Ars Ocultas in FTB Skies 2

Ars Ocultas is a small bridge mod that connects Ars Nouveau and Occultism. This pack includes version 2.6.1.^[1][2]

What it does

The big idea is that spirits can now be used straight from Containment Jars. A spirit in a jar automatically pulls in items from a 7x7 area around it and processes them. You can also right-click items onto the jar to process them by hand.^[1]

• A Containment Jar holding a spirit has an item capability, so you can pipe items into it. Pipes, hoppers and starbuncles all work.^[1]
• Janitor Spirits try to push their contents into an inventory on top of the jar.^[1]
• There are new recipes to make progression easier, plus some quality of life changes.^[1]

The pack's quest book adds two more details. You can turn source gems into spirit attuned gems, which makes them more renewable. Gold and silver ingots can also be transmuted into each other in an Imbuement Chamber.^[3]

Where it sits in the quest book

The mod has a single quest, "Ars Ocultas" quest, in the "Ars Nouveau" chapter. That chapter is in the "Magic Mods" group and is chapter 22 of 41 in the book. It has 62 quests.^[3]

The quest is a checkmark with no item to hand in. It unlocks after two quests: "Welcome to Occultism!" and "Welcome To Ars Nouveau!" quest. So you need to have started both magic mods before it opens up.^[3]

Which quest comes after it isn't shown in the quest text available for this guide. 40 of the chapter's 62 quests are only in the quest book itself, so check there to see what it leads into.^[3]

Ars Ocultas is an addon that adds a few compatibility tweaks between Ars Nouveau and Occultism. Most of them involve spirits held in Containment Jars, so your first steps are really about getting the Ars Nouveau basics working. The pack's quest book has an "Ars Ocultas" quest quest in the Ars Nouveau chapter (in the Magic Mods group). It unlocks after you finish the Welcome to Occultism quest and "Welcome To Ars Nouveau!" quest.^[1][3]

What to make first, in order

1. Make the Novice Spell Book. It lets you create, store and cast Tier 1 spells, and it comes with some basic glyphs already learned.^[3]
2. Get an Archwood Tree and craft the Scribe's Table. Archwood is rarely found on void islands dense with magical energy, or you can buy it from a Market. The Scribe's Table is where you research and craft new glyphs.^[3]
3. Build the Imbuement Chamber and put Lapis in it to make Source Gem. It gathers a little Source on its own over time, and Source Gems are one of the main crafting materials in the mod.^[3]
4. Use Source Gems to craft Sourcestone, then several Arcane Pedestal blocks. Pedestals show up in lots of Enchanting Apparatus and Imbuement Chamber recipes.^[3]
5. Set up the Enchanting Apparatus. It needs an Arcane Core underneath it and several pedestals within 3 blocks. Some recipes also want Source Jars within 3 blocks.^[3]

Why this order? The Sacrificial Altar is the Ars Ocultas item you will be building toward, and the pack makes it in the Enchanting Apparatus. Its recipe also uses Sourcestone, so the steps above lead straight into it.^[3][4]

The Sacrificial Altar

The pack changed the recipe for the Sacrificial Altar, so don't rely on the mod's defaults. This is the in-pack recipe:^[4]

Sacrificial AltarChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Drygmy Token
• Containment Jar
• 2× Sourcestone
• Golden Ritual Bowl
• 4× any silver ingot

Recipe id: ars_ocultas:altar

Crafted in the Enchanting Apparatus, which works from items placed on nearby Arcane Pedestals.

