ProjectE is a Minecraft mod that puts a single value called EMC on almost every item in the game, and then lets you turn that value into anything else you’ve learned. It’s a rework of the old Equivalent Exchange 2 mod, so if you’ve ever turned Cobblestone into Diamonds in an old modpack, this is the mod that does it now.
You start with a 
Philosopher’s Stone and a 
Transmutation Table, then build Energy Collectors and Condensers that make EMC on their own, which is where most of the searching around this mod comes from. From there it opens up into Dark Matter and Red Matter tools that never break, Klein Stars to carry EMC around and a set of rings and amulets that do some very strange things.
Getting Started
You’ll need a trip to the Nether before you can really start, as the first item in the mod needs Glowstone Dust. The steps below take you from a fresh world to a Transmutation Table with your first EMC in it, which is the point where the rest of the mod opens up for you.
Craft the Philosopher's Stone
4 Redstone, 4 Glowstone Dust and a Diamond
The Philosopher’s Stone is made from four 
Redstone and four 
Glowstone Dust around a 
Diamond, in a checkered pattern. It’s the key item for the whole mod, as it’s used in a lot of recipes and it never gets used up, so it stays in the crafting grid every time you craft with it.
Once you have it, pressing C with the Stone in your hand opens a crafting grid wherever you are, which saves you from having to carry a Crafting Table around. Right-clicking blocks with it swaps them into other blocks too, which is covered further down in its own section.
Make a Transmutation Table
Obsidian, Stone and the Philosopher’s Stone
The Transmutation Table is four 
Obsidian in the corners, four 
Stone on the sides and the Philosopher’s Stone in the middle. You get the Stone back after crafting it, like always. The Table is where you’ll turn items into EMC and learn them, so it’s worth putting it somewhere central in your base.
Burn something valuable
Your first EMC and your first learned items
Put an item into the Table and it gets burned for its EMC, and the Table learns it at the same time. A stack of Iron Ingots or a few Diamonds is a much better start than Dirt, as the EMC you get back is what you’ll be spending on everything else, and you’ll want enough to take a few useful blocks straight back out.
Start making EMC on its own
Collectors, Relays and a Condenser
Burning items only gets you so far, so the next goal is an 
Energy Collector MK1, which makes EMC from light. From there you add Anti-Matter Relays and an Energy Condenser, and eventually a Power Flower, which is the build most people are aiming for when they look this mod up.
How EMC Works
EMC is the value ProjectE puts on an item, and everything in the mod is spent or made in it. The mod ships with default values for the basic items, like 1 for Cobblestone or Dirt, and it works out the value of anything craftable from the items that go into it, so a crafted block is worth roughly what you put in.
| Item | EMC |
|---|---|
| Cobblestone, Dirt, Sand | 1 |
| Planks | 8 |
| Logs | 32 |
| Redstone | 64 |
| Obsidian | 64 |
| Coal | 128 |
| Iron Ingot | 256 |
| Glowstone Dust | 384 |
| Ender Pearl | 1,024 |
| Gold Ingot | 2,048 |
| Diamond | 8,192 |
| Netherite Scrap | 12,288 |
| Emerald | 16,384 |
| Nether Star | 139,264 |
The values in the table are the ones you’ll be comparing against most often. A Gold Ingot is worth exactly eight Iron Ingots and a Diamond is worth four Gold, which is why the Philosopher’s Stone recipes that swap between them come out even rather than losing you anything along the way.
Your EMC and everything you’ve learned belong to you, not to the Table you used. Any Transmutation Table or Tablet you open shows the same balance and the same list, so you can build a second Table somewhere else and pick up right where you left off without moving anything across.
The Philosopher’s Stone
The Philosopher’s Stone does two jobs, as it swaps items in a crafting grid and it swaps blocks out in the world. Both are free, and neither one uses up the Stone, so it’s the tool you’ll lean on the most before you have any Energy Collectors running.
Crafting Conversions
Put the Stone in a crafting grid with the right items and it converts them. Eight 
Iron Ingots make a 
Gold Ingot, four Gold make a Diamond, two Diamonds make an 
Emerald, and four Iron make an 
Ender Pearl. Most of these work the other way around too, so you’re able to break an Emerald back down into Diamonds or Gold back into Iron.
