MLG Mining: Circular Branch Mining

• DigTunnels: Dig the 4 main tunnels (this step is optional)
• DigShafts: Dig out the branching mining shafts (this step is optional but highly adviseable, else the inventory will fill up too fast)
• DigOres: The main program: excavates all ore veins in those shafts
• DigAndExcavate: Combines the functionality of the three previous programs

• Quickly excavate loads of ores at a time
• Highly flexible through the use of (optional) command line arguments and a config file
• Automatic updating (checks for updates each time the world/server is loaded)
• Automatic dropoff/refueling
• Can place torches if desired
• Handles gravel/bedrock/cobblestone generators/players/other turtles

Spoiler

These are the command line arguments that can be used, the parameters in the config file are very similar

Spoiler

OUTDATED
1. What happens when you have multiple of these circular excavation stations stacked on top of each other + digSidesToo=true -> Awesomeness!


2. My standard design for a docking station: Lava buckets at the top, chest to drop items at the bottom and a disk drive at the back.


3. Multiple docking stations arranged in a circle with radius 3.

1. First try it on a small scale, for example: a tunnel of length 1. This way you are sure that you positioned all the docking stations correctly
2. I will do my best to keep the information above as understandable as possible, should you have any questions: feel free to ask :)/>

Gamewalker, on 10 December 2012 - 09:24 PM said:

Hi, dont get it to work, the turtle starts mining a 3x3x1 tunnel and then it dont go forward.
It digs tunnel length the 3x3x1 and then it go back, is there a missing forward line?

oktabyte, on 12 December 2012 - 02:37 AM said:

A small thing I noticed was that my turtle ran into a problem: it got filled and then stuck and I had to look for it. is it possible to make it checkt if it is already full?

Ulthean, on 12 December 2012 - 03:05 AM said:

oktabyte, on 12 December 2012 - 02:37 AM said:

A small thing I noticed was that my turtle ran into a problem: it got filled and then stuck and I had to look for it. is it possible to make it checkt if it is already full?

This is possible, though it's a pretty busy week so this may have to wait until next week (maybe sooner).
Do you know why it got stuck? I assume you mean during the 'digOres' execution right?

Currently working on an update, including this

• Automatic return when inventory is full or fuel is low, given adequate fuel (there is a new parameter: refuelTresh) this should increase excavation speed aswell.
• Digging tunnels with digSidesToo=false is now more efficient.

Ulthean, on 12 December 2012 - 05:00 AM said:

The pastebin files have been updated, changes include:

• Automatic return when inventory is full or fuel is low, given adequate fuel (there is a new parameter: refuelTresh) this should increase excavation speed aswell.
• Digging tunnels with digSidesToo=false is now more efficient.

oktabyte, on 12 December 2012 - 06:59 AM said:

You are awesome!

nothing else you can say about that

ZekwaldIX, on 12 December 2012 - 07:19 PM said:

Hmm, I was about to post a message about how the turtle doesn't line up for the 2nd tunnel and then I noticed that the radius for the inner square had increased by 1 to 5 instead of 4 as the OP states.
Oh, and seeign as I'm not that terribly good at programming could I ask of you to put in some comments describing the functions. Now, the names probobly should be enough but I feel that it would've been nice to have additional comments describing what it's supposed to do, for learning purposes ofc.
I hope it's not too much to ask for and if it is I'll just have to try harder.

Ulthean, on 12 December 2012 - 11:32 PM said:

You are indeed correct about the radius, I noticed this when making the video and decided to change it (in the OP aswell). Later today I will also put an updated image online, since the last one was wrong.

I will add comments to the files aswell, I'll get back to you once that is done.

kann13, on 13 December 2012 - 03:44 AM said:

Thank you so much for this. I am very new to Computercraft and to programming specially LUA. The comments you added, only after a cursory look at them have already cleared up a lot of things for me and will help me learn more about LUA programming.

I have done very minimal testing since I have not had much time to play, I think a nice addition to the code would be a function for torch placement.

tacomental, on 13 December 2012 - 12:46 PM said:

I made an account to say the same thing. Your code is very clear and seems quite well formed. Thanks for the boost on figuring this stuff out.

SuperBrian, on 15 December 2012 - 07:21 AM said:

So I think this is pretty great. Only suggestion: Could you have the turtles drop torches periodically? Maybe pickup from the fuel chest? I'm finding myself spending a lot of time running behind the turtles cleaning up so i dont have creepers ruining my setup.

• Placing torches (optional)
• Handling mobs/turtles
• Improved command line parameters so the order no longer matters (example: digTunnels -torches true -length 16)

Choumiko, on 16 December 2012 - 05:16 AM said:

- digOres:300: attempt to compare string with number expected, got string
- The turtle also digs 3 blocks gorward at the end of the 3x3 tunnel it just finished and then stops with above error

• Placing torches (optional)
• Handling mobs/turtles
• Handling bedrock/cobblestone generators (with a timeout)
• Improved command line parameters so the order no longer matters (example: digTunnels -l 16 -torches -radius 4)
• Removal of bugs
• Introduction of other bugs (most likely)

• Ingame: use digTunnels -help to get information about the command line parameters, same goes for digShafts and digOres
• Always reserve the first slot for your torches.

elseif args[readParams+1] == "-torchS" then
	if not (readParams + 1 < #args) then
	  printManual()
	  return
	end
	local x=args[readParams+2] --This line is the declaration/assignament--
	if not isDir(x) then --originally if not isDir(dir) then--
	  printDirs()
	  return
	end
	torchSuckDir=args[readParams+2]
	readParams=readParams+2

yarma92, on 17 December 2012 - 02:57 AM said:

When using the following line to start digTunnels:
digTunnel -l 32 -torchs -torchS up

It returns the error saying invalid direction. This is happening regardless of the direction

OreCruncher, on 17 December 2012 - 06:49 AM said:

lol - sounds like most mornings for me. :)/> One thing I came across was specifying the number of blocks to exclude from mining when using digOres. The turtle cranked along and when it went to deposit the ore into the chest it stopped with an error. Maybe the program can check each slot that is supposed to hold an exclusion block and terminate (with an error) if nothing is in the slot.

Ulthean, on 17 December 2012 - 06:54 AM said:

OreCruncher, on 17 December 2012 - 06:49 AM said:

lol - sounds like most mornings for me. :)/> One thing I came across was specifying the number of blocks to exclude from mining when using digOres. The turtle cranked along and when it went to deposit the ore into the chest it stopped with an error. Maybe the program can check each slot that is supposed to hold an exclusion block and terminate (with an error) if nothing is in the slot.

Do you still have the error message? And which version of the code you used? (the one I posted last night?)

OreCruncher, on 17 December 2012 - 06:58 AM said:

Oh, forgot to make some requests. :)/> Would be nice if there was a way to specify which tunnel to "skip" to when executing a program.

OreCruncher, on 17 December 2012 - 07:59 AM said:

OK. I tested not having my exclude ores in the turtle and the program still executed. And before I forget yet again, I think what you have here is pretty cool. I prefer this over the Quarry. This method doesn't leave holes all over the landscape. :)/>

Ulthean, on 17 December 2012 - 08:21 AM said:

OreCruncher, on 17 December 2012 - 07:59 AM said:

OK. I tested not having my exclude ores in the turtle and the program still executed. And before I forget yet again, I think what you have here is pretty cool. I prefer this over the Quarry. This method doesn't leave holes all over the landscape. :)/>

I see, you mean if you say it should have 4 exclude blocks but you don't put in any items?
Should be easy to remedy, good call.

SciFiJunkie, on 17 December 2012 - 08:39 AM said:

Ok so far I love how this is working. But I did find a problem. digTunnels worked great. Once I figured out that it was not going to clear out the center part, That is what I get for assuming. But the digShafts I did find a problem. Every time I was having it do its thing and it ran in to gravel it will loose track of its location and finish the shaft short. This would then cause it to be off on the chest and every shaft from there on would only get worse if it ran in to more gravel.

OreCruncher, on 17 December 2012 - 08:58 AM said:

New problem: "digOres:459: attempt to compare nil with number". The turtle arrived back to drop off it's load when this happened. I looked at the code and line 599 is suspicious to me. Other calls to refuel() appear different from this one. The code I am using was the one you posted last night.

