XNet in FTB Skies 2

XNet is a cable mod built around one single cable type. With those networking cables you can move items, fluids, energy and information instantly, so it's a great fit if you want one tidy network instead of a mess of different pipes and wires.^[1]

The mod focuses on efficiency and flexibility. On the efficiency side, the cables are not even tile entities, and the mod's author tested two chests joined by a 12,000-block cable with no lag. On the flexibility side, the Controller lets you configure in detail how things get distributed across the network.^[1]

This pack includes XNet 1.21-7.0.7.^[2]

Where it fits in the pack

XNet has its own steps in the pack's rftools_series quest chapter. The first one asks you to obtain the Controller, and it unlocks after an earlier quest in that chapter.^[3]

The next quest, "XNet Connectors" quest, follows "XNet Management" quest and asks for three things: a connector (any of the red, green, blue or yellow versions, such as the Red Connector), an advanced connector (any colour, such as the Advanced Red Connector), and a Facade.^[3]

Unverified The sources don't say where XNet sits in the ATM Star path, so treat it as an optional logistics mod rather than a required step for that goal.

XNet is a single-cable networking mod: one kind of cable that can move items, fluids, energy and information. This pack covers it with two quests in the rftools_series chapter, and they give you a sensible order to build things in.^[1][3]

Start with the Controller

Everything starts with the Controller. The first quest in the chain, "XNet Management" quest, asks you to craft one. The controller is what lets you configure how your network distributes things, so it is the heart of every setup. Here is the in-pack recipe:^[1][3]

ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Repeater	Comparator	Repeater
Redstone	Machine Frame	Redstone
any iron ingot	any gold ingot	any iron ingot

Recipe id: xnet:controller

Lay some cable

Next you need cable to link things together. XNet has Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Routing network cables. Start with the Red Network Cable:^[4]

16× Red Network CableMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

String	any red dye	String
Redstone	any gold nugget	Redstone
String	Redstone	String

Recipe id: xnet:netcable_red

The other colors have their own recipes, such as Green Network Cable. For the Red, Green, Blue and Yellow cables there is also a shapeless dye recipe that turns any XNet cable into that color, so you can recolor instead of crafting from scratch.^[4]

Add connectors

Cables carry the network, and connectors attach it to your machines and inventories. The next quest, "XNet Connectors" quest, asks for a connector in any color, an advanced connector in any color, and a Facade. Start with the Red Connector:^[3][4]

Red ConnectorMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any red dye	any chest	any red dye
Redstone	any gold ingot	Redstone
any red dye	Redstone	any red dye

Recipe id: xnet:connector_red

The mod's tooltips show that a connector can insert items into the connected block or extract items from it, and that you can name each connector and give it a redstone mode.^[5]

Craft a Facade

The same quest also needs a Facade, so make one now:^[3]

16× FacadeMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Paper	any wool	Paper
any wool	any glass blocks	any wool
Paper	any wool	Paper

Recipe id: xnet:facade

Upgrade to an advanced connector

The last part of that quest is an advanced connector in any color. The pack changed this recipe compared to the mod's default, so use the version below, and have the regular connector of the same color ready first. Here is the red one, Advanced Red Connector:^[3][4]

Advanced Red ConnectorChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Red Connector	any ender pearl
any diamond gem	Redstone

Recipe id: xnet:advanced_connector_red

This recipe is changed by the pack.

The pack also changes the recipe for the Connector Upgrade Kit, so go by this one rather than the mod's default:^[4]

Connector Upgrade KitChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Paper	any ender pearl
any diamond gem	Redstone

Recipe id: xnet:connector_upgrade

This recipe is changed by the pack.

XNet adds a single kind of block, the networking cable, and that one cable can instantly move items, fluids, energy and information. The mod is built around efficiency: huge networks are meant to run without lag, and the cables themselves are not tile entities. Flexibility comes from the Controller, which is where you configure how everything gets distributed.^[1][4]

Cables, connectors and colors

Cables come in blue, green, red, yellow and routing versions: Blue Network Cable, Green Network Cable, Red Network Cable, Yellow Network Cable and Routing Network Cable. Connectors follow the same colors, such as Blue Connector and Routing Connector. Each has an advanced version, for example Advanced Blue Connector.^[4]

You can recolor an existing cable or connector by crafting it with a dye of the target color. Advanced connectors can be recolored the same way.^[4]

The controller and its power

The controller is the brain of the network. It stores up to 100,000 RF (general.controllerMaxRF) and can receive 1,000 RF per tick (general.controllerRfPerTick). Running costs are small: 1 RF per tick for each active channel (general.controllerChannelRFT) and 2 RF per tick for each operation a channel performs (general.controllerOperationRFT). The flat running cost regardless of activity (general.controllerRFPerTick) is 0. This pack leaves all of these at the mod defaults.^[6]

