Building Gadgets 2 in FTB Evolution 2

Same as in the All the Mods 11 0.8.0-beta guide

Building Gadgets 2 is a set of tools that lets you place, copy, move, swap and clear lots of blocks in one click. This pack ships version 1.4.6 of the mod. If you build big bases or hate placing blocks one at a time, this one is for you.^[1][2]

The gadgets

• Building Gadget: places many blocks at once. You Shift right-click a block to choose what to build with, and the default mode is Build to Me.^[2]
• Exchanging Gadget: swaps one set of blocks for another. It can't replace air, so use the Building Gadget for that. The default mode is Surface.^[3]
• Copy Paste Gadget: you select two opposing corners of a structure, then paste a copy of it elsewhere. It uses items from your inventory and skips any blocks you don't have items for.^[4]
• Cut Paste Gadget: works like Copy Paste but moves the structure, so pasting needs no items. It stores only one structure at a time and has no undo.^[5][6]
• Destruction Gadget: clears a large area, and the cleared blocks are voided.^[7]

Power and settings

Most gadget functions need Forge Energy (FE), so charge them before you start. Hold the settings key (default G) to open the settings menu, where you pick modes and tweak each gadget. The Building and Exchanging gadgets also have a range setting.^[8][9]

Handy extras

• Undo remembers the last 10 actions your gadget made.^[6]
• Bind Inventory lets a gadget pull items from a chest or other inventory. You can also bind it to an Applied Energistics 2 system through its wireless access point, and then range is unlimited.^[10]
• Gadgets can handle fluids, using buckets or tanks such as Mekanism's.^[11]
• Anchor locks in your current preview so you can move around before you build.^[12]

Unverified The sources do not show Building Gadgets 2 on the ATM Star path, and no quests in this pack involve it, so there is no confirmed place for it in the pack's progression.

Building Gadgets 2 adds a small set of tools that place, swap, remove and copy lots of blocks at once. Every gadget needs Forge Energy (FE) for most of what it does, so you need some way to charge them. Many mods can charge items with FE. You open a gadget's settings menu by holding the settings key, which is 'g' by default.^[13]

Step 1: Make the Building Gadget

Building GadgetMod recipe

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any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
any diamond gem	any redstone dust	any diamond gem
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_building

Start here: it is the gadget the rest of the mod builds on.

The Building Gadget places a lot of blocks in one click. Charge it, then Shift right-click a block to choose what to build with. Look at a block and you get a ghostly preview. Red means you are missing items or energy. Right click to place.^[15]

In this pack it costs 50 FE per block placed (power.building_gadget.baseCost) and holds up to 500,000 FE (power.building_gadget.maxPower). Both are the mod defaults. Blocks you have no item for are skipped, and the default mode is Build to Me.^[15][16]

Step 2: Add the Exchanging Gadget

Exchanging GadgetMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
any diamond gem	any lapi gems	any diamond gem
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_exchanging

The Exchanging Gadget swaps existing blocks for another block. It cannot replace air, so use the Building Gadget for that. You pick the target block with Shift right-click, just like the builder, and the default mode is Surface. You can enchant it with silk touch, otherwise grass returns dirt.^[17]

It is pricier to run: 100 FE per block exchanged (power.exchanging_gadget.baseCost) and a 500,000 FE maximum (power.exchanging_gadget.maxPower).^[16]

Step 3: Clear space with the Destruction Gadget

Destruction GadgetMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
any ender pearl	any redstone dust	any ender pearl
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_destruction

The Destruction Gadget clears a big area. Set the area in the settings menu, then right click a block to remove everything highlighted. It costs 50 FE per block destroyed (power.destruction_gadget.baseCost) and holds up to 2,000,000 FE (power.destruction_gadget.maxPower).^[16][18]

Step 4: Copy Paste Gadget and Template Manager

Copy Paste GadgetMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
any emerald gem	any redstone dust	any emerald gem
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_copy_paste

With the Copy Paste Gadget in 'copy' mode, right click one corner of a structure and Shift right-click the opposite corner. A green outline appears. Switch to 'paste' mode to see a preview, then right click to place it. The items come from your inventory, and the settings menu has a material list showing what you have and what you lack.^[19]

In this pack, copying is free and pasting costs 50 FE per block (power.copypaste_gadget.baseCost). It holds up to 1,000,000 FE (power.copypaste_gadget.maxPower).^[16]

Template ManagerMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
Paper	any redstone dust	Paper
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:template_manager

Saves your copied structures so you can keep and share them.