Ulthean, on 17 December 2012 - 06:16 AM said:

yarma92, on 17 December 2012 - 02:57 AM said:

When using the following line to start digTunnels:
digTunnel -l 32 -torchs -torchS up

It returns the error saying invalid direction. This is happening regardless of the direction

You are correct, I accidentaly put isDir(dir) even though dir wasn't correctly declared/initiated.
Thanks for pointing it out, I will update the code immediatly

I guess I wasn't exactly my sharpest at 6 o'clock in the morning :)/>

Ulthean, on 17 December 2012 - 10:37 AM said:

SciFiJunkie, on 17 December 2012 - 08:39 AM said:

Ok so far I love how this is working. But I did find a problem. digTunnels worked great. Once I figured out that it was not going to clear out the center part, That is what I get for assuming. But the digShafts I did find a problem. Every time I was having it do its thing and it ran in to gravel it will loose track of its location and finish the shaft short. This would then cause it to be off on the chest and every shaft from there on would only get worse if it ran in to more gravel.

What do you mean when you say 'not clear the center part'?
The center block of the 3x3? With digSidesToo=true? This should be dug aswell, I will look into it and the gravel aswell, since I assumed both of these to be functional.

• Small bugfixes (the gravel problem among others)
• digOres checks the number of exclusion blocks provided by the user
• Can skip forward to a specific tunnel/shaft
• Updated the ingame help menu
• Updated the original post to reflect these changes

• More cleaning up
• More testing

Ulthean, on 17 December 2012 - 10:36 PM said:

Update released, couldn't wait. Update includes:

• Small bugfixes (the gravel problem among others)
• digOres checks the number of exclusion blocks provided by the user
• Can skip forward to a specific tunnel/shaft
• Updated the ingame help menu
• Updated the original post to reflect these changes

ToDo:

• More cleaning up
• More testing

OreCruncher, on 18 December 2012 - 03:34 AM said:

Ulthean, on 17 December 2012 - 10:36 PM said:

Update released, couldn't wait. Update includes:

• Small bugfixes (the gravel problem among others)
• digOres checks the number of exclusion blocks provided by the user
• Can skip forward to a specific tunnel/shaft
• Updated the ingame help menu
• Updated the original post to reflect these changes

ToDo:

• More cleaning up
• More testing

Excellent. I will try out later. I did experience two problems yesterday with two of my turtles. I think they occurred once the last shaft in a tunnel was processed. One drilled a single block wide tunnel parallel with the main tunnel and then stopped. The other I found "widening" the last shaft by digging out another layer of rock before I terminated it with extreme prejudice. :)/> The third one I had was merrily digging up ore and was behaving OK.

• Cleaned up the code to make it more understandable
• Testing + removal of bugs
• Turtle now handles blocked shafts better

digTunnels -l 30 -torches

tuxhedoh, on 18 December 2012 - 08:40 AM said:

I'm impressed, though torch handling needs to be fixed. At some point it runs out of torches, and starts placing blocks instead.

Additionally if you could provide examples in the initial code that'd be helpful , through trial and error I figured out that the command needed is

digTunnels -l 30 -torches

will dig a tunnel 30 blocks long and place torches.

I think the initial documentation would be more helpful if it actually mentioned it needs a third chest for torches.(is this even true?).

Thanks for the hard work.

About the torches: it is true that you need 3 chests, normally it should restock the torches often enough (from a chest that is positioned behind the turtle by default). Could it be that, because of the lacking documentation, you didn't place a chest with torches behind the turtle and that as such it wasn't able to restock?

1. digOres should never attempt to mine bedrock.
2. maybe it would be possible to "map" the initial shafts such that it already knows where the start of the veins are from the begining and it doesn't have to spend the time checking blocks it already knows are not ores.

tuxhedoh, on 19 December 2012 - 04:24 AM said:

So there's a good chance it ran out of torches and started placing the blocks (since it was what was now in slot 1). I will make sure that I have enough torches next time.

My suggestions now:

1. digOres should never attempt to mine bedrock.
2. maybe it would be possible to "map" the initial shafts such that it already knows where the start of the veins are from the begining and it doesn't have to spend the time checking blocks it already knows are not ores.

1. The only way to avoid this is by putting a block of bedrock in the 'ignore' slots. Then it will ignore the bedrock blocks instantly.
Right now when it detects a block it can't mine (a turtle or bedrock for example) it will keep trying for 5 seconds to see if the obstruction is still there (turtles might move out of the way).
2. This is possible, though in the long run it wouldn't have any added value, since the 'digShafts' function would take much longer
and would need the 'ignore' blocks in its inventory. Apart from that I consider them two seperate functions (digging shafts and excavating shafts) and I would like to keep them seperated.

1. Would you be interested in an update to the digTunnels/digShafts/digOres functions that allows a single turtle to
excavate multiple layers in succesion? Or do you (like me) prefer to have an individual turtle for each level. (I excavate 16 levels at once, using 16 turtles) If you would like this: what parameters/functionality do you think this should have? Parameters I think of are:
1. How many levels
2. Direction (are the other levels above or below this one)
3. Height of each level
4. Odd level shaft offset (you might want the shafts odd levels to be placed 'in between' the shafts of the even layers)
2. Would you be interested in a program that digs the rooms at the center of the 4 tunnels (with the option to do multiple levels at once)

Ulthean, on 19 December 2012 - 07:22 AM said:

Dear readers,

Two questions I need your opinion on:

1. Would you be interested in an update to the digTunnels/digShafts/digOres functions that allows a single turtle to
excavate multiple layers in succesion? Or do you (like me) prefer to have an individual turtle for each level. (I excavate 16 levels at once, using 16 turtles) If you would like this: what parameters/functionality do you think this should have? Parameters I think of are:
1. How many levels
2. Direction (are the other levels above or below this one)
3. Height of each level
4. Odd level shaft offset (you might want the shafts odd levels to be placed 'in between' the shafts of the even layers)

1. Would you be interested in a program that digs the rooms at the center of the 4 tunnels (with the option to do multiple levels at once)

• New parameter to allow the turtle will only dig out 1 shaft (have 4 turtles working on one level)
• New parameter to allow the turtle to digTunnels/digShafts/digOres on multiple levels
• New program to dig the vertical shaft (basic version, more functionality will be added later)

Ulthean, on 21 December 2012 - 06:57 AM said:

Tonight = update night! Added features will include:

• New parameter to allow the turtle will only dig out 1 shaft (have 4 turtles working on one level)
• New parameter to allow the turtle to digTunnels/digShafts/digOres on multiple levels
• New program to dig the vertical shaft (basic version, more functionality will be added later)

(I will also answer the questions in the last few posts)

SciFiJunkie, on 21 December 2012 - 03:55 PM said:

Just tried the digOres program with torches. But it when to the first shaft and then dug up about 60 blocks then over 1 block and then back down to bedrock.

Azeryuu, on 21 December 2012 - 04:26 PM said:

About the new program, what options will it have and what options will you add? Can you have an option to place chests/pipes?

• How many levels does it need to dig
• The radius of the center rooms
• Does it need to place torches aswell?
• Does it need to place chests aswell?
• Height per level
• which direction is the next level (up/down)
• offset before the first level

Ulthean, on 21 December 2012 - 05:39 PM said:

At the moment you can specify:

• How many levels does it need to dig
• The radius of the center rooms
• Does it need to place torches aswell?
• Does it need to place chests aswell?
• Height per level
• which direction is the next level (up/down)
• offset before the first level

I plan to have a program that can create my standard setup: chests, pipes, engines, place fuel in the chests, …

Suggestions are still welcome ofc

Ulthean, on 21 December 2012 - 05:39 PM said:

SciFiJunkie, on 21 December 2012 - 03:55 PM said:

Just tried the digOres program with torches. But it when to the first shaft and then dug up about 60 blocks then over 1 block and then back down to bedrock.

Did you remember to put stone in one of the 'ignore' slots?
Can you give the error message?

Azeryuu, on 21 December 2012 - 04:26 PM said:

About the new program, what options will it have and what options will you add? Can you have an option to place chests/pipes?

At the moment you can specify:

• How many levels does it need to dig
• The radius of the center rooms
• Does it need to place torches aswell?
• Does it need to place chests aswell?
• Height per level
• which direction is the next level (up/down)
• offset before the first level

I plan to have a program that can create my standard setup: chests, pipes, engines, place fuel in the chests, …

Suggestions are still welcome ofc

• You cant have stackable tunnels with digsides true and torches, maybe be try put torches on wall instead
• Also some of the turtles stop working with error "bios:133: Too long without yielding" or "turtle:18: Too long without yielding", anyway to fix this?

moverperfect, on 24 December 2012 - 01:59 PM said:

• You cant have stackable tunnels with digsides true and torches, maybe be try put torches on wall instead
• Also some of the turtles stop working with error "bios:133: Too long without yielding" or "turtle:18: Too long without yielding", anyway to fix this?