Watch the capitalization: two similarly named options, controllerRfPerTick and controllerRFPerTick, do different jobs. One is the receive limit, the other is the flat idle cost.^[6]

Channels

The controller GUI is organized into channels, and each channel has a type and an enable toggle for processing. Connectors on a channel can be named, copied, pasted or removed. You can also copy a whole channel to the clipboard and paste it as a new one, which saves a lot of clicking on repeated setups.^[5]

Copy and paste packets have no size cap in this pack (general.controllerMaxPaste is -1), and packets that are too large are split. The server config also has a list of blocks XNet treats as unsided, meaning it doesn't matter which side you access them from. That list only helps with pasting channels. In this pack it contains the vanilla chest and trapped chest, plus some RFTools blocks (general.unsidedBlocks).^[6][7]

Item handling

A connector can be set to insert items into, or extract items from, the block it touches. The tooltips describe these options:^[5]

• Channel distribution mode is either priority or round robin.^[5]
• Extraction can take from the first available slot, from slots in order, or from a random slot.^[5]
• Items per operation can be a single item, a full stack, or a specified count.^[5]
• A blacklist mode can be enabled on the item filter.^[5]
• A connector can be disabled if the destination inventory holds too few or too many items.^[5]
• A speed setting controls the number of ticks between operations.^[5]

Redstone control

Connectors have a redstone mode setting: ignored, off to activate, on to activate, or pulse, which does one operation per pulse.^[5]

Energy and fluid

Energy connectors have a rate setting, and the GUI shows it is limited per tick. They can also be set to shut off when the energy level is too low or too high. Normal connectors store 50,000 RF and have a maximum rate of 10,000 RF. Advanced connectors store 500,000 RF and have a maximum rate of 100,000 RF. These are the mod defaults, unchanged in this pack (general.maxRfConnector, general.maxRfAdvancedConnector, general.maxRfRateNormal, general.maxRfRateAdvanced).^[5][6]

Fluids work the same way, with a rate setting and min/max cutoffs. A normal connector handles up to 1,000 mb per operation and an advanced one up to 5,000 mb (general.maxFluidRateNormal, general.maxFluidRateAdvanced), again at the mod defaults.^[5][6]

Logic and sensors

A connector in logic mode either outputs a redstone signal to the connected block, or acts as a sensor on it and outputs a signal based on what it reads. Sensors can scan energy, fluid in mb, item counts (with a target item you set), or the redstone signal itself, and compare against an amount you choose.^[5]

The output can be shaped with a filter: AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR, XNOR, direct, inverted, static, counter, latch or timer. The counter fires after a set number of input signals. The latch toggles its output on every input. The timer fires every set number of game ticks, where 20 ticks is normally 1 second. Impulse mode makes the connector emit a short pulse instead of a constant signal, and you can set the pulse length in ticks.^[5]

Routing and wireless

A routing channel can support up to 32 published channels (general.maxPublishedChannels). The wireless router that publishes channels stores up to 100,000 RF and can receive 5,000 RF per tick (general.wirelessRouterMaxRF, general.wirelessRouterRfPerTick). The per-channel cost depends on the tier: at most 20 RF per tick for tier 1, 50 for tier 2 and 200 for the infinite tier (general.wireless1RfPerChannel, general.wireless2RfPerChannel, general.wirelessInfRfPerChannel).^[6]

Antenna range is 100 for a tier 1 antenna and 500 for a tier 2 antenna (general.antennaTier1Range, general.antennaTier2Range). The related parts are the Antenna, Antenna Base and Antenna Dish.^[4][6]

Facades

The Facade is the item that covers cables. In this pack, cables that are not in a facade are still shown while you sneak (general.showNonFacadedCablesWhileSneaking is true).^[4][7]

Pack recipe changes

The pack changes the recipes for the advanced connectors, the antenna base and the Connector Upgrade Kit, so don't rely on the mod's default recipes. Here are the in-pack versions of the upgrade kit, one advanced connector and the antenna base. The other advanced colors and the routing version follow the same pattern with their own base connector.^[4]

Connector Upgrade KitChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Paper	any ender pearl
any diamond gem	Redstone

Recipe id: xnet:connector_upgrade

Advanced Blue ConnectorChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Blue Connector	any ender pearl
any diamond gem	Redstone

Recipe id: xnet:advanced_connector_blue

Antenna BaseChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	any iron ingot	Empty slot
Empty slot	any iron ingot	Empty slot
any iron ingot	any iron storage block	any iron ingot

