A bit of help finding ore

[N757QQ 1]

Hey all,

I am a newbie to TFC. I am loving it so far, and the details are great. I am looking for some help with the prospectors pick. I found enough surface rock turned ore to make a pick & prospectors pick in a very small area. I am now digging down in that area, and started prospecting, and I narrowed it down to a 4 block area where I got a reading other than 'nothing of interest.' The issue I am having is that when I click the top and bottom of 4 blocks vertically in my mineshaft, I get nothing of interest. When I click the middle two, I get 'large deposit of cassiterite.'

So, where do I go,I have dug 13 blocks on in the direction of the two blocks I received the 'hit' on and did not find anything. I have watched videos as well as searched the forum & read a few posts, but I am getting immediate results, instead of gradual results as I have seen demonstrated in video.

Thanks for any help,

N

[Holy_Shield 17]

mark the floor in 4 directions with torches where you get the largest hits, then its either up or down from you in the center of the 4 torches.

[N757QQ 1]

Thanks,

I'll give that a try. Unfortunately, went through my pick trying to find it, so I need to get a few more pieces of Bismuthinite, then I'lltry again.

Thanks,

N

[aliceingame 114]

Check this post, it might help you to use the prospector's pick

[halfmaster1 77]

Picks occasionally give a false negative, just because it says nothing of interest, doesn't mean there isn't something.

[Zerren 75]

Some important things to know about the ProPick:

•It gives false negatives A LOT; upwards of 50% of the time. Pick around in a 2x2, it won't really skew your results too much.

•The pick is best used when used to locate where ore is not

•Triangulate where ore is not, (I do the Y first, then the X/Z)

•Dig down and propick on the walls until the reading changes (ie, goes from very large to large), and find the block transition that changes. Once you've found the boundary count up or down 10-15 blocks and start on the X/Z on that Y axis. Do this again for the X/Z and you'll eventually, for sure, run into ore. (it's easy on the propick's durability too)

[halfmaster1 77]

Some important things to know about the ProPick:

•It gives false negatives A LOT; upwards of 50% of the time. Pick around in a 2x2, it won't really skew your results too much.

•The pick is best used when used to locate where ore is not

•Triangulate where ore is not, (I do the Y first, then the X/Z)

•Dig down and propick on the walls until the reading changes (ie, goes from very large to large), and find the block transition that changes. Once you've found the boundary count up or down 10-15 blocks and start on the X/Z on that Y axis. Do this again for the X/Z and you'll eventually, for sure, run into ore. (it's easy on the propick's durability too)

I like to do Y last, as the propick has a lower vertical range than horizontal range. Once you find the XZ, then you just dig 6 blocks up and down, and you almost always see it.

[Zerren 75]

That works just as well. I prefer to do the Y first, as if I find the X/Z and then the Y, the risk of cave-ins will be higher as you might have to dig upwards.

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

The thing you have to remember about the prospector's pick is that it works by scanning a 25x25x25 cube. When you click on a block, it looks through every block 12 blocks in the x,y, and z axes. It counts each ore block it finds and returns a reading from "trace" to "very large". This means that if you find two adjacent blocks with two different non-"nothing of interest" readings, you can deduce that one of the blocks has more ore in it's scanning range than the other, and that the ore it found was 12 blocks in what ever direction the larger sample is. If that's not clear enough, let me use an example: Say I scan a block at coordinate 50,110,-50 and I get a reading of "large sample" and at 49,110,-50 I get a reading of "very large sample". I know that the scan of the second block was able to scan blocks at the x-coordinate 37, which must be where it found the larger sample. I dig to 37,110,-50. Once there, all my samples are "very large" readings. I dig in the z direction until the reading changes. Let's say that at 37,110,-45 I start getting "large sample" readings. I now know that there must be something in the 58 z coordinate, because I'm getting a smaller sample after not being able to read it. Now I dig to 37, 110, 58. Finally, I find that at 37, 114, 58 I get a "large reading" and have pinpointed at least ONE ore block to be at 37,102,58, or there-abouts. Since ores spawn in chunks, this is all you need to locate the ore body.

I hope this helps with your excavations, and that you keep enjoying the mod

[N757QQ 1]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Thank you Dunkleosteus for the work you do on this mod. I am having as much fun as I have ever had playing Minecraft. I have become significantly more comfortable locating ore now with the prospector's pick. Thank you all again for your replies, and the time helping me out. I am using pretty much exactly what has been described here by several people, I locate it vertically, then I head in the 4 directions from a narrowed down vertical shaft, and fine tune until I am on top of it.

I got lucky (I assume?) and have three 'very large' ore spawns right at my own world spawn. I initially practiced with the Bismuthinite, and located it after two picks of digging. I then found Copper within a few blocks by simply being more thorough about my search. I think, honestly, my issue was being so worried about burning through the pick I worked so hard, relatively, to create. Now that I have enough resources to make a large number of tools, I am becoming more comfortable locating everything.

I did struggle a bit with the Casseterite that was 10 blocks from the Bismuthinite, because I would get a Bismuth reading on one block, then a Cass reading on the next due to having not completely mined out the Bismuthinite.

Anyway, I am only struggling now with creating enough charcoal for my smelting needs, but I am slowly filling a 10x10x3 pit and doing smaller maintenance pits to get by until I have all of the wood for the big one.

Thanks again everyone,

N

[minecraftaddict 1]

I've followed this to the exact letter, watched multiple youtube videos, even spawned in a whole bunch of picks in a new world to practice, no luck in finding anything, this is how i am doing it.

1.) find an area which is rich in surface ores.

2.) dig down until I reach stone, dig down a further 4-5 layers.

3.) survey until i find 'Very large deposit' (doesn't take long).

4.) Mark my starting position with a torch, mine out 12 blocks in one direction, check where the ore ends (or else continue onwards until it does change size)

5.) Head back to the starting position, make a branch, mine out 12 blocks again in one direction, check where the ore ends (or else continue onwards until it does change size)

6.) Make another branch to the right (so its nearly con-enciding to make a U shape) for another 12 blocks.

7.) deduct the centre of this box, and dig down =

Result = Nothing.

My method: Checking every 12 blocks to see when the deposit size changed, and then went in an opposite direction basicly until I end up with a U shape, that pretty much gives me a box to work within, as far as I know, everyone does this correct?

So I mine down the middle of this hypothetical box, and down the middle again, no ores.

I mine down a couple more layers, map out the same box as above, and mine out the middle, no ores.

I continue this down until the ore deposts change.

Am I doing something very wrong? There's supposed to be a huge deposit but i can never find it (went through 5 zinc pickaxes and 2x prospectors picks).

I really love everything this mod has, much more than other mods, but this prospecting thing has got me absolutely, positively, stumped to the point where i'm wasting hours on it. Somthing I'm doing is horrible

Edit: OMG i'm so fail, i was actually stopping at the 12 block marker point, i've tried again out of desperation to solve this puzzle, I was doing it wrong by stopping at the 12 block marker point and making another branch, when I should have continued onwards til the ore deposit changed, giving me a more accurate box, and a more accurate centre, which when I dug down in a 2x2 pattern, I struck a goldmine of ore!

Rewards: 12 stacks of 8 ores.