Ender IO

Overview

Ender IO is a comprehensive technology mod that revolves around three pillars: compact conduit-based transport, powerful alloy-crafted machines, and upgradeable Dark Steel equipment. Unlike other tech mods that require sprawling cable runs and separate systems for items, fluids, energy, and redstone, Ender IO lets you bundle all of these into a single block space using its conduit system. This alone makes it one of the most space-efficient automation solutions available.

The mod introduces eight custom alloys, each crafted in the Alloy Smelter by combining vanilla materials with various resources. These alloys form the backbone of every machine, conduit, and tool the mod offers. You can browse all 359 items and blocks this mod adds using the Items tab above, and check the Recipes tab for full crafting details.

At its core, Ender IO provides a complete tech infrastructure: power generation from multiple sources, tiered energy storage via Capacitor Banks, machine processing for ore multiplication and material creation, automated farming, mob spawning, teleportation, and a painting system that lets you disguise blocks as any other block in the game. The Dark Steel equipment line adds combat and utility tools that consume RF energy for enhanced performance, with a modular upgrade system that lets you customize each piece.

Alloys and Materials

Ender IO's material system is built on eight alloys, each with distinct properties and uses. All alloys are created in the Alloy Smelter by combining two or three ingredients. Understanding what each alloy is used for helps you plan which to smelt first.

Early Game Alloys

Electrical Steel (hardness 6.0) is the workhorse material for basic machines, crafted from Iron, Silicon, and Coal. Nearly every machine frame requires it. Conductive Iron (hardness 5.2) combines Iron with Redstone and is used primarily in energy conduits and basic power components. Redstone Alloy (hardness 1.0) is a soft alloy used in redstone conduits and control circuits.

Mid Game Alloys

Energetic Alloy (hardness 7.0) combines Gold, Redstone, and Glowstone Dust, and is used in higher-tier machines and capacitors. Pulsating Iron (hardness 7.0) is crafted from Iron and Ender Pearl, used in Pulsating Crystal crafting and some advanced components. Dark Steel (hardness 10.0) combines Iron with Coal and Obsidian, forming the basis of the entire Dark Steel equipment line and advanced machine housings.

Late Game Alloys

Vibrant Alloy (hardness 4.0) is the top-tier alloy, combining Energetic Alloy with Ender Pearl. Despite its lower hardness, it is used in the most powerful conduits, capacitor banks, and equipment upgrades. Soularium (hardness 10.0) uses Gold and Soul Sand, and is essential for soul-related machines like the Soul Binder and Powered Spawner, as well as Soularium armor and tools.

Conduit System

The conduit system is Ender IO's signature feature and arguably its greatest contribution to modded Minecraft. All conduit types can be placed in the same block, meaning a single conduit bundle can transport energy, items, fluids, and redstone signals through one block space. Right-click a conduit with a Yeta Wrench to configure it, or sneak-right-click to open the conduit's connection settings.

Energy Conduits

Energy Conduits come in three tiers. Tier 1 (basic) transfers up to 640 RF/t, Tier 2 (enhanced) handles 5,120 RF/t, and Tier 3 (ender) maxes out at 20,480 RF/t. By default, different tiers cannot connect to each other, so plan your power network around the tier you need. Energy Conduits form a network that evenly distributes power to all connected machines.

Item Conduits

Item Conduits move items between inventories with configurable input/output, round-robin distribution, self-feed prevention, and filtering. You can insert item filters (Basic, Advanced, Existing, Mod, and more) into the conduit connection panel to precisely control what items flow where. Speed upgrades increase extraction speed. Item Conduits are the backbone of any automated processing setup.

Liquid Conduits

Liquid (Fluid) Conduits also come in three tiers. Basic Liquid Conduits extract at 50 mB/t with a max throughput of 200 mB/t. Advanced Liquid Conduits double those rates to 100 mB/t extraction and 400 mB/t throughput. Ender Liquid Conduits top out at 200 mB/t extraction and 800 mB/t throughput, and can teleport fluids across any distance without physically connecting. All tiers support fluid filtering.

Redstone Conduits and ME Conduits

Insulated Redstone Conduits carry redstone signals through your conduit bundles without interfering with other signal lines, using colored channels to separate up to 16 independent signals. If you have Applied Energistics 2 installed, ME Conduits let you run AE2 channels through the same conduit bundles, eliminating the need for separate cable runs entirely.

Power Generation

Ender IO provides several power generation options that scale from early game to late game. Each generator type has different fuel requirements, output rates, and complexity.

