RFToolsBuilder

Overview

RFTools Builder is the construction and utility arm of the RFTools mod family, focusing on automated building, mining, and base defense. The centerpiece is the Builder block, a single machine that can place blocks in geometric shapes, operate as a quarry, pump liquids, void unwanted blocks, collect dropped items, and even copy or move entire structures using Space Chambers. Combined with a four-tier Shield system for protecting your base and a Mover system for creating functional vehicles, this mod provides some of the most versatile automation tools available.

Everything in this mod runs on RF (Redstone Flux) power. The Builder block stores up to 1,000,000 RF and accepts 20,000 RF per tick, so you will need a solid power infrastructure before tackling larger operations. You can browse every item and recipe this mod adds using the tabs at the top of this page.

The Builder Block

The Builder is the most versatile block in the mod. Its behavior is entirely determined by the card you insert into it. With a basic Shape Card, it places blocks in geometric shapes. With quarry cards, it mines. With pump cards, it handles liquids. With a Space Chamber Card, it can copy or move entire structures across dimensions.

Available Shapes

The Shape Card supports 12 different shapes: Box, Top Dome, Bottom Dome, Sphere, Cylinder, Capped Cylinder, Prism, Torus, Heart, Cone, Composition (combining multiple shapes), and Scan (reproducing a scanned structure). Each shape can be set to solid or hollow. For complex builds, the Composition shape lets you combine multiple shapes using union, subtract, and intersect operations, with optional rotation and Y-axis flipping.

Builder Modes

When used with a Space Chamber Card instead of a Shape Card, the Builder operates in one of five modes. Copy duplicates a structure from a Space Chamber to the Builder's location. Move relocates the structure entirely, removing it from the source. Swap exchanges blocks between two positions. Back reverses the last operation. Collect gathers dropped items and experience orbs from the defined area, costing 20 RF per item and 2 RF per XP level.

Quarry Area Selection

For quarry and pump cards, you can define the mining area by Shift-right-clicking the Builder with the card, then right-clicking two corner blocks to define the volume. The card automatically calculates the dimensions and offset. Alternatively, you can manually enter coordinates in the Shape Card GUI.

Shape Card Types

There are 11 Shape Card variants, each tailored to a specific operation. The base Shape Card handles building and can be upgraded into specialized cards.

Building Cards

The Shape Card is the basic building card that places blocks from an attached inventory into the defined shape. The Shape Card (Liquid) places fluids from a connected fluid tank. These cost 500 RF and 300 RF per operation respectively.

Quarry Cards

Quarry cards mine blocks within the defined area. The standard Shape Card (Quarry) replaces mined blocks with Dirt (configurable). The Clearing Quarry variant replaces with air instead, leaving an open pit. Both come in standard, Fortune, and Silk Touch versions. Fortune quarries cost 2x the base quarry RF, while Silk Touch quarries cost 3x. The base quarry speed is 8 blocks per tick, which can be increased significantly through Machine Infusion.

Pump and Void Cards

The Shape Card (Pump) collects liquids from the area, replacing them with the quarry replacement block. The Clearing Pump replaces with air. Pumped fluids are sent to any connected fluid tank. The Shape Card (Void) destroys blocks without collecting them at half the RF cost of a normal quarry (0.5x multiplier), making it useful for clearing large areas cheaply.

Space Chamber System

The Space Chamber system allows you to define a volume of blocks and then copy, move, or swap that entire volume using the Builder. This is incredibly powerful for relocating bases, duplicating builds, or moving structures across dimensions.

Setting Up a Space Chamber

Place Space Chamber blocks at two opposite corners of the volume you want to capture, then place a Space Chamber Controller adjacent to one of the corner blocks. Wrench the controller to scan and register the chamber. The maximum chamber dimension is 128 blocks. Once the chamber is registered, use a Space Chamber Card on the controller to link the card to that chamber's channel.

Insert the linked Space Chamber Card into a Builder block to begin operations. The Builder supports Copy, Move, Swap, and Back modes when working with Space Chambers. Moving structures across dimensions costs 5x the normal RF. Whether tile entities can be moved depends on the server configuration, which defaults to a blacklist mode where most tile entities are movable unless explicitly blocked.

