Extra CPUs: Bigger Crafting Storage for Applied Energistics 2
If you have spent late nights watching your ME system choke on huge autocrafting jobs, you already know the pain: crafting CPUs are amazing, but storage space inside them fills up fast. Extra CPUs is an addon mod for Applied Energistics 2 that expands what your crafting multiblock can hold by adding additional Crafting Storages with higher capacity. In plain Minecraft terms, you get more room for patterns, ingredients, and intermediate results without building a small city of separate CPUs.
Why capacity matters in AE2 crafting
Applied Energistics 2 is built around smart storage, channels, and automation, but crafting still has practical limits. The base mod only offers Crafting Storage up to a maximum of 64k, which is fine for early and mid game recipes. Once you start chaining complex crafts, bulk smelting, or modpack-scale processing, that ceiling shows up quickly. Extra CPUs steps in by giving you larger Crafting Storage blocks so you can pack more crafting power into the same footprint. Fewer duplicate multiblocks means cleaner bases, simpler routing, and less time babysitting stalled crafts.
What the mod actually adds
Think of Extra CPUs as a focused quality-of-life upgrade for people who already live inside an ME network. The new blocks slot into the familiar crafting CPU multiblock pattern you already use: Crafting Co-Processing Units, Crafting Monitors, and Crafting Storages working together to run molecular assemblers and interfaces. The main selling point is straightforward: you replace or supplement standard Crafting Storages with higher-capacity versions from this addon, so your system stops running out of internal buffer during big jobs.
Because this is an addon, you should always match versions carefully. Modded Minecraft updates move fast, and AE2 tweaks can ripple through addons. When you are assembling a mod list for a server or a single-player world, double-check that Extra CPUs matches your Applied Energistics 2 build and your Minecraft version so you avoid crashes, missing recipes, or broken multiblocks.
Recipes, dependencies, and fork choices
Crafting recipes for Extra CPUs depend on Extra Cells 2 Storage Components, so plan your progression with that in mind. You are not just grabbing one standalone block; you are threading another mod’s components into your AE2 tech tree. Since version 1.2.0, the project also supports two forks of Extra Cells, which is helpful when packs ship slightly different variants. The critical rule is simple: pick only one Extra Cells fork and stick with it. Mixing forks is a recipe for duplicate items, broken recipes, or world instability, and nobody wants to rebuild an ME room because of a silent conflict.
When you are curating mods for a fresh instance, juggling dependencies gets old fast. If you want a smoother setup path, this mod can be easily installed via the foxygame.net launcher — a convenient, flexible, and modern Minecraft launcher where you can download mods right from the menu. That kind of workflow keeps your AE2 stack coherent instead of hunting files across folders every time you tweak the pack.
The one multiblock rule you cannot skip
Extra CPUs is generous with capacity, but there is a small limitation baked into how AE2 validates crafting CPUs. You must include at least one real Crafting Storage block from Applied Energistics 2 inside the multiblock. Without that vanilla-AE2 piece, the ME system may not recognize the structure as a valid Crafting CPU at all, no matter how many addon storages you surround it with. Treat that single AE2 Crafting Storage as the anchor block: build around it, upgrade the rest with Extra CPUs, and your network will behave as expected.
- Place one genuine AE2 Crafting Storage in the multiblock before relying on addon storages.
- Keep the CPU shape valid: follow AE2 rules for size, adjacency, and required components.
- After changes, watch crafting jobs for stalls, which often mean a broken or incomplete CPU.
Tips for servers, biomes, and long-term worlds
On multiplayer servers, lag-friendly bases favor compact automation. Bigger Crafting Storages reduce the temptation to spam extra CPUs across chunks, which helps both performance and chunk loading around your main base. In sprawling worlds where you hop between biomes for resources, a reliable crafting core at home matters even more: you want crafts to finish while you are out mining, farming, or exploring modded dimensions.
If something looks wrong after an update, read the in-depth explanation on the GitHub readme for Extra CPUs. Maintainer notes there usually cover edge cases, version quirks, and the reasoning behind design limits. The project is a port of Extra Crafting Storage by Zokonius; after the first release, he joined development again, and the GPL 3 license allowed the work to continue when the original mod was discontinued. Knowing that lineage helps you trust patch notes and community guidance when AE2 itself shifts between updates.
Conclusion
Extra CPUs is a practical addon for players who already swear by Applied Energistics 2 and want crafting CPUs that scale past the 64k ceiling. It saves space, simplifies huge autocrafting chains, and stays close to AE2’s core mechanics, as long as you respect the Extra Cells dependency, avoid mixing forks, and keep that mandatory AE2 Crafting Storage in the multiblock. Wire it into your next modded playthrough with matching versions, and your ME system should feel roomier without turning your base into a maze of duplicate crafting towers.