Stirling Generator

The simplest generator, burning any furnace fuel to produce a base of 20 RF/t with a 100,000 RF internal buffer. The power output scales with the installed capacitor: a basic capacitor roughly doubles output, while an ender capacitor can quadruple it. Stirling Generators are perfect for early game but fall behind as your power demands grow.

Combustion Generator

The Combustion Generator is Ender IO's high-output liquid fuel generator, producing up to 1,280 RF/t. It requires both a fuel (Hootch, Rocket Fuel, or Fire Water) and a coolant (Water). The generator has separate 5,000 mB tanks for fuel and coolant. Fuel choice dramatically affects output: Hootch produces 60 RF/cycle over 6,000 ticks, Rocket Fuel produces 160 RF/cycle over 7,000 ticks, and Fire Water produces 80 RF/cycle over 15,000 ticks.

Zombie Generator

This quirky generator runs on Nutrient Distillation, a fluid crafted from organic matter in the Vat. It produces a steady 80 RF/t and gets 10,000 ticks of operation from each bucket of fuel. Pair it with a mob farm producing Nutrient Distillation and you have a self-sustaining power source.

Photovoltaic Solar Panels

Solar Panels come in three tiers: Simple (10 RF/t), Advanced (40 RF/t), and Vibrant (160 RF/t). They require direct sunlight and scale their output based on the sun's position in the sky. Multiple panels can be networked together. Solar Panels are a completely passive power source requiring no fuel, making them ideal for supplementary power.

Energy Storage: Capacitor Banks

Capacitor Banks store RF energy and can form multiblock structures for massive storage. Placing multiple Capacitor Banks adjacent to each other automatically combines their storage and I/O rates. They come in three tiers: Basic (1,000,000 RF storage, 1,000 RF/t I/O), Activated (5,000,000 RF storage, 5,000 RF/t I/O), and Vibrant (25,000,000 RF storage, 25,000 RF/t I/O). A multiblock wall of Vibrant Capacitor Banks can store hundreds of millions of RF.

Capacitor Banks have a GUI that lets you set maximum input and output rates, and they display their charge level visually on the block. They also emit a redstone signal proportional to their fill level when connected to a Redstone Conduit, making them useful for power-level-triggered systems.

Processing Machines

SAG Mill

The SAG Mill is Ender IO's ore grinder, turning ores into dusts for a 2x output multiplier. It accepts grinding balls (Flint, Dark Steel Balls, etc.) that increase bonus output chances and can extend the number of secondary outputs. The SAG Mill consumes 20 RF/t base power with an 80 RF/t intake rate and 100,000 RF buffer. It processes most ores from any mod that uses the Ore Dictionary.

Alloy Smelter

The Alloy Smelter has three input slots and one output slot, with the same power characteristics as the SAG Mill (20 RF/t base, 80 RF/t intake, 100,000 RF buffer). It operates in two modes: Alloy mode combines multiple inputs into alloy outputs, while Furnace mode smelts single items like a powered Furnace. You can toggle between modes in the GUI or lock it to one mode.

Slice and Splice

This specialized machine manipulates mob-related items, particularly mob heads. It is used to craft items like the Tormented Enderman Head and other soul-infused components. It consumes 80 RF/t base power with a 160 RF/t intake rate, making it more power-hungry than basic machines.

Soul Binder

The Soul Binder processes Soul Vials containing captured mobs to create specialized items. It is essential for creating Broken Spawners for the Powered Spawner, as well as various soul-infused materials. With a base power draw of 500 RF/t and intake of 1,000 RF/t, it is one of the more power-intensive machines. It also requires XP levels stored in its internal buffer, which can be supplied by piping in liquid XP.

The Vat

The Vat is a fluid processing machine that creates Ender IO's custom fluids: Hootch, Fire Water, Rocket Fuel, Nutrient Distillation, Ender Distillation, and Liquid Sunshine. Each fluid requires specific ingredients and a base fluid. These fluids are critical for advanced power generation (Combustion Generator), teleportation (Staff of Travelling uses Ender Distillation), and the farming system.

Painting Machine

The Painting Machine lets you apply the appearance of any block to paintable Ender IO blocks, including Conduit Facades, Painted Glass, Painted Stairs, Painted Slabs, Painted Fences, and many more. Place the block you want to copy the appearance of in one input slot and the target paintable block in the other. The result looks like the source block but retains the properties of the Ender IO block. At 20 RF/t base power, it is inexpensive to run.

