Turtle to fill a hole is stuck at the bottom

When I run the following program, it should go down to the bottom of the hole and fill it on the way up. I put 64 charcoal in slot 13 and 64 dirt in all the rest before running it.

Help if possible please.

--[[ Program name : fill
	  This program moves 1 forward then
	   moves down to lowest open space and then
	   fills with dirt/etc back up to where it started
	  --]]
--[[ Be sure the turtles has the following items
	  in the correct slots...
	    slot 13 has 64 coal/charcoal
	    other slots (at least 1) has filler (dirt/etc)
	  --]]
function refuel()
  fuellvl = turtle.getFuelLevel()
  if fuellvl<100 then
    amtchar = turtle.getItemCount(13)
    if amtchar > 1 then
	  turtle.select(13)
	  turtle.refuel(2)
	  turtle.select(1)
    else
	  if amtchar > 0 then
	    turtle.select(13)
	    turtle.refuel(1)
	    turtle.select(1)
	  end
    end
  end
end
--[[ set numeric var's --]]
fuellvl = 0
amtchar = 0
downMoves = 0
X = 0
fillSlot = 0
--[[ move forward one --]]
refuel()
turtle.forward()
--[[ for first move, it might have to dig through something
	   as I may have sealed a deep hole --]]
if turtle.down() == false then
  turtle.digDown()
end
--[[ move down as far as it can --]]
while not turtle.detectDown() do
  refuel()
  turtle.down()
  downMoves = downMoves + 1
end
--[[ move up and fill --]]
while downMoves > 0 do
  refuel()
  turtle.up()
  fillslot = 0
  for X = 1,16 do
    if X ~= 13 then
	  if turtle.getItemCount(X) > 0 then
	    fillslot = X
	  end
    end
  end
  if fillslot > 0 then
    turtle.select(fillSlot)
    turtle.placeDown()
  end
  downMoves = downMoves - 1
end

is this code only suppose to execute once and fill one hole?
and

fillSlot = 0

should be set to 1 since there isnt a slot 0 on the turtle

I'm not seeing any major problems with the code. What are the states of the various variables as it gets stuck at the bottom, especially downMoves? Does it move up once?

Lyqyd - I do not know the states of the variables or how to check that. It does move up once.

Cozzimoto -

I originally intended to have fillslot remain zero until it found "filler" like dirt in a slot, then switch to that slot and use the dirt to fill on the way up. I figured that if it remained zero, when it hit the line that said " if fillslot > 0 then " … then it would skip the line that used fillslot in the select command.

I went down to my stuck turtle, and right clicked on it. It had stopped because the fillslot variable was "out of range" at zero. So there is an issue here somewhere.

I went ahead and changed the two code lines where fillslot was set to zero, and changed it to being set to one.

Then I ran some tests.

1.) With the turtle with 64 dirt in all slots (except 64 charcoal in slot 13), I ran it. It goes down and comes up with dirt until it has used up all of the dirt in slot 1, then it returns to the top level it started at leaving a gap between it and the spot it ran out of dirt.

2.) Just to see what would happen, I then moved the turtle back 1 square (so it would go down the same hole again), and refilled slot 1 with dirt and ran it. It went down to the spot where it had stopped filling dirt and it filled it the rest of the way up. HOWEVER it stopped one square too low. The turtle ended one layer lower than where it started.

3.) Then I started over and ran the turtle in a new hole, with Nothing in slot 1, and dirt in all other slots (except charcoal in 13). It placed one dirt (probably the one it dug out before it headed down), then returned all the way to the correct starting layer but filled in no other dirt from other slots.

Although it does run now without erroring out, when it runs out of dirt in slot 1 I want it to look for any item in any other slot (except 13 where the fuel is) and use that stuff to fill the hole.

Please let me know if you all have any ideas how to fix these issues. Thanks !

if not turtle.placeDown() then
  fillslot = fillslot + 1
  if fillslot == 13 then
	fillslot = 14
  end
end

The first if statement will make the turtle attempt to place a block, and if it fails to, then the condition will be met.
that should make it so that if there is nothing to place, then the fillslot will increase by 1.
This will only work if 13 is the only slot that wouldn't have filler in it, although you could of course add other exceptions.

I adjusted the code and got the following error…

fill:64: attempt to perform aritchmetic _ _ add on nil and number

Here is my revised code. Please help, and thank you for your time on it so far. I think we are close.