It’s also how you make the mod’s fuels. Four 
Coal and the Stone make 
Alchemical Coal, four Alchemical Coal make 
Mobius Fuel, and four Mobius Fuel make 
Aeternalis Fuel. Each one burns for four times as long as the one before it, and Aeternalis Fuel is what you’ll be feeding into Dark Matter later on.
A single Alchemical Coal runs a Furnace for over five minutes, four times as long as Coal, so it’s worth making a few for your Furnaces as well. Energy Collectors can also upgrade Coal into Alchemical Coal on their own, which saves you crafting it by hand once they’re running.
World Transmutation
Right-clicking a block with the Stone turns it into something else. Stone turns into Cobblestone, Dirt and Grass into Sand, Water into Ice and Lava into Obsidian, and logs, planks, wool and the rest cycle through their types and colors. Sneaking while you do it gives the second option, like Grass instead of Cobblestone.
Press V to charge the Stone and it changes a bigger area at once, and G switches between a cube, a flat panel and a line. The Lava to Obsidian swap is the one people use the most, as it turns a whole Lava lake into Obsidian you can mine for the Table and the Relays with a single charged right-click.
The Transmutation Table and Tablet
The Transmutation Table is where you turn items into EMC and back again. Anything you drop into it is burned for its value and learned, and every learned item shows up in the list, so you can take out as many copies as your EMC allows, which is the whole point of the mod.
You can only learn items that have an EMC value, which covers almost everything in vanilla and most items from other mods. The Table also has an unlearn slot, so if your list fills up with junk you’ll never want again, dropping one in there takes it back off.
Transmutation Tablet
The 
Transmutation Tablet is a portable version of the Table, made from four 
Dark Matter Blocks, four Stone and a Transmutation Table. It opens the same EMC and the same list from anywhere, which is handy once your base is far away from where you’re working and you’d rather not walk back.
It’s a later item, as it needs Dark Matter, so don’t worry about it early on. Most players carry one once their Power Flower is running, as it means anything they run out of while building can be pulled straight out of the Tablet on the spot.
Tome of Knowledge
The 
Tome of Knowledge teaches you every item at once when you put it into the Table. It isn’t craftable by default though, as the recipe is turned off in the mod’s common config under craftableTome. With that set to true it needs two 
Klein Star Omega, a 
Book and the three Covalence Dusts.
Energy Collectors, Relays and Condensers
These three blocks are how ProjectE makes EMC on its own, and they’re the most searched part of the mod. Collectors make EMC from light, Anti-Matter Relays store it and pass it on, and Condensers spend it to copy an item, so together they turn your base into a machine that makes Diamonds while you’re away.
Energy Collectors
An Energy Collector MK1 is made from 
Glowstone, 
Glass, a 
Block of Diamond and a 
Furnace. It makes EMC from the light on the block above it, and any light counts, so a Glowstone block or a torch works just as well as the sun, which means Collectors keep running at night and underground.
The MK2 and MK3 are upgrades rather than new builds, as the lower Collector goes in the middle of the recipe with Glowstone around it and Dark Matter or Red Matter on top. That means none of the Diamond Blocks you spent on your first Collectors are wasted when you move up a tier.
| Collector | EMC per Second (full light) | Upgrade |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Collector MK1 | 4 | Starting tier |
| Energy Collector MK2 | 12 | MK1 + Dark Matter + Glowstone |
| Energy Collector MK3 | 40 | MK2 + Red Matter + Glowstone |
The rates in the table are at full light, and a Collector in the dark makes much less. Collectors can also upgrade fuel you put inside them, turning Coal into Alchemical Coal and so on, but for making EMC you’ll want them feeding straight into a Relay or a Condenser next to them.
Anti-Matter Relays
An 
Anti-Matter Relay MK1 is seven Obsidian, a Glass block and a Block of Diamond, and the MK2 and MK3 add Dark Matter and Red Matter the same way the Collectors do. Relays store EMC and push it into whatever is next to them, like a Condenser or a Klein Star in their slot.
The part that matters is the bonus. Every time a Collector sends EMC into a Relay, the Relay adds a little extra of its own, a small amount for MK1 and ten times that for MK3. That bonus is counted per Collector touching the Relay, which is exactly why the Power Flower build is set up the way it is.
Energy Condensers
The 
Energy Condenser is four Obsidian and four Diamonds around an 
Alchemical Chest. Put the item you want copied in its top slot, and it burns everything else inside it for EMC, then makes a copy of your item each time it has enough, and it also takes EMC fed in from Collectors and Relays next to it.