Apart from that, i love this script, anyway to add a script that prepares the 5x5 for us from bedrock up to ground level?

• I am aware of the first point you make, the torch placement in the shafts should remedy this though.
(I will look into alternative methods of placing torches)
• Could you tell me where the turtles stopped working and during which program?
• The script you talk about is being made.

Ulthean, on 24 December 2012 - 11:23 PM said:

• Could you tell me where the turtles stopped working and during which program?

• Moverperfect: I will look into it
• Markusla: This is implemented in the next version
• SciFiJunkie: In the screenshot I see only cobblestone. Are you sure you placed smooth stone aswell? (which you can get by cooking cobblestone)

Ulthean, on 25 December 2012 - 08:03 AM said:

I am working on the next update, I will try to put it out tonight, but since it is christmas this might be delayed until tomorrow.

• Moverperfect: I will look into it
• Markusla: This is implemented in the next version
• SciFiJunkie: In the screenshot I see only cobblestone. Are you sure you placed smooth stone aswell? (which you can get by cooking cobblestone)

xanderhunter, on 29 December 2012 - 02:15 AM said:

As someone new to Coputercraft I have a quick question, am I suppose to copy the whole pastebin file into a floppy, or am I suppose to only put parts of it in?

signorekai, on 28 December 2012 - 09:28 PM said:

Edit: I think a good parameter to add to digOres is how far it is allowed to wander off its search path. Sometimes when it finds a massive deposit of ores, it goes haywire and dig really really far away, then shutting down because it ran out of space in the array to store its path.

Ulthean, on 29 December 2012 - 04:39 AM said:

I am planning to remove the recursion in the excavation of ores, which should solve this problem.

UPDATE: This is implemented, the functionality remains the same, but without recursion, byebye stack overflows!

• Updating the information in the original post to reflect the new parameters etc
• Testing and uploading the program that creates the central vertical shaft
• Expanding the program that creates the central vertical shaft (place pipes etc)
• Creating a new video
• Cleaning up the code
• Creating a program that allows all three other programs to be run one after the other (the reason for the code overhaul, I uniformed the code)
• Bugfixin'

• Uniforming/Cleanup of the code
• More flexibility in the form of new optional parameters
(use 'digOres -help' etc until I changed the info in the first post)
• Offset the shafts on even/odd levels, for increased efficiency
• Allows the turtle to have a single refuel/dropoff station, instead of one for each individual tunnel
(this has advantages, but will make the excavation process slower, since the turtle will have to travel more)
• Various bug fixes

• In the spirit of uniforming: now uses the same parameters as the other two programs to calculate the length of the tunnels
(number of shafts, blocks between shafts, offset, …)

• Removed recursion from the ore excavation
(AKA no more stack overflows when encountering huge veins (tested this on a vein of 500 blocks))

• Cycle through the programs one after the other: Dig all the tunnels on all the levels, dig all the shafts on all the levels and excavate all the ores
(basically this is the same as running the three programs individually, but it saves you some button presses) (This is the fastest option in execution time, but you have to wait the longest to get your ores)
• Cycle through the programs on level-basis: Dig all the tunnels on one level, dig all the shafts and then excavate all the ores on that level
• Cycle through the programs on tunnel-basis: Dig one tunnel, dig all the shafts on that tunnel and excavate all the ores in that tunnel
• Cycle through the programs on shaft-basis: Dig one pair of shafts, and excavate all the ores in those two shafts
(Slowest overall execution time, but you get ores in a matter of minutes)

Ulthean, on 31 December 2012 - 02:20 AM said:

Quick question: I am creating a program that combines the functionality of the first 3 programs (dig a tunnel, dig the shafts, excavates the ores)
It is almost finished, but I was wondering: What would you prefer?

• Cycle through the programs one after the other: Dig all the tunnels on all the levels, dig all the shafts on all the levels and excavate all the ores
(basically this is the same as running the three programs individually, but it saves you some button presses) (This is the fastest option in execution time, but you have to wait the longest to get your ores)
• Cycle through the programs on level-basis: Dig all the tunnels on one level, dig all the shafts and then excavate all the ores on that level
• Cycle through the programs on tunnel-basis: Dig one tunnel, dig all the shafts on that tunnel and excavate all the ores in that tunnel
• Cycle through the programs on shaft-basis: Dig one pair of shafts, and excavate all the ores in those two shafts
(Slowest overall execution time, but you get ores in a matter of minutes)

oktabyte, on 31 December 2012 - 04:47 AM said:

I would love the one based on each level.
Do you plan a savefile to make the turtle go on where it has stopped if for example the server does a reboot?

ZekwaldIX, on 31 December 2012 - 06:26 AM said:

* Config file
* Mainframe
* Thanks for the comments

nanakisan, on 31 December 2012 - 11:46 AM said:

Personally. I like it already as it is. What i would like to see more over then anything. Is have the program do all things like you suggested. But have it only do 1 side per cycle of the code. instead of having it dig the entire netowork of shafts. Have it only dig 1 side out and its shafts. Then when you run digores. it only does 1 side. When that side is completed you just place either another turtle on the other sides or the same one and start it again. I see this as a advantage in case something happens in your world and you have to start it up again.

tigar, on 02 January 2013 - 02:09 AM said:

made an account just to post this

when using the -nofuel command the following error occurs

digtunnels:655: attempt to compare number with string expected, got number

and then it stops and it does this every single time

ldog, on 02 January 2013 - 04:31 AM said:

Love these programs. I've been using them for a while, was just too lazy to register an account.

* Dig shafts in a circular pattern
* Improved torch placement
* Standard tunnel/branch miner
* Exclusion, not using inventory

Ulthean, on 02 January 2013 - 05:08 AM said:

Thanks for the kind words, about your suggestions:
Circular pattern:
At this moment this would conflict with the dynamics of the program, but in time I might be able to provide a solution

Improved torch placement:
I already discovered this problem, and it will get fixed in the next version

Standard tunnel/branch miner:
You can do this for the tunnel already, if for example you normally excavate 8 shafts per tunnel:
* Position the turtle in the direction of the next expansion
* Use "digTunnels -numT 1 -numS 17 -torches"
This will dig a single tunnel, 17 shafts long (8+1+8). At the end of the tunnel the next hub can be constructed

Apart from that I have plenty of ideas to allow you to create expansions. Unfortunatly I have more ideas than I have
time at the moment, but I will try to have it fixed ASAP.

Exclusion not using inventory:
This is not possible since turtles can't detect which block is in front of them, they can only compare to blocks in inventory.
You could install a peripheral addingsilk touch turtles though

HelloTeam, on 03 January 2013 - 12:48 PM said:

Sadly this doesn't work at all for me.

When starting digTunnel the turtle scrolls through its inventory, stays at the last slot and then does… nothing what so ever.

ldog, on 03 January 2013 - 01:01 PM said:

HelloTeam, on 03 January 2013 - 12:48 PM said:

Sadly this doesn't work at all for me.

When starting digTunnel the turtle scrolls through its inventory, stays at the last slot and then does… nothing what so ever.

If the turtle hasn't been fueled (like a brand new turtle) you need to put 2 buckets of lava in a chest above it. It will grab them, use them and drop them in a chest underneath (or on the floor if no chest).
Alternately dump a stack of charcoal or what not in the turtle, run "refuel all" and then run digtunnels.

HelloTeam, on 03 January 2013 - 05:01 PM said:

ldog, on 03 January 2013 - 01:01 PM said:

HelloTeam, on 03 January 2013 - 12:48 PM said:

Sadly this doesn't work at all for me.

When starting digTunnel the turtle scrolls through its inventory, stays at the last slot and then does… nothing what so ever.

If the turtle hasn't been fueled (like a brand new turtle) you need to put 2 buckets of lava in a chest above it. It will grab them, use them and drop them in a chest underneath (or on the floor if no chest).
Alternately dump a stack of charcoal or what not in the turtle, run "refuel all" and then run digtunnels.

He was fueled. Does he need any docking setup to actually do anything ?

Ulthean, on 03 January 2013 - 10:00 PM said:

How much fuel did he have? With the standard config the turtle requires a fuel value of at least 1200 before it starts operation. (aka: 1 lava bucket)
Also: what parameters did you use?

HelloTeam, on 04 January 2013 - 06:40 AM said:

Ulthean, on 03 January 2013 - 10:00 PM said:

How much fuel did he have? With the standard config the turtle requires a fuel value of at least 1200 before it starts operation. (aka: 1 lava bucket)
Also: what parameters did you use?

