Back to Minecraft guides

Automating the Runic Altar with Applied Energistics, Modular Routers, and Integrated Dynamics

This article describes how I automated the Botania Runic Altar with Applied Energistics, Modular Routers, and Integrated Dynamics. There are certainly other ways to automate this (including using no additional mods outside of Botania), but this is how I did it.

This design has been through many iterations, and this is the one that seems to work best. Previous iterations that involved dropping all of the items from a Botania Open Crate were causing issues with many disappearing ingredients that cause the crafting job to get stuck, and this new design seems to solve those issues, so I am documenting it.

Table of Contents

  1. Required Mods
  2. Parts List
  3. Build Overview
  4. Component Details
  5. How to get Integrated Dynamics Variables
  6. Putting this in a base

Required mods

Parts List

Build Overview

Click here for this image with no markup on it.

Component details

A: Botania Runic Altar

Just a Runic Altar. There is nothing to configure here, so this section will be very brief. Make sure that while you are building this setup that stray items don't drop on it, or it will pick them up and it might be difficult to tell that your setup is broken (especially if it's something barely visible like Mana Glass)

The Runic Altar will require a Mana Spreader be pointed at it to provide it Mana from a Mana Pool. These are not pictured in the images in this article, and setting them up is beyond the scope of this article - read the Lexica Botania in-game for more information on how to make a Runic Altar work.


B: "Placer" Modular Router (left side)

This Modular Router places the ingredients onto the Runic Altar. It receives items from another Modular Router, so it doesn't need to worry about pulling items from anywhere.

By using an Activator Module to deliver ingredients to the Runic Altar, we reduce the number of items that are ever dropped into the world, which can create lag and can cause issues if items disappear "in flight" due to server mods, villagers eating food items, players with "magnet" type equipment, etc. My setup is in an active village, so dropped food items often disappear, and this helped avoid this issue.

Modules in "B" Modular Router

Activator Module ("B" Modular Router)

Dropper Module ("B" Modular Router)

This is how we "Right click" all of the other ingredients in, but "drop" the Living Stone - Living Stone is ignored by the Activator Module, but is the focus of this Dropper Module.




C: "Wand" Modular Router (right side)

This module right clicks the Runic Altar with a Wand of the Forest, when the crafting has reached that point.

Activator Module ("C"/"Wand" Modular Router)

This handles right clicking the Runic Altar.



D: "Distributor" Modular Router (bottom-left)


Puller Module (1) ("D" Distributor Router)

This module pulls any item out of the Input Chest "L" except Living Stone, which we want to leave for last, so this module is set to ignore it.

Puller Module (2) ("D" Distributor Router)

This module pulls the Living Stone out of the "L" Input Chest when it receives a redstone signal. This ensures that it leaves the Living Stone for last, when the Runic Altar is ready for it.

Sender Module ("D" Distributor Router)

This module takes any block or item that this Modular Router is holding and sends it to the "Placer" "B" Modular Router, for placement onto the Runic Altar.


E: "Vacuum" Modular Router (Middle foreground)

This Modular Router picks up the crafted runes once they are complete. The Runic Altar will drop them into the world around itself, so a "Vacuum" capability is required.

You could easily replace this with a HopperHock, or any other vacuum chest, or other mechanism to pick up dropped items (Rats, Golems, etc). You'll want to blacklist Living Stone, so you don't pick up the final Living Stone that must be dropped onto the Runic Alter to finish the crafting process.

This Modular Router has two modules:

You can optionally add up to 9 Speed Upgrades and a stack upgrade or two, to ensure it picks up the dropped items in a timely manner. In the image I have 3 stack upgrades - this is overkill.

Vacuum Module ("E" Vacuum Router)

This handles right clicking the Runic Altar.


Tag Filter configuration for "E" Vacuum Router

The Tag Filter should be configured with the tag botania:runes. To do this, craft a rune manually, then craft a new tag filter. Right click the tag filter and put the rune in the slot at the top. Use the dropdown box to select botania:runes, then click the "+" button to add that tag to the list. Do not select the mythicbotany:runes one you might see (if you also have Mythic Botany installed), because this will cause the system to fail to pick up normal Botania runes (botania:runes will include MythicBotany runes as well)

Sender Mk2 Module ("E" Vacuum Router)

This sends any picked up item back to your base's inventory - in my case, to the Applied Energistics 2 Pattern Provider, which will automatically insert the items back into storage.



