Overview#
Iron Furnaces is a mod inspired by the classic Iron Chests mod, designed to provide a logical progression for smelting technology in Minecraft. It replaces the standard vanilla furnace with a variety of tiered versions—ranging from Copper and Iron to Netherite and the legendary Rainbow Furnace. Each tier offers significant improvements in smelting speed and fuel efficiency. Beyond simple speed increases, the mod introduces a sophisticated 'Augment' and 'Upgrade' system, allowing players to transform their furnaces into specialized machines like Smokers, Blast Furnaces, or automated smelting factories that can run on Forge Energy (FE) instead of traditional solid fuels.
Furnace Tiers#
The core of the mod consists of several tiers of furnaces. Each tier increases the speed of the smelting process (measured in ticks per item) and often improves fuel efficiency.
Standard Progression Tiers
| Furnace Tier | Smelting Speed | Fuel Efficiency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper Furnace | 160 Ticks | 100% | The entry-level upgrade from stone. |
| Iron Furnace | 128 Ticks | 100% | A reliable mid-early game furnace. |
| Silver Furnace | 114 Ticks | 100% | Slightly faster than iron; depends on silver availability. |
| Gold Furnace | 100 Ticks | 100% | Twice as fast as a vanilla furnace. |
| Diamond Furnace | 50 Ticks | 100% | High-speed smelting for late-game resources. |
| Emerald Furnace | 25 Ticks | 100% | Extremely fast processing. |
| Obsidian Furnace | 100 Ticks | 100% | Blast-resistant; same speed as Gold. |
| Crystal Furnace | 100 Ticks | 100% | Transparent block; allows viewing of items inside. |
| Netherite Furnace | 10 Ticks | 200% | The pinnacle of standard smelting; highly fuel-efficient. |
The Rainbow Furnace
The Rainbow Furnace is the ultimate machine in the mod. It requires one of every other furnace tier to craft. It smelts items almost instantly (1 tick per item) and features a cycling rainbow color animation on its texture.
Items and Upgrades#
Iron Furnaces provides two ways to improve your setup: crafting a new furnace block or using Upgrade Items to transform an existing furnace in the world without breaking it.
Upgrade Items
By right-clicking a furnace with these items, you can instantly upgrade it to the next tier while preserving the items and fuel inside.
- Stone to Iron Upgrade: Upgrades a Vanilla Furnace to Iron.
- Iron to Gold Upgrade: Upgrades an Iron Furnace to Gold.
- Gold to Diamond Upgrade: Upgrades a Gold Furnace to Diamond.
- Diamond to Emerald Upgrade: Upgrades a Diamond Furnace to Emerald.
- Emerald to Netherite Upgrade: Upgrades an Emerald Furnace to Netherite.
- Copper/Silver Variants: Specific items exist for branching paths (e.g., Stone to Copper).
Augments
Augments are specialized items placed into the furnace's augment slots (accessible via the GUI) to change its behavior.
| Augment | Effect |
|---|---|
| Speed Augment | Decreases smelting time further at the cost of higher fuel consumption. |
| Fuel Efficiency Augment | Makes fuel last longer but may slightly slow down smelting. |
| Ore Processing Augment | Provides a chance to double or triple the output of ores. |
| Smoking Augment | Converts the furnace into a Smoker (fast food cooking). |
| Blasting Augment | Converts the furnace into a Blast Furnace (fast ore smelting). |
| Factory Augment | Adds internal auto-input and auto-output capabilities. |
| Wireless Heat Transmitter | Allows the furnace to pull fuel/heat from a remote source. |
Mechanics and Automation#
The mod introduces several advanced mechanics to help integrate furnaces into automated bases.
The Factory System
When a Factory Augment is applied, the furnace GUI expands. This allows the furnace to automatically pull items from adjacent chests and push finished products into output containers. This eliminates the need for complex hopper or pipe setups for basic automation.
Energy Integration (FE)
By using the Wireless Heat Receiver augment, furnaces can stop consuming coal or lava and instead consume Forge Energy (FE). This allows the furnaces to be powered by external power generators from other mods (like Mekanism, Thermal Series, or Powah).
Configuration Tool
The Furnace Configurator is a specialized tool used to change the input/output sides of a furnace. By shift-right-clicking the furnace with this tool, players can visually see which side is set to 'Input', 'Output', or 'Fuel' and cycle through them.
Copy-Paste Settings
Settings from one furnace (including augments and side configurations) can be copied to another using the Copy-Paste Tool, making the setup of large furnace arrays significantly faster.
Recipes#
Recipes in Iron Furnaces generally follow a 'surround' pattern. To craft a higher-tier furnace, you typically surround the previous tier furnace with the material of the next tier.
- Iron Furnace: 8 Iron Ingots surrounding a Vanilla Furnace.
- Gold Furnace: 8 Gold Ingots surrounding an Iron Furnace.
- Diamond Furnace: 8 Diamonds surrounding a Gold Furnace.
- Obsidian Furnace: 8 Obsidian blocks surrounding a Diamond or Gold Furnace.
- Crystal Furnace: 8 Glass blocks surrounding a Gold Furnace.
- Netherite Furnace: A Netherite Ingot combined with an Emerald Furnace in a Smithing Table (or 8 Netherite Scraps in older versions).
Note: If the Copper or Silver tiers are enabled, they act as intermediate steps between Stone and Iron.
Configuration#
The mod is highly configurable via the ironfurnaces-server.toml file. Server administrators can adjust the following:
- Smelt Speed: The base tick rate for every furnace tier can be manually adjusted.
- Fuel Usage: The multiplier for how much fuel is consumed per item.
- Energy Costs: If using FE, the amount of energy required per tick can be balanced.
- Augment Toggles: Specific augments (like Ore Processing) can be disabled if they are considered too powerful for a specific modpack.
- Rainbow Furnace Requirements: The list of furnaces required to craft the Rainbow Furnace can be modified.
