New Tekkit: BuildCraft Version and Engine Discussion

[Bts]

After looking around the wiki and Googling a bit, it is still unclear to me what version of BuildCraft is included currently in New Tekkit/New Tekkit Server. The reason I am trying to determine the version is because I am having major issues with engines powering down, and therefore not powering any number of machines.

My current setup: Up to 8 Combustion Engines using fuel, fully supplied with water.

Wooden conductive pipes on top of each engine, followed by a central hub of golden conductive wires leading to my machinery.

The problem: Even though there is a demand for power, the engines stop pumping. For instance, a quarry will not operate, even though it is hooked up to the power grid. No power is output, and the engines' stored energy just sky-rockets. The number of engines does not seem to matter, in that I can remove piping from all but one engine, all the way up to 8 and nothing changes.

I have even allowed the stored energy to drain, and powered the system back on to no avail. A temporary fix was to add a Redstone Energy Cell (set to allow an input of 100MJ/t), which allowed power to flow once again. However, now this will not even work (I have tried with 1 cell, and 2, with every combination of engines). What am I missing?

TLDR: What version of BuildCraft is included in New Tekkit/New Tekkit Server, and why aren't my engines working?

[weirleader]

I can confirm that (per the wiki, http://wiki.technicpack.net/Tekkit) Buildcraft 3.5.0 is included in the 1.0.6 recommended version of Tekkit. And I can also tell you that conductive pipes are bugged at the moment. You should really go with Energy Conduit. Just be aware that with Energy Conduit you'll need to wrench the ends (input/output) so that they are properly configured -- blue = energy into a block and orange = energy out of a block. If you try really hard, the red pixels will somewhat resemble arrows indicating in/out.

EDIT: Oh, and because each block of conduit can only be either in or out, you'll need at least two conduits per run (e.g., one in and one out).

[Bts]

Thanks for that link, that was exactly what I was looking for.

As a follow up: Are you suggesting that I replace all of my conductive piping with Energy Conduit? Or rather that I end the piping in conduit?

[weirleader]

Thanks for that link, that was exactly what I was looking for.

As a follow up: Are you suggesting that I replace all of my conductive piping with Energy Conduit? Or rather that I end the piping in conduit?

I hate to say it, but I think you probably should replace all of it; I've never used the conductive pipe myself, but everything I've read on the forums says that it's bugged AND that the energy conduit is superior.

[Bts]

Fair enough. To clarify, what did you mean by:

you'll need at least two conduits per run (e.g., one in and one out)

[Dash16]

Energy conduits that connect to machinery can either be inputs or outputs; not both. If you have one conduit connecting an engine to a powered furnace, for example, that conduit can either input to both or output to both. Obviously, it doesn't help to have power going INTO an engine, so you need a conduit to output from the engine and another conduit to input into the furnace.

Hope this makes sense.

[weirleader]

Fair enough. To clarify, what did you mean by:

let's say you have only one Energy Conduit (EC) between Magmatic Engine (ME) and a Pulverizer (P)... it could look like:

* ME -- EC(IN) -- P where the conduit is configured to let power into both devices only (there's a slight technicality about that but I don't want to add to the confusion), or

* ME -- EC(OUT) -- P where the conduit is configured to let power out of both devices only.

You see the problem? One conduit won't allow power out of one and into another.

Therefore, you need to set it up like this:

* ME -- EC(OUT) -- EC(IN) -- P so the first conduit allows power OUT of the engine and the second allows power INTO the pulverizer.

Hope that makes more sense. If not, I can add pics.

EDIT: Ah, Dash... ninja'd ;)

[Bts]

Perfect sense. If an engine needs to be connected directly to a device, it would require at least two Energy Conduits. Since I am using a "power grid" of sorts, I don't think this will be an issue, but good information nonetheless!

[Bts]

EDIT: Ah, Dash... ninja'd

Both answers helped, so no worries!

[weirleader]

Perfect sense. If an engine needs to be connected directly to a device, it would require at least two Energy Conduits. Since I am using a "power grid" of sorts, I don't think this will be an issue, but good information nonetheless!

and Energy Conduit is excellent for a power grid as it has some sort of internal buffer and will both allow a bit of energy delivery after an engine is turned off AND will allow a bit of 'bleed' (i.e., energy loss) during usage which can prevent Magma Engines (e.g.) from shutting down due to maxing out on power.

[Bts]

and Energy Conduit is excellent for a power grid as it has some sort of internal buffer and will both allow a bit of energy delivery after an engine is turned off AND will allow a bit of 'bleed' (i.e., energy loss) during usage which can prevent Magma Engines (e.g.) from shutting down due to maxing out on power.

When you say maxing out on power, what does that mean? What amount of power would cause the engines to shut down? I think that may be another cause for my issue at this point..

[Dash16]

:ninja:

Stupid double post, sorry. :/

[Dash16]

When you say maxing out on power, what does that mean? What amount of power would cause the engines to shut down? I think that may be another cause for my issue at this point..

Open the GUI on a Magmatic, see the bar on the left? If that fills up, the internal power storage of the Engine is maxed and the engine will shut off, requiring a whack with a wrench. You won't see that bar ever fill all the way if you are outputting into conduit, only if you directly connect the engine to a machine.