F: Integrated Dynamics Variable Store

You'll want to place all the blocks before you start collecting variables to put in here. There is a section below that explains what that means, if you have never used Integrated Dynamics before.

The variables we'll eventually have in here are:


The "Part ID" and "Variable ID" values in the screenshot are not important, your numbers will be different than mine were.

The positioning of the variables in the Variable Store do not matter at all.

How to collect the correct variable cards while you build

Don't try to set up variable cards while you build - place down all of the blocks and make sure they are in the correct spots, then come back and set up the variable cards.

If you move any of the Integrated Dynamics blocks (including the cables), it may break your variables, and you may need to set them up again.

G: Integrated Dynamics Redstone Writer (Bottom side of "Wand" MR)

⚠️Place down all blocks before configuring any of the Integrated Dynamics connectors, or doing anything with variables or variable cards.

This Redstone Writer gives the "Wand" Modular Router "C" a signal indicating that it's OK to right click the Runic Altar with it's held Wand of the Forest.

The variable card in it, which you will create later, checks to see if the Runic Altar is at the end of a crafting cycle, and is ready for the final Living Stone to be placed onto it, and to be right clicked with the Wand of the Forest. The exact same check is used on this Redstone Writer/Modular Router as the "Distributor" "D" Modular Router.

The variable card must be placed in the Top Redstone slot, which will give it full power if the equation on the variable card is "true".

For a step-by-step guide on how to create the necessary variable cards for this, and other Integrated Dynamic components, see the section below on how to create the necessary variable cards.

If the interface/GUI for this component does not open when you right click it with an empty hand, it may need a Logic Cable attached to it.

H: Integrated Dynamics Redstone Writer (Bottom side of "Placer" MR)

⚠️Place down all blocks before configuring any of the Integrated Dynamics connectors, or doing anything with variables or variable cards.

This Redstone Writer provides a signal to the "Placer" "B" Modular Router, allowing it to use it's Activator Module to insert an item into the Runic Altar. Without this, the Modular Router will constantly right click the Runic Altar, and if the Modular Router doesn't have an item in it's inventory, it will take an item off of the altar, potentially ruining a craft in progress, and causing the whole system to get stuck in a loop. The signal that triggers this Redstone Writer is the comparator on the back side of it (component "J"), which checks to see if there are any items in the Modular Router's inventory slot. It will only allow it to right click the Runic Altar if it has an item in it's inventory, ensuring that the items can only flow in one direction - onto the Runic Altar.

The variable card must be placed in the Top Redstone slot, which will give it full power if the equation on the variable card is "true".

For a step-by-step guide on how to create the necessary variable cards for this, and other Integrated Dynamic components, see the section below on how to create the necessary variable cards.

If the interface/GUI for this component does not open when you right click it with an empty hand, it may need a Logic Cable attached to it.

I: Integrated Dynamics Redstone Writer (Top side of "Distributor" MR)

⚠️Place down all blocks before configuring any of the Integrated Dynamics connectors, or doing anything with variables or variable cards.

This Redstone Writer sends a signal to the Modular Router "D" "Distributor", which lets it know that it's OK to grab the final Living Stone block and send it on to the "Placer" Modular Router "B".

It contains a variable card configured to check to see if the Runic Altar comparator is receiving a value of == (exactly) 2 (two), which would indicate that the rune being crafted has enough mana, and is ready for the final block of Living Stone at the end.

The variable card must be placed in the Top Redstone slot, which will give it full power if the equation on the variable card is "true".

For a step-by-step guide on how to create the necessary variable cards for this, and other Integrated Dynamic components, see the section below on how to create the necessary variable cards.

If you've messed up and set the variable card to the wrong thing, just close the Integrated Dynamics GUI, open your inventory, and place the card in your 2x2 crafting grid by itself. You can then pull out a "reset" variable card from the crafting results slot, and you can now try again.
If the interface/GUI for this component does not open when you right click it with an empty hand, it may need a Logic Cable attached to it.

J: Integrated Dynamics Redstone Reader (Back side of "Placer" MR)

⚠️Place down all blocks before configuring any of the Integrated Dynamics connectors, or doing anything with variables or variable cards.

This Redstone Reader is configured as a comparator, attached to the back/rear side of the "Placer" "B" Modular Router.