Jeah the fuel level was the problem, it only had around 500.

Would be great if you added a failsafe/assertion for that, because right now the turtle will just stand around doing noithing if fuel <1200. (Or at least mention it in your introduction)

Anyway the script looks great as far as I could test it, thanks for your work!

ldog, on 04 January 2013 - 12:30 PM said:

I think the fuel per bucket was changed. Maybe it's just my config.
It seems to be 1000, so a new turtle wont go until he gets 2 buckets. I noticed it myself the other day, and so was surprised when I came back to a turtle that I had setup with a stack of torches and a bucket of lava and he was still sitting there for some minutes after I said go. I did notice it searching through inventory though so threw another bucket in and off he went.

I think it's mentioned somewhere (but then I play around with the parameters a lot, otherwise I probably wouldnt have noticed either). I've got them configured to torches on default and dumped them into the rom folder of the cc mod :D/>

Ulthean, on 07 January 2013 - 11:42 PM said:

Almost done with the new functionality, I would already like to thank you all for your patience.

Zagi, on 04 January 2013 - 12:21 PM said:

snip

• The options you were looking for were: -rad 0 -firstOffset 10
• The turtle will still dig torches and other ignore blocks if they are in his way, he will just not 'excavate' them in the final step of the program
• Multiple turtles per docking station would be tedious to implement, especially since the more elaborate configurations (with torches etc) require more chests than just the top/bottom.

• Added support for config files
• Maintenance/bugfixes
• Made the program more user friendly (imho)
• Updated the original post
• Levels can now be either 2 or 3 high
• Added a new program: digAndExcavate, this combines the functionality of the other three programs

• Create new screenshots/video
• Bugfixing (if people report any)
• Finish the new program that digs the central shaft, places pipes, chests etc
• Take a look at new features suggested by other users (among others: continue after server reset)

Ulthean, on 09 January 2013 - 02:48 AM said:

Update released:

• bunch of cool stuff

• Added a downloading program: see 'installing the programs'
• Restructured the code
• Potential bugfix (not entirely sure if I introduced it during the restructuring or not)

MrFuggernaut, on 09 January 2013 - 08:46 PM said:

Hey this looks like a great program that I would love to implement in my worlds, but I'm not sure where to place chests, which slots to place items in, how to set up the room, etc. Basically a very specific guide to how to use this and if someone else has made a video highlighting this and explaining it in detail that would be great.

pingwel, on 09 January 2013 - 11:28 PM said:

MrFuggernaut, on 09 January 2013 - 08:46 PM said:

Hey this looks like a great program that I would love to implement in my worlds, but I'm not sure where to place chests, which slots to place items in, how to set up the room, etc. Basically a very specific guide to how to use this and if someone else has made a video highlighting this and explaining it in detail that would be great.

If you look at the image you can see that his useing a chest in the middle, and then you go 5 blocks out to north, east, west and south and place two chest over eachother, just remember there needs to be a block between them. so it will be 3 blocks high. the top chest will be where you place in the fuel (lava buckets) and the bottum is the place where you get all the stuff the turtles are mining. if you need more help i can help you with it :)/>/>

• A chest with fuel at the top
• A chest for the stuff the turtle digs at the bottom
• A chest for the torches to the right
• A chest for the ignore blocks to the left

pingwel, on 09 January 2013 - 11:30 PM said:

i have maybe one request for this really awsome program(s) and thats, if the turtle should stop they have a way to know where they left off. like using a gps way to do it ? im not even sure if this is able to be done ? but if it's it would be awsome :D/>/>

Ulthean, on 10 January 2013 - 12:20 AM said:

pingwel, on 09 January 2013 - 11:28 PM said:

MrFuggernaut, on 09 January 2013 - 08:46 PM said:

Hey this looks like a great program that I would love to implement in my worlds, but I'm not sure where to place chests, which slots to place items in, how to set up the room, etc. Basically a very specific guide to how to use this and if someone else has made a video highlighting this and explaining it in detail that would be great.

If you look at the image you can see that his useing a chest in the middle, and then you go 5 blocks out to north, east, west and south and place two chest over eachother, just remember there needs to be a block between them. so it will be 3 blocks high. the top chest will be where you place in the fuel (lava buckets) and the bottum is the place where you get all the stuff the turtles are mining. if you need more help i can help you with it :)/>/>

Correct, though in the newest version you actually need more chests: at least 3 (or 4 if you want the turtle to place torches): the default config is:

• A chest with fuel at the top
• A chest for the stuff the turtle digs at the bottom
• A chest for the torches to the right
• A chest for the ignore blocks to the left

I made it so the ignore blocks are to the left so digAndExcavate can put them away while digging the tunnels and ores. I will make some updated images and a video as soon as possible.

pingwel, on 09 January 2013 - 11:30 PM said:

i have maybe one request for this really awsome program(s) and thats, if the turtle should stop they have a way to know where they left off. like using a gps way to do it ? im not even sure if this is able to be done ? but if it's it would be awsome :D/>/>

I am planning (long-term) to allow the turtle to continue where he left of if you quit minecraft (SSP) or the server restarts (SMP).

Konicomi, on 10 January 2013 - 05:36 AM said:

got an error when i tried to run it digAndExcavate:58: attempt to call nil

I do digTunnels and get the same thing on line 88 of it attempt to call nil both lines are the same can you tell me if im doing somthing wrong

stuffedparrot, on 10 January 2013 - 07:35 AM said:

I was having the same 'attempt to call' issue, and I just signed in to ask about it. You guys are pro. :D/>

However, one TINY little thing with 'digAndExcavate -torches -sides'. If you're watching your turtle, it places a torch on the left side just fine. Every 3 blocks, bam, torch. BUT, on the right side, it will place the torch not on the wall, but on the block it's about to dig up. it'll then dig said block, the torch drops and doesn't get picked up.

Not sure if that's the turtle or the way MC handles torch placement when it's got multiple blocks to choose from.

outlawgb, on 10 January 2013 - 08:20 AM said:

great work but with the DL zip file version digshafts does not seem to be using the config file changed it to allways use torches and 8 shafts but ignores it but works fine if used on command line

Ulthean, on 10 January 2013 - 08:39 AM said:

outlawgb, on 10 January 2013 - 08:20 AM said:

great work but with the DL zip file version digshafts does not seem to be using the config file changed it to allways use torches and 8 shafts but ignores it but works fine if used on command line

I found the problem, funny enough this should be a problem for the command line too, I updated it just to be sure ^^
pastebin get F4sENGwa getPrograms
http://www.mediafire...ldaddyfvry73kvn

• There was no option for digSidesToo in the config file+sharedFunctions
• Torch restocking needs to be improved/fixed
• Sometimes turtles still dig each other

Ulthean, on 11 January 2013 - 01:35 AM said:

Testing the program (to make a new tutorial video) and HOLY CR*P! I have 28 turtles working at the same time, dumping the items into a single energy condenser. It can't keep up! The turtles dig faster than the condenser is able to process them (10 blocks per second). I'll show you a screenshot when this run finished, it's quite insane.

Bugs I encountered myself (and which will be fixed, probably tonight):

• There was no option for digSidesToo in the config file+sharedFunctions
• Torch restocking needs to be improved/fixed
• Sometimes turtles still dig each other

1. Take a look at the image in the spoiler below, this is the default config, in which case you need one station for each of the 4 tunnels. If you have one turtle excavate multiple levels you need 4 per level. If this is too much setup for you you can use the parameter -oneChest, which tells the turtle that it always has to come back to the first station you built. This is of course easier, but a bit slower (since the turtle has to move a little bit more)
2. The turtle should only dump 'residual' items: if you refuel the turtle with lava buckets it will drop the empty buckets at the bottom. If you refuel with coal it shouldn't drop any items (it will use them all for refueling).

Spoiler

Note that from the center you have 4 blocks between the central pipe and the chests, so the chest is on the fifth.
(You can also look at the first image in the original post, the one with the top-down view)

1. Dig out an 11x11 room, 3 high
2. Place 4 dropoff/refuel stations on the wall, one on each of the walls, Each station has 4 chests:
1. Top=fuel
2. Left (when looking from the center)=the ignore items (smooth stone, dirt, gravel, marble, wooden planks, stone bricks (you can take fewer, but change the config too)
3. Right (when looking from the center)=torches (default he won't use this)
4. Down = empty chest, for dropping the mined goods
3. Place a turtle in the center of one of these stations and run the following command:
1. digAndExcavate -numS 1

pingwel, on 12 January 2013 - 03:57 AM said:

Maybe this one could be a help also if you wanted to reinstall the mods and wanna do it fast. like if you screw up something in the codes or anything :)/>

http://pastebin.com/GBUtC1Dn

Lithuex, on 12 January 2013 - 04:37 AM said:

Hey, I was wondering if you could do a tutorial video of it and how to keep them fueled and get them to put stuff in chests. I just started using computer craft and am very new at this. I've read over a few tutorials but I can't seem to get the nack of it.

