An Encased Fan blowing air through a catalyst block creates a processing zone that transforms items passing through the stream. This is Create’s primary mechanism for bulk item conversion — it’s faster than furnace arrays, fully automatable, and extensible through theDocumentation Index
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FanProcessingType API. The four built-in processing types each use a different catalyst block and a different recipe set, making the fan a versatile workhorse for smelting, washing, smoking, and more esoteric transformations.
How Fan Processing Works
Fan processing requires three things in alignment: a powered fan, a catalyst block in the fan’s airstream, and items to process.Place an Encased Fan
Orient it so its output face points toward the area where items will be processed. The fan must be connected to a rotational power source — any RPM will work, though higher RPM does not speed up processing.
Place the catalyst block
Put the catalyst block immediately in front of the fan’s output, or further along the airstream. The fan pushes an air column up to 20 blocks long (
fanPushDistance). The catalyst can be anywhere within that column.Items enter the airstream
Items that enter the fan’s airstream are suspended and carried through the catalyst zone. They must spend enough time in the zone to be processed — this takes 150 game ticks (7.5 seconds) by default.
The processing time of 150 ticks is configurable via
fanProcessingTime in the server config (under the encasedFan group). Setting it to 0 makes processing instantaneous.Built-in Processing Types
Create ships with four processing types, each identified by the catalyst it checks for. The types are registered inAllFanProcessingTypes and implement the FanProcessingType interface via CreateBuiltInRegistries.FAN_PROCESSING_TYPE.
Splashing (Washing)
Catalyst: Water source block (or any block/fluid matching the
#create:fan_processing_catalysts/splashing tags)Processes items using splashing recipes — Create’s custom recipe type for washing. Common outputs include washed gravel yielding flint or gold nuggets, and ore washing for bonus byproducts.Also extinguishes burning entities and damages Endermen, Snow Golems, and Blazes that pass through the stream.Blasting (Smelting)
Catalyst: Lava source block, Blaze Burner (fading heat or hotter), or any block/fluid matching the
#create:fan_processing_catalysts/blasting tagsApplies smelting and blasting recipes (standard furnace and blast furnace recipes). Items that have no smelting recipe and lack fire resistance are destroyed.Ignites non-fire-immune entities passing through the stream (10 seconds, 4 damage).Smoking
Catalyst: Fire, lit campfire, smouldering Blaze Burner, or any block/fluid matching the
#create:fan_processing_catalysts/smoking tagsApplies smoking recipes (smoker recipes). Useful for cooking foods in bulk. A campfire must be lit — an unlit campfire does not activate this processing type.Ignites non-fire-immune entities passing through the stream (2 seconds, 2 damage).Haunting
Catalyst: Soul fire, soul campfire (lit), soul-flame Blaze Burner, or any block/fluid matching the
#create:fan_processing_catalysts/haunting tagsApplies haunting recipes — Create’s unique recipe type for soul-fire transformations. Notable uses include converting torches to soul torches, and haunting a regular Horse into a Skeleton Horse.Inflicts Blindness and Slowness on living entities passing through the stream.Automation Setup
Feed items into the airstream
Use a Funnel aimed into the side of the airstream or a Belt running through the stream’s entry point to feed items automatically from a chest, vault, or other storage.
Position the catalyst
Place the catalyst block within the fan’s push range (up to 20 blocks). Items will be suspended and processed as they pass through.
Catch processed items
Place a Belt or Depot at the far end of the airstream to catch the output items as they fall out of the stream.
Processing Time
The default processing time is 150 game ticks (7.5 seconds). This value applies uniformly to all four built-in processing types and to any custom types registered via the API. Fan speed (RPM) does not affect how quickly an individual item is processed — it only changes the velocity of items in the airstream, and therefore how many items can be in the stream simultaneously at high throughput. For raw processing speed, adjustfanProcessingTime in the server config.
Fan Push and Pull Distances
| Parameter | Default | Config key |
|---|---|---|
| Push distance (forward air column) | 20 blocks | fanPushDistance |
| Pull distance (reverse suction) | 20 blocks | fanPullDistance |
The
FanProcessingType API allows addons and datapacks to register entirely new processing catalysts with custom recipe lookups, particle effects, air-flow colouring, and entity interaction logic. See Fan Processing Types for the full addon developer reference.