Some of the ingredients come from the Occultism side of the pack, and the Containment Jar comes from Ars Nouveau. The "Tablet of Containment" quest quest covers the jar, and it unlocks after "Rituals" quest. Rituals themselves unlock after Sourcestone in the quest book.^[3][4]

What else the addon does

Once you have spirits in Containment Jars, they pull in items from around them and process them. The mod page describes the pickup area as 7x7. Items can also be piped into the jar with hoppers, starbuncles and similar. The quest book adds that you can turn source gems into spirit attuned gems, which makes them more renewable, and that gold and silver ingots can be transmuted into each other in an Imbuement Chamber.^[1][3]

The pack sets conversionRate to 10. The config describes it as the conversion rate of LP into player mana.^[6]

The Ars Nouveau chapter has 62 quests, and the text of 17 of them isn't covered here. Check the quest book for those.^[3]

Same as in the All the Mons 0.6.0-beta guide

Ars Ocultas is an integration mod that connects Ars Nouveau and Occultism. The core idea is that spirits from Occultism can work from inside Containment Jars from Ars Nouveau.^[1]

Spirits in Containment Jars

Once a Containment Jar holds a spirit, the spirit automatically pulls items from a 7x7 area around the jar and processes them. You can also right-click items on the jar yourself to have them processed.^[1]

Automation

A jar with a spirit inside has an Item Capability attached, so you can pipe items into it. Pipes, hoppers and starbuncles all work for this.^[1]

Janitor Spirits do something extra. They automatically try to push their contents into an inventory placed on top of the jar.^[1]

Sacrificial Altar

The mod adds the Sacrificial Altar. In this pack it is crafted at the Enchanting Apparatus, and the pack has changed its recipe from the mod's own.^[7][8]

Sacrificial AltarChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Drygmy Token
• Containment Jar
• 2× Sourcestone
• Golden Ritual Bowl
• 4× any silver ingot

Recipe id: ars_ocultas:altar

This is an Enchanting Apparatus recipe, and the pack changed it.

Same as in the All the Mods 10 5.5 guide

In this pack, Ars Ocultas has one pack recipe that makes one of its items: the Sacrificial Altar. That makes the Sacrificial Altar your clear entry point into the mod, so it's the first thing to aim for.^[9]

The Sacrificial Altar

You don't make the Sacrificial Altar at a crafting table. You build it in an Enchanting Apparatus, and this pack has changed its recipe from the mod's default. If you're following an older video or another pack's guide, check the in-pack recipe below before you gather materials.^[9]

Sacrificial AltarChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Drygmy Token
• Containment Jar
• 2× Sourcestone
• Golden Ritual Bowl
• 4× any silver ingot

Recipe id: ars_ocultas:altar

Crafted in an Enchanting Apparatus. This recipe is changed by the pack.

Unverified The pack sources don't include any quests for Ars Ocultas or any tier structure beyond the Sacrificial Altar, so a full step-by-step progression path can't be confirmed for this pack.

Same as in the All the Mods 10 5.5 guide

Ars Ocultas is a bridge mod: its whole job is connecting Ars Nouveau with Occultism. If you're running both magic mods in this pack, this is what lets their systems work together instead of side by side.^[1]

The Sacrificial Altar

The main in-pack recipe tying the three mods together is the Sacrificial Altar. You craft it in Ars Nouveau's Enchanting Apparatus, and it combines parts from both Ars Nouveau and Occultism, including an Golden Ritual Bowl and a Containment Jar. This pack has changed the recipe, so check the version below rather than an older guide or video.^[9]

Sacrificial AltarChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Drygmy Token
• Containment Jar
• 2× Sourcestone
• Golden Ritual Bowl
• 4× any silver ingot

Recipe id: ars_ocultas:altar

Crafted in the Enchanting Apparatus; changed by the pack.

Unverified The sources don't describe what the Sacrificial Altar does once you've placed it, so test it in-game before you build your setup around it.

Occultism spirits in Containment Jars

The biggest feature is that you can use Occultism spirits from Ars Nouveau's Containment Jar. Instead of letting a spirit wander around, you keep it in a jar and it keeps working.^[1]

• A spirit in a jar automatically pulls in items around it in a 7x7 area and processes them.^[1]
• You can also right-click an item on the jar to have the spirit process it by hand.^[1]
• Jars holding a spirit accept items through automation, so you can feed them with pipes, hoppers or Ars Nouveau's starbuncles.^[1]
• Janitor spirits get a special trick: they automatically try to push what they're carrying into an inventory placed on top of the jar.^[1]

Unverified The mod's project page says the Ars Ocultas section of Ars Nouveau's Worn Notebook has a full overview, but that guide section hasn't been confirmed for this pack.