The 
Energy Condenser MK2 is a big step up. It has a separate input and output, it burns a whole stack at once rather than one item at a time, and it makes as many copies as it can afford every tick, so it’s the one to build once you’ve got the Red Matter and Dark Matter Blocks for it.
Building a Power Flower
A Power Flower is the name players use for a Relay with an Energy Collector on every open side. The mod doesn’t call it that, it’s just the best way to arrange the blocks, as each Collector touching the Relay adds its own bonus on top of the EMC it makes, so six Collectors around one Relay is far better than six on their own.
With MK3 blocks, each Collector makes 40 EMC a second in full light and adds another 10 a second of Relay bonus, so a full flower is worth building before you make lots of separate Collectors. Put a light source on top of any Collector that’s covered, since they need light on the block above to run at full speed.
Feeding a Condenser
The usual setup is a Condenser with Relays around it, and Collectors around those Relays, so all of the EMC and all of the bonus pours into the Condenser. Lock a Diamond in the Condenser and it will turn out Diamonds on its own, which you can then burn in the Table for your balance.
A 
Watch of Flowing Time on an activated 
Dark Matter Pedestal next to the setup speeds up the blocks around it, which is the other half of the generator builds you’ll see in videos. The Watch is four Dark Matter, two Glowstone, two Obsidian and a 
Clock, so it’s a good first Dark Matter project.
To start the Pedestal, place the Watch in it with a right-click, then right-click it again with an empty hand. The Pedestal needs Red Matter and Dark Matter Blocks, so it’s a later build, but once it’s running it speeds up Collectors, Condensers and crops within range without any power.
Dark Matter and Red Matter
Dark Matter is eight Aeternalis Fuel around a Block of Diamond, and 
Red Matter is six Aeternalis Fuel with a row of three Dark Matter through the middle. Once you’ve learned both in the Table you can take them out with EMC instead of crafting them, which is what most players do once their generator is running.
Dark Matter goes into most of the mid tier items, like the Watch of Flowing Time and the MK2 Collector and Relay, so you’ll want a steady supply of it. Red Matter is needed for the MK3 blocks, the Red Matter tools and the Energy Condenser MK2, which is why a running Power Flower matters so much.
Dark Matter and Red Matter Tools
Matter tools never lose durability, so they never break and never need repairing. They can’t be enchanted at an Enchanting Table though. The 
Dark Matter Pickaxe is three Dark Matter over two Diamonds, and the 
Dark Matter Sword is two Dark Matter over a Diamond, and both are a big jump over Netherite.
Press V to charge a tool, which makes it mine faster and widens what its right-click does, like digging out an area or pulling a whole ore vein. The Red Matter tools are made by putting a Dark Matter tool together with Red Matter, so a 
Red Matter Pickaxe is three Red Matter over a Dark Matter Pickaxe with Dark Matter under it.
Red Katar and Red Morningstar
The 
Red Katar combines the Red Matter Shears, Axe, Sword and Hoe with five Red Matter into one tool, and the 
Red Morningstar does the same with the Hammer, Pickaxe and Shovel and six Red Matter. They’re the two top tools in the mod, as each one does the work of several tools at once.
The Katar also has an extra ability on C that hits everything around you for 1,000 damage by default, which is why it’s the weapon people ask about. It’s set in the server config, so a server can turn it down if it’s too much for their players to be running around with.
Klein Stars
Klein Stars are batteries for EMC. They charge up in the slot of an Anti-Matter Relay, and tools and items that cost EMC will draw from a Klein Star in your inventory, so a full one means your rings and amulets keep working without you going back to the Table.
| Klein Star | Holds (EMC) |
|---|---|
| Klein Star Ein | 50,000 |
| Klein Star Zwei | 200,000 |
| Klein Star Drei | 800,000 |
| Klein Star Vier | 3,200,000 |
| Klein Star Sphere | 12,800,000 |
| Klein Star Omega | 51,200,000 |
The 
Klein Star Ein is eight Mobius Fuel around a Diamond, and every tier after that is four of the one below it in a crafting grid. You’ll need a Klein Star Omega for each piece of Gem Armor, although it doesn’t have to be full unless the server has turned that option on in the config.