Dark Steel Equipment

Dark Steel is Ender IO's signature equipment line: tools and armor that consume RF energy for enhanced performance and can be upgraded with special abilities at an Anvil. Dark Steel equipment starts as regular gear but becomes dramatically more powerful once empowered (charged with RF).

Dark Steel Sword

The Dark Steel Sword has 2,000 durability, 25 enchantability, and deals base attack damage of 3.0 hearts (relative to Iron's 1.5). When empowered, it gains an additional +1.0 heart of damage and +0.4 attack speed, consuming 750 RF per hit. It has a special property: killing Endermen with a Dark Steel Sword gives a 105% chance to drop an Ender Pearl (guaranteed at least one), with an additional +50% per Looting level. It also provides a 10% chance to drop mob skulls (5% for Wither Skeleton Skulls), with +7.5% per Looting level.

Dark Steel Pickaxe

With 2,000 durability, mining level 3, and 8.0 base efficiency, the Dark Steel Pickaxe is already competitive with Diamond. When empowered, it gains a 2.0x efficiency multiplier, effectively mining at 16.0 speed. Its standout feature is the Obsidian boost: when mining blocks with hardness above 40.0, it applies a massive 50x efficiency bonus, making Obsidian mining nearly instant at a cost of 10,000 RF per block.

Dark Steel Armor

Dark Steel Armor uses a custom ArmorMaterial with a durability multiplier of 35, enchantability of 15, and 1.0 toughness. Base armor protection values are: Helmet 2, Chestplate 6, Leggings 5, and Boots 2 (total 15 armor points). When empowered, each piece gains bonus armor points: Helmet +1, Chestplate +1, Leggings +2, Boots +1, bringing the total to 20 armor points.

Upgrade System

All Dark Steel items support a modular upgrade system applied through the Anvil. The most important upgrade is the Empowered series, which gives the item an internal RF battery. Energy storage scales across four levels: base 100,000 RF, Level 1 at 150,000 RF, Level 2 at 250,000 RF, and Level 3 at 1,000,000 RF. Without an energy upgrade, Dark Steel equipment functions as normal tools with no RF benefits.

Armor-specific upgrades include Speed (three levels adding walk speed bonuses of 0.15/0.3/0.45 and sprint bonuses of 0.1/0.3/0.5), Jump Boost (150 RF per jump), a Glider for controlled descent, an Elytra upgrade for full flight, Night Vision, and a Solar Panel that generates 10/40/80 RF on the helmet depending on tier. The Travel upgrade on boots enables Staff of Travelling teleportation without holding the staff. Fall damage protection costs 75 RF per block of fall distance.

Teleportation and Travel

Ender IO includes a comprehensive teleportation system built around Travel Anchors and the Staff of Travelling. Travel Anchors are blocks that, when placed, create teleportation waypoints. Look at a Travel Anchor while standing on another one and jump to instantly teleport, with a maximum range of 96 blocks. They require no power and have zero cooldown by default.

The Staff of Travelling extends this system significantly. It allows teleportation to any visible Travel Anchor within 256 blocks at a cost of 250 RF per block traveled. It also features a "blink" ability that teleports you up to 16 blocks in the direction you are looking, even through solid blocks (but not Bedrock). Blinking has a 10-tick cooldown between uses. With the Travel upgrade on Dark Steel Boots, you can use blink without holding the staff, freeing up your hand slot.

Automation: Farming and Mob Systems

Farming Station

The Farming Station is one of Ender IO's most versatile machines, automating crop planting, growing, and harvesting. It has 9 input slots for seeds and saplings, 6 output slots for harvested items, 3 tool slots for axes and hoes, and 2 fertilizer slots for Bone Meal. It consumes 10 RF/t base power with a 400 RF/t intake and 250,000 RF buffer. The farming radius scales with the installed capacitor.

The station supports a wide range of crops: standard Wheat, Carrots, and Potatoes; tree farming with Saplings; Melon and Pumpkin farms; Nether Wart; Cocoa Beans; Chorus Fruit; and Flowers. It also integrates with many other mods, automatically detecting and handling crops from Botania, Forestry, IndustrialCraft 2, Immersive Engineering, Tinkers' Construct, and more.

Powered Spawner

The Powered Spawner recreates mob spawners with configurable mob types. To use it, capture a mob in a Soul Vial, process it in the Soul Binder with a Broken Spawner, and place the resulting configured Broken Spawner in the Powered Spawner. It spawns up to 4 entities per cycle with spawn delays between 200 and 800 ticks, consuming 160 RF/t base power (scaling with capacitor and mob type). The spawn range is 4 blocks around the machine, with a maximum of 6 nearby entities before spawning pauses.