When comparators are attached to a block with an inventory, like chests, they emit a signal depending on how many items are in the inventory - or how "full" the inventory is.
Some potential comparator values for a block with inventory:

The Modular Router that this Redstone Reader is attached to needs to use it's Activator Module to place blocks onto the Runic Altar. The "Activator" module isn't aware that it's putting items on the Runic Altar, it's just blindly right clicking, and right clicking a Runic Altar with an "empty" hand (or empty inventory in the Modular Router in this case) will pull an item off of the Runic Altar, which we don't want. We want the Modular Router to only right click the Runic Altar if it has an item in it's inventory, and to not do any right clicking if it doesn't have any items. The Activator module can't do this logic on it's own, so we need a Redstone Reader and a Redstone Writer to tell it when it's OK to right click.

There is nothing to configure in this component, but you will need to use it to create a variable card, which can then use the values that this component produces. For a step-by-step guide on how to create the necessary variable cards for this, and other Integrated Dynamic components, see the section below on how to create the necessary variable cards.

If the interface/GUI for this component does not open when you right click it with an empty hand, it may need a Logic Cable attached to it.

K: Integrated Dynamics Redstone Reader (bottom side of Runic Altar)

⚠️Place down all blocks before configuring any of the Integrated Dynamics connectors, or doing anything with variables or variable cards.

This Redstone Reader is configured as a comparator, attached to the bottom side of the Runic Altar. Comparators receive signals from "machines" and complex blocks that mean different things depending on the block that they are attached to. In this case, signals we can expect from a Runic Altar are:

The Integrated Dynamics Redstone Reader is capable of detecting what a comparator would be emitting, and allows us to use that information elsewhere with any other Integrated Dynamics component connected with Logic Cables.

There is nothing to configure in this component, but you will need to use it to create a variable card, which can then use the values that this component produces. For a step-by-step guide on how to create the necessary variable cards for this, and other Integrated Dynamic components, see the section below on how to create the necessary variable cards.

If the interface/GUI for this component does not open when you right click it with an empty hand, it may need a Logic Cable attached to it.

L: "Input" Chest



M: Applied Energistics Pattern Provider

Just a normal pattern provider, which as of the version of Applied Energistics I'm using, is the standard way for an AE system to provide crafting ingredients for auto-crafting jobs. If you are not familiar with Applied Energistics, this block contains a "pattern" for each type of item it can craft, and it provides the ingredients for any requested items into the chest.

The pattern provider delivers ingredients to an adjacent inventory, so it must be touching the chest. The positioning of the chest and Pattern Provider don't matter, as long as they are within 12 blocks of the "Distributor" "D" Modular Router (up to 24 with range upgrades).

You will want to set it to Lock until primary crafting result is returned. This can be done by clicking into the Pattern Provider's interface and using the small buttons on the left edge. This setting ensure that the AE system only deposits the ingredients for one item at a time, and won't deposit any more until it receives the crafted item back and knows that it's finished.

Make sure your AE system is capable of auto-crafting, with at least one Crafting CPU. See the Applied Energistics Guide if you need help setting this up.

If you are not using Applied Energistics, you will need to find a way to insert the ingredients for exactly 1 (one) rune at a time into the chest "L". You can probably do this with mods similar to Applied Energistics, such as Refined Storage, but since I am an Applied Energistics user, I am not familiar with other mods that do the same thing.



How to get the Integrated Dynamics variables

If you've messed up and set the variable card to the wrong thing, just close the Integrated Dynamics GUI, open your inventory, and place the card in your 2x2 crafting grid by itself. You can then pull out a "reset" variable card from the crafting results slot, and you can now try again.

This section walks you through setting up the Integrated Dynamics variable cards from start to finish.

This can get complicated, so take your time.

How to recover if you've messed up

  1. Put all variable cards from all Integrated Dynamics components (including the Variable Store) into your inventory
  2. One by one, put them in your inventory's 2x2 crafting grid, and take out the "crafted" results. This resets the variable cards to default so you can set them up again.
  3. Start this section again. Make sure you label as you go to help reduce any confusion.

Required items

You will need:

Setting up your variable cards



Putting this in a base

This setup can be fairly easily hidden underground, with the two above-ground Modular Routers using camouflage upgrades to hide as whatever block makes sense (in the example image they are mossy cobblestone stairs, specifically a corner piece, to hide the Integrated Dynamics Redstone Reader on the back of them).

This setup is fairly compact, and can be easily scaled out to as many as you want. I use 4 of these, each with different runes that it has the patterns for so that it can make multiple runes at the same time.