Oxybe's Technic Pack Misadventures

[oxybe]

So i've been thinking about doing a Minecraft LP, because all the cool kids are doing one and i want to be one of the cool kids. i also plan on using the Technic Pack.

For those who don't know what Minecraft is, ask the internet. I hear it was, and still is, quite popular there.

For those who don't know what the Technic Pack is, it's a large mod pack/collection thing and a rather nice one.

Here's (http://www.technicpack.net/) the website. Here (http://technicpack.wikia.com/wiki/Technic_Pack_Wiki) is the Wiki.

the big ones to remember are:
-Buildcraft/Industrialcraft, which does a crapload of automation & lets you get some extra mileage out of your materials
-Redpower, which adds a few neat utilities and allows more automation.
-Equivalent Exchange, which is alchemy: change one block into another and far more.

there are other mods, like Thaumcraft (different type of magic/alchemy mod), Not Enough Items (item spawn + receipe book combo), 'Mo Creatures (new passive, hostile and neutral mobs: from the gentle Rabbit to the hyper-destructive Ogres and flying Wraith), the Treecapitator mod (easier clearcutting of forests) and others i can't remember off the top of my head.

i've got some experience with the mod so i won't be going into it blindly. i'll also be using one of the more recent dev builds to take advantage of minecraft 1.2.5 and the more updated versions of the previously mentionned mods.

so i'm going to gather interest if anyone is curious to watch Oxybe's Adventures in Technic and guide his progress?

as you can probably guess from that last line, i will be taking requests for "Quests". as much as i would like to go strait from "Angry hobo dressed as Commander Keen" to "Richer then the lovechild of Jobs & Gates" through a few infinite resource generator/exploits (and gord knows they're in there thanks to EE & the automation), won't it be more fun to see me suffer under or aboveground?

while i'll still need to get some sort of half-assed mic/headset (my old one was kinda obliterated in my last month's move only the left earpiece survived) and would really like it if anyone could recommend some free video capture/editing software that's user friendly it would be appreciated.

i'll also need a "checklist" of initial quests beyond the normal "punch tree, get wood", "make house/hole, get bed" or the Technic specific "get rubber & saplings ASAP cause you'll need it for industrialcraft".

things like where i should make a base (on, above or under ground. make it into a castle or whatevs.), buildings to make (make an automated cookie factory, a KFC, a mobgrinder, a purely esthetic building like a library with a not-so esthetic enchanting table, etc... ) or some sort of "end goal" like "make a full set of gem armor"... which is stupid expensive to make, but turns you into a sort of Iron Magus: an indestructable, flying, nigh-invincible powerhouse and requires riches beyond your wildest dreams to make.

i'll also need a list of "rules/guidelines" to follow. for example, one of the mods in the pack allows me to change the in-game time from day to night and back again... am i allowed to do so when i'm safely holed up (which i admit to doing when i'm playing SSP) or do i wait it out and clock wipe?

any takers willing to help me get this off the ground?

[Lamech]

Scrap factory!
One useful trick that you can make is an automated scrap factory. But first you need an automated source of junk. A huge quarry that diverts cobble into the recycler is one way to do it, but it requires a full power quarry, and that is kind of expensive.

What I did was chickens. Make a glass 1*1 pen out of glass blocks about 8 meters high. At the top Seal it off with a glass block, close to the top cut a hole to throw chicken eggs and make the floor an obsidian pipe. The pipe goes into a big chest, you throw chicken eggs into the pen. Exponential growth happens and eventually you are getting a constant egg stream. Then start sending the eggs to a recylcer. Bam! Constant scrap stream.

Actually a funny idea I had is to make scrap from chicken eggs. Use this scrap in a matter compiler. Make matter into uranium. Use uranium in a nuclear reactor. Power everything with the nuclear reactor. BAM! Everything is now powered by chickens. Chicken power, beats all other power sources.