An Omega holds just over fifty million EMC, which keeps a set of Gem Armor and a few rings running for a long time before it needs topping up. Charge your stars in a Relay next to the Power Flower, as that’s where most of your EMC is already flowing.
Armor and Gem Armor
Dark Matter and Red Matter armor work like the tools, as they never lose durability and can’t be enchanted at a table. They block a lot of damage, and a full set of Red Matter is about as good as armor gets before you move on to Gem Armor, which is the endgame set in ProjectE.
Gem Armor
Each Gem Armor piece is a Red Matter piece crafted with a special item and a Klein Star Omega. The 
Gem Chestplate, for example, is the 
Red Matter Chestplate, a 
Volcanite Amulet, a 
Body Stone and a Klein Star Omega. The other pieces follow the same idea with different stones and rings.
The 
Gem Helmet gives Night Vision you toggle with Shift and X, and it slowly heals you. The Gem Chestplate keeps you from burning and keeps you fed, and the 
Gem Boots let you fly and step up blocks, toggled with X. The helmet lightning and chestplate explosion abilities are off by default in the config.
Rings, Amulets and Other Items
ProjectE has a long list of rings, amulets and odd tools, and most of them either cost EMC to use or do something that would normally take a lot of work. These are the ones that come up most, and the ones you’re most likely to find useful early on.
Alchemical Bags
An 
Alchemical Bag is a portable 104-slot inventory, and there are sixteen of them, one for each color. Every bag of the same color opens the same storage, and that storage belongs to you, so two White bags always share one inventory wherever they are, even in a different dimension.
The recipe is three High Covalence Dust, an Alchemical Chest and five Wool in the color you want. 
Low Covalence Dust is cheap, as it’s made from Charcoal and eight Cobblestone and gives you forty at once, while the higher dusts need more valuable items to make.
Evertide and Volcanite Amulets
The 
Evertide Amulet is an infinite Water Bucket and costs nothing to use, and R fires a ball of water. The Volcanite Amulet is an infinite Lava Bucket that costs 32 EMC each time you use it, and R fires lava. Both are made from Dark Matter with Water or Lava Buckets.
Destruction Catalyst and Gem of Eternal Density
The 
Destruction Catalyst digs a big hole in front of you, and charging it with V makes the hole deeper. The 
Gem of Eternal Density condenses the items you pick up into a more valuable one while you carry it, which is handy for turning a mining trip into Diamonds on the way home.
Tips
Put Diamonds or Iron into the Table first, rather than Dirt or Cobblestone. Your first few thousand EMC decide how quickly you can build Collectors, and a stack of Iron gets you there much faster than anything you can dig up easily, as each Iron Ingot is worth 256.
Light your Collectors from above with Glowstone rather than relying on the sun. They run from any light on the block above, so a lit room underground makes the same EMC as a field in daylight, and it keeps going through the night when a sunlit setup would slow right down.
Build your Relays and Collectors as a Power Flower from the start. Each Collector touching a Relay adds its own bonus, so the same blocks make noticeably more EMC arranged around a Relay than spread out on their own, and it’s easy to add a Condenser in the middle later on.
Learn Dark Matter and Red Matter in the Table as soon as you craft them. Once they’re learned you can take them straight out with EMC, which is much quicker than crafting Aeternalis Fuel over and over, and you’ll need a lot of both for the higher tier blocks.
FAQ
It’s an Anti-Matter Relay with an Energy Collector on every open side. Each Collector touching the Relay adds a bonus on top of the EMC it makes, so a full flower makes far more than the same Collectors on their own. With MK3 blocks that’s another 10 EMC a second per Collector.
It isn’t craftable by default. The recipe has to be turned on in the mod’s common config by setting craftableTome to true, and then it needs two Klein Star Omega, a Book and the three Covalence Dusts. Otherwise it’s only available in creative mode.
Put the item you want copied in its top slot, then fill it with other items or feed it EMC from Relays next to it. It burns everything else for EMC and makes a copy every time it has enough. The MK2 burns whole stacks and makes as many copies as it can each tick.
Craft eight Aeternalis Fuel around a Block of Diamond. Aeternalis Fuel comes from four Mobius Fuel and a Philosopher’s Stone, and Mobius Fuel from four Alchemical Coal. Once you’ve learned Dark Matter in the Transmutation Table, you can take more out with EMC instead.
