Network Tool Plus
If you have spent any amount of time building out an ME network in Applied Energistics 2, you know the pain of juggling upgrade cards. Acceleration cards, capacity cards, crafting cards — they pile up in your inventory while you shuffle them between machines and tools. Network Tool Plus is a NeoForge add-on that fixes this quality-of-life headache in a big way, and once you try it, going back to the vanilla Network Tool feels almost unthinkable.
What Network Tool Plus Does for Minecraft
At its core, Network Tool Plus enhances AE2's Network Tool with three major improvements: automatic upgrade card collection, a dramatically expanded inventory, and smarter toolbox behavior inside machine GUIs. The mod is designed for players who run large networks and want their tools to keep up with the pace of automation rather than slowing it down.
Collector Mode: Hands-Free Card Management
The headline feature is Collector Mode. Hold your Network Tool and press sneak plus right-click to toggle it on. When active, the tool gains an enchantment glint, giving you a clear visual cue that it is working. From that point on, any AE2 upgrade cards sitting in your inventory are automatically pulled into the tool. It does not matter whether the tool is resting in your inventory or slotted into a Curios slot — the mod scans every 10 ticks and moves matching cards where they belong. That means less time digging through chests and more time expanding your network.
21 Upgrade Slots Instead of 9
Vanilla Network Tools cap out at 9 upgrade slots. Network Tool Plus expands that to 21 slots arranged in a clean 7x3 grid, complete with custom GUI textures that match AE2's visual style. If you like running stacked acceleration and capacity cards simultaneously, this alone justifies the install. The expanded layout keeps everything visible and organized instead of forcing you to choose between upgrades.
Toolbox Smart-Fill
The toolbox panel gets a serious intelligence boost as well. When you shift-click upgrade cards from the toolbox inside a machine GUI, the mod routes them directly into the tool's upgrade slots. Incompatible cards simply stay where they are, so you never accidentally jam the wrong upgrade into a slot. Terminal GUIs retain their original behavior, meaning nothing about your existing workflow breaks — the improvements only kick in where they help.
Supported Versions and Loaders
Network Tool Plus is built specifically for NeoForge, which makes it a natural fit for modern Minecraft modpacks running recent versions of the game. If your pack already uses AE2 alongside NeoForge, compatibility is generally smooth, and the mod slots in without requiring configuration. Always double-check the mod page for the exact Minecraft version your pack targets before adding it to an existing world.
How to Install Network Tool Plus
Getting started is straightforward, even if you are new to modding.
- Install NeoForge for your target Minecraft version.
- Place the Network Tool Plus jar file into your mods folder.
- Make sure Applied Energistics 2 is also installed, since this add-on depends on it.
- Launch the game and confirm the mod loads in the mods list.
If you would rather skip manual file management, the foxygame.net launcher handles the entire process in a single click, and its built-in catalog keeps Network Tool Plus updated automatically whenever a new build drops. That approach is especially handy for players who run several modpacks at once and do not want to babysit version compatibility by hand.
Why It Belongs in Your Pack
The beauty of Network Tool Plus is how invisible it becomes once installed. You toggle Collector Mode once, and from then on your upgrade cards sort themselves. Your toolbox fills slots intelligently. Your Network Tool holds more upgrades than you realistically need, which means fewer trips back to base and fewer interruptions during big builds. For anyone who has ever lost an acceleration card in a chest maze, this mod is a quiet but genuine upgrade to the entire AE2 experience.
Whether you are running a small personal network or a sprawling server-wide ME system, Network Tool Plus removes friction without changing the core gameplay you already enjoy. Download Network Tool Plus, drop it into your NeoForge setup, and let your Network Tool finally work as hard as you do.