[oxybe]

for egg farming i prefer a 2x8x5 deep pit, the first layer is "empty air" to stop the chickens from climbing out, the next 2 layers are water (animals always swim and 2 block deep is deep enough for them to not accidentally go under), the 4th layer is signs to prop up the water and allow me to access the area if needed and last is just 2 water blocks pushing it towards a collection area

i find that if i shove too many chickens too tightly in one space, they glitch into walls and just die, denying me both eggs and delicious chicken. the longer trench gives them some "free roaming" area while still allowing the eggs to collect at the bottom.

as for scrap factory you can make one pretty cheaply using a fully-automatic cobblestone generator and redpower's blockbreaker/powered pneumatic tubes. set the tubes on a 1.2 second redstone timer so it breaks & pumps the stone to the recycler.

i personally just use a few windmills to power my recycler throughout the day/night cycle.

but yeah: a Scrap Factory is a good place to start. scrap boxes are a neat "surprise" gift and i can use it late-game to get UU matter.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Cheap and easy recycler feeder system:

Step 1: Cobble Generator. i.e. a water and a lava block that flows together.

Step 2: Block Breaker from RP2 hooked up to pneumatic tubing that goes to your recyclers.

Step 3: A Timer set to some rediculously low number (like .5 seconds).

Congratulations, more scrap than you can shake a stick at!

For power, I suggest looking at this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fez3O3NP72s) setup.

I would, however, suggest you use MultiMC (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1000645-multimc-31-windows-linux-mac/) and get the mods legitimately rather than using Technic Pack. DaRose, one of the mod authors in the #DireWolf20 IRC channel just found out that two of her mods were being incorporated into it without her permission. There's several others that I know for a fact were never asked for permission. Heck, SirSengir had to write code that was explicitly non-compatible with technic in order to get them to drop his mod.

Setting up mods isn't too difficult, with MultiMC. The only problem is ID Block Resolution. Fortunately, Forge (which now has Forge ModLoader) has the 4096 fix incorporated into it, so you can just assign each mod a different 'hundreds' number (start with 400) for their ID Blocks, and be done with it.

This also allows you to customize the mods you are playing with, picking precisely the ones you want and no others, and lets you pick up mods that technic got blocked from using, like Forestry.

[oxybe]

ShneekeyTheLost, i won't use Technic if that's the case. i honestly didn't really know about the issues the mod devs have with the technic guys, so i'll just manually install them rather then go through a modpack/loader/truck/whateve.

modders work hard so we don't have to, folks!

either way though, s'not hard, just more of a pain to setup.

anywho. the main ones i use are:
Redpower (http://www.eloraam.com/?page_id=130)
Buildcraft (http://www.mod-buildcraft.com/)
Industrialcraft (http://wiki.industrial-craft.net/index.php?title=Download)
Forestry (http://forestry.sengir.net/wiki/index.php?n=Main.Downloads)
Equivalent Exchange (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1106178-125-equivalent-exchange-2-v1467/)
OptiFine HD C6 Smooth (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/249637-125-optifine-hd-c6-fps-boost-hd-textures-aa-af-and-much-more/)
Rei's Minimap (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/482147-131125-aug01-reis-minimap-v32-05/)
Treecapitator (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1009577-125-daftpvfs-mods-treecapitator-ingameinfo-crystalwing-startinginv-floatingruins/)
Beer & Wine (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1169223-125-beer-wine-mod-v11/)
Enchanting Plus (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/973916-sspenchanting-plus-10bpreviously-unofficial-better-enchanting/)
Recipe Book (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/75440-v125-risugamis-mods-everything-updated/)

no modloaders just: open .jar, drop files. punch errors until it works :P. oddly enough, no big errors...

other then it looks like 1.3 came out while i wasn't looking. Notch, you sneeky bugger.

won't update just yet though. ran a few tests and it all seems to be working fine and i've got a backup of minecraft done and ready.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I suggest CraftGuide over RecipieBook, because it has the ItemGuide addon which lets you bind your CraftGuide to a key so you can open it from anywhere.

And yea, 1.3 has curbed my ability to put out a 'Playing with Mods in Minecraft for Dummies' tutorial, as well as my regularly scheduled Let's Play.

EDIT: Also, I will have to revise my opinion of Technic. IceWolf is at least making a serious effort to change a lot of what Technic has a bad rep for. The previously mentioned complaint from a mod author has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties, and Technic now officially has permission from the mod author, with full credit.