Also, how do I install your programs? I dropped them into my .rar of computercraft\rom\programs\turtle but whenever I go into game and cd rom/programs/turtle and do ls, nothing comes up.

Ulthean, on 12 January 2013 - 04:49 AM said:

Shouldn't be too hard, what do you have in mind? One that automatically starts up when the world/server gets loaded? Or a short program that can be called, for example: 'dig' which starts the UI?

I am also planning on making an auto-updater, so people won't have to download the programs themselves (if they want to, if not they can just choose not to install that startup script.

Bullen, on 12 January 2013 - 05:39 AM said:

First of, I love this program.

I found a little bug though. When setting up the docking stations at the surface and changing the config to go downwards, skip 2 levels and use one chest. When I then use digAndExcavate it start of as normal but then it goes down 2 levels and dump the ignoreblocks and the torches thinking there is a staton there an then starts to mine..

Here's the config: http://pastebin.com/CaPg7kqc

• going to your minecraft folder (or Tekkit/Feed the beast folder)
• opening the folder named "config"
• opening the file named "mod_ComputerCraft"
• changing the line that says "enableAPI_http=0" to "enableAPI_http=1"
• restarting minecraft

• rm getPrograms
• pastebin get mcEpZDQe startup
• startup

• rm getPrograms
• pastebin get mcEpZDQe update
• update

• Added an automatic updater for the programs (checks for updates each time the world/server is loaded)
• I suggest adding cobblestone as an ignore block too, I myself have replaced wood with cobblestone in my default line-up of 6 items: "Smooth stone, dirt, gravel, cobblestone, marble, stone bricks" If you don't do this in some very specific cases, where lava meets water in a certain way, the turtle may or may not get stuck. Though the changes in the next two bullets solved some of the problems
• The movement of the turtle got improved: this fixed some troubles people were having
• Certain Obstructions will now be handled more elegantly
• The turtle will now notify the user when it needs more torches (via its terminal)
• Torch restocking is now properly functioning
• Torch placement is improved when using 'digSidesToo'
• Torch placement got changed to avoid dark spots in the shafts: it will now place a torch every 6 block
• Using the programs with just one chest should now work
• General Debugging

• Tutorial video
• Menu with mouseclicks

• 1 For the fuel
• 1 For the ignore blocks
• 1 For the torches
• 1 For the excavated blocks

Bullen, on 13 January 2013 - 07:23 AM said:

It seems so be working!

I'm very impressed by how fast you fix your program.

I suggest:

• Dig out an 11x11 room, 3 high
• Place 4 dropoff/refuel stations on the wall, one on each of the walls, Each station has 4 chests:
• Top=fuel
• Left (when looking from the center)=the ignore items (smooth stone, dirt, gravel, marble, wooden planks, stone bricks (you can take fewer, but change the config too)
• Right (when looking from the center)=torches (default he won't use this)
• Down = empty chest, for dropping the mined goods
• Place a turtle in the center of one of these stations and run the following command:
• digAndExcavate -numS 1

1. rm config
2. rm changelog
3. startup

1. Those default values are correct.
2. When you add the "-numS 1" parameter to the program you tell it to only dig 1 pair of shafts in each tunnel, so that's why you only get two shafts per tunnel (or 8 in total).
3. I suggested using that parameter so you can test if your setup is correct, once you know it is correct you can start the program without that parameter, and it will dig 16 pairs per tunnel, or a grand total of 128 shafts per level.
4. If you want you can add the "-oneChest" parameter, if you do this the the turtle will only need ONE refueling and deposit area. An example program call would be: digAndExcavate -numL 2 -torches -oneChest this would dig two levels (8 tunnels in total, or 256 shafts), would place torches in the tunnels and shafts and only need one refueling and deposit area: where you start the turtle. Keep in mind that large excavation operations take a while and that the program will stop when the chunks/world/server gets unloaded. I suggest only doing really large excavations when you know you have enough time.
5. You can always dig one level, and when the turtle finishes use the command: digAndExcavate -numL 2 -skipL 1 -torches -oneChest.This has the same function as the above, but the '-skipL 1' parameter tells the turtle to skip the first level.

xInDiGo, on 13 January 2013 - 11:31 AM said:

very useful! i wasn't sure how those parameters worked but now i know! is there support for if 2 turtles walk into each other, or arrive at the refuel station at the same time? also, in your setup, how come you add a diskdrive?

function needsRestocking(configuration)
  if configuration.requiresFuel then
    if turtle.getFuelLevel() < configuration.returnFuel then
	  return true
    end
  end
  ...
end

• How do you recomend me to setup this with multiple turtles? one per level or several per level?
• What is this program i read on the threrad that dig the center vertical shaft called?
• And a small feature request if not already implmented, can we have some rednet messages for a controlroom to listen for? :D/> All mining operations need a controlroom with big screens :)/>

• It all depends what you want, if you place them really close to each other there is a very small chance that two turtles will collide, if they are excavating the same ore vein at the same time. Then there is an even smaller chance that they will both want to move into each other's space and get stuck. From safest to fastest:
• SAFEST: 1 turtle per two levels (orient one north of the center, the other south just to be sure)
• 1 turtle per level (one north, one south)
• 2 turtles per level (lvl 1: north/south, lvl 2: east/west)
• FASTEST: 4 turtles per level
• But ofcourse it is more epic to have them work at the same sides, and the chances of them getting stuck are pretty small, so it's up to you.

• Unfortunatly this program isn't finished yet, I have been pretty busy and to have it do everything is a pretty big task. It probably will become a reality one day.
• I will try to put a very small version online tonight (no chests etc will be placed yet, but it can dig the vertical rooms)
• Another possibility is to use the standard excavate program to dig an 11x11 column downwards, though you won't have any floors to walk on.

• I might look into this, I haven't tested rednet yet, but it seems like a fun idea.

Ulthean, on 15 January 2013 - 02:04 AM said:

Question 1:

• It all depends what you want, if you place them really close to each other there is a very small chance that two turtles will collide, if they are excavating the same ore vein at the same time. Then there is an even smaller chance that they will both want to move into each other's space and get stuck. From safest to fastest:
• SAFEST: 1 turtle per two levels (orient one north of the center, the other south just to be sure)
• 1 turtle per level (one north, one south)
• 2 turtles per level (lvl 1: north/south, lvl 2: east/west)
• FASTEST: 4 turtles per level
• But ofcourse it is more epic to have them work at the same sides, and the chances of them getting stuck are pretty small, so it's up to you.

Question 2:

• Unfortunatly this program isn't finished yet, I have been pretty busy and to have it do everything is a pretty big task. It probably will become a reality one day.
• I will try to put a very small version online tonight (no chests etc will be placed yet, but it can dig the vertical rooms)
• Another possibility is to use the standard excavate program to dig an 11x11 column downwards, though you won't have any floors to walk on.

Question 3:

• I might look into this, I haven't tested rednet yet, but it seems like a fun idea.

Znubbis, on 15 January 2013 - 02:21 AM said:

I guess you can let 4 turtles dig the shaft and tunnels if they takes one direction each?

D3matt, on 14 January 2013 - 02:11 PM said:

I reported a week ago that the program was broken on servers that don't require fuel. Guess what? It's still broken, even after you restructured the entire program. It's literally a 1 line fix.

leminz98, on 15 January 2013 - 03:56 AM said:

ok, total computercraft and coding noob, i dont have much idea how any of it works, but i ran startup, then digAndExcavate, it gets the fuel then it says

ERROR:
————————
You said you wanted to turtle
To ignore 6 blocks but didn't
place them all in the chest
chest direction=left
————————
ABORTING

leminz98, on 15 January 2013 - 05:35 AM said:

why would i want it to ignore blocks?

sjkeegs, on 15 January 2013 - 06:27 AM said:

leminz98, on 15 January 2013 - 05:35 AM said:

why would i want it to ignore blocks?

Ignore blocks are typically Stone, Dirt, Gravel, etc… Blocks that you don't want the turtle to mine and bring back home. It allows a turtle to dig out valuable blocks without filling up it's inventory with junk. Of course if you do want it to pick up those blocks then change the config.

