VoxelGadget
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| An official Bukkit plugin from the VoxelBox suite | |
|---|---|
| Lead Programmer & Designer: | Gavjenks |
| Design Consultant: | Przerwap (Offsets idea, and usage of dispenser as a base) |
| Documentation: | Gavjenks |
| Public Relations: | NeutronRocks Gavjenks plusnine |
| BukkitDev Link: | VoxelGadget on BukkitDev |
| Tested Compatible With: | #1.2.5-R1.2 |
| Download: | VoxelGadget v.2.0 VoxelGadgetSurvival v.2.0 |
Contents |
Overview
VoxelGadget is a series of small, simple tools that allow additional functionality for the dispenser block. "Vanilla" redstone devices allow for automated pushing of blocks around and complex logic, but somewhat bafflingly, it does not allow automated placement of blocks or destruction of blocks (with the notable exception of cobblestone production). This severely cripples the creative possibilities of machinery in Minecraft, since most of the game is about placing or destroying blocks.
VoxelGadget allows simple arrangements of certain block types to allow dispensers to take items from inside their inventory or elsewhere, and place them into or pick them up from the world. It allows devices headed by dispensers that are constructed in-game along your regular redstone to:
- place (or delete) blocks into the world at a defined distance from the dispenser
- place items into a targeted container blocks (like chests or other dispensers)
- vaccuum nearby entities away
- operate with a finite or an infinite number of blocks (this is configurable so the plugin can fit in on a creative or survival server)
VoxelGadget Commands
There are absolutely no chat commands associated with VoxelGadget. It simply runs in the background and allows any dispenser with the correct blocks attached to function in special ways.
- Tip: Security concerns should be handled by restricting unwanted users from placing or destroying dispensers at all, and/or by restricting the block types that perform special actions (which are configurable).
Survival Version
In the survival version, some of the modifier blocks (more on those later) are removed and all dispensation is run on finite resources. A few of other basic features of the plugin have been tweaked to prevent exploitation, ensuring it will not be possible to generate blocks from thin air, or to change one block type into another using VoxelGadget. However, the survival version still allows placement, destruction and shuffling around of blocks in your game world, enhancing your redstone experience.
- Tip: The trigger modifier blocks are configurable. If you consider the iron or gold blocks to be too resource-intensive for the local economy, you can change it to something cheaper to make your VoxelGadgets more available to the masses. Any line in the config file that ends in "data" refers to a data value (color) of wool. Wool of some color must be used for these blocks, though the color is configurable.
Special Blocks
The plugin is activated when a dispenser:
- Has something inside of it (empty dispensers will not perform special actions)
- Receives redstone power (in any standard way for a dispenser), AND
- Has an iron block or a diamond block next to it (and/or a gold block under it)
Thus, iron and diamond blocks are the first two "special" blocks. One or the other is required next to the dispenser to activate as a VoxelGadget. Other modifier blocks are all wool and go behind the iron or diamond.
- Tip: It may be helpful to think of this chain of modifier blocks behind your dispenser as a "tail" extending away from the dispenser in the opposite direction to where you will be affecting your world.
All modifier blocks are called in priority order from North of the dispenser, to S, E, W, above, and below. Multiple actions are possible on the same dispenser if multiple iron or diamond blocks are present.
Iron Block
An iron block placed next to a dispenser with something in it will cause the dispenser to either:
1) Place a block on the opposite side of the dispenser, if that location holds anything other than a chest or another dispenser
2) OR Move an item into the inventory of another chest or dispenser, if one of those containers is in the position where a block would have been placed.
Diamond Block
A diamond block placed next to a dispenser with something in it will cause the dispenser to destroy the block on the opposite side, unless that block is another dispenser or a chest (in which case, nothing will happen).
Gold Block
A Gold Block placed under the dispenser (ONLY under works for the gold block, unlike iron and diamond). Additionally, the vacuum dispenser must have a block inside it to function.
Powering a vacuum dispenser will cause the dispenser to suck up all item entities lying on the ground nearby (~ 1 to 2 block radius), prior to any other gadgety activities. The vacuum is slightly unpredictable between different individual gadgets, and entities are only 100% guaranteed to be sucked up if they are literally sitting on top of the dispenser. A dispenser must have at least one item contained in it before it will pick up other items.
A gold block used alone is capable of stopping the dispenser from dispensing normally.
And the nearby dirt is sucked up upon activation:
Modifier Block: Offsets
Different colors of blue wool will cause iron OR diamond blocks to target blocks further away than just the block immediately opposite the dispenser.
- Tip: Because so many modifier blocks are wools, it can be very handy to have a Data Scroll Wrench or Magical Paintbrush available to you with the VoxelDoop plugin!
Cyan wool will offset by 1 block:
Blue wool will offset by 5 blocks (+ the cyan = 6 blocks total. ALL modifier blocks can stack together in a train of modifiers):
Light blue wool (on the VoxelBox, this is the Blue with the Fleur de lis) will offset by 25 blocks.
Modifier Block: Finite Block Toggle
Green wool included in the modifier block train will make it so that:
- Iron blocks will use up a block from their inventory every time they place a block or move one to another container. As in, whichever block they placed or sent, one of those type will be removed from their inventories.