In other words: I acknowledge that the people in charge of Technic are trying to make sure mods either have permission and accreditation or are not included. I also acknowledge that this is a herculean task which is by no means finished. So I will at least try to not make their already enormous task any worse by heaping coals while they are juggling matches.

[oxybe]

gotcha. still, i haven't been manually modding for a while, so it's nice to get a bit into that habit again.

that and i don't have to keep turning off Mo'Creatures and their annoying map-destroying Ogres (and so many water creatures that it keeps stopping the vanilla octopi from spawning, thus stopping me from getting ink).

so you said Craftguide, eh? i'll have to try that one out.

as an experienced LPer, any advice you can give to a newbie? do i jump right into terraforming the landscape? explain my metrology behind my actions "yes i know i can use my coal for torches/furnace, but i'm hoarding it for now so i can compress it into diamonds later, incase they're hard to find or as EE condenser/transmutation table fuel"? do i constantly chatter away for 15-20 minutes or is some occasional "dead air" a good thing?

[Domochevsky]

Hm, there's certainly benefit to knowing when to shut it. Finding the right mix is important. And yes, laying your plans out as you enact on them is a good idea.

The thing about these Minecraft LPs by now is that you need a specific goal or "hook" as it were to make it interesting. Just getting in and building at random is not gonna play, unless you're a good talker and interesting to listen to (but then again, that helps with everything). :smallsmile:


(Right now it looks like you indeed don't have a hook and instead just want to dabble with these mods and see what happens. I'm kinda neutral about that so far.)

[Destro_Yersul]

I started with mod dabbling doing my (slightly defunct, but I swear I'll bring it back eventually) LP, but that kind of evolved into a hook. Might I suggest using BetterDungeons, or MCdungeon or what have you, to add more stuff to explore? That's always a good thing to have starting out.

Oh, and a bit of advice. If you see anything purple, run. Run for the hills.

[oxybe]

i remember toying with better dungeons a long time ago and having mixed results. it might be interesting to see how it'll work with stuff like the EE & IC "endgame" power armours and whatnot, eventually muscling my way through the areas, lol.

i remember having a bit of fun tearing through walls and stealing all the redstone, pistons & lava sources, lol.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

gotcha. still, i haven't been manually modding for a while, so it's nice to get a bit into that habit again.Indeed. But with MultiMC, ForgeML, and IDResolver, it's not really that big a pain.


that and i don't have to keep turning off Mo'Creatures and their annoying map-destroying Ogres (and so many water creatures that it keeps stopping the vanilla octopi from spawning, thus stopping me from getting ink).Yea, that's the advantage in not using mod packs... you get to pick precisely which mods you use, and not have to worry about a bunch of mods you don't want, or not getting mods you do want.


so you said Craftguide, eh? i'll have to try that one out.Yea, it's found here (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/731133-125-craftguide-v150/). Don't forget CraftGuide Inventory Search (in the same thread) which allows you to bind it to a key so you don't need ink sacs to pull it up.


as an experienced LPer, any advice you can give to a newbie? do i jump right into terraforming the landscape? explain my metrology behind my actions "yes i know i can use my coal for torches/furnace, but i'm hoarding it for now so i can compress it into diamonds later, incase they're hard to find or as EE condenser/transmutation table fuel"? do i constantly chatter away for 15-20 minutes or is some occasional "dead air" a good thing?

Patter. Like a stage magician, it's all in the timing, and all in the patter.

While you are busy punching a tree, explain your LP. If it's an 'in character' LP, explain your backstory and how you ended up there. If it's a more normal Let's Play, then explain what your goal is with the LP, and what the viewers can reasonably expect. As you encounter new resources, explain what you are planning on doing with it, or if you can't find it, what your initial plans are

ex: "Okay, first things first. Collect some logs, get some coal, build a shelter with some light, before sundown. Right. So... wood. When in doubt, punch a tree...." etc.

Also, don't be afraid to cutscene. "Okay, this is going to be the old mine and grind for the next couple of hours branch mining. I'll be back when I find something interesting." Hit the pause button on the recorder, and start it up again when... say... you found your first diamond ore.

