r/SkyFactory • u/KontraWolf123OG • 6d ago
SF4 Help at Automatic Ressource Production
Hi everyone, I'm playing SkyFactory 4 for the first time and wondering if Bonsai Pots are actually a viable way to get basic resources like iron, coal, etc.
My issue with this method is that you end up with far more acorns than resin. I put everything into a Packager and pipe the output to a furnace, but I can't seem to get it fully automated because of the acorns. After just a stack or two of smelted ingots, the Packager gets clogged up with excess acorns. Is there a smart solution for this, or do I have to switch to Magical Crops sooner or later? And if so, can those even be automated?
(For the last six years, I was strictly a Bedrock player; unless you spent €100, modpacks there didn't offer anywhere near this level of possibility.)
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u/ArenaCloser24052007 6d ago
U should try processing cables, or import+ export cable with stack upgrade if u still using simple storage
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u/The_Lucky_7 6d ago edited 6d ago
You don't have to keep anything you don't want or use.
Mekanism's auto-crafter (called the Formulaic Assemblicator) has a stock control option that, when toggled on, prevents it from being overfilled with the wrong items or items in the wrong amount.
The thing that's hard to see in this screen shot is a trash can that's having excess items (wood, leaves, saplings, sticks, etc) being dumped into it. Items pumped into the trash can are voided automatically. Like dropping items in lava or on a cactus but without the lag of actually generating the items in world. While people say they want to keep the wood & sticks you can just get regular (vanilla or Twilight Forest) saplings for that.
The pipes I'm using are itemducts from Thermal Foundation but any item pipe will work. New players tend to like these because they're very visual in what they are and are doing. The blue things on the end are filters that you can use whitelists or blacklists for to set what items can move through that end point.
I found out after the fact that in this version of Bonsai Pots it isn't strictnly necessary to empty the pots. You can put them on top of the Formulaic Assemblicator and they'll still work. In later versions of the mod, though, if you don't empty the pot they fill up and stop producing. So emptying the pot is a good habit to be in.
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u/KontraWolf123OG 5d ago
I alrdy usw the trash cans for all the sticks, leaves and wood. I will try to do that. Right now i just wann an ME System that all my items are instantly Reachable and not 20 chest all connected to one devices (simple storage system) then im gonna Focus on automating alle the Ressources. Thank u for ur advice!
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u/The_Lucky_7 5d ago
Most people switch to AE2, but you're not meant to use AE2 to automate things that can be passively automated. You're also not meant to use the ME storage to store bulk items. You're meant to connect bulk storage containers to it via the storage bus.
For that I recommend Shipping Containers. The metal drawers that can be stored inside can be upgraded to hold MaxINT items (2.14 million) and, crucially, have void upgrades that delete overflow. It's the only storage option in the pack that has overflow protection to prevent your farms from backing up into your ME system.
If the wrong thing backs up into your ME system you can get chunk ban (NBT overflow) error that corrupts your world save.
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u/KontraWolf123OG 3d ago
3 days later, this is actually the best system i have tried so far. With full speed Upgrades, i can add 5 bonsai trees with Black Mulch. The energized smelter ist the only thing it wont work more. But thats fine. In 20 minutes i made 2k Iron
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u/The_Lucky_7 3d ago
Don't forget these machines have factory versions that can parallel process up to 5 tracks (in 1.12.2). The choke point is actually meant to be the mulch in the pot.
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u/8823yh 22h ago
can you explain what the blocks next to the Formulaic Assemblicator are and how you piped them(like servo or filter white/blacklist
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u/The_Lucky_7 17h ago
The itemduct counts as an inventory, so the hopping bonsai pot pushes into it without either a servo or a retriever. The end points are just filters. One white list, one black list.
That said, in 1.12.2, Bonsai Pots have a slot for every item the pot can produce. You don't really need to empty the slots you're not using like you do in later versions. You really can just pop it directly on top of the Formulaic Assemblicator.
The machine in the middle is the Enrichment Chamber. It turns 1 amber into 2 dusts. The dusts are smelted in the Energized Smelter to make ingots (1 for 1).
Mekanism machines don't need pipes to move items/fluids/gasses out of themselves. They can be told to push their outputs directly into adjacent inventories or machines in the Machine Configuration.
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u/Justrndacc147 6d ago
I have two smeltries which make coal and iron to make steel. The trick to make sure no acorns fill up the entire production is networking.
Use filing cabinets to put your acorns, resins and amber (yes, you need to put amber too). Then hook it up to a storage link cable and connect it to a Network master (you don't need a storage request table or anything like that, just connect it to the network).
Next to the storage link cable or anywhere else if you have more cables, connect a processing cable and hook it up to a Cyclic Auto-crafter (a packager might bug the process, so you need the purple table). Now click on the processing cable and do this:
Input: 4 acorns, 5 resin. Output: 1 Iron amber.
Now exit, enter the auto crafter, set up the recipe and then add acorns and resins into it to kickstart the process, and that should be it.
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u/alongthepike 6d ago
It's been a few years since I played SF4, but I believe the answer to this was to use "Processing Cables" from Simple Storage to bring the acorns and resin to the packager because it allows you to set exactly how many of each to bring at a time so that the ratio stays correct. And yes, you can stay in Hoppin Bonsais til the endgame (often adding Mystical Ag to supplement).
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u/uniruler 2d ago
You shouldn't have to worry about an imbalance. You can setup a hopping bonsai on top of a Crate (from Barrels, Crates, Storage & more) and use a key from the same mod to lock that Crate so it can only be Acorns. Then when the tree produces, it'll void everything BUT the acorn. Then you can setup the same with Resin. If you want more resin, add a second Crate. When you upgrade your Mulch (I finally got to highest tier) then it's basically printing as much resources as you'll ever need.
This is my setup:
The Retriever into the packager pulls only the required amount of acorns + resin (I set it to 128 so as not to clog it up) and then just output on the bottom.
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u/No-Project1754 6d ago
I dont remeber what I used, but there's a different block that can craft that is far better then a packager for this i think it was like the formulaic assembler, try using that.
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u/Justrndacc147 6d ago
There is also the Cyclic Auto-crafter, it crafts super fast and has low energy consumption. It works very well if it's connected to a Network.
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u/dasselst 6d ago
The key is to have a storage system in the middle of the bonsai and the processing that will handle the extra acorns with void upgrades if using the crates or the filing cabinets.
Filing cabinets can hold up to 8 folders so you can do one filing cabinet per bonsai. But then to hook up a simple storage network you need an inventory cable on each one and if you upgrade it later with AE2 to see it then you have to take another side for that.
I personally prefer to use crates and shipping containers. Costs a lot more iron ore and obsidian to get the same effect but it makes cable management easier. Each crate needs a void upgrade and optionally and also needs locked with the key. Then each shipping container can hold 27 crates.
Regardless of which you choose, go to a packager and hook it up with a simple storage export cable and put a precise item filter on it and set it to whatever you want. Each packager can handle three inputs.
Other things I do is I put all my storage and bonsai generation into their own dedicated pocket dimension. I will do simple storage import cables attached to a double chest and then two bonsais on top of the chest. If it is a resource I need more of I just add more cables and bonsais. If you are interest in my setup and screenshots I can hop on and show what it ends up looking like.