:ninja:

[weirleader]

When you say maxing out on power, what does that mean? What amount of power would cause the engines to shut down? I think that may be another cause for my issue at this point..

okay, I just suck at explaining this stuff; can't think of the right terminology for a brief explanation.

Magma Engines are kinder than Combustion/Stirling Engines when they are full of power storage and have nowhere left to send generated power. The Combustion/Stirling Engines will just blow up on you and take a nice chunk of the vicinity with them. The Magma Engines just seize up (smoking and not generating) until you whack them (right-click) with a wrench. But with Energy Conduits, the Magma Engines shouldn't (that's what I understand, haven't tested it thoroughly) seize up on you.

Now as for Combustion Engines blowing up on you, that'll depend on being properly supplied with water too, so just be careful with those.

[Bts]

Open the GUI on a Magmatic, see the bar on the left? If that fills up, the internal power storage of the Engine is maxed and the engine will shut off, requiring a whack with a wrench. You won't see that bar ever fill all the way if you are outputting into conduit, only if you directly connect the engine to a machine.

Thanks, I think that will fix my problem.. I will follow up this evening with feedback if it worked.

[weirleader]

Open the GUI on a Magmatic, see the bar on the left? If that fills up, the internal power storage of the Engine is maxed and the engine will shut off, requiring a whack with a wrench. You won't see that bar ever fill all the way if you are outputting into conduit, only if you directly connect the engine to a machine.

dude, seriously... it's probably because I'm too long-winded as well. HAH

well, I'm going afk for the rest of the day (literally), so I'll leave the rest to you, Dash.

[Bts]

okay, I just suck at explaining this stuff; can't think of the right terminology for a brief explanation.

Magma Engines are kinder than Combustion/Stirling Engines when they are full of power storage and have nowhere left to send generated power. The Combustion/Stirling Engines will just blow up on you and take a nice chunk of the vicinity with them. The Magma Engines just seize up (smoking and not generating) until you whack them (right-click) with a wrench. But with Energy Conduits, the Magma Engines shouldn't (that's what I understand, haven't tested it thoroughly) seize up on you.

Now as for Combustion Engines blowing up on you, that'll depend on being properly supplied with water too, so just be careful with those.

Cool (I plan on switching to Magmatic when I can get a steady supply of lava... just don't have it yet). So I take that to mean that you can hook up Energy Conduit directly to an engine without the use of a Wooden Conductive Pipe?

[Dash16]

Cool (I plan on switching to Magmatic when I can get a steady supply of lava... just don't have it yet). So I take that to mean that you can hook up Energy Conduit directly to an engine without the use of a Wooden Conductive Pipe?

Correct. My entire power grid doesn't have a single Buildcraft pipe in it. Magmatics leading to redstone energy cells via redstone energy conduit, then branching off to all the connected machinery. The only kicker is the conduit is a bit more pricey, and you have to set the input or output direction after you place them. I still find myself forgetting to do that sometimes. If you have a Sphax texture pack that includes TE, the orange/blue direction is MUCH clearer, with an arrow indicating the direction of power flow.

To combat the cost of conduits, I suggest either quarrying a place with lava in it and dumping water to turn it all into obsidian, or use the minium stone to convert excess wood into obsidian. Keep in mind you can also pulverize cobblestone into sand to be melted into glass.

Edit:

dude, seriously... it's probably because I'm too long-winded as well. HAH

I typically prefer long, thought out and documented correspondence, but in this case I admit I was beating you to the punch because it was fun. :D

[Bts]

Correct. My entire power grid doesn't have a single Buildcraft pipe in it. Magmatics leading to redstone energy cells via redstone energy conduit, then branching off to all the connected machinery. The only kicker is the conduit is a bit more pricey, and you have to set the input or output direction after you place them. I still find myself forgetting to do that sometimes. If you have a Sphax texture pack that includes TE, the orange/blue direction is MUCH clearer, with an arrow indicating the direction of power flow.

To combat the cost of conduits, I suggest either quarrying a place with lava in it and dumping water to turn it all into obsidian, or use the minium stone to convert excess wood into obsidian. Keep in mind you can also pulverize cobblestone into sand to be melted into glass.

I really appreciate the follow-up, thanks. I will definitely add this capability to my set-up.

[Bts]

Just a follow-up confirming that this fixed all of my issues. I have yet to replace all of my pipe with conduit, but my engines all seems to work now when connected to anything with conduit. Thanks all!

[KingBeetle66]

I was having the same issues myself, and struggled to find a solution. Using Energy Conduit fixed all my problems! Thanks, weirleader!

[dwwojcik]

Umm... if you don't mind updating to the latest, Tekkit 1.1.6 has Buildcraft 3.7.2 in which the pipes are completely overhauled. Conduits are still better, but I can use pipes with out constantly being in fear of my power looping and exploding or being lost.

[CharlieChop]

Ill be honest. ive never had issues with BC conductive pipes, hell i still prefer them over conduits for certain tasks.... maybe im confusing the version you guys are talking about.

PS. did you made sure the pipe is set to output from the engine? the one thing i know happens is wooden pipes sometimes attach wrong and attempt to extract from the wrong block. one easy way to know from where its going to extract is to look for the wooden band that forms on the extracting side.

[dwwojcik]

I don't think anything has actually happened to my pipes before... But they have a reputation. Or had, pipes are in great shape now, thanks- Covert.... Jaguar.....