Galacticraft Sealers

[Toehold42]

Greets,

I've got a question and need some input. I built a dome in space, completely sealed off and independent from my space station, entry via an enhanced portal. The dome is 45 blocks in diameter and contains 32 oxygen sealers. Each array of 4 sealers is fed by an oxygen collector generating a minimum of 1600 o2/sec. It all worked fine and dandy for about 6 hours, then it just stopped. I went and disabled/re-enabled the sealers, I even pulled them all out and replaced them, but they are still unsealed, they all have power and oxygen going to them and I made no changes to the structure of the dome. Am looking for any thoughts that you may have on why they just stopped sealing.

 

Thanks for your consideration and input.

 

[Kalbintion]

any updates to the server/modpack? Any config changes?

[Toehold42]

any updates to the server/modpack? Any config changes?

No sir, no changes were made to config files/server/modpack. One minute it was working fine, the next not. It is very strange and quite frustrating. The server is running 1.0.10a which I realize is not recommended quite yet, but it did seal for 6 hours.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Toehold42

[Kalbintion]

I wonder if the sealers at that amount become unstable. Can you place an oxygen detector down to see if it notices oxygen at all? It might be that the room is "sealed" without the oxygen sealers noticing its sealed. Also, attempt to add a few more sealers, It seems reasonable enough that  you are on the cusp of what the absolute bare minimum is.
 

There also seems to be some minor issues with the sealers when it comes to large volumes and sealers en masse to cover the area, generikb actually had (and has still) this issue with only 4 sealers on his space station and noticed the oxygen would blip out for a moment.

[Toehold42]

I wonder if the sealers at that amount become unstable. Can you place an oxygen detector down to see if it notices oxygen at all? It might be that the room is "sealed" without the oxygen sealers noticing its sealed. Also, attempt to add a few more sealers, It seems reasonable enough that  you are on the cusp of what the absolute bare minimum is.

 

There also seems to be some minor issues with the sealers when it comes to large volumes and sealers en masse to cover the area, generikb actually had (and has still) this issue with only 4 sealers on his space station and noticed the oxygen would blip out for a moment.

I do have an oxy detector hooked to some projectred lanterns via some red alloy wire, they show no oxygen atm. My math says that 30 was the minimum for sealers, that's why I went 32 as a bit of a buffer, I will add 4 more and see if that makes any impact. I do thank you for your suggestions and appreciate you trying to help me out. I also started with 30 sealers in 2 rows of 15, they would seal for about 10 minutes and then "blink" on and off for about 2 minutes, then seal again. I thought that being next to each other was affecting the seal so I switched to the new design with the spacing. Not to belabor the point, but I can't figure why they would seal for 6 hours and then just go kaput.

[Toehold42]

Well, I added an additional 6 sealers and a couple of collectors, the seal blinked on and off a couple times and then went to unsealed again. I'm now wondering if maybe the overall position of the array matters. I may move the whole thing to the center of the dome to see if that matters.

[Kalbintion]

I was about to suggest moving them around so they are less in an array. It shouldn't matter since they act as a cumulative bunch but at this size and scale, these tendencies might become more apparent. I definitely suggest trying to spread them out and see if that helps at all.

[Toehold42]

Well, I picked up the whole array and moved it to the center of the dome, 36 sealers spread out in a grid, powered by 9 collectors blah blah blah (sorry, quite frustrated). Once again, it worked fine for about 5-6 hours and then just went kaput. I may just give up on it for the moment, 'tis a shame, it was a nice dome. Kalbintion, I appreciate your feedback and suggestions and may try to spread them out even further when I can get motivated to work on it again. they currently occupy a 16x16 area in the center of the dome and are rapidly diminishing the remaining space available for the more creative aspects I wanted to implement. Again, thanks for the feedback and suggestions, I'll post on this thread when I can work on it some more.

[Kalbintion]

Does the area become unsealed when you leave the dimension (or go far enough away from it to unload the chunks)? It doesn't randomly unseal the entire time you're there I assume.

[Toehold42]

Does the area become unsealed when you leave the dimension (or go far enough away from it to unload the chunks)? It doesn't randomly unseal the entire time you're there I assume.

The first version stopped working while I was in the overworld but I had gone back and forth several times and even logged out and in while it stayed working. The second version died right before my eyes, I was inside the dome figuring where I wanted to put some scenery and my test cow went "mmmmmmrrrrrr....ack" I turned to look and saw some raw meat and leather floating in the "air", looked at the O2 detector and it was off. I had left and returned to that version several times as well, being gone for as long as 2 hours before returning.

[Kalbintion]

It is really odd that that the system would just stop like that. I wonder if there is some reason the oxygen collectors and your power source is becoming "empty" even though theyre still working, causing the sealers to stop functioning and then continue to fail. I wonder if a buffer system to maintain power in it in the event this is the issue. Buffer system can just be a single leadstone energy cell and a oxygen storage tank for both of them. This will ensure if the oxygen and power systems blip out and are the root of this issue that there is something there to help prevent this.

 

Another option is try getting it to work but use a poppet shelf from witchery to enforce the chunk(s) to stay loaded so this system has no chance of being unloaded and potentially failing.

[Toehold42]

It is really odd that that the system would just stop like that. I wonder if there is some reason the oxygen collectors and your power source is becoming "empty" even though theyre still working, causing the sealers to stop functioning and then continue to fail. I wonder if a buffer system to maintain power in it in the event this is the issue. Buffer system can just be a single leadstone energy cell and a oxygen storage tank for both of them. This will ensure if the oxygen and power systems blip out and are the root of this issue that there is something there to help prevent this.