Ars Ocultas has one quest in the pack, and it sits in the Ars Nouveau chapter. That chapter is in the Magic Mods group and is chapter 22 of 41 in the book. It holds 62 quests, and the Ars Ocultas quest is one of them.^[3]

The Ars Ocultas quest

"Ars Ocultas" quest is a checkmark quest, so there's no item to hand in. You just read it and tick it off. It unlocks after two other quests: Welcome to Occultism! and "Welcome To Ars Nouveau!" quest. You need both done first, so it links the Occultism and Ars Nouveau questlines.^[3]

The quest describes Ars Ocultas as an addon with a few compatibility tweaks between Ars Nouveau and Occultism. Here's what it says you get:^[3]

• Spirits held in Containment Jars get a fair radius to pick up relevant items from the ground around them and process those items.^[3]
• Items can also be sent to those spirits via hoppers, starbuncles and similar.^[3]
• Source gems can be turned into spirit attuned gems, which makes those gems more renewable.^[3]
• Gold and silver ingots can be transmuted interchangeably in an imbuement chamber.^[3]

Quests that help you get there

The quest text doesn't give any numbers, such as the pickup radius, so check in game for exact values. If you want to use the ingot transmutation, "Imbuement Chamber" quest in the same chapter covers the Imbuement Chamber. It comes after "Magical Trees..." quest, which follows "Creating Your First Spell" quest.^[3]

For the Containment Jars side, "Tablet of Containment" quest covers snatching nearby mobs into jars with the Ritual of Containment. It comes after "Rituals" quest. That is an Ars Nouveau quest, though, and its text doesn't mention spirits.^[3]

No other quest in this chapter lists the Ars Ocultas quest as a prerequisite, so it's a side branch you can finish whenever you like.^[3]

Here are the Ars Ocultas options you are most likely to care about in this pack: one that controls how LP turns into mana, and two that control how Soul Gems work with Containment Jars.^[5][6]

LP to mana conversion

conversionRate sets the conversion rate of LP into player mana. This pack sets it to 10.^[6]

Soul Gems and Containment Jars

Two server-side options decide whether Soul Gems can move mobs in and out of Containment Jars. This pack has both turned on.^[5]

• containment_jar.soul_gem.pickup is true. An empty Soul Gem can be used on a filled Containment Jar to pick up the mob inside.^[5]
• containment_jar.soul_gem.place is true. A filled Soul Gem can be used on an empty Containment Jar to place the mob into the jar.^[5]

FTB Skies 2 1.22.0 ships Ars Ocultas 2.6.1, and the mod has been in the pack since FTB Skies 2 1.0.1 or earlier. Here are the notable changes from the mod's own changelogs, newest first.^[2]

Mod releases

• 2.6.1: fixed a crash related to the Sacrificial Altar. This is the version your pack runs.^[2][10]
• 2.5.0: Fragile Soul gems now break after use, as intended. It also fixed a runtime crash caused by Occultism updates.^[11]
• 2.4.1: added null checks for levels in tooltips, which fixes a tooltip bug.^[12]
• 2.4.0: containment jars that hold Occultism spirits now have tooltips, both on the item and in the world when you look at the jar. This release also added support for interacting with Occultism spirit gems, so you can insert and remove mobs directly from the containment jar.^[13]
• 2.2.1: fixed the Sacrificial Altar loot table, so it drops as an item when broken.^[14]
• 2.2.0: added support for Crystallizer spirits, which handle auto item transfer to nearby inventories. It also raised the minimum versions of Occultism and NeoForge.^[15]

The Sacrificial Altar

The biggest addition in this history is the Sacrificial Altar, a new block from 2.2.0 that sacrifices mobs from mob jars. It consumes 5,000 Source and must be placed under the golden sacrificial bowl.^[15]

The altar got attention in two later fixes: its loot table in 2.2.1, and a crash in 2.6.1. Since 1.22.0 includes 2.6.1, both fixes are already in your pack.^[2][10][14]