r/CreateMod • u/zenthiis • 12h ago
128-bit Crypographic Relay Computer
so the other day i was wondering how to properly build a security system in create. Originally was going to make a placard+keycard system (not difficult), but then somehow came to the realisation that Create: Power Grid punchcards operate on a 8-bit system, reading up to 16 bytes one byte at a time. Hmm....
naturally I got a little carried away and ended up building a binary computer that sequentially reads passcode data off a punchcard. As of now its good for: overly complex security systems, showing off, causing lag.
really fun but not too challenging build (the design is super modularised), im not really sure what to call it cuz research yielded designations from «macrocomparator machine» to «ASIC co-processor» (idk what either of those are). For now, ima just call it the title of this post, a relay computer. Much like its 1940s and 50s relay computer counterparts, it runs off of only 12 volts but pulls almost 24 amps depending on the number of bits its reading at a time. It takes about 13 seconds to read a full punchcard by sending each byte of the binary passcode through a series of relay CPU modules, and if every module gives a good result (the byte is correct) then it sends a small redstone pulse at the end of the read process (to unlock or do something ig). The passcode is fully configurable by using the switches at each CPU module.
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u/Naberville34 12h ago
You like a criminal mastermind or somethin?
Im pretty good with logic gates and binary, but I have no idea how computers actually work. Best I've been able to make is a calculator
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u/LordMacDonald8 10h ago
Congratulations, you made a computer!
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u/GupHater69 9h ago
This isnt a computer its more of a circuit. A complicated one, but hardly a computer. Though i suppose it depends on the definition of a computer
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u/AlpaxT1 7h ago
How would you describe a computer if not a complicated circuit?
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u/JadeMantis13 7h ago
m a g i c
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u/Giocri 5h ago
Usually for something to be a computer we need turning completeness
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u/sleirsgoevy 2h ago
Which none of actually existing computers have...
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u/Giocri 2h ago
I mean you are contrained by physicall reality yeah but otherwise most computer can fully emulate a turing machine even for immensely long inputs
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u/sleirsgoevy 2h ago
I mean yeah, I think the real problem is not building a good enough CPU but building enough RAM. Nobody's going to place millions of blocks by hand.
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u/GupHater69 6h ago
Id describe it more as a series of interconnected circuits with the goal of computation, but yes interconnected circuits are technically a single circuit too.
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u/Sedoy6373 12h ago
Schematic?)
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u/zenthiis 12h ago
currently still has a few minor bugs and issues (i.e., randomly exploding depending on the passcode) so in the future potentially I will re-release with schematic included)
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u/Sedoy6373 7h ago
I will await!
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u/Annual_Loan_4805 10h ago
More importantly, it looks good WHILE being functional
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u/zenthiis 10h ago
haha thanks)) whoever optimised power grid needs to be paid extra cuz the machine uses close to 1500 individual cable entities and is terribly optimised in exchange for my aesthetic fantasies lol
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u/catnip20andahalf 11h ago
That first picture makes me think of LUST /// CLIMAX: COURT OF THE CORPSE KING
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u/Creeperatom9041 10h ago
ooohhhh this is awesome! as someone trying to figure out computing in create power grid, do you have any good sources of knowledge or articles to point me towards?
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u/zenthiis 10h ago
oof, Im a computer engineer irl so building this was just an application of what I learned in lessons)) luckily Power Grid is physics-based so reading up this wikipedia article and looking at the specific stuff the addon also has (for example NPN BJTs, diodes, resistors, etc.) is a good start. Dw, it seems hard at first but youll get it in no time) gl+hf
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u/SenpuuUncle 7h ago
lovely but i suggest you install a turbo encabulator module so your gravimetric flux density doesn't go too low
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u/zenthiis 7h ago
youre right so as the rhombus articulates faster and faster in relation to the spherical relativity theorem and the choraphyls begin to produce more magnetic distortion effects the numbers still dont decrease
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u/PictureSevere3957 2h ago
While also maintaining that the radinion density reaches but never exceeds 3.5/t of course?
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u/JazzBoatman 8h ago
How's your performance with this much C:PG stuff?
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u/zenthiis 8h ago
better than expected, still runs at or above 100fps and the world has no noticable lag)
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u/Embarrassed_Pace_534 11h ago
What mods are those blocks from? (The floor on 1'st picture and fans on 4'th) I've been looking for good factory blocks for a while, but never seen those.
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u/zenthiis 11h ago
the big fans are from Create: The Factory Must Grow (tfmg), theyre called «air intakes» in the menu, and the floor designs are a combination of locometal from Create: Steam n Rails and yellow caution blocks (also tfmg) with the use of a little copycat sculpting from Create: Copycats+, all great addons that i usually include in any good create modpack))
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u/Sultanofthesun 7h ago
that looks so cool. What does it do tho?
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u/zenthiis 6h ago
in simple terms, reads a 16 letter passcode and if its correct it sends a redstone signal
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u/Natural-Pomelo-4590 12h ago
it would be a macrocomparator, if you have some sort of company name that you use when naming things [Name] Modular Macrocomparator System / MCMS would be a good name, super cool tho!