Ulthean, on 15 January 2013 - 07:31 AM said:

I would like to thank sjkeegs and leo verto for helping out the other users on this thread!

This is not standard quarry program, instead it digs shafts and then will dig out any veins of ores it encounters. If you do not put in ignore blocks he will start to dig a vein of 'smooth stone' AKA he will start to excavate the entire world, never returning to drop off.

leminz98, on 15 January 2013 - 10:52 AM said:

Ulthean, on 15 January 2013 - 07:31 AM said:

I would like to thank sjkeegs and leo verto for helping out the other users on this thread!

This is not standard quarry program, instead it digs shafts and then will dig out any veins of ores it encounters. If you do not put in ignore blocks he will start to dig a vein of 'smooth stone' AKA he will start to excavate the entire world, never returning to drop off.

does this mean i need to put a smooth stone in the ignore chest? or does cobble work?

Ulthean, on 14 January 2013 - 02:38 PM said:

Weird, I changed it a while ago to add that line you mentioned. Maybe I took the wrong file (and reverted the change). I will have it changed within the hour.

Just checked, it is changed in pastebin code. If you are positive you are using the right version of the code let me know and I will look into it.

From the api_sharedFunctions on pastebin:

function needsRestocking(configuration)
  if configuration.requiresFuel then
	if turtle.getFuelLevel() < configuration.returnFuel then
	  return true
	end
  end
  ...
end

• Do you have multiple turtles using the same dropoff station?
• The ignore blocks are only used when checking the walls of the shafts, it will still dig and blocks in its path if needed. (you can technically use digOres as the only program, and the turtle will function just as well). Though normally, if you use the -torches parameter again, he will dig the torches and replace them, this time at the top of the shafts, I find this convenient to check which shafts have been done and which haven't: if the torches are at the top the turtle excavated this shaft, so the turtle is currently working on the first shaft where the torches are still at the bottom of the shafts.

• I do not recommend having multiple turtles working on the same dropoff station, collisions are almost sure to happen at one point or another. In general try to keep the areas where they work seperated, they could get stuck at the refuel station or when they encounter eachother during digging/excavating. You could have 4 turtles running digAndExcavate, each doing one tunnel per level, and that program will dig the tunnels, the shafts and the ores. (and give each of them a seperate station)
• You can do it in the config too: placeTorches=true

pingwel, on 16 January 2013 - 01:56 AM said:

isnt there a way to tell them when they can see a turtle in front of them they will try to go up or down ?

sjkeegs, on 16 January 2013 - 04:19 AM said:

pingwel, on 16 January 2013 - 01:56 AM said:

isnt there a way to tell them when they can see a turtle in front of them they will try to go up or down ?

Turtles can't really detect other turtles (afaik). I suppose it might work if you put a turtle in a slot and tried to detect using that slot, but I haven't tried anything like that.

To do something like that and have turtles maneuver around each other you would probably need to implement some rednet communication and have a control computer sequence when the turtles allowed to go to the common point.

Ulthean, on 16 January 2013 - 05:13 AM said:

Turtles can detect each other, and the programs includes this feature, (peripheral.getType("left") == "turtle")

Ulthean, on 16 January 2013 - 05:13 AM said:

I suppose I could have the turtle look for an empty space around it, and possibly even have a test for chests 'drop an item in a direction'.

tofuturkey, on 16 January 2013 - 11:08 AM said:

I don't suppose someone could make a tutorial? I am a complete noob at this and I don't know how to set up the dropponts etc. If a set of instructions could be added to the OP, that'd be awesome. Thanks!

calmelb, on 17 January 2013 - 07:32 AM said:

This is the most awesome computer craft program ever made! It will dig out your own mine just for you!!! I love this! PS, Ulthean I am callummelb on youtube!

Ulthean, on 17 January 2013 - 10:23 AM said:

calmelb, on 17 January 2013 - 07:32 AM said:

This is the most awesome computer craft program ever made! It will dig out your own mine just for you!!! I love this! PS, Ulthean I am callummelb on youtube!

Thanks, I figured you were, you mention your alternative nicknames in your first video :)/>/>

calmelb, on 17 January 2013 - 06:41 PM said:

How did you get the idea to do this program?

Spoiler

Diamondclaw, on 17 January 2013 - 07:25 PM said:

Questions

1. You are correct about me using "-sides" in the big stacked tunnels. I originally implemented -sides so you could easily replace the floor and walls with other blocks, but I like the effect it created with stacked levels so I never bothered to add the walls and floors again :)/>
2. Normally if you use "-sides -torches" the turtle should place torches on the walls of the tunnels instead of on the floor, this for the exact reasons you mention. Are you sure you ran the program with both "-sides" and "-torches" as parameters?
3. I chose to use the current default parameters because they have a good cost/efficiency ratio: they gather most ores, but won't spend a lot of extra time digging extra shafts/levels jjust to get a few more ores.
What you could do is use "-height 2", in this case it should discover most veins (since they normally are 2x2 big). Or you could use "-height 2 -betw 2", this will cover most blocks, only 1 row of blocks will be unchecked per shaft. If you really want to cover every single block the only option at the moment is by using "-height 2 -betw 1 -evenOffs 1". This will create a shaft every 2 blocks, but is pretty inefficient.

Znubbis, on 17 January 2013 - 10:56 PM said:

I got a interesting result yesterday

I had finished digging ore on one level and was testing if i can get a turtle to dig another tunnel for level 2 in one direction. so i tested this

digTunnels -numL 2 -numT 1 -skipL 1

It moved to the right corner of the center room and dug down and have never been seen again :)/> any idea what i did wrong? should i just create another level and add more chests manually? Ive seen on the videos that you use stations for each level, is that to speed things up or is thats how levels work?

(Could you add a rednet broadcast when turtles run out of fuel that sends some info of where they think they are so if something strange happens you can get a hint where to look? :)/> )

digTunnels -numL 2 -numT 1 -skipL 1 -oneChest

• From what you told me nextDirL was probably down like you said. And he shouldn't fill the hole above him, so I figure that's server lag.
• For multi-level digging you either need stations on all levels OR have "-oneChest" enabled, there is no in-between.
• One chest does indeed mean one station, with 4 chests, I plan on renaming the parameter in the next update. I just haven't done it yet since I dislike changing the interface every few days, that's too confusing for other users.
• The turtle assumes to next level is 'height+1' blocks above/below the current one. So in your case that would be 4. But again, if you use -oneChest you don't need an extra station, it's only a little bit faster most of the times.

Ulthean, on 17 January 2013 - 08:46 PM said:

1. Normally if you use "-sides -torches" the turtle should place torches on the walls of the tunnels instead of on the floor, this for the exact reasons you mention. Are you sure you ran the program with both "-sides" and "-torches" as parameters?

Diamondclaw, on 18 January 2013 - 01:32 AM said:

Thanks for the quick reply.

Ulthean, on 17 January 2013 - 08:46 PM said:

1. Normally if you use "-sides -torches" the turtle should place torches on the walls of the tunnels instead of on the floor, this for the exact reasons you mention. Are you sure you ran the program with both "-sides" and "-torches" as parameters?

I'll run another attempt real quick in my test world with a shaft size of 5. The command I will use is DigAndExcavate -numT 1 -numS 5 -betw 2 -sides -torches

I'm hoping this will create 1 tunnel with 5 shafts on each side that are separated by 2 blocks and have torches placed on the walls in both the shafts and the tunnels once the program is complete. Will report back my findings shortly.

Ulthean, on 18 January 2013 - 01:35 AM said:

Diamondclaw, on 18 January 2013 - 01:32 AM said:

Thanks for the quick reply.

Ulthean, on 17 January 2013 - 08:46 PM said:

1. Normally if you use "-sides -torches" the turtle should place torches on the walls of the tunnels instead of on the floor, this for the exact reasons you mention. Are you sure you ran the program with both "-sides" and "-torches" as parameters?

I'll run another attempt real quick in my test world with a shaft size of 5. The command I will use is DigAndExcavate -numT 1 -numS 5 -betw 2 -sides -torches

I'm hoping this will create 1 tunnel with 5 shafts on each side that are separated by 2 blocks and have torches placed on the walls in both the shafts and the tunnels once the program is complete. Will report back my findings shortly.

