ae2helpers in FTB Skies 2: Aero

ae2helpers is a small quality-of-life addon for Applied Energistics 2 that makes autocrafting setups smoother and more compact. It adds two things: a new Pattern Provider upgrade and a smarter Crafting Terminal. The pack includes version 1.0.1 of the mod.^[1][2][3]

Crafting Result Import Card

The Crafting Result Import Card is an upgrade for the Pattern Provider. With it, the provider can push ingredients into a machine and pull the finished results back out through the same face, so you don't need a separate Import Bus or item pipe.^[1][3][4]

You only need it on machines that don't push their results out on their own, such as a vanilla furnace. The mod adds a dedicated upgrade slot to the Pattern Provider for the card.^[1][3][4]

Right-click the card to open its settings. You can choose to import crafting results only (on by default), sync with the Crafting CPU (on by default), and pick the import side. The full-block provider has to point at a specific side, which you can set with a wrench.^[4]

Automatic Recipe Insertion

This changes how the Crafting Terminal handles recipes you can't fully supply yet. Instead of making you come back and click the recipe again, the grid waits and fills itself when the craft is done. It works with JEI, EMI and REI.^[1][3][5]

1. Hold CTRL and click the recipe transfer button to request the missing items as an autocraft.^[5]
2. Ghost Items appear in the crafting grid with a small loading spinner while you wait.^[5]
3. When your Crafting CPUs finish and the items enter the network, they are inserted into the correct slots automatically.^[5]

ae2helpers is a quality of life addon for Applied Energistics 2 that makes autocrafting setups smoother and more compact. It adds two things: a smarter Crafting Terminal and one new item. The first one costs you nothing, so that's where you start.^[1][3]

Step 1: Use auto-import in the Crafting Terminal

There's nothing to craft here. The feature is on by default, and this pack leaves enableAutoImport set to true. It saves you from requesting an autocraft, waiting, then finding the recipe again to click move a second time.^[5][6]

1. Try to move a recipe from your recipe viewer into the Crafting Terminal while you're missing some ingredients.^[5]
2. Hold CTRL and click the recipe transfer button to request the missing items as an autocraft.^[5]
3. Ghost Items with a small loading spinner appear in the grid while your Crafting CPUs work.^[5]
4. When the items enter the network, they are inserted into the correct slots automatically.^[5]

If you'd rather turn it off, click the Import Access Icon on the left toolbar of the Crafting Terminal. That toggles auto-insert on or off.^[5][6]

Step 2: Make the Crafting Result Import Card

Next comes Crafting Result Import Card, an upgrade for the Pattern Provider. It lets the provider push ingredients into a machine and pull the finished results back out through the same face. You don't need a separate Import Bus or extra channels for simple processing machines.^[3][4]

It only matters for machines that don't push their results out on their own, like a vanilla furnace. If a machine already outputs to its neighbors, you can skip the card.^[3][4]

Crafting Result Import CardMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Advanced Card

ME Import Bus

Repeater

Recipe id: ae2helpers:result_import_card

Setting it up

The Pattern Provider has a dedicated upgrade slot for this card. The card works with both the full block provider and the panel or part version. The full block has to point at a specific side, which you can set with a wrench.^[4]

Right-click the card to open its settings. Import Crafting Results Only and Sync with Crafting CPU are both enabled by default. The first makes the card import only the outputs it expects from what it pushed. The second makes it stop waiting if you cancel the job at a terminal, so the provider doesn't get stuck. Import Side is Auto by default, which pulls from the side of the machine touching the provider.^[4][7]

ae2helpers is a small quality-of-life addon for Applied Energistics 2 with two systems: an upgrade card that lets a Pattern Provider pull results back from a machine, and a Crafting Terminal feature that fills the crafting grid for you once an autocraft finishes. Neither one adds a new machine or multiblock. They change how your existing AE2 setup behaves.^[1][3]

