to back load a barrel using logistic pipes, use a logistics chassis mk2 (or higher) and place a provider module (default configuration) and itemsink module (set to item wanted in barrel) in the chassis slots. Then using an upgrade manager instead of a wrench to apply a sneaky upgrade (up). You can stack barrels across and on top of each other with this method.

[vibur]

You don't need to use a sorting machine for a 1:1 item:barrel relationship.

Redpower tubes will only output into a valid inventory. Put one of whatever item you want to sort into each barrel. Have a placeholder item (like cobble) in barrels that you can't seed yet. The tubes will only put items into barrels that already have the particular item. Have an overflow chest at the end to catch what doesn't get put into barrels.

You can use a panel to cover the bottom side of the barrels if necessary.

[Michael101]

The logistics method still has the benefit of letting me keep engines/generators/farms/crafters auto-stocked with what they need, while letting them send their products back into the network.

And the enderchest request system gives me access to my bases complete inventory no matter where in the world I'm at. With a second enderpouch linked to the quarry dumpchest to dump things back into my system.

This short video shows how easy it is to set up an auto-blocking/auto-crafting/remote ordering system.

[Kiwionrails]

As previous posters have said, try just using RP2 tubes into the top as per the one i've done. I've used Oak covers to stop the tubes from connecting to the bottom, whilst this isn't a problem, i think it looks ugly

I also have a diamond chest at the end on a restriction tube to act as an overflow for anything which doesn't have anywhere to go.

(and i've been using signs as my place-holder blocks)

This is also actually quite an old screen-shot, but i cant get any newer ones at the moment, and the basic layout hasn't really changed.

[Casstor]

Michael101: I dont know if the video is yours or someone elses, but could you describe how you would setup the pipes to the barrels.

I have been trying to make a setup with barrels.

First i hoped to make a setup with 2 rows of barrels, with a Chassi MK2 between the 2 rows, with a Itemsink and Provider module in, a provider pipe under the lower barrel row, and a Chassi MK1 with a Itemsink above the upper. But i cant seam to get the MK2 to use the upper row for providing, it list the items in the lower row (making the items appear 2x).

So atm im running with 2 MK1 between the barrels with a Provider in the upper and a itemsink in the lower, but i really want the setup with only 1 pipe between the barrels.

(Tryed the setup Slot Zero proposed, but that dosent sema to work either)