 

Another option is try getting it to work but use a poppet shelf from witchery to enforce the chunk(s) to stay loaded so this system has no chance of being unloaded and potentially failing.

The first version did utilize some oxygen storage units as a buffer, they remained full even after the system went kaput. I haven't done any energy buffers, the arrays currently use tessaracts connected to the space stations main reso energy cell. I will attempt this in the next version. Here's a screenie of version 2:

 

 

Here's a shot of Version 3 (the latest) which failed to seal at all, perhaps the arrays are too far apart to recognize each other and work in conjunction.

 

 

Version 4 will have the arrays closer to each other and I will include both oxy and energy buffers in an attempt to cover all the bases.  The server owner of my current server seriously frowns on poppet shelves and is thinking about banning them, so I don't want to abuse them (it would be the end of the usefulness of my player interface ). It may be a lost cause, I've read on the galacticraft forums that the oxy sealers in the latest build can cover 1250 blocks instead of the current 800, so I may need to wait for that version to be released and included in AotBT, whenever that may be.

[Kalbintion]

Banning poppet shelves wont stop chunk loaders and will just hinder what the witchery mod is meant for, there are some ways to use galacticraft blocks (along with a few TE blocks) as chunk loaders though its a bug and is something i stumbled upon. (this method is actually more harmful on a server than the poppet shelves)

[Toehold42]

Whelp, here is V.4 of the sealer array, It didn't even seal. I thought maybe that 36 wasn't cutting it because I excavated quite a bit under everything to place redstone cells as power buffers and oxy tank gizmos to act as O2 buffers, so I added an additional 4 sealers for a total of 40. No go, guessing they aren't close enough to act collectively. bah and meh.

 

[JohnnyB]

A few things that I have noticed in regards to the sealers:

 

-> The floor structure is very important. It has been my experience that it will not seal if the floor is not almost entirely flat. 

-> Make sure you are supplying ample oxygen to the sealers. I built a dome on Mars and could not get the room sealed until I had built an 11x11 cube of leaves around my oxygen collector.

-> Sealers should be placed on the ceiling or along the walls. I've had the most success with placement towards the top middle of a room. Keep in mind that they need a block above to circulate the oxygen.

 

I had a similar issue with my sealers not sealing a room properly. It was due to a lack of oxygen in the system. They would seal the room and be immediately drained of their oxygen reserves. 

 

Hope this helps!

[Toehold42]

A few things that I have noticed in regards to the sealers:

 

-> The floor structure is very important. It has been my experience that it will not seal if the floor is not almost entirely flat. 

-> Make sure you are supplying ample oxygen to the sealers. I built a dome on Mars and could not get the room sealed until I had built an 11x11 cube of leaves around my oxygen collector.

-> Sealers should be placed on the ceiling or along the walls. I've had the most success with placement towards the top middle of a room. Keep in mind that they need a block above to circulate the oxygen.

 

I had a similar issue with my sealers not sealing a room properly. It was due to a lack of oxygen in the system. They would seal the room and be immediately drained of their oxygen reserves. 

 

Hope this helps!

Thanks for your thoughts. ATM the floor is perfectly flat and there are 9 oxy collectors in a very large leaf block, ea collector puts out a minimum of 1800/sec and feeds 4 sealers so those aspects are covered. Seeing as the floor isn't working for me, I'm gonna go for the top middle idea you suggest. Build the array towards the top/center of the dome, maybe make the whole package into a fake giant oak, sorta a "Tree of Life" thing. We'll see how that goes. Again, thank you for your suggestions and thoughts.

[Loader]

I'd also be careful with the oxygen pipes - it doesn't say anywhere but they do have a maximum throughput - if you've got one reaching its max then it's possible that everything further down the line doesn't get enough air (so be careful where you join those pipes!).

 

It sounds a little like you've got some bit that's running near to maximum and when you go away (and it does lazier calculations because only the average is important) it makes some rounding errors, maxes out, chokes a few sealers down the line and the others now fail to sustain the seal.

[Toehold42]

I'd also be careful with the oxygen pipes - it doesn't say anywhere but they do have a maximum throughput - if you've got one reaching its max then it's possible that everything further down the line doesn't get enough air (so be careful where you join those pipes!).

 

It sounds a little like you've got some bit that's running near to maximum and when you go away (and it does lazier calculations because only the average is important) it makes some rounding errors, maxes out, chokes a few sealers down the line and the others now fail to sustain the seal.

It's possible, but each of the 9 collectors feeds 4 of the sealers on an individual line and has an oxy storage unit in the line at the top that have remained full. All the collectors output a minimum of 1800/sec. The latest version of the array, the "tree of life" setup with all the sealers towards the top center of the dome failed to seal at first and then started to blink on and off. Am now going to work on smaller domes until I understand the in and outs of sealing larger areas a bit better. 

[Loader]

Have you tried it with feeding 3 sealers per line?  That'd rule it out for certain.

[furry frank]

i've been having this same problem too, but with a 20 by 20 room, 8 blocks tall. the first time it was doing well, then it quit as soon as i had placed a microscope in the room. i romoved the microscope, but now no matter what i do, the sealers will always say checking seal or unsealed. other rooms i have placed sealers in work just fine, i dont get why this new room is almost oxygen proof.

[Bob Mc Bob]

My sealers just never work anywhere.