The Template Manager saves structures from a Copy Paste Gadget. Put the gadget in the top slot and paper in the bottom slot, then click 'Save' to turn the paper into a template. You can load it back later, or copy it as text to share with friends.^[20]

Step 5: Move whole builds with the Cut Paste Gadget

Cut Paste GadgetMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
Shears	any redstone dust	Shears
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_cut_paste

The Cut Paste Gadget works like the copy gadget, but it moves the structure. The cut only happens when you click the 'cut' button in the settings menu. It holds one structure at a time, and pasting needs no items because it reuses the blocks it removed. Its maximum is 5,000,000 FE (power.cutpaste_gadget.maxPower), with 50 FE per block (power.cutpaste_gadget.baseCost).^[16][21]

Building Gadgets 2 is built around a handful of gadgets that all share the same basics: they run on power, they show a preview before they do anything, and you tune them from a settings menu. This section covers how those systems work in the pack.^[13][15]

Power

Every gadget needs Forge Energy (FE) for most of what it does. Many mods can charge items with FE, so use whatever charger you already have. Each gadget has its own cost per block and its own maximum charge, set in power.building_gadget.baseCost and the matching power options.^[13][16]

• Building Gadget: 50 FE per block placed (power.building_gadget.baseCost), holding up to 500,000 FE (power.building_gadget.maxPower).^[16]
• Exchanging Gadget: 100 FE per block exchanged (power.exchanging_gadget.baseCost), holding up to 500,000 FE (power.exchanging_gadget.maxPower).^[16]
• Copy Paste Gadget: 50 FE per block pasted (power.copypaste_gadget.baseCost). Copying itself is free. It holds up to 1,000,000 FE (power.copypaste_gadget.maxPower).^[16][19]
• Cut Paste Gadget: 50 FE per block (power.cutpaste_gadget.baseCost). The energy is checked when you cut and charged when you paste. It holds up to 5,000,000 FE (power.cutpaste_gadget.maxPower).^[16][21]
• Destruction Gadget: 50 FE per block destroyed (power.destruction_gadget.baseCost), holding up to 2,000,000 FE (power.destruction_gadget.maxPower).^[16]

All of these values are the same as the mod defaults in this pack, so nothing is rebalanced here. The maximum build distance, general.rayTraceRange, is also the mod default of 32 and can be set anywhere from 1 to 64.^[16]

Settings menu and previews

Hold the settings menu key (default 'g') to open a gadget's settings. Each gadget has different options. Anchor, Range and Undo also have their own hotkeys.^[13][23]

When you look at a block, the Building and Exchanging gadgets show a ghostly preview of what they will do. If you are missing the required items or energy, the previewed blocks get a red overlay. When you right click, items are taken from your inventory, and any block you have no item for is skipped.^[15][17]

Every gadget can be given a build animation, which defaults to 'grow'. It is purely cosmetic and changes nothing about how the gadget works.^[24]

Building and exchanging

With the Building Gadget, charge it, then shift right-click a block to choose what to build with. Its default mode is Build to Me. The Exchanging Gadget works the same way, but it swaps existing blocks and cannot replace air, so use the Building Gadget for that. Its default mode is Surface.^[15][17]

When the Exchanging Gadget removes a block, the item for it is returned to you. You can enchant the gadget with silk touch, otherwise grass returns dirt. Undoing an exchange needs the original items in your inventory: to swap stone bricks back to grass, you must have grass on you.^[17]

The Building and Exchanging gadgets share a range setting. Each mode reads it a little differently, but in general it is an area. In Horizontal Row mode a range of 3 means 3 blocks total, and for walls a range of 3 builds a 3x3 wall. Even numbers are rounded, and for walls they change the height slightly. Check the preview to get the result you want.^[25]

