Engine Setup (Prefab)

This guide will show