Your viewers don't need to watch you do the endless repetition stuff. They've already seen it a bazillion times before. But do show off anything you plan on designing. Like show off building your first place of residence to hide away in for the first night if you can't find the wool for a bed. Show off anything cool from a mod "Hey! Look at the distinctive tops on those trees. Those are rubber trees. I'm gonna need plenty of rubber to get my generators going" or "This is Black Matter. I'm gonna need a LOT of it. Now you know why I need so many diamonds." Or "I'll bet you were wondering why I was storing all that coal all this time. Well, this is why. It's called Industrial Diamonds."

Dead air is not good. Umm's and Uh's and Hmmm's are worse.

But mostly... be yourself, and have some fun. You can tell the guys doing mods that are burned out... they just don't care. Their voice sounds like Ben Stein. They yawn. They're bored and disinterested. If you catch yourself doing that, change things up or take a break.

Also, audience participation. Ask your viewers what they'd like to see. You might be surprised by the responses.

[Destro_Yersul]

Indeed. But with MultiMC, ForgeML, and IDResolver, it's not really that big a pain.

Yea, that's the advantage in not using mod packs... you get to pick precisely which mods you use, and not have to worry about a bunch of mods you don't want, or not getting mods you do want.

technic comes with config files for a reason. Just saying.


Yea, it's found here (http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/731133-125-craftguide-v150/). Don't forget CraftGuide Inventory Search (in the same thread) which allows you to bind it to a key so you don't need ink sacs to pull it up.

CraftingGuide needs ink sacs? I've never run into that issue... I know RecipeBook needs one to craft it, but CraftingGuide only needs crafting tables and paper.

[oxybe]

i actually hadn't had to resolve any block id issues yet.

oh man... i just realized something: IC2's geothermal generators + better dungeons's volcanoes... :small eek:

the better dungeon volcanoes still explode, right? i wonder what would happen if i were to create an obsidian "vault" around a geothermal... ideas...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

technic comes with config files for a reason. Just saying. Forestry still won't work within technic. All the config files in the world won't add mods to it that aren't already included.


i actually hadn't had to resolve any block id issues yet.

oh man... i just realized something: IC2's geothermal generators + better dungeons's volcanoes... :small eek:

the better dungeon volcanoes still explode, right? i wonder what would happen if i were to create an obsidian "vault" around a geothermal... ideas...

Buildcraft Liquid Pipes to transport lava to safer location for geothermal. IC2 also changes the explosive resistance of Obsidian waaaaay down, it may not be sufficient. You may have to use Reinforced Stone.

[Destro_Yersul]

Forestry still won't work within technic. All the config files in the world won't add mods to it that aren't already included.


True enough. You can do that manually, though.

[Lamech]

i find that if i shove too many chickens too tightly in one space, they glitch into walls and just die, denying me both eggs and delicious chicken. the longer trench gives them some "free roaming" area while still allowing the eggs to collect at the bottom.
Oh dear, you don't know how suffocation works. You only suffocate in opaque blocks. Dirt, sand, gravel ect. You can breath in water, lava, air, fences, glass or the like. Hence the need for a glass pen. Then you can shove as many chickens as you want and they won't suffocate.

[oxybe]

i didn't know that glass could breathe. most of my attempts with stuff like fences ended up weird so i simply dug a trench and worked from there.

i'll have to start working it more into my designs. never figured glass to have that property.

man, i've been playing since alpha and i still learn new stuff about this game, lol.

had to do some ID resolution by hand as every time i kept installing the resolvers it kept crashing minecraft.

i also just recently looked into the obsidian changes in IC2 and yeah... wow did it drop in resistance. looks like reinforced stone it is.

so, now it's time to find a decent video cap software that's free or at least won't cause me to go broke.

[Domochevsky]

Glas also has the advantage of not blocking your redstone wiring from creeping up the sides. :smallwink:

(video capture... Camstudio, Debut (both containing "upsells" but are otherwise free) or outright fraps (D3D, costs like 10 bucks or so.) are viable options, from experience so far.)

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Since I run Linux, I run with Kazam Screencaster, a GNU (free to use, free to distribute, all attributions retained) program that pretty much is ideal for this. It isn't even very memory intensive, so I can run it alongside Minecraft without lagging my computer.

I've heard good things about Camstudio. Fraps is generally cited as the recording software of choice, even though it isn't free.