Codex Reference Tools

Tools

The Build Projector shows a plant as a picture in the world before you build it: every block in its place, what is still missing and what stands in the way. It never places blocks for you, but with it you can build even the largest plants without counting. Getting one earns the advancement "Blueprint".

	Spyglass
Iron Ingot	Redstone Dust	Iron Ingot	→ Build Projector
	Iron Ingot

Using the projector

1. Place the controller of the plant where you want it, front facing out of the future wall.
2. Hold the projector in your main hand and right-click the controller. The projector's window opens instead of the controller's.
3. Choose the size and the other values, then switch the projection on with the I/O button.
4. Build along the picture. The bar at the top of the screen tells you how far you are.

In the codex, the Projector button of a plant's 3D view starts the same projection: place the controller, carry a Build Projector, look at the controller and press the button.

1. When the last block is in place, the plant forms, the projection ends by itself and you earn the advancement "By the Book".

Sneak and right-click the controller with the projector to switch the projection off ("Projection switched off"). Used anywhere else, the projector reminds you how it works.

Every plant of the Energy, Processing and Storage areas has a plan, except the Warehouse. The Rift structures have their own Rift Build Projector. On a controller without a plan the projector opens the controller's normal window.

The window

Line	What it shows
Plant	The controller you clicked.
One line per value	The value, its current setting and the range the plant allows, for example "Height: 5 (4–8)". The - and + buttons change it; past the end it starts again at the other end.
Sight glass front	Where the plant allows it: yes or no, whether the front wall is built of sight glass.
Shown	"whole plant", or "layer 2 of 5". - and + go through the layers from the bottom up; past the top layer the whole plant shows again.
Projection	"on" or "off"; the I/O button switches it. When the plant is complete: "the plant has formed – projection ended".
Blocks in the plan	All blocks of the shown layer or plant (without air and the controller).
Missing / In the way	Places that are still empty, and places with a wrong block or a block where the plan needs air.
Material list	Up to 8 lines, most needed first: each block still missing with its number and "(carried: …)", how many you carry. More kinds end with "… and … more kinds"; a complete plan says "nothing missing".

A plant offers up to 4 values, depending on its shape: width, height, depth, length, edge, size, rows, columns, cylinders, generators, rotor arms, blade length or tower height. Each value only goes as far as the plant allows; where the server sets a limit (such as perf.maxStructureSize (default 16, allowed 5–32)), the range follows it. When a combination breaks a limit of the server, the projection line says "too many modules for this plant (server limit)" or "tower lower than the server minimum".

The counts and the material list are renewed every 20 ticks. The chosen values are kept in the controller, so the next player with a projector sees the same plan.

The picture in the world

By default the picture is made of ghost blocks that only players holding a Build Projector see (in the main hand or the off hand, within 64 blocks of the controller):

• A missing block is a see-through copy of the block that belongs there, full size, with a thin light edge. Ports show as the right port, Energy Input Hatches as the tier the plan suggests (any tier works).
• A block in the way gets a red see-through box: a wrong block, or any block where the plan needs air.
• At the top of the screen, a bar with the plant's name (and the shown layer), the share already placed, "12 / 36 placed · 12 missing" and, in red, how many blocks are in the way; "every block in place" at the end.

Show one layer at a time for large plants: the picture then holds only that layer, which makes the inside easier to see.

Note

Server setting works.projectorEntities With works.projectorEntities (default false) switched on, the server shows the projection as block displays instead, which every player sees, also without a projector: a missing block as a small floating copy, a block in the way as a glowing red glass box. The stations of the Assembly Complex get a name label, because they look alike when small. This costs the server more, so a projection then shows only part of a large plant at once; the rest appears as you place blocks or when you show one layer.

What the projector does not do

• It does not place, take or count blocks of chests: only the blocks in your inventory count as "carried".
• It does not project a plant that has formed. Break a block of the plant first if you want to rebuild it.
• It does not check what the plant needs to run (fuel, a hatch tier, recipes); it only shows the structure.

Other tools

• Quanta Linker: links storage, monitors and Rift blocks without a cable, see The Quanta Linker.
• Geiger Counter: measures the radiation of nuclear plants and their waste.
• Gas Prospector: finds natural gas fields for the Gas Derrick.

The codex

This codex opens with a key, by default G (in the controls under "QNet", called "Codex: open page"):

• Over an item in any window, the key opens that item's page. Items that have a page say so in their tooltip.
• In the world, it opens the page of the QNet block you look at, otherwise the start page.
• The "?" button in the window of a machine or plant opens its page.
• In the codex, Ctrl+F searches; Backspace goes back.