Killer Joe

Killer Joe is an automated mob killer that uses a sword from its inventory to attack mobs within a 2.0 x 2.0 x 4.0 block area. It requires Nutrient Distillation fluid, consuming 5 mB per attack. It also has a built-in XP collection area of 5.0 x 10.0 blocks. Pair a Powered Spawner with a Killer Joe for a fully automated mob farm that produces drops and XP.

Obelisks

Obelisks are specialized machines that affect mobs and the environment in an area around them. The Attractor Obelisk pulls hostile mobs toward it, handling up to 20 mobs simultaneously at 20 RF/t base. The Aversion Obelisk (Spawn Guard) prevents mob spawning in its area at a higher cost of 80 RF/t with cubic scaling. The Inhibitor Obelisk prevents spawning entirely, while the Relocator Obelisk teleports mobs to a specified location.

The Weather Obelisk lets you control weather at a fluid cost: 500 mB to start rain, 1,000 mB for thunder, and 2,000 mB to clear weather. The XP Obelisk collects and stores experience points with virtually unlimited capacity, and can dispense XP back to the player on demand.

Wireless Power: Dimensional Transceiver

The Dimensional Transceiver is Ender IO's endgame wireless transport solution. It can transmit power, items, and fluids across any distance, even between dimensions. It supports named channels (public or private) and can handle up to 40,960 RF/t throughput with a 500,000 RF internal buffer. It has a constant upkeep cost of 10 RF/t and a 10% energy loss on power transmission. Fluid transmission costs 100 RF per bucket transferred.

Transceivers use a channel system where you create named channels of a specific type (Power, Item, Fluid, or Rail). Multiple Transceivers tuned to the same channel share their contents. This makes them perfect for connecting distant bases or moving resources between dimensions without physical infrastructure.

Fluid Tanks and Storage

Ender IO provides two tiers of fluid storage tanks. The Normal Tank holds 16,000 mB while the Advanced Tank holds 32,000 mB, both with a 100 mB/t I/O rate. Tanks can void fluids with temperatures above 973K (like Lava) if void mode is enabled, preventing overflow accidents. They interact seamlessly with Liquid Conduits and accept Buckets or Universal Buckets for manual filling.

Painting System

Ender IO's painting system lets you disguise blocks to look like any other block in the game. Using the Painting Machine, you can apply appearances to Conduit Facades, Glass, Glowstone, Pressure Plates, Fences, Gates, Stairs, Slabs, Trapdoors, and Carpets. Conduit Facades are particularly useful because they hide your conduit bundles behind the appearance of any block, making your builds look clean and intentional. Painted blocks retain all their original functional properties while taking on the visual appearance of the source material.

Enchantments

Ender IO adds the Soulbound enchantment, which prevents items from being dropped on death. Any item with Soulbound stays in your inventory when you die and respawn, making it invaluable for your best equipment. It has a maximum level of 1, requires a minimum enchantability of 16, and can be applied to any item. It also integrates with the Baubles mod, keeping baubles equipped through death.

Additional Utility Machines

Crafter

The Crafter is an auto-crafting machine with a 3x3 recipe grid. Set up a recipe template, feed it the required ingredients via Item Conduits, and it will continuously craft the output. It draws up to 500 RF/t, making it one of the more power-hungry machines, but it eliminates the need for manual crafting of commonly used items.

Vacuum Chest and XP Vacuum

The Vacuum Chest pulls dropped items toward it in a configurable radius, with optional item filters to only collect specific items. The XP Vacuum does the same for experience orbs, storing them as liquid XP that can be piped to an XP Obelisk or other fluid storage. Both are essential components of any automated mob farm.

Power Monitor and Inventory Panel

The Power Monitor displays real-time statistics about your power network: current generation, consumption, storage levels, and trends. At just 1 RF/t to operate, it is a low-cost way to keep track of your power infrastructure. The Inventory Panel connects to your conduit network and provides a remote view of all connected inventories, letting you search for and request items from a central location.

Configuration

Ender IO is highly configurable through its config file. Nearly every numerical value mentioned in this guide can be adjusted, including machine power rates, conduit transfer speeds, Dark Steel equipment stats, generator outputs, and teleportation ranges. The recipe system uses XML files that can be customized: core recipes are defined in recipe_*_core.xml files, while player overrides go in recipe_*_user.xml files. You can disable individual recipes, modify ingredients, or add entirely new ones. If a recipe file has errors, Ender IO will display a detailed error screen rather than silently failing.