• Build to Me: builds a row from the block face you look at to you. It ignores the range setting, and 'place on top' builds to your head instead of your feet.^[26]
• Horizontal Row: builds away from you in the direction you look, which is handy for bridges. On the exchanger it swaps blocks to the left and right of where you look.^[27]
• Horizontal Wall: with 'place on top' on, it builds an area above the block you look at, or toward you if you look at a side. With it off, it builds around the block.^[28]
• Vertical Wall: builds a wall up or down from the top or bottom of the block, or around it if you look at a side.^[29]
• Vertical Column: available on both gadgets. It builds up or down from a top or bottom face, or both ways around a side face.^[30]
• Surface: extends the set of blocks you look at. Fuzzy mode lets it target any blocks, not just matching ones. On the exchanger, connected mode only swaps blocks connected to the ones you look at.^[31]
• Grid: places blocks in a grid, good for torches or glowstone. Higher range spreads the blocks further apart. It is also an exchanger mode.^[32]
• Stairs: builds up and away from you or up and towards you, depending on whether you are above or below the block. The in-game guide itself calls this mode confusing.^[33]

'Place on top' behaves a little differently in each mode, and in some it has no effect. Generally it places on top of the block instead of around it.^[34]

Copy Paste and Cut Paste

1. Set the Copy Paste Gadget to 'copy' mode in the settings menu.^[19]
2. Right click one corner of the structure, then shift right-click the opposite corner. A green outline appears around it.^[19]
3. Switch to 'paste' mode to see a ghostly preview. The block you first right clicked is the structure's starting point.^[19]
4. Right click to place it. Items are taken from your inventory, and blocks you lack items for are skipped.^[19]

The 'material list' option in the settings menu shows what you have and what you are missing. Adjust Placement lets you nudge the start and end blocks with plus and minus buttons, or switch to absolute world coordinates. Paste mode has a similar window for moving the starting block. Rotate turns a copy or cut structure around its starting point.^[19][36]

The Cut Paste Gadget works the same way, but the outline is red. Nothing is removed until you click the 'cut' button in the settings menu. Pasting needs no items, because it reuses the blocks you removed, and all block-entity data moves with them, including chest contents and block configurations.^[21]

Paste Replace is available only on the Cut Paste and Copy Paste gadgets. When it is off, pasting only overwrites blocks you could normally overwrite, like water and tall grass, which the guide warns is dangerous with the Cut Paste Gadget because blocks could be lost. When it is on, the paste replaces any block, including air. Replaced blocks are voided and drop nothing.^[37]

Destruction

The Destruction Gadget clears an area. Set the area in the settings menu relative to the block and face you look at, then right click to void every highlighted block. Voided blocks do not drop. Undo puts them back and does not take items from your inventory.^[18]

Undo

Undo reverses the gadget's last task, either removing the blocks it built or swapping the old blocks back. It remembers the last 10 actions and is available from a hotkey or the settings menu. When undoing an exchange, make sure you still have the needed items.^[22]

Inventories and fluids

Bind Inventory lets a gadget pull items from, and put items into, an inventory. Enable 'bind inventory' in the settings menu, then shift right-click a chest or other inventory. A blue box confirms it. Shift right-click a non-inventory block such as grass to disconnect.^[38]

You can also bind to an Applied Energistics 2 system through its wireless access point. In that case the gadget has unlimited range, so you do not need range upgrades.^[38]

Gadgets can handle fluids too. Raytrace Fluids must be enabled to select a fluid with shift right-click. With it on, exchangers can swap out fluids and builders can build on top of fluids. With it off, they ignore fluids and build on the blocks behind them.^[39][40]

To place fluids you need a bucket with the right fluid, or a tank from a mod such as Mekanism, in which case fluids are removed from and inserted into the tanks. The Copy Paste Gadget handles fluids as well. When you undo or exchange fluids, the gadget looks for somewhere to put the fluid, like an empty bucket or tank, and voids it if it finds none.^[39]

Template Manager

The Template Manager saves structures from your Copy Paste Gadget so you can keep them as items or share them outside your world.^[20]

Template ManagerMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
Paper	any redstone dust	Paper
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:template_manager

The Template Manager is a block with its own crafting recipe.

