Alternate Current
Alternate Current is a mod that adds optimizations or location based benefits for Redstone. Specifically an efficient and non-locational Redstone dust implementation, reducing lags, optimizing power calculations, reducing number of shape and blocks updates and more.
This page is a reworking compared to the state of the Alternate Current wiki page from Modding Wiki Project Alternate Current, a page created and maintained by SuntannedDuck2, this page is being reworked for current status by SuntannedDuck2. The infobox has been reworked to a table instead to apply its information and logo/modicon, intro paragraph describes a brief explanation of the mod. Infobox details reworked to fit table. Blockquote below carries over from Modrinth in the description page's current status. Images or other descriptions will be from testing/demonstrations by the wiki editor unless provided by the mod creator on the Modrinth or GitHub sources. In the prior page for MWP had Legacy Fabric mentioned due to the date it was updated last, this has been edited/reworked to reflect Ornithe instead with it's current support for those versions and Legacy Fabric changed to a notice instead.
 |
|---|
| Categories = Utility, Technology, Optimization |
| Author = Space Walker |
| Version = 1.9.0 Ornithe Alpha 1.0.11-1.13.x, 1.9.0/1.9.2 NeoForge 1.20-1.21.11, 1.9.0 Fabric 1.14.x-1.21.x, 1.9.0 Quilt 1.14.x-1.21.x, 1.7.0 Forge 1.18.1-1.20.4, 1.4.0 Legacy Fabric 1.3.x-1.13.x (GitHub) |
| Minecraft Version = Alpha 1.0.11-Alpha 1.2.6, Beta 1.0-1.5_01, Beta 1.6-1.8.1, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2.x, 1.3.x, 1.4.2, 1.4.4-1.4.7, 1.5.x, 1.6.1-1.6.2, 1.6.4, 1.7.x, 1.8.x, 1.9.x, 1.10.x, 1.11.x, 1.12.x, 1.13.x, 1.14.x, 1.15.x, 1.16.x, 1.17.x, 1.18.x, 1.19.x, 1.20.x, 1.21.x |
| Modloader = Ornithe, NeoForge, Fabric, Quilt, Forge |
| Modrinth Source |
| GitHub Source |
Notice: Legacy Fabric builds 1.4 and below were what was used for 1.3-1.13.2 prior. 1.5+ is for Ornithe as current support of Alpha to 1.13.x.
Alternate Current is an efficient and non-locational redstone dust implementation. Its main focus lies in reducing the lag caused by redstone dust, by optimizing the power calculations and reducing the number of shape and block updates emitted. As a side effect of these changes the block update order of redstone dust networks is predictable and intuitive rather than locational and chaotic.
Performance
MSPT contributions of redstone dust are up to 30 times lower with Alternate Current, all the while maintaining a high level of Vanilla parity. Its low number of code modifications make it minimally invasive, so it's an easy drop-in replacement for Vanilla redstone dust.
Check out the GitHub page for a detailed explanation of Alternate Current's improvements.
Why is redstone dust so laggy?
There are two main reasons why redstone dust is laggy: unnecessary updates and unnecessary calculations, both of which are caused by the fact that redstone dust updates recursively. A redstone wire can update its power level over half a dozen times before settling on the final value, doing expensive calculations and emitting copious amounts of shape and block updates each time. On top of that, many shape and block updates are completely redundant.
How does Alternate Current fix that?
Alternate Current fixes these issues by doing power calculations of the entire network before updating the power levels. Each wire will check power from non-wire components just once and power from other wires just twice. Power sources within the network are identified, and the power is spread from there. This makes the calculations more efficient and the update order more intuitive. Shape and block updates are only emitted when the final power level is reached, and each wire emits no redundant updates.