- Diamond blocks will add items that they destroy to their inventory, as if they had "sucked up" the block. Diamond blocks cannot, however, suck items out of containers.
Modifier Block: Override Block
Red wool signals to VoxelGadget that the next block in the train of modifiers is an "override" block. Whichever block would have been placed on the ground or moved to another container or added to this dispenser (in the case of a diamond block sucking up blocks), is changed at the last second to be whatever type of block is behind this red wool. In the following image, the dispenser has glass in it, but since a red wool block is present, the glass gets overriden and becomes a log instead:
Note that the modifier block train starts up again on the other side of the log. The cyan wool (and anything else in a continuous line from here) will also count as a modifier.
Modifier Block: Skip Block
White wool acts just like red wool, except it doesn't override anything. It just skips a spot in the modifier train. This is useful if you need to pass a redstone wire through the modifier train, or if you want to put a piston in the middle of the train to manipulate the modifiers during operation.
Modifier Block: Filter Block
Yellow wool will designate a filter block. Whatever block is behind the yellow wool in the modifier train, the dispenser will ONLY function (in any way) if the target of the dispenser is the same material and data value as that filter block (the one behind the yellow wool).
As you can see, a log is behind the yellow wool. A log is also in the target location for this dispenser. Thus, the dispenser functions:
But now, a glass block is in the target location, which does not match the filter block. If one were to go in and replace the glass in the dispenser with cobblestone, then activate the gadget, it would do nothing.
Filter blocks (like all other modifiers) function on each axis individually. You can filter for logs going W->E, but have no filter going N->S on the same dispenser.
- Tip: If you want to make it so that your dispenser does not overwrite blocks, just add a filter modifier, with air behind it. The dispenser will only place blocks if the target space is empty and then not overwrite whatever is placed.
Modifier Block: Line Block (regular gadget 1.9 only)
Wine-colored wool (ink 2) will designate a line block. A line block places an entire line of blocks, starting from the target block, instead of just one. Any offset blocks BEFORE the line block in the row of wool codes for the offset and the target of the gadget. Any offset blocks AFTER the line block codes for how long the line is. If there are zero offset blocks following the line block, the line will stretch backward to one block in front of the dispenser, instead of stretching forward as usual. First, we see an example of this default case, where no offsets follow the line block:
The glass line is formed from the target BACK to one block in front of the dispenser. The line will therefore be equal to the amount of offset in the gadget (one blue wool = 5 long line, going back toward the dispenser).
Next, we see an example of a case where there ARE offset blocks after the line. Here, the target is determined by those coming before the line block (5 offset to target), and the length of the line (going forward) is determined by offsets after the line block (another 5). Thus, we end up with a line stretching forward, beginning 5 blocks in front of the dispenser, and continuing for 5 blocks:
In both cases, the target is determined by the offset blocks before the line block. The following offsets simply determine how long and/or in which direction the line goes.
- NOTE: If you use a line block, it will force your entire gadget to use infinite blocks. Any green blocks will thus be ignored.
- NOTE: If you set up your line to be more than 100 blocks long, the gadget will not do anything when activated.
- NOTE: Filter blocks will work with the line block, but not on a block-by-block basis. if the main target matches the filter, then the whole line will be created. If not, nothing will happen.
- NOTE: Override should work with the line block as one would expect.
- NOTE: If you place two line blocks in a train, then any offsets in front of the first one will be ignored, basically, and the second line block will work as usual beginning from the offsets following the first line block. Don't do this if you don't know what you're doing, but there are situations when this can be very useful. (for example, as a way to offset your train size with an odd number of modifiers, as Featherblade was concerned about awhile ago, or as a way to completely switch out your line size and position with only a single piston or two, by adding that second (or third) line block in or taking it out)
Complex Gadgetry
Because VoxelGadget piggybacks on the existing redstone implementation, it's easy to being to apply arrays of gadget in sequence to create special effects. Stay tuned for tutorials and ideas on the kinds of machinery you can make with your VoxelGadgets!
Tutorials & Schematics
Note: The following schematics will only work if your Minecraft +bukkit server is running the VoxelGadget plugin with the default configuration. In order to test these gadgets repeatedly, you must be using the creative and not the survival version of the plugin.
Gadget-Tut no. 1: VoxelGadget Basics
This tutorial and schematic download covers the most basic Gadget operations: placing, removing and making your first VoxelGadgets with redstone. It also includes a tree-harvesting machine by GavJenks. Stay tuned for more gadget tutorial videos and schematic downloads!
Gadget-Tut no. 2: Piston Tail Modifiers & Water Fountains
This tutorial and schematic set covers three uses of pistons to modify and expand the possibilities in VoxelGadget devices by altering their tail. It also covers the use of invisible blocks and how best to deal with liquids with your VoxelGadgets. Downloads are also available for plusnine and TheWoodyMan's "Sploosh" and Arc-Display water fountains.
- Download the Gadget-Tut no. 2 Schematic
- Download the "Sploosh" Fountain Schematic
- Download the Arc-Display Fountain Schematic
Future VoxelGadget Tutorial Video Subject Matter
- Lighting Systems
- Flame Braziers
- Track Lighting
- Glowstone Strobes
- Games of Chance
- Slot Machine
- Roulette Wheel