Pushing and pulling with one Pattern Provider

The Crafting Result Import Card is an upgrade for the Pattern Provider. It lets the provider push ingredients into a machine and pull the finished results back out through the same face. That means you don't need a separate Import Bus and its extra channel for simple processing machines.^[3][4]

It only matters for machines that don't push their results out on their own. The vanilla furnace is the example the mod's guide uses. The mod adds its own upgrade slot to the Pattern Provider, and the card goes in there.^[3][4]

Here is how the card is crafted in this pack:^[8]

Crafting Result Import CardMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Advanced Card

ME Import Bus

Repeater

Recipe id: ae2helpers:result_import_card

Card settings

Right-click the card to open its configuration screen. There are three options:^[4][7]

• Import Crafting Results Only: on by default. The card tracks which ingredients it pushed, works out the expected output and imports only those items, ignoring anything else in the machine. Turn it off and the card behaves like a normal Import Bus, pulling any item from the machine into the network. The guide notes that leaving it on is much friendlier to performance.^[4][7]
• Sync with Crafting CPU: on by default. The card talks to the Crafting CPU running the job, so if you cancel the craft at a terminal, the provider stops waiting for results that will never arrive. It also stops if the job is fulfilled by other means. This option only works while Import Crafting Results Only is enabled.^[4][7]
• Import Side: Auto pulls from the side of the machine that faces the Pattern Provider. You can also force a specific side (Up, Down, North and so on), which helps with machines that only output from certain sides, such as sided furnaces.^[4][7]

The card uses an exponential backoff: if the machine is slow, it checks less often to save server performance, and it wakes up immediately when a new craft begins.^[4]

Limits and compatibility

The card only works with sided providers. It works with both the full-block Pattern Provider and the panel/part version, but the full block has to point at a specific side, which you can set with a wrench.^[4][7]

Applied Flux and ME Soul Card also add upgrade slots to the Pattern Provider. The author chose to add a separate slot instead of hooking into those mods, so the card is compatible with both.^[1]

Auto-import of pending crafts

The second feature adds "Ghost Items" to the Crafting Terminal. Normally, if you send a recipe from the recipe viewer to the terminal without the ingredients, you have to request the autocraft, wait, then find the recipe and click move again. With this feature the grid fills itself once the items arrive.^[5]

1. Try to move a recipe into the Crafting Terminal from the recipe viewer when you lack some ingredients.^[5]
2. Hold CTRL and click the recipe transfer button to request the missing items as an autocraft.^[5]
3. Ghost Items appear in the grid with a small loading spinner while your Crafting CPUs work.^[5]
4. When the finished items enter the network, they are inserted automatically into the correct grid slots.^[5]

It works with JEI, EMI and REI.^[1]

ae2helpers doesn't have tiers in the usual modded sense. It's a small quality-of-life addon for Applied Energistics 2, and there's no ladder of upgrades to climb. It adds one craftable item, plus one terminal feature that is already switched on for you.^[3][5][8]

Automatic Recipe Insertion (nothing to craft)

This feature works in the Crafting Terminal and is enabled by default, so you don't need to make anything for it. When you move a recipe from JEI, EMI or REI into the terminal and you're missing items, hold CTRL and click the recipe transfer button to request the autocraft. Ghost Items with a small loading spinner appear in the grid, and as soon as your Crafting CPUs finish, the items are inserted into the correct slots automatically.^[5]

If you'd rather not have it, click the Import Access Icon on the left toolbar of the Crafting Terminal to toggle Auto-Insert off and on.^[5]

Crafting Result Import Card

The only craftable piece of the mod is the Crafting Result Import Card. It's an upgrade for the Pattern Provider that lets the provider push ingredients into a machine and pull the finished results back out through the same face. That saves you a separate Import Bus and the extra channel for simple processing setups.^[3][4]

It's only needed on machines that don't push their results out on their own, like a vanilla furnace. The Pattern Provider gets a dedicated upgrade slot for the card.^[3][4]

The recipe below is the mod's own recipe, and the sources show no change from the pack.^[8]