--[[ Program name : fill
	  This program moves 1 forward then
	   moves down to lowest open space and then
	   fills with dirt/etc back up to where it started
	  --]]
--[[ Be sure the turtles has the following items
	  in the correct slots...
	    slot 13 has 64 coal/charcoal
	    other slots (at least 1) has filler (dirt/etc)
	  --]]
function refuel()
  fuellvl = turtle.getFuelLevel()
  if fuellvl<100 then
    amtchar = turtle.getItemCount(13)
    if amtchar > 1 then
	  turtle.select(13)
	  turtle.refuel(2)
	  turtle.select(1)
    else
	  if amtchar > 0 then
	    turtle.select(13)
	    turtle.refuel(1)
	    turtle.select(1)
	  end
    end
  end
end
--[[ set numeric var's --]]
fuellvl = 0
amtchar = 0
downMoves = 0
X = 0
fillSlot = 1
--[[ move forward one --]]
refuel()
turtle.forward()
--[[ for first move, it might have to dig through something
	   as I may have sealed a deep hole --]]
if turtle.down() == false then
  turtle.digDown()
end
--[[ move down as far as it can --]]
while not turtle.detectDown() do
  refuel()
  turtle.down()
  downMoves = downMoves + 1
end
--[[ move up and fill --]]
while downMoves > 0 do
  refuel()
  turtle.up()
  if not turtle.placeDown() then
	  --[[ make the turtle attempt to place a block, and
			 if it fails to, then the condition will be met --]]
    fillslot = fillslot + 1
	  --[[ If there is nothing to place, then the fillslot will increase by 1 --]]
    if fillslot == 13 then
	  --[[ Do not fill the hole with charcoal --]]
	  fillslot = 14
    end
  end
  downMoves = downMoves - 1
end

Down in your code you have fillSlot uses as this: fillslot. But you delaared it as fillSlot. So fillslot is nil and you can't add 1 to a nil value.

I fixed the fillSlot variable issue. (new complete code below)

However, it goes down, and comes all the way up, but there is still a gap between it's end position and the top of the stack of dirt. In other words, it still does not switch to a different stack in slot (or whatever slot the dirt happens to be in).

--[[ Program name : fill
	  This program moves 1 forward then
	   moves down to lowest open space and then
	   fills with dirt/etc back up to where it started
	  --]]
--[[ Be sure the turtles has the following items
	  in the correct slots...
	    slot 13 has 64 coal/charcoal
	    other slots (at least 1) has filler (dirt/etc)
	  --]]
function refuel()
  fuellvl = turtle.getFuelLevel()
  if fuellvl<100 then
    amtchar = turtle.getItemCount(13)
    if amtchar > 1 then
	  turtle.select(13)
	  turtle.refuel(2)
	  turtle.select(1)
    else
	  if amtchar > 0 then
	    turtle.select(13)
	    turtle.refuel(1)
	    turtle.select(1)
	  end
    end
  end
end
--[[ set numeric var's --]]
fuellvl = 0
amtchar = 0
downMoves = 0
X = 0
fillSlot = 1
--[[ move forward one --]]
refuel()
turtle.forward()
--[[ for first move, it might have to dig through something
	   as I may have sealed a deep hole --]]
if turtle.down() == false then
  turtle.digDown()
end
--[[ move down as far as it can --]]
while not turtle.detectDown() do
  refuel()
  turtle.down()
  downMoves = downMoves + 1
end
--[[ move up and fill --]]
while downMoves > 0 do
  refuel()
  turtle.up()
  if not turtle.placeDown() then
	  --[[ make the turtle attempt to place a block, and
			 if it fails to, then the condition will be met --]]
    fillSlot = fillSlot + 1
	  --[[ If there is nothing to place, then the fillslot will increase by 1 --]]
    if fillSlot == 13 then
	  --[[ Do not fill the hole with charcoal --]]
	  fillSlot = 14
    end
  end
  downMoves = downMoves - 1
end

--[[ Program name : fill
		  This program moves 1 forward then
		   moves down to lowest open space and then
		   fills with dirt/etc back up to where it started
		  --]]
--[[ Be sure the turtles has the following items
		  in the correct slots...
		    slot 13 has 64 coal/charcoal
		    other slots (at least 1) has filler (dirt/etc)
		  --]]
function refuel()
  fuellvl = turtle.getFuelLevel()
  if fuellvl<100 then
    amtchar = turtle.getItemCount(13)
    if amtchar > 1 then
		  turtle.select(13)
		  turtle.refuel(2)
		  turtle.select(1)
    else
		  if amtchar > 0 then
		    turtle.select(13)
		    turtle.refuel(1)
		    turtle.select(1)
		  end
    end
  end
end
--[[ set numeric var's --]]
fuellvl = 0
amtchar = 0
downMoves = 0
X = 0
fillSlot = 1
--[[ move forward one --]]
refuel()
turtle.forward()
--[[ for first move, it might have to dig through something
		   as I may have sealed a deep hole --]]
if turtle.down() == false then
  turtle.digDown()
end
--[[ move down as far as it can --]]
while not turtle.detectDown() do
  refuel()
  turtle.down()
  downMoves = downMoves + 1
end
--[[ move up and fill --]]
while downMoves > 0 do
  turtle.select(fillSlot)
  refuel()
  turtle.up()
  if not turtle.placeDown() then
		  --[[ make the turtle attempt to place a block, and
						 if it fails to, then the condition will be met --]]
    fillSlot = fillSlot + 1
		  --[[ If there is nothing to place, then the fillslot will increase by 1 --]]
    if fillSlot == 13 then
		  --[[ Do not fill the hole with charcoal --]]
		  fillSlot = 14
    end
  end
  downMoves = downMoves - 1
end

You forgot to make it select fillSlot

You're not having it place a block again after it fails to do so; instead, it moves up again. Try changing the if block to this:

while not turtle.placeDown() do
    fillSlot = fillSlot + 1
    if fillSlot == 13 then
        fillSlot = 14
    end
    turtle.select(fillSlot)
end

Awesome. Thanks guyz !

All is well :)/>/>