Minecraft Forums

Quote from deathguardian97

TBH I think the only thing I don't like about this is the name. Sounds too modern. I like the idea, but what about the name.....? Screw it, I can't name things for the life of me! ^{(Pun intended)}

Schraubendreher? Tournevis? At least that's what they were called in The Medieval Housebook of Wolfegg Castle back in 1490 or so. The implement has been around for at least that long. "Screws were used in the 15th century for constructing screw-cutting lathes, securing breastplates, backplates, and helmets on medieval jousting armor, and eventually for multiple parts of the emerging firearms, particularly the matchlock." says Wikipedia. Interesting.

Pistons are more modern anyway, and it's not like the names for any tool are ever used by Minecraft. It's all pictures there. :smile.gif:

But I get your point. Still, I can't think of a more immediately recognizable tool that adjusts things...

~ Nonsanity

The limits on block pushing power of pistons is most likely a technical one. The fact that pistons are limited to pushing 12 blocks is probably due to the chunk size of 16. At 12 blocks, you'll never be affecting more than two chunks when the piston engages. If that's the reason for the limit, then nothing's going to change that upper bound.

Also, placing objects that are larger than one block... The only examples are doors and paintings, and these are very limited in scope (and in the case of the paintings, rather random). Even with chests you have to place the blocks separately.

I think the core of the idea (longer pistons) isn't bad, but with a few caveats...

1) You'd have to place each block by hand. I'd suggest using a new piston-extender block type to go behind a regular or sticky piston to increase the push length by one.

2) But for each increase in push length, the total block pushing power would have to decrease. So pushing blocks two spaces would have a 11 block pushing limit.

3) An added bonus would be to also extend the "stickiness" of a sticky piston by the same about as the length extension. This doesn't make logical sense, perhaps, but it would let a sticky piston with two extenders behind it move three blocks three spaces, and back. This would make things like larger piston-powered doors easier to build.

With those two adjustments, I think this would achieve the desired effect still. You could place two extenders, a sticky piston, and three blocks to the side of a 3x3 corridor, with two matching sets directly above it. Power the pistons (or the extenders, they should share the charge with their piston) and you've got an instant 3x3 piston door.

But then again, I love the implementation details of complex multi-piston creations to do the same thing. They are awesome if unwieldy. I'm not sure I'd want to usurp their glory... :smile.gif:

~ Nonsanity

Quote from deathguardian97

There was a thread dealing with a similar issue in which right clicking redstone, tracks, etc would make it change direction in a clockwise manner. I kinda like that better than this, but this is okay too...

I know I've accidentally changed the timing on repeaters while working in the bowels of a complex circuit, and never noticed the accident until things stopped working right. I shudder to imagine how easy it would be to short circuit a design if an accidental right-click on a redstone wire changed how it connects to adjacent blocks.

I'd much rather have this only happen when a specific item is in my hand. It would limit accidents.

It also allows us to have more than one action when right clicking. Right click a repeater with any other tool and you adjust its timing, just as usual. Right-click it with the screwdriver to rotate it 90 degrees. Without the tool, you can't do both.

~ Nonsanity

I'd also be happy with a specific ejector track type, that will pop the rider out at that location when it has power. (And won't if it doesn't.)

But while that would perhaps be the simpler solution, and perhaps look better in the world, it DOES require a new object type for a very limited purpose while leaving the current (rather strange) damage behavior when passing through small openings.

Perhaps a compromise could be had if this suggestion was combined with the New Tool: Screwdriver suggestion. Then there could be one new multi-function track piece, and adjusting (clicking) it with the screwdriver changes its modes. It could be a load/unload track and be set to, say: 1) eject the player, 2) eject one stack from a container minecart into an adjacent chest, 3) eject all contents into an adjacent chest, 4) load one stack from a chest, 5) completely fill from a chest, 6) grab a player standing next to the track and take them for a ride...

But that's getting way too funky. I'd rather just have the eject behavior at small holes...

I don't ever want to be sucked into someone's "PEZ" dispenser again!

~ Nonsanity

Quote from Daergar

I'm having the same problem on a test track, and the 'actual' building. When I wire the detector track up, the Default direction the track wants to go is opposite of what it shows in your video.

So when a Minecart runs over the Detector track, it routes the cart to the return chute instead of the exit line, then (as shown in the video) resets after a moment. This means that carts with someone in them go down the Return chute, and empty carts exit the building properly.

Help!

This would be because your build and mine are at 90 degrees rotation to each other. The way to fix this is to remove the block and redstone torch that comes right after the double repeater delay leading into the track direction change torch. Replace it the block with a repeater (minimum delay) and the torch with a redstone wire. This won't clash with the next unit over, but will reverse the polarity (yay!) of the track switcher.

Here... Let me take a snapshot:


Does that fix it for you?

Whenever a track direction change goes the wrong way, either add or remove an inverter (block with a redstone on it) to the wiring.


~ Nonsanity

Another function: Use it on detector rails to cycle through what they can detect... Any minecart, one with a rider, a player rider only, riderless, container cart, empty container cart, full container cart, and I guess powered carts for completeness sake. (Though WHO uses those anymore??)

Or generalize to just a "sensitivity" number, like adjusting repeaters. At the minimum setting, it only triggers on empty minecarts. Setting 2 - empty container carts. Setting 3 - mob-ridden carts. Setting 4 - full container carts.

OR, forget about special treatment for container carts (maybe weed them out with this suggestion) and just go with: empty, player or empty container, mob or non-empty container.

I mean, with a screwdriver tool that makes adjusting settings and orientations easy, such things are possible when they would otherwise be really clunky or require many different item types.

To be sure, this functionality could be added as a CONTROL as well ("Hit E to toggle state on the currently targeted block") but no other keyboard command does that, and making it a tool you have to craft just makes more sense.