Shield System

The Shield system creates force fields that can block and damage entities. Shield Projectors come in four tiers with increasing capacity. Each projector uses a Shape Card to define the shield's geometry, then fills that shape with invisible or visible shielding blocks that interact with entities based on configurable filters.

Shield Projector Tiers

Tier 1 supports up to 256 shield blocks with 200,000 RF storage and 5,000 RF/t input. Tier 2 scales to 1,024 blocks (4x) with the same energy stats. Tier 3 jumps to 4,096 blocks (16x) with 600,000 RF storage and 10,000 RF/t input, plus 4x damage and 2x cost. Tier 4 reaches a massive 32,768 blocks (128x) with 1,200,000 RF storage and 30,000 RF/t input. Higher tiers require progressively more expensive materials, with Tier 4 needing Nether Stars.

Shield Rendering and Templates

Shields have five rendering modes: Invisible (no visual), Shield (translucent energy effect), Mimic (copies the appearance of adjacent blocks), Transparent, and Solid. You can also choose between a standard shield texture and a striped pattern. Shield Template blocks (available in Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow) are used with the Mimic rendering mode to define what the shield looks like.

Entity Filters

Each shield projector can be configured with filters that control how different entity types interact with the shield. Five filter types are available: Hostile (monsters), Passive (animals), Player (with optional name-based filtering), Item (dropped items), and Default (fallback behavior). Each filter can be set to Pass (allow through), Solid (block passage), or Damage (deal 5.0 damage per spike). Damage costs 1,000 RF per entity hit, or 2,000 RF for player-type damage.

Scanner, Projector & Locator

The Scanner module adds tools for capturing, visualizing, and locating things in the world. These work alongside the Builder for more advanced operations.

Scanner

The Scanner captures a 3D snapshot of blocks within a defined area and stores it as scan data that can be loaded into a Shape Card (Scan type). This scanned shape can then be reproduced by the Builder, effectively letting you clone existing structures. The Scanner holds 500,000 RF, consumes 1,000 RF/t during operation (2,000 RF/t for remote scanning), and can handle areas up to 512 blocks in each dimension.

Projector

The Projector takes a configured Shape Card and displays its shape as a holographic projection in the world. This is useful for visualizing planned builds before committing resources. It stores 500,000 RF and uses 1,000 RF/t while active. The projection updates at 40,000 surface blocks per tick, so very large shapes may take a moment to fully render.

Locator

The Locator scans for entities and energy sources, marking their positions with colored beacons visible from 30 blocks high. It holds 2,000,000 RF and scans every 40 ticks. You can filter for hostile mobs, passive animals, players, or machines with low energy. Each scan type adds to the RF cost: hostiles add 1.0 RF per 16x16x16 subchunk, passives 0.5 RF, players 2.0 RF, and energy scanning 5.0 RF. The Locator supports up to 25 chunks for energy scanning.

Mover & Vehicle System

The Mover system lets you create moving platforms and vehicles from actual blocks. This is one of the more advanced features and requires several components working together.

Core Components

The Mover block is the engine that physically moves blocks. The Mover Controller coordinates movement direction and manages the mover's operation. The Vehicle Builder constructs a vehicle entity from a defined set of blocks. The Mover Controller stores 100,000 RF and accepts 1,000 RF/t, with each movement costing 1,000 RF.

Control and Status

Four variants of the Mover Control block provide directional control interfaces. You can cycle between variants by crafting them. The Mover Status block displays current mover information. For remote operation, the Vehicle Card, Vehicle Control Module, and Vehicle Status Module provide wireless control capabilities. The Vehicle Status Module costs 2 RF/tick per block to operate.

Configuration

RFTools Builder offers extensive configuration options in the server config file. Server operators can disable specific card types entirely: shape cards, quarry cards, and clearing quarry cards each have independent enable/disable toggles. The quarry replacement block defaults to Dirt but can be changed to any block ID. Tile entity movement can be set to forbidden, whitelist, blacklist, or allowed, with a configurable block list for fine-grained control.

The quarry base speed of 8 blocks per tick can be boosted through Machine Infusion by a factor of up to 20 additional blocks per tick per infusion level. The maximum builder dimension (512 blocks) and offset (260 blocks) can also be adjusted. Shield settings include invisible mode toggle, maximum shield sizes per tier, and all RF costs. The dimension crossing cost factor defaults to 5.0x and applies to all cross-dimension Builder operations.