Crafting Result Import CardMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Advanced Card

ME Import Bus

Repeater

Recipe id: ae2helpers:result_import_card

Setting up the card

Right-click the card to open its settings. There are three options:^[4]

• Import Crafting Results Only: enabled by default. The card tracks which ingredients it pushed, works out the expected output and imports only those items. Turn it off and it behaves like a standard Import Bus, pulling any item from the machine. Leaving it on is much friendlier to performance.^[4]
• Sync with Crafting CPU: enabled by default. If you cancel the job at a terminal, the card stops waiting, so the provider doesn't get stuck waiting for items that will never arrive.^[4]
• Import Side: Auto imports from the side of the machine touching the Pattern Provider. You can also force a specific side, which helps with machines that only output on certain sides, such as sided furnaces.^[4]

ae2helpers is an addon for Applied Energistics 2, so almost everything it does plugs straight into AE2 blocks and items. The only in-pack recipe that connects it to other mods is the one for its upgrade card.^[3][8]

The Crafting Result Import Card recipe

The Crafting Result Import Card is crafted from AE2 parts plus one vanilla Minecraft item, so you need to be set up with AE2 before you can make it. Here is the exact in-pack recipe:^[8]

Crafting Result Import CardMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Advanced Card

ME Import Bus

Repeater

Recipe id: ae2helpers:result_import_card

How it works with AE2

• The card goes into an upgrade slot that ae2helpers adds to the Pattern Provider. It lets the provider push ingredients into a machine and pull the finished results back from the same face.^[3][4]
• That removes the need for a separate ME Import Bus on machines that can't output items themselves, like a vanilla furnace. With Import Crafting Results Only turned off, the card behaves like a standard Import Bus.^[1][4]
• It works with both the full-block Pattern Provider and the panel/part version. The full block has to point at a specific side, which you can set with a wrench.^[4]
• With Sync with Crafting CPU enabled (the default), cancelling a job at a terminal makes the card stop waiting for results that will never arrive.^[4]

Crafting Terminal and recipe viewers

The Automatic Recipe Insertion feature builds on the standard AE2 behavior of holding CTRL and clicking the recipe transfer button to request missing items. Ghost Items then appear in the grid, and they fill in automatically once your Crafting CPUs finish the job. The project page says it works with JEI, EMI and REI.^[1][5]

You can switch this feature off with the Import Access Icon on the left toolbar of the Crafting Terminal.^[5]

Other AE2 addons

The project page says ae2helpers is compatible with Applied Flux and ME Soul Card. Both add upgrade slots to the Pattern Provider, so ae2helpers adds its own separate slot instead of changing theirs.^[1]

Unverified The sources don't confirm whether Applied Flux or ME Soul Card are installed in this pack.

Good news: ae2helpers keeps its config simple. This pack's common config file has one option you'll care about, and it controls the mod's headline feature.^[1][6]

Auto import of crafting results

enableAutoImport is set to true in this pack. It switches on the auto import of scheduled crafting results. The mod's page describes the result: after you request an autocraft in the crafting terminal, the grid waits with ghost items, and the finished items are inserted automatically when your CPUs complete the job.^[1][6]

The option can also be changed from the crafting menu UI, so you don't have to edit the file to turn it off in-game.^[6]

Unverified The sources don't show the mod's own default for this option, so it is unverified whether the pack changed it from the default.

FTB Skies 2: Aero 1.10.0 ships ae2helpers 1.0.1. The mod has been in the pack since Aero 1.0.3 or earlier, so that is the version you are playing with. The pack changelogs have no entries for this mod, so the only history available is the mod's own changelog.^[2]

Changes in 1.0.1

• The card can now be sneak-clicked into pattern providers.^[9]
• Added compatibility with the me soul card mod.^[9]
• Added a PT_BR (Brazilian Portuguese) localization.^[9]
• Fixed class loading issues on dedicated servers.^[9]

The server fix matters if you run the pack on a dedicated server. The other changes apply to everyone.^[9]