Block filter not working?

[ungol]

I’ve been having some trouble with ore dictionary prefix block filters. Apparently, they don’t work in certain situations. Take this setup for example:
large sluice → hopper → item pipe → whitelist tiny purified ore filter → pipe & containers
___________________________ → blacklist tiny purified ore filter → pipe & containers
It seems to work when I isolate it from the system, but not when it is integrated into a more complex setup. However, I’ve had these block filters stop working in multiple (different) chains and I do not know why.

The top filter is whitelist, the bottom one is blacklist. Some stacks get through both, but then the pipes jam and nothing gets throught either. The restrictive pipe was just a test - it behaves the same way even when the bottom filter is moved one block up, replacing the restrictive pipe.

Similar deal here. However, initially the rightmost pipe was coming out of the filter at the top and things didn’t work. Then we changed it to what you can see in the image and it seems to be working - though I am not convinced it will remain that way.

Alike the setup in the previous images, this one works for a time and then jams. The hopper contains cobblestone and ore, and nothing is coming through the filters. Furthermore, the pipe next to the hopper dropped green schist cobblestone when destroyed, meaning that it should have gone through one of the filters. On a side note, the vanilla cobblestone from the bedrock drill doesn’t seem to go through the cobblestone ore dictionary prefix filter (ever).

Any help is much appreciated.

[Gregorius (Gregorius Techneticies)]

A Item Pipe that has the “Floodfill” algorithm go through itself, will count as “having been used”, which may block it. That is why isolation works but connecting it to a bigger thing doesn’t.

The Prefix filter for cobblestone might be screwed up, I dont think I ever saw anything use that Prefix properly, but good to know that non-material Prefixes are broken.

I cant say much about the other Setups. Its a bit confusing spaghetti so I cant say for sure what is going on

[Gregorius (Gregorius Techneticies)]

Have you tried the “stoneCobble” Filter instead?

[ungol]

I believe the behaviour was the same with stoneCobble. What doesn’t give me peace is that all of these setups sometimes work and sometimes they don’t. With the same things going throught them…

[Gregorius (Gregorius Techneticies)]

Can you try making a minimalist setup of your problem that is not inter-weaved with lots of spaghetti?

[ungol]

Yeah, I’ve tried, but currently both setups seem to work. Right now I have to get going, but I’ll try to break it next time.

[ungol]

So I did some testing and there appears to be some sort of block filter jam. I figured out how I can reproduce it on my setup, but don’t know the exact cause and have not come up with a minimal setup. After the filter jams, even if I remove the element that triggers the jam, the filter remains dysfunctional until it is manually replaced. If you’re open to connecting on discord, I could show you what happens.

[Gregorius (Gregorius Techneticies)]

Uh you are aware that the Filters cannot jam or anything of that sort, right? The Filters are Filters, not Relays or anything like that. The Item Pipes themselves might jam, but definitely not Filters.

Also cant you just post screenshots of that Setup?

[ungol]

Allright, here goes.

This shows the item output of the large sluice. It goes through a hopper and two ultimet pipes to two ore dictionary prefix filters. Both filter for tiny purified ore, but the left one (highlighted red) is blacklist (therefore it allows purified ore through). The whitelist filter seems to be working correctly. The output of the blacklist filter is marked orange.

The output of the blacklist filter goes through two aluminium brass pipes and into an array of chests via a restrictive ultimet pipe. There are 4 columns of chests connected through ultimet pipes much like in the shape of the letter “m”. The top row of pipes is restrictive to enforce a filling order. Additionally, the outputs of two hoppers are connected to the same restrictive pipe of the chest array (this pipe is marked purple).

The hoppers are circled green. The top one is currently unused, and the bottom one outputs purified ore from a boxinator, which is fed via the whitelist filter and a hopper mechanism (irrelevant).

If I run the machine normally, it works fine until the first column of chests fills up. Once the stacks of purified ore are forced to go through two restrictive pipes into the second column, the blacklist block filter stops working almost immediately or after a few stacks come through. If I disconnect the sluice output and break the ultimet pipe next to the hopper, a bunch of purified ore comes out, as anticipated.

If I disconnect the two hoppers, marked green, at the restrictive ultimet pipe, marked purple, and repeat the process (the block filter must be manually replaced), everything seems to work. Furthermore, if I disconnect the hoppers after the filter has already jammed, it remains jammed. If I break the ultimet pipe next to the sluice output hopper the same way as earlier (after disconnecting the sluice output hopper), purified ore is dropped as before. The filter starts working only after being manually replaced.

I wrote this assuming that the block filter gets jammed because it is easier to explain. However, I understand it may only seem that way and something else is causing the problem.

On a side note, I tested the vanilla cobblestone again and it seemed to work - maybe it only appeared to not go through a stone ore prefix filter due to another problem; or maybe it was some other type of cobblestone - I do not remember.

Edit:
Putting 4 extra restrictive ultimet pipes towards the hoppers changes nothing. Constructing the junction from a chest and a hopper seems to fix the problem. However, it would still be good to know what is causing the original problem since we have been having problmes with these filters on multiple sites.

[Gregorius (Gregorius Techneticies)]

The Filter is outputting to an Electrum Pipe that goes into a higher Tier Pipe? Yeah that ELECTRUM PIPE is sure as fuck gonna jam, make sure all Pipes you use in one section are the same Tier!

Filters do not jam, its the Pipes you connect them to that are gonna jam. Filters can physically NOT JAM, because Filters do not contain shit, they are Extenders, so stop claiming the Filters jam, this is NOT how Filters work.

And Restriction Pipes are there to increase distance when calculating Paths, they do absolutely nothing else. Spamming them like this does nothing.

[ungol]

Aha; allright, thanks for the help.
Yes, I assumed that’s how filters and restrictive pipes work. Though I didn’t know what was happening so I was simply trying possible fixes.

[Gregorius (Gregorius Techneticies)]

1. Replace the Restriction Pipes with their normal Variant
2. Replace those two Electrum Pipes after the Filter with Restriction Variant.

That might work.

[ungol]

Hmm, so I removed the additonal restrictive pipes (only the ones at the chests are now placed - as in the images) and replaced the aluminium brass pipes with ultimet, but the problem persists.

[Gregorius (Gregorius Techneticies)]

I literally meant the Restriction Pipes AT THE CHESTS…

[ungol]

But those are there to force an ordering into how the chests are filled. They are there to increase the path between columns of chests.

[Gregorius (Gregorius Techneticies)]

Oh right, that. Hrrm…Put a Hopper between the Chest Columns and the Input? So the Hopper is the ONLY thing filling the Chests, and all the other Stuff that goes to the Chest Columns goes into the Hopper instead?

[ungol]

Yes, I tried that and it worked. It’s in the edit above. Though I have a similar problem in another setup and was wondering if we could figure out why it’s not working.

[Gregorius (Gregorius Techneticies)]

Whats the Issue in that other Setup then? (Pictures needed)

[ungol]

Unfortunately that one jams less often and I haven’t experimented with it as much. I can let you know what exactly happens the next time it breaks.

[ungol]

Though I’m really curious about what’s going on with this one. Is the code base that deals with pipe mechanics large or is it something one might be able to take a look at in a reasonable amount of time?