Recipe id: xnet:antenna_base

XNet's progression in this pack is short. It follows the rftools_series quest chapter, where XNet has two quests in a straight line: first the Controller, then the connectors and the Facade. The other XNet items do not appear in those quests.^[3]

First step: the Controller

The first XNet quest, "XNet Management" quest, asks you to get a Controller. It unlocks after an earlier quest in the same chapter. The in-pack recipe for the Controller is the mod's own, unchanged.^[3][4]

ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Repeater	Comparator	Repeater
Redstone	Machine Frame	Redstone
any iron ingot	any gold ingot	any iron ingot

Recipe id: xnet:controller

Next step: connectors, advanced connectors and the Facade

The next quest, "XNet Connectors" quest, unlocks once the Controller quest is done. It has three tasks. The first is any one basic connector: Red Connector, Green Connector, Blue Connector or Yellow Connector. The second is any one advanced connector: Advanced Red Connector, Advanced Green Connector, Advanced Blue Connector or Advanced Yellow Connector. The third is a Facade. You only need one colour for each of the first two tasks.^[3]

Basic connectors use the mod's own recipes. Here is the red one as an example. The other colours follow the same pattern with their own dye.^[4]

Red ConnectorMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any red dye	any chest	any red dye
Redstone	any gold ingot	Redstone
any red dye	Redstone	any red dye

Recipe id: xnet:connector_red

Each colour also has its own network cable, such as the Red Network Cable. These are the mod's own recipes too.^[4]

16× Red Network CableMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

String	any red dye	String
Redstone	any gold nugget	Redstone
String	Redstone	String

Recipe id: xnet:netcable_red

Advanced connectors are changed by the pack

This is the step where the pack differs from the mod. The recipes for all four coloured advanced connectors are marked as changed by the pack, so don't rely on recipes you remember from other XNet setups. Here is the in-pack red version. The other colours work the same way with their matching basic connector.^[3][4]

Advanced Red ConnectorChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Red Connector	any ender pearl
any diamond gem	Redstone

Recipe id: xnet:advanced_connector_red

The pack also changed the Connector Upgrade Kit recipe, so check the one below instead of assuming the mod default.^[4]

Connector Upgrade KitChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Paper	any ender pearl
any diamond gem	Redstone

Recipe id: xnet:connector_upgrade

Facade

The Facade is the last task of the connector quest. Its recipe is the mod's own.^[3][4]

16× FacadeMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Paper	any wool	Paper
any wool	any glass blocks	any wool
Paper	any wool	Paper

Recipe id: xnet:facade

Beyond the quests

The quest sources here cover only the Controller, the connectors and the Facade. The rest of the mod still has in-pack recipes: the Router, the Wireless Router, the Redstone Proxy and its update version Redstone Proxy (update), the routing pieces (Routing Network Cable and Routing Connector), and the antenna parts (Antenna, Antenna Base and Antenna Dish).^[3][4]

Two of these are pack-changed: the Antenna Base recipe and the recipe for the Advanced Routing Connector (NOT), shown as Advanced Routing Connector (NOT). The recipes below are the in-pack versions.^[3][4]

Antenna BaseChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	any iron ingot	Empty slot
Empty slot	any iron ingot	Empty slot
any iron ingot	any iron storage block	any iron ingot

Recipe id: xnet:antenna_base

Advanced Routing Connector (NOT)Changed by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Routing Connector	any ender pearl
any diamond gem	Redstone

Recipe id: xnet:advanced_connector_routing

The Router recipe, by contrast, is the mod's own and is not marked as changed by the pack.^[4]

RouterMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Powered Rail	Comparator	Powered Rail
Redstone	Machine Frame	Redstone
any iron ingot	any ender pearl	any iron ingot

Recipe id: xnet:router

Same as in the All the Mods 10 2.6 guide

XNet is a cable mod, and the sources for this pack only show one real link to other mods: its crafting recipes. There are no quest connections to cover, so this section stays short.^[1][8]

The Machine Frame is the common link

Every XNet block you can craft in this pack is built around the Machine Frame from RFTools Base. That includes the Controller, the Redstone Proxy, the Router and the Wireless Router. If you want to set up an XNet network, get Machine Frames first.^[8]

Recipes

The Controller is the heart of a network, and it takes both a gold ingot and an iron ingot. Any ingot from the gold and iron ingot tags works, so you aren't locked to one mod's metals.^[8]

ControllerMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Repeater	Comparator	Repeater
Redstone	Machine Frame	Redstone
any iron ingot	any gold ingot	any iron ingot

Recipe id: xnet:controller

The Redstone Proxy is the simplest craft of the four, and it still needs a Machine Frame.^[8]