That should be correct

Ulthean, on 18 January 2013 - 02:04 AM said:

Ah, this is possible, I haven't tested other values of betw, I will check it out ASAP

rm changelog
startup

Ulthean, on 18 January 2013 - 02:17 AM said:

Could you try it now? I updated the pastebin file, so run:

rm changelog
startup

Or whatever you called the 'updater'

Note: I think this should solve the problem, but I am not at home so I can't test it :)/>

Diamondclaw, on 18 January 2013 - 03:23 AM said:

Ulthean, on 18 January 2013 - 02:17 AM said:

Could you try it now? I updated the pastebin file, so run:

rm changelog
startup

Or whatever you called the 'updater'

Note: I think this should solve the problem, but I am not at home so I can't test it :)/>

Testing now.

Ulthean, on 18 January 2013 - 04:39 AM said:

Ah y, I will need to fix that (should be easy, just include the torch as an ignore block). I will test this out tonight and report back to you.

Edit: changed the pastebin code, should remedy the problem. But again, this is untested code, so you can either wait until I have the chance to test it or test it out yourself.

I think i have a bug report, i ran digAndExcavate with 1 level and one chest and that is the top level you see, after that completed i ran it again but with -numL 2 -skipL 1 and that is what the turtle is doing now, i believe it is placing the torches in the wrong place, i will add an edit when it gets round to digging the shafts.

http://i.imgur.com/ZPqZD1f.png

EDIT: Is this supposed to happen :S

http://i.imgur.com/JVFQjO5.png

Info:
Sides: True
Shafts: 4

moverperfect, on 21 January 2013 - 06:10 AM said:

I think i have a bug report, i ran digAndExcavate with 1 level and one chest and that is the top level you see, after that completed i ran it again but with -numL 2 -skipL 1 and that is what the turtle is doing now, i believe it is placing the torches in the wrong place, i will add an edit when it gets round to digging the shafts.

http://i.imgur.com/ZPqZD1f.png

Info:
Sides: True
Shafts: 4

MorphiusX, on 21 January 2013 - 08:05 PM said:

is there a tutorial that explains what each setting does as i set up a compact version 5x5 excavate but not sure how to tell the turtle that

• First, is there a reason that the turtles don't mine ores out of the tunnels themselves?
• Second, I started my mine just above bedrock - the turtles pause for a second when passing over a bedrock block looking for ores. Why is that?
• Third, since I started my mine at the bottom, is there a way to tell the turtles to mine the next level higher than the last? IE, mine bottom-up? Oops - missed that this was default.
• Fourth, your videos imply that multiple turtles will all work together. How would I set this up?
• Lastly, have you considered supporting enderchests? It would allow turtles to carry their 4 requisite chests with them, and never need to return to base.

cyclotis04, on 23 January 2013 - 07:17 PM said:

A few questions - I tried looking through this topic, but at 13 pages forgive me if I ask something that's already been answered.

• First, is there a reason that the turtles don't mine ores out of the tunnels themselves?
• Second, I started my mine just above bedrock - the turtles pause for a second when passing over a bedrock block looking for ores. Why is that?
• Third, since I started my mine at the bottom, is there a way to tell the turtles to mine the next level higher than the last? IE, mine bottom-up? Oops - missed that this was default.
• Fourth, your videos imply that multiple turtles will all work together. How would I set this up?
• Lastly, have you considered supporting enderchests? It would allow turtles to carry their 4 requisite chests with them, and never need to return to base.

Thanks for the great script!

1. At the moment the turtle will indeed only dig out the shafts, since checking the tunnels is not a very efficient use of the time (hopefully most veins in the tunnels will be part of one shaft or another). I might add optional functionality for this one day, but it's a low priority for me
2. Since bedrock is an unknown block (not one of the ignore blocks) he will try to mine it for a while, if it does not succeed after 10 tries (about 5 seconds) he will continue. A solution to this is adding bedrock to the ignore items, though you probably would have to spawn it in. I just thought of a way to speed up this process, though it will need some testing.
3. Indeed it is :)/>
4. Basically it's just a lot of turtles working individually, each having their own part of the area to excavate. So place each turtle individually, then run them with the correct parameters (if you want to have 4 turtles per level set numT to 1 (aka: dig only one tunnel))
5. Now that you mention it this might be convenient, I will look into it.

• SAFEST: 1 turtle per two levels (orient one north of the center, the other south just to be sure)
• 1 turtle per level (one north, one south)
• 2 turtles per level (lvl 1: north/south, lvl 2: east/west)
• FASTEST: 4 turtles per level

Ulthean, on 24 January 2013 - 12:48 AM said:

1. At the moment the turtle will indeed only dig out the shafts, since checking the tunnels is not a very efficient use of the time (hopefully most veins in the tunnels will be part of one shaft or another). I might add optional functionality for this one day, but it's a low priority for me
2. Since bedrock is an unknown block (not one of the ignore blocks) he will try to mine it for a while, if it does not succeed after 10 tries (about 5 seconds) he will continue. A solution to this is adding bedrock to the ignore items, though you probably would have to spawn it in. I just thought of a way to speed up this process, though it will need some testing.
3. Indeed it is :)/>
4. Basically it's just a lot of turtles working individually, each having their own part of the area to excavate. So place each turtle individually, then run them with the correct parameters (if you want to have 4 turtles per level set numT to 1 (aka: dig only one tunnel))
5. Now that you mention it this might be convenient, I will look into it.

My first priority now is to have it be able to resume. I'm not entirely sure how to yet (given the structure of the program) but I think I have a pretty good idea.
About having turtles cooperating: I would like to refer to the following post as a guideline:

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

If you place them really close to each other there is a very small chance that two turtles will collide, if they are excavating the same ore vein at the same time. Then there is an even smaller chance that they will both want to move into each other's space and get stuck. From safest to fastest:

• SAFEST: 1 turtle per two levels (orient one north of the center, the other south just to be sure)
• 1 turtle per level (one north, one south)
• 2 turtles per level (lvl 1: north/south, lvl 2: east/west)
• FASTEST: 4 turtles per level

cyclotis04, on 24 January 2013 - 07:59 AM said:

I have one more suggestion that might be easier than the ability to resume: make the turtles carry fuel with them rather than consume it all at once. This way, even if a turtle cannot resume, it can be broken and returned to the beginning without losing entire stacks of fuel.

sjkeegs, on 24 January 2013 - 08:08 AM said:

cyclotis04, on 24 January 2013 - 07:59 AM said:

I have one more suggestion that might be easier than the ability to resume: make the turtles carry fuel with them rather than consume it all at once. This way, even if a turtle cannot resume, it can be broken and returned to the beginning without losing entire stacks of fuel.

If you label the turtle it won't lose its fuel level when you break it.

"label set myturtle"

Zeadsheen, on 24 January 2013 - 11:45 AM said:

Everytime i try to use the dig and excavate command it keeps telling me this api_turtleExt :329 : attempt to compare number with string expected, got number

cyclotis04, on 24 January 2013 - 12:33 PM said:

My turtles have been having troubles resuming work after running out of torches. They'll sit facing the torch chest, sucking up any torches they can, telling me I require 1 more torch.

Ulthean, on 24 January 2013 - 10:20 PM said:

cyclotis04, on 24 January 2013 - 12:33 PM said:

My turtles have been having troubles resuming work after running out of torches. They'll sit facing the torch chest, sucking up any torches they can, telling me I require 1 more torch.

Have you tried giving them another torch? They need 65 to get moving at this moment (though in retrospect this isn't necesarry and I will change this to 64 in the next update) They will keep sucking torches until they get at least one torch in the first empty slot (apart from the torch slot) and will then redeposit that one torch.

Ulthean, on 30 January 2013 - 01:52 AM said:

Aha, did you use -oneChest? or did you have a set of chests ready for the second tunnel?

Sounds like he went to the second tunnel, dropped the ignore blocks on the ground there, and then started digging etc. If you don't use -oneChest he assumes there is a refueling/dropoff station there.

bukuskat, on 30 January 2013 - 03:00 AM said:

Hey, i'm trying to set this up, but ran into a problem right off the bat… went trying to run the pastebin it comes up with "no such program"
yet when i actully go to pastebin its there?

Leo Verto, on 30 January 2013 - 03:33 AM said:

bukuskat, on 30 January 2013 - 03:00 AM said:

Hey, i'm trying to set this up, but ran into a problem right off the bat… went trying to run the pastebin it comes up with "no such program"
yet when i actully go to pastebin its there?

Set http-enabled in .minceraft/config/ComputerCraft.cfg to true, without HTTP pastebin won't work.

Faux soyeur, on 31 January 2013 - 04:36 AM said:

snip (lost turtle)

bukuskat, on 31 January 2013 - 08:33 AM said:

Ulthean are you going to be creating anymore scripts?

danyo, on 02 February 2013 - 07:10 AM said:

Oké, got 2 questions, nothing urgent or anything, just curious.

