[Mod] Mesecons (= redstone) [GitHub] [minetest-mod-mesecons]

[Temperest]

Pistons appear to instantly extend because that's exactly what they do - they extend instantly! Movestones do it smoothly because they are not instant. If you look at some older versions of Mesecons, you'll notice that the pistons were originally animated with entities, but this led to a whole bunch of problems, including piston pushers floating around, pistons pushing other pistons while pushing, pushers being walkable, and much more.

I suppose it would be possible to add entities at the same time as the nodes are being pushed, but this may lead to significant visual glitching and lighting issues. I'd also like to avoid introducing delays into pistons again (it makes complex piston based circuits unreliable).

For pulling more than one node, check out sticky movestones. A recent bugfix makes them quite usable now. They pull ALL the nodes behind the direction they are travelling for as many nodes as you want.

[12Me21]

But the pistons in minecraft look so cool, because they move smoothly, There has to be an easy way to do it in minetest, because falling nodes move smoothly (sort of)

P.S. sometimes when I used movestones, they would go right through the nodes that they were pushing, has that bug been fixed?

[Jeija]

There were some recent changes to movestones, which means that the bug should have been fixed.

And as Temperest alrady said, there was a very old version that used animations for pistons - but this is very unreliable. It works so smooth in Minecraft, because all mods and content are client-side there, so there is no glitching at all.

In minetest however, all the content is server-side which makes it very, very difficult to make animations look smoothly (just look at mobf, it is hard to make animals move like in minecraft, even if sapier did a very good job there).

Dev note:
A possible fix for the case of pistons would be to make something like object:move_to(pos, speed) so that the moved entities stop automatically when reaching their destination position.

[12Me21]

do the nodes being pushed by movestones move smoothly?

[Jeija]

do the nodes being pushed by movestones move smoothly?

no

[12Me21]

do the nodes being pushed by movestones move smoothly?

no

why not?
can't it just be like falling nodes, only sideways?

Edit: anyway, there should be vertical movestones, so you can make elevators.

[Calinou]

do the nodes being pushed by movestones move smoothly?

no

why not?
can't it just be like falling nodes, only sideways?

This would require creating an entity, which would increase CPU usage if you are moving a lot of movestones at once.

+1 for vertical movestones. :D

[Temperest]

Falling nodes use entities, and are subject to all the bugs described. Pushing rows with a piston is possible if we use multiple entities, but is prone to visual glitches. You can already see that falling nodes have some issues such as duplication in very specific circumstances. Having many of them at once amplifies the problem.

[12Me21]

I wish there was some way of making smooth node movement in minetest...
but there isn't.

[deivan]

Is possible? http://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?id=5559

[Temperest]

Yes, use pipeworks and create a sorting mechanism at each end. You can use MESE pipes and filters for this. Link it all together with a clock line and you have a multiplexer!

Edit: or use the Teleport tubes and don't worry about distances at all.

[deivan]

My idea cover tubes, pipes and wires in a single item.

[Temperest]

Teleport tubes are single nodes that can transport items on multiple channels for any distance easily. Check them out, they're probably what you need.

[deivan]

Transport energy from the technic mod?

[Temperest]

Energy transport? No no, pipeworks. Like here:

http://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?id=2155

They transport items in different types of tubes. You want the teleport tube for long distance item transport.

[deivan]

Then my idea still valid, a variety of tubes and wires together in a single node block. :D

[VanessaE]

What Deivan is suggesting, I think, is a type of tube that also conducts mesecons signals along its length, similar to what Redpower users have in Minecraft. Others have proposed this as well, but I don't know how to code such a thing.

[deivan]

I have a little more complex idea than it. My idea is like a multiple-dimensional tube who store like 8 tubes in a single spot, don't only tubes, what you need, like wires or mesecon signal wire, and transport it from a point to another, the purpose is make a single role in a wall to pass all of this. If I need 4 types of things (wire, tube...) I need 4 roles now.

A basic example: 3 sources(1 mesecon data + 1 wire for technic energy + 1 pipe with water) -> hub1 ---advanced pipe--- hub2 (1 source leave here, like the pipe with water)---more advanced pipe--- hub3 (2 other sources leave here).
Maybe I have a water storage in a place with a generator, this generator have a wire and the wire go to hub together with the mesecon to control some thing... All come together in this single advanced pipe crossing a area and arriving in a fountain, I need the water here then I added a hub, put a pipe and assign the slot from the source water pipe to this pipe, at exit, the water arrive from him.
In the end point I put a switch to the mesecon data (to control a machine, the generator and lights, maybe) and the wire with the energy to my installation.

[lordcirth]

Inspired by the digicode mod, I have created a new item for mesecon/digiline mod - the digipad. Instead of checking for a PIN, it accepts up to 10 digits and transmits them down a digiline when you hit Submit. Its channel can be cycled between "keypad1", "keypad2" "keypad3" by punching. This allows not only passwords, but (I have done this) 1 code to open secret door, another to close, else - floor trap. Great fun :)
dl.dropbox.com/u/5649062/digipad-v3.zip
[img=Digipad and LCD ]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5649062/Digipad.png[/img]
Feedback welcome.
EDIT: digipad is WTFPL also because I borrowed extensively from digicode.

[deivan]

Very nice. :D

[Zeg9]

lordcirth, didn't test, but seems to work, and looks interesting, so great job !

[lordcirth]

Thanks Zeg, do you, or anyone here, have suggestions? maybe a slight texture change to differentiate from digicode?

Btw, the crafting recipe, for those of you who didn't look at the code, is:
{"mesecons_button:button_off", "mesecons_button:button_off", "mesecons_button:button_off"},
{"default:steel_ingot", "mesecons_luacontroller:luacontroller0000", "default:steel_ingot"},
{"default:steel_ingot", "digilines:wire_std_00000000", "default:steel_ingot"},

Basically digicode with micro- updated to lua- and digiline instead of mesecon.

[jordan4ibanez]

I just realized, if you set the pistons to be a physical entity like they used to be, they wouldn't need to use a function to push items/people around.

[Zeg9]

Thanks Zeg, do you, or anyone here, have suggestions? maybe a slight texture change to differentiate from digicode?

Btw, the crafting recipe, for those of you who didn't look at the code, is:
{"mesecons_button:button_off", "mesecons_button:button_off", "mesecons_button:button_off"},
{"default:steel_ingot", "mesecons_luacontroller:luacontroller0000", "default:steel_ingot"},
{"default:steel_ingot", "digilines:wire_std_00000000", "default:steel_ingot"},

Basically digicode with micro- updated to lua- and digiline instead of mesecon.

Well, maybe you would change the texture a bit, like its color (what about a [light] blue one?)

[Temperest]

I just realized, if you set the pistons to be a physical entity like they used to be, they wouldn't need to use a function to push items/people around.

They were never physical entities. Physical entities would collide with the piston node itself and lead to a whole bunch of headaches. The original version used nonphysical entities to avoid this - it had to be able to move into the piston body.

[jojoa1997]

Have you thought of making the selection boxes the same as the nodeboxes. I am doing this in minitest for redstone and the buttons and levers would look soo much better with the nodebox being also the selection box.

[VanessaE]

We tried that once. It made the wires hard to select, in practice.

[Temperest]

Speaking of selection boxes, I'm planning to make the ones for uninsulated Mesecons wire taller, to make building easier. What do you think?

[Jeija]

I'm fine with a taller selection box, just make sure that you don't exaggerate.

[Temperest]

Builders rejoice! Mesecons wire now has a larger selection box, making building above the ground much easier.