~ Nonsanity

Quote from Lukeaaa1

Thats really cool. Would it be easy to place most of the back wiring underground so that you dont have to cover it up?

If the indicator torch was moved to floor level, it might be possible to reduce the "back-wall" wiring to just a block or two deep. I was planning to use this as a subway, so having the wiring behind instead of beneath didn't make much difference to me.

If you build the station in the side of a mountain, that will hide the wiring too. :smile.gif:

But I'll take a look and see if an underground variant is easily possible.

~ Nonsanity

I've been thinking about this one for a long time.

Many of the more interesting things you can craft and place have an orientation. Sometimes that orientation is set by the direction you are facing when you place the block (pistons, repeaters, doors) and sometimes the orientation is determined by the surrounding objects (tracks). In such cases, to change the orientation you have to pick up, move, and re-place the object, or (as with tracks) do a funky object juggle to get the end result you want.

The new tool I propose is a screwdriver. We would use it to CHANGE the orientation of objects. So you dig a hole and drop a piston into the bottom, but you want it to point to the side and not up. The old way would be to dig down to get next to it and re-place it. But with the screwdriver you'd just click it till it faced the right direction. Six clicks gets you every possible direction. With a repeater, it takes just four clicks to cycle through the possibilities.

I started wishing for this when I first encountered a situation where, to properly place the object, I'd have to destroy some of what I'd already built so I could stand in the right place. It felt silly.

Most of us have seen tutorials that involve the laying of track or done lots of it ourselves. If so, you know how it can be a pain when corner tracks keep rotating away from the direction you need them to face, either because of the S/W rule or because you just dropped some unrelated bit of track next to it. I've never found an arrangement of track I couldn't assemble, but it often meant tearing up two or more other blocks of track to get it to work. I'd rather just "screw" with it till it's right.

And of course, once there is a screwdriver, other uses can be found for it. Any block that can't be fully adjusted by just clicking it, can also be clicked with a screwdriver for an alternate set of possibilities. (Change audio properties of note blocks? Firing angle of dispensers?)

And since the crafting patterns are often offered along with such ideas, I'll suggest an iron above a stick. Simple enough - Doesn't need to be elaborate.

~ Nonsanity

Two current and unfortunate things about Minecraft are:

1) The player has to manually exit a minecart by clicking it.
2) Riding a minecart through a one-block-high opening works (when it probably shouldn't) and does damage.

My proposal is to change that damage (which is probably not specifically coded for minecarts, but is just a product of being "inside" a solid block) to an specific ejection. This way, if a minecart travels through a hole too small for the rider, then the rider is ejected from the minecart and left in the last place tall enough for them to stand that the minecart passed through.

So if a track is laid across a level surface with a block placed directly above the track at one point, then riding a minecart toward that block would drop you in front of it, while the minecart continues underneath. The same thing would happen if the track passes through a one-block hole in a wall.

This would simplify minecart systems where knowing when the player chooses to exit a minecart and taking care of the empty can get quite involved. With pistons, "ejector" blocks can be positioned over the track or removed as needed, as well.

The only thing I can think of that this change would break are traps that use the damage inflicted by too-small openings to kill/damage players or mobs. As there are plenty of other ways to do damage, and I've never seen anyone use this side effect deliberately, I think it's a fair trade for what we'd gain.

Just imagine the ease of arriving at your destination... You just walk away and the minecart drops into a "PEZ" dispenser, ready for the next departure.

~ Nonsanity

I've been working on various minecart station designs recently with an eye to creating an extensive network for a server. This video is a in-depth tour of the latest departure station design. I'd love to get some constructive feedback on it. And everyone that's interested is welcome to make their own. Just let me know if you come up with any improvements.


This was my first "talkie" Minecraft video, so please pardon any rough edges... :smile.gif:

~ Nonsanity

I've been running into a bug while using SPC WorldEdit's copy/paste and stack commands with pistons. The orientation of the pistons isn't preserved in copies and stacks. It doesn't seem consistent, but the pistons are usually changed to pointing downwards in my tests.

In trying to stack a tall elevator with pistons. If they are all pointing the wrong way... It's going to be a very short trip. :smile.gif:

~ Nonsanity

I tried to tweek all the height I could get out of pistons and minecarts. The following video is the result: 22 blocks per jump.


~ Nonsanity

I was playing with circular piston pushers and the property of glass as a redstone insulator to make a looping program. In this sample, the program is only being used to open and close doors, and they are all tapping from the same loop.

The possibilities of this technique may lie in more compact program loops that can be arranged together (or separately) to drive different components in parallel.


~ Nonsanity

BUG REPORT

I didn't see this in the top post in the known bugs section (though it may have been mentioned in the 90+ pages since then).

If a piston (either type) pushes a redstone line, active or inactive, the piston will jam open and the redstone is destroyed. The only way to reset the piston is to destroy it and replace it.

I can understand if the redstone needs to be destroyed. Pushing wires around could lead to some interesting side effects... Though effects that might be very handy - hence why I was testing it in the first place. But the fact that the piston jams suggests this may be unintentional.

~ Nonsanity

This is my first Minecraft YouTube video featuring a parking garage structure that (currently) holds nine carts. Carts entering the structure will take the first available parking space. If multiple carts enter and interact, I haven't seen the system jam yet.

This uses the new 1.5 powered and detector rails, so the only redstone wiring is one line for each parking space to connect the release button. The behavior logic for the structure is inherent to the design.



I built it in a SSP test world with in-game edit tools to provide the materials and to save time on repeating structures. The design could be made more materials efficient, but I was going for aesthetics - particularly the windows to view if a parking spot is full or not.

If there's interest and this video doesn't give enough information, I can put together a construction video later.

Thanks for watching!
~ Nonsanity