So I tested out the turtle again, and it succesfully did a single level with 4 tunnels and 6 shafts each ( with the digandexcavate program ), my questions now are, can I make it continue from this point to do other levels without having to set up a new docking station ( I'm guessing the skip level might do that, but wanna make sure )

Second question is, if you make more then one level, does it go up, or down after finishing the current level?

Simple questions really, but I was a bit overzealous last time and it made a mess, so I wanna make sure I know what it'll do before I do it now xD

• Yes you can use "-skipL" like you mentioned, but be sure to add "-oneChest" aswell, so it will return to the current restocking/refueling station.
• By default it moves upwards, but you can change this using "-dirNextL down"

vampsama, on 16 February 2013 - 12:31 PM said:

My turtle gets stuck with the message, once as digAndExcavate -torches -numIgnore 6 and once as digOres

—————————
MLG MINING: NO UPDATE FOUND
—————————

Is there anyway to prevent automatic updates?

outlawgb, on 18 February 2013 - 02:29 PM said:

vampsama, on 16 February 2013 - 12:31 PM said:

My turtle gets stuck with the message, once as digAndExcavate -torches -numIgnore 6 and once as digOres

—————————
MLG MINING: NO UPDATE FOUND
—————————

Is there anyway to prevent automatic updates?

that message should only happen when you first load a world are you quitting while you run the program if so theres your problem

vampsama, on 18 February 2013 - 09:40 PM said:

outlawgb, on 18 February 2013 - 02:29 PM said:

vampsama, on 16 February 2013 - 12:31 PM said:

My turtle gets stuck with the message, once as digAndExcavate -torches -numIgnore 6 and once as digOres

—————————
MLG MINING: NO UPDATE FOUND
—————————

Is there anyway to prevent automatic updates?

that message should only happen when you first load a world are you quitting while you run the program if so theres your problem

Yeah I disconnected and rejoined the server.
Would the Turtle need to update when I leave if someone else is alreadey online when i rejoin?
Will the turtle attempt update when someone else joins the server?
Otherwise I guess I have to idle on the server while my turtle does its thing?
Would a chunk loader upgrade let the turte continue its business?

Dekken, on 19 February 2013 - 08:09 AM said:

Is there a reason why the turtle dug all the shafts just fine, then came back and started digging all the way up, way behind the chests and everything? just digging 4 blocks in the L shape upwards.
| _ _ _
And he also was full, and kept dropping everything.

cookiesk8r, on 19 February 2013 - 07:39 AM said:

hi after reading through the thread i couldn't see an answer to my question. Is it possible to download the pastebin file while in minecraft and place on a floppy to put in a drive behind the turtle thus removing connection time of download each time

ickr, on 19 February 2013 - 04:06 AM said:

I get a [bios:333: Not an HTTP URL] error when trying to run [startup]. I have looked at the bios.lua at line 333 and I really cannot make heads or tails of it. I'm very green and not sure what I should be looking for.

Thanks for the help
ickr

outlawgb, on 19 February 2013 - 12:13 PM said:

vampsama, on 18 February 2013 - 09:40 PM said:

outlawgb, on 18 February 2013 - 02:29 PM said:

vampsama, on 16 February 2013 - 12:31 PM said:

My turtle gets stuck with the message, once as digAndExcavate -torches -numIgnore 6 and once as digOres

—————————
MLG MINING: NO UPDATE FOUND
—————————

Is there anyway to prevent automatic updates?

that message should only happen when you first load a world are you quitting while you run the program if so theres your problem

Yeah I disconnected and rejoined the server.
Would the Turtle need to update when I leave if someone else is alreadey online when i rejoin?
Will the turtle attempt update when someone else joins the server?
Otherwise I guess I have to idle on the server while my turtle does its thing?
Would a chunk loader upgrade let the turte continue its business?

yes a chunk loader is what you need if you are using chicken chunks set it high with 16 shafts i set mine to 7 or 8 in the gui

vampsama, on 21 February 2013 - 09:57 AM said:

outlawgb, on 19 February 2013 - 12:13 PM said:

vampsama, on 18 February 2013 - 09:40 PM said:

outlawgb, on 18 February 2013 - 02:29 PM said:

vampsama, on 16 February 2013 - 12:31 PM said:

My turtle gets stuck with the message, once as digAndExcavate -torches -numIgnore 6 and once as digOres

—————————
MLG MINING: NO UPDATE FOUND
—————————

Is there anyway to prevent automatic updates?

that message should only happen when you first load a world are you quitting while you run the program if so theres your problem

Yeah I disconnected and rejoined the server.
Would the Turtle need to update when I leave if someone else is alreadey online when i rejoin?
Will the turtle attempt update when someone else joins the server?
Otherwise I guess I have to idle on the server while my turtle does its thing?
Would a chunk loader upgrade let the turte continue its business?

yes a chunk loader is what you need if you are using chicken chunks set it high with 16 shafts i set mine to 7 or 8 in the gui

Chunk loader upgrade worked fine for a while but now I reenter and I get the error again. This time my turtle wasnt in a lava lake atleast…

Does anyone have any insight on how to stop this behaviour?

Is there a way to have the turtle resume operations without having it redoing all the shafts?

im running with -oneChest…

UNOBTANIUM, on 26 February 2013 - 11:28 PM said:

The last thing i want to know: I didnt checked it, because this question might be dumb… The turtle sucks in the Ignore Blocks and then drops them back down. Does it safe some data to compare or does it carry the Ignore Blocks all the time? And if it safes data, how did you done that?
Thank you for this program!

Hey guys, loving this program so far but the only problem I have is that after a server reset/shutdown or I exit a Single Player world, the turtle is also shutdown and is unable to carry on with its mining when the server/world comes back on, unless I reset it manually.

I have a problem, by the time the turtle reaches the second tunnel second shaft it suddenly digs all the way up to a certain level and then comes down and again and again. What's the problem?

Now It tells me 'No such program' when i typed digAndExcavate -help

1. placed chest underneath for drop offs
2. placed chest to the right for torches, then filled with torches
3. placed turtle ontop of dropoff chest
4. ran : digAndExcavate -noFuel -torches -numIgnore 0

airtonix, on 01 July 2013 - 09:39 PM said:

Installed mlg via pastebin (would be good if you could use github to allow others to collaborate on this)

1. placed chest underneath for drop offs
2. placed chest to the right for torches, then filled with torches
3. placed turtle ontop of dropoff chest
4. ran : digAndExcavate -noFuel -torches -numIgnore 0

it started on the first main branche, created 3 tunnels on either side of that main tunnel, then proceeded to go crazy digging a vertical shaft all the way to the surface (almost dug right through one of my 3x3 piston doors).

Last time (a few months ago) I used this, it didn't behave like this.

Turtle_droid, on 15 July 2014 - 10:39 PM said:

Anyone else having issues with the turtle stopping if something gets in its way for instance gravel stacks?

JiRB0T, on 07 November 2014 - 08:49 PM said:

I'm having troubles with my turtle when it reaches anything it doesn't like it returns a "api_turtleExt:208: Invalid side", I've setup as shown and have dug a tunnel and shafts proper but once it reaches a player/gravel it give this error any thought or fixes?

UkeFox, on 13 November 2014 - 05:59 AM said:

It's an easy fix :D/>

function attack(dir)
  turnTo(dir)
  local tDir=turnedDir(dir)
  local attack
  if dir==up then
	attack=turtle.attackUp
  elseif dir==down then
	attack=turtle.attackDown
  else
	attack=turtle.attack
  end
  local success
  while attack() do
	success=true
	sleep(0.3)
  end
  turnFrom(dir)
  return success
end

Deathdrgn, on 20 January 2015 - 03:18 PM said:

After running in to the attack(tdir) issue myself in regards to gravel, I found that changing line 208 from "while turtle.attack(tDir) do" to "while turtle.attack(Dir) do" will restore original function

Deathdrgn, on 20 January 2015 - 03:18 PM said:

After running in to the attack(tdir) issue myself in regards to gravel, I found that changing line 208 from "while turtle.attack(tDir) do" to "while turtle.attack(Dir) do" will restore original function

Bomb Bloke, on 30 November 2016 - 04:41 AM said:

And what happened when you did this?

Bomb Bloke, on 30 November 2016 - 06:03 AM said:

Where line 215 is…?

Bomb Bloke, on 30 November 2016 - 06:54 AM said:

Ah, right, you've added some extra brackets to the function. Try it the way swisszeni had it - just do a straight copy/paste.