MyMWiki Documentation, Release 0.0.1
In truth you don’t need massive storage cells in your system at all. Even the largest bases can easily get by with 16k
cells as long as you are handling the high volume items outside of the system. An easy way to tell is just to look at the
storage cells every so often. If you are using all the slots but only using 50-70% of the space, then you still have room
and the system can manage. But you should act whenever they start to get 100% full.
Any time a storage cell goes in the red (totally full) then you should automatically know you have a problem you need
to fix. Time to upgrade to the next size storage cell - or take out the item that is sucking all that space and put it into
external storage. You can always connect those external devices to the network via a Storage Bus and you can even
make it efficient (see below). Just remember to flush those items out of the ME system as you are setting it up so
nothing remains in a drive to confuse the network. This can be done by using the “ME IO Port”.
4.1.3 One Route to the controller:
AE2 devices auto-connect. This is a great feature. But it also means that they connect even if you don’t want them to
and you can get cross connections. Sometimes these connections will still work and everything will look fine. But the
system now has to figure something else out, and that takes computational time for the server.
Any time there are two routes to the same storage block, the network has to determine the best route it should use for
that packet of items. Individually, that decision is made pretty quickly. But having to make that decision 50 times a
second for hours on end because you are pumping tons of cobble and ore into your setup from 3 Ender Quarries will
turn into a mountain of little decisions very quickly.
Because the different network components auto-connect this is really easy to get wrong. Most commonly this happens
behind a large array of already connected Drive Bays where one cable will run across several of them in a row. It is
also common to see this when the same cable runs in a small circle to connect 4-8 Devices that form a small wall.
This causes the system to make minor routing calculations for everything that goes into them and if you are processing
high volumes of items those minor calculations will add up. Carry a stack of cable anchors around with you and it you
think there is a routing issue then just stick an anchor down to correct it. If it would work with an anchor between two
cables then it should probably have an anchor there. And if it turns on without a cable physically connected to it then
it usually doesn’t need it.
4.1.4 Dedicated and prioritized external storage with overflow:
Configuring your ME Storage Bus is easy. If you’re using a dedicated storage block (like a DSU) then you just click
the two wrenches on the Storage Bus’ configuration UI.
The first wrench sets the item type so the network knows in advance that this item is stored in that device. This is
important because if the network doesn’t know up front then it has to figure it out while the item is in process.
The second wrench allows you to set the priority for that storage. The default of the system is 0 (zero). So anything
over zero, even 1, is better. Not the system is always prioritizing storage even when is not changed. If you have 2
chests and one is closer then it will use the closest one. If the one further away is given a bit more priority then it
uses the farther one. The distance is always part of the check routine though and it has an effect on the priority the
controller assigns to the routing of the item.
For large systems that have long cable runs using 1 as a priority really isn’t enough. My advice in game is always
to think in the 100s when setting priority. All permanent, dedicated storage should just be given a moderately high
priority level (like 100 or 200) to ensure that the cable runs and future sub-networks don’t interfere with them.
Lets take a common example. You have 7 DSUs plugged into your network on storage buses to process most of the
common quarry blocks away from the disk drives into a better storage mechanism. Those DSUs are on the other
side of your base just to put them out of the way or to hide them. That chunk is a couple chunks away from the ME
Controller that runs the system. If you use set the priority 100 for all the buses then you can be sure that it will always
use those DSUs for storing those items as long as they are connected to the network.
44 Chapter 4. Performance Guide