1. Put a Copy Paste Gadget in the top slot and paper in the bottom slot.^[20]
2. Click 'Save' to turn the paper into a template. A render of the structure appears, which you can pan and spin with the mouse and zoom with the scroll wheel.^[20]
3. Click 'load' to copy a template's structure back onto the gadget.^[20]
4. Click the 'Render' button to switch to Materials Mode, which lists the needed materials. Click the materials button to switch back.^[20]

Templates can be named, and the name shows on the template item. 'Copy' puts a json string on your clipboard that you can share with friends. They copy it, put paper in the bottom slot, and click 'paste' to replicate your structure.^[20]

In this pack Building Gadgets 2 comes as separate gadgets plus a Template Manager, each with its own shaped crafting recipe straight from the mod. Every gadget needs Forge Energy (FE) for most of what it does, so sort out a way to charge them early.^[13][14]

What each gadget does

• Building Gadget: places lots of blocks at once. Shift right-click a block to pick what to build with, then right click to place. The default mode is Build to Me, and you get a ghostly preview first, with a red overlay on blocks you lack the items or energy for.^[15]
• Exchanging Gadget: swaps one set of blocks for another, but it can't replace air (use the Building Gadget for that). The default mode is Surface, and you can enchant it with silk touch.^[17]
• Copy Paste Gadget: copies a structure between two corners, then pastes it back with a preview. A material list in the settings menu shows which items you have or are missing.^[19]
• Cut Paste Gadget: works like the Copy Paste Gadget, but moves a structure instead. Block-entity data such as chest contents travels with it. It only stores one structure at a time and has no undo.^[21][22]
• Destruction Gadget: clears a large area, and every cleared block is voided. You can undo it, and undoing doesn't take items from your inventory.^[18]

Getting started

The sources here don't set an unlock order. The Building and Exchanging gadgets share the same core controls: shift right-click to choose a block, hold the settings key to change mode, and right click to apply. Copy Paste and Cut Paste use corner selection and paste previews instead, and the Destruction Gadget voids whatever it clears, so use it with care.^{[15][17][18][19][21]}

Crafting recipes

Here are the exact in-pack recipes for every item in the mod, starting with the gadgets.^[14]

Building GadgetMod recipe

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any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
any diamond gem	any redstone dust	any diamond gem
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_building

The Building Gadget recipe in this pack.

Exchanging GadgetMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
any diamond gem	any lapi gems	any diamond gem
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_exchanging

The Exchanging Gadget recipe in this pack.

Copy Paste GadgetMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
any emerald gem	any redstone dust	any emerald gem
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_copy_paste

The Copy Paste Gadget recipe in this pack.

Cut Paste GadgetMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
Shears	any redstone dust	Shears
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_cut_paste

The Cut Paste Gadget recipe in this pack.

Destruction GadgetMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
any ender pearl	any redstone dust	any ender pearl
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:gadget_destruction

The Destruction Gadget recipe in this pack.

Template ManagerMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	any redstone dust	any iron ingot
Paper	any redstone dust	Paper
any iron ingot	any lapi gems	any iron ingot

Recipe id: buildinggadgets2:template_manager

The Template Manager recipe in this pack.

When you break a placed Template Manager, it drops itself, so you can pick it up and move it.^[41]

Same as in the FTB StoneBlock 4 1.21.0 guide

Building Gadgets 2 is configured in buildinggadgets2-common.toml. This pack leaves every option listed here at the mod default, so there are no pack-specific changes to watch for.^[42]

Build distance

general.rayTraceRange sets the maximum distance you can build at. The pack keeps it at 32, the mod default. The allowed range is 1 to 64.^[42]

Power costs and capacity

Each gadget has a baseCost, which is the cost per block, and a maxPower, which is the most power that gadget can hold. All of these must be above 0, and the pack uses the mod default for every one of them.^[42]

• Building Gadget: power.building_gadget.baseCost is 50 per block placed, and power.building_gadget.maxPower is 500,000.^[42]
• Exchanging Gadget: power.exchanging_gadget.baseCost is 100 per block exchanged, and power.exchanging_gadget.maxPower is 500,000.^[42]
• Copy and Paste Gadget: power.copypaste_gadget.baseCost is 50 per block pasted, and copying is free. power.copypaste_gadget.maxPower is 1,000,000.^[42]
• Cut and Paste Gadget: power.cutpaste_gadget.baseCost is 50 per block. It is checked during the cut and charged during the paste. power.cutpaste_gadget.maxPower is 5,000,000, the largest capacity of the gadgets listed here.^[42]
• Destruction Gadget: power.destruction_gadget.baseCost is 50 per block destroyed, and power.destruction_gadget.maxPower is 2,000,000.^[42]