Redstone ProxyMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Redstone	Redstone	Redstone
Redstone	Machine Frame	Redstone
Redstone	Redstone	Redstone

Recipe id: xnet:redstone_proxy

Both routers accept any ender pearl from the shared ender pearl tag. The Router also needs a Powered Rail and an iron ingot, which can come from any mod's iron.^[8]

RouterMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Powered Rail	Comparator	Powered Rail
Redstone	Machine Frame	Redstone
any iron ingot	any ender pearl	any iron ingot

Recipe id: xnet:router

Wireless RouterMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any ender pearl	Comparator	any ender pearl
Redstone	Machine Frame	Redstone
any ender pearl	Redstone	any ender pearl

Recipe id: xnet:wireless_router

Unverified Which other mods' inventories, machines or energy and fluid storage XNet cables can connect to in this pack has not been confirmed from the available sources.

XNet shows up in one quest chapter in this pack: "rftools_series". It has two XNet quests, and both are untitled in the quest file. They go in a fixed order, so you do the Controller first and the connectors and facade second.^[3]

Step 1: the Controller

The first quest, "XNet Management" quest, asks you to get the Controller. It unlocks after another quest in the chapter, which the sources don't describe, so I can't tell you what it asks for.^[3]

Step 2: connectors and a facade

"XNet Connectors" quest unlocks once the Controller quest is done. It has three tasks.^[3]

• Any one basic connector: Red Connector, Green Connector, Blue Connector or Yellow Connector.^[3]
• Any one advanced connector: Advanced Red Connector, Advanced Green Connector, Advanced Blue Connector or Advanced Yellow Connector.^[3]
• A Facade.^[3]

Unverified The sources don't say what these quests reward, what the earlier quest in the chain asks for, or how any of these items are crafted in this pack.

Good news: every XNet option in this pack that lists a mod default is set to exactly that default. The pack hasn't changed any of these values, so what you know from the base mod applies. These are the options you're most likely to run into.^[6][7]

Controller power

• general.controllerMaxRF is 100,000. That's the most RF the controller can store.^[6]
• general.controllerRfPerTick is 1,000. That's the most RF the controller can receive per tick.^[6]
• general.controllerChannelRFT is 1. That's the power the controller uses per active channel.^[6]
• general.controllerOperationRFT is 2. That's the power used per operation performed by one of the channels.^[6]
• general.controllerRFPerTick is 0. That's the power the controller uses regardless of what it's doing, so an idle controller costs nothing in this pack.^[6]

Connector throughput

• A normal connector stores up to 50,000 RF (general.maxRfConnector) and an advanced connector up to 500,000 RF (general.maxRfAdvancedConnector).^[6]
• For RF input and output, a normal connector is capped at 10,000 (general.maxRfRateNormal) and an advanced one at 100,000 (general.maxRfRateAdvanced).^[6]
• For fluids, a normal connector moves up to 1,000 per operation (general.maxFluidRateNormal) and an advanced one up to 5,000 (general.maxFluidRateAdvanced).^[6]

Wireless and antennas

• general.maxPublishedChannels is 32. That's the most published channels a routing channel can support.^[6]
• To publish a channel, a tier 1 wireless router needs up to 20 RF per tick (general.wireless1RfPerChannel), tier 2 needs 50 (general.wireless2RfPerChannel) and the infinite tier needs 200 (general.wirelessInfRfPerChannel).^[6]
• The wireless router stores up to 100,000 RF (general.wirelessRouterMaxRF) and can receive 5,000 RF per tick (general.wirelessRouterRfPerTick).^[6]
• Antenna range is 100 for tier 1 (general.antennaTier1Range) and 500 for tier 2 (general.antennaTier2Range).^[6]

Client and pasting options

• general.controllerMaxPaste is -1, which means no maximum packet size when you paste copied channels or connectors. Large pastes are split into several packets instead.^[7]
• general.showNonFacadedCablesWhileSneaking is true, so cables that aren't in a facade are also shown while you sneak.^[7]
• general.unsidedBlocks lists the blocks XNet treats as unsided, meaning it doesn't matter which side you access them from. The list includes Chest and Trapped Chest, and it's currently only used to help with pasting channels.^[6]

There isn't much to report here. FTB Skies 2 1.22.0 ships XNet 1.21-7.0.7, and XNet has been in the pack since FTB Skies 2 1.0.1 or earlier.^[2]

XNet 1.21-7.0.7

• The Patchouli manual documentation was updated and expanded, so the in-game manual is the best place to check how XNet works.^[9]

I don't have any pack changelog entries for XNet, so I can't point to a specific pack release that changed it. Whether the pack changed any XNet values or recipes is unverified.^[2]