Programmable Block Data Cartridges

PROGRAMMABLE BLOCK DATA CARTRIDGES (PBDC)

Physical media for your Space Engineers scripts.

Save, carry, copy and load Programmable Block scripts using ordinary Data Pads. PBDC adds cartridge inventories and controls to vanilla Programmable Blocks, including their reskinned variants. No new block or special component is needed. PBDC works as a standalone mod.

FEATURES -------- - Save and load PB programs on reusable cartridges. - Automatically load and run a script when its cartridge is inserted. - Name cartridges and add notes through the normal Data Pad fields. - Insert stacks: PBDC separates them into individual pads inside the PB. - Store up to 10 pads in large-grid PBs or 2 in small-grid PBs. - Keep world-local libraries with active and archived databases. - Mount, read, write, format and wipe through the PB terminal.

GETTING STARTED --------------- Insert a Data Pad into the PB, select it in Data Cartridges, and press Mount. Press Format and confirm to initialize a blank pad. It is now ready to store a program. Disk Status shows prompts, progress and the result of each operation.

WRITE: Save the current PB editor contents to the mounted cartridge. Confirm before replacing existing cartridge contents.

READ: Load the mounted cartridge into the PB editor. Confirm before replacing the current program. Save any program you want to keep first.

MOUNT: Mount the selected pad, or dismount the mounted pad.

FORMAT: Initialize an unformatted pad or erase an active cartridge's stored text while keeping its identity. Formatting a readable archived cartridge moves its contents to a new active cartridge identity; after verification, the old archived record is retired. Other pads sharing that old identity lose access.

WIPE: Return a pad to a blank, unformatted state. This clears its name, notes, identity and database record, even in an archive. Three clicks are required: request, confirm, then the irreversible final confirmation. Each confirmation expires after 20 seconds. There is no undo; all pads sharing that identity lose the stored text. External world backups are unaffected.

COPYING A PROGRAM ----------------- Read the source into a PB, dismount it, mount a different initialized pad, then Write. This creates an independent copy. Duplicating a physical pad with creative tools can instead create two pads pointing to the same stored record.

AUTOMATIC BOOT -------------- In normal script use, inserting a valid, nonempty script cartridge into an empty PB inventory loads, compiles and runs its program. It triggers on insertion, not continuously while the cartridge remains inserted.

NAMES, NOTES AND LIST MARKERS ---------------------------- Use the Data Pad's normal Name and Data fields for labels and notes. Ordinary Read, Write and Format preserve these fields; Wipe clears them.

Mounted pads show two flags: contents first, database second.

Contents: ~ unformatted, - empty/whitespace-only, + has text, ! over 100,000 characters, ? unreadable. Database: C current, A archived, ? unavailable. An unformatted pad has no database flag. Unmounted pads have a blank prefix.

Examples: +C Mounted pad with data in the current database -A Mounted empty pad in an archived database +A Mounted pad with data in an archived database !A Mounted oversized pad in an archived database ~ Mounted unformatted pad

The PB editor and terminal Read/Write support up to 100,000 characters. Larger cartridges may be used by other mods, but these manual transfers fail with a Disk Status error instead of truncating or replacing the data.

CARTRIDGE STORAGE ----------------- The actual program is stored in your world's PBDC database. The physical pad holds its identity, name and notes. Carrying a pad to another world or server does not carry its stored program with it.

At most one database is active. Archived databases can be read but are protected from ordinary writes. Keep world backups to protect your library.

PBDC separates stacks without assigning blank pads a cartridge identity. Format pads individually after separation. Existing pads sharing an identity still share one record; splitting does not make independent copies. Pads may merge into ordinary cargo stacks outside the PB and are separated again on return.

ADMIN COMMANDS -------------- Space Master, Admin or Owner permissions are required. Enter commands in chat; commands are case-insensitive.

/PBDC or /PBDC ? Show help /PBDC current Show the active database /PBDC list List databases /PBDC new Create a database /PBDC activate ID Activate a database /PBDC delete ID Delete a database /PBDC ttl Show active database retention /PBDC ttl DAYS Set retention; 0 disables expiration /PBDC log Show logging settings /PBDC log MB Set 1-100 MB per file; 0 disables logging /PBDC confirm Confirm a pending administrative operation /PBDC cancel Cancel a pending administrative operation

New databases default to 90 days of retention, counted only while the database is active in a running world, not by calendar days while you are away. Unseen records can expire; archived databases are exempt. Set retention to 0 to disable expiration. Deleting a database makes its records unavailable.

Logging defaults to four rotating 1 MB files. It records operations and errors, not full cartridge contents. Settings survive reloads. Disabling logging keeps existing files. Logs are in the game's mod-local Storage folder, PBDC-0.log through PBDC-3.log.

FOR MODDERS ----------- PBDC provides an API so other mods can use its cartridge-storage framework. See Developer/PBDC_API_V1.txt in the installed mod files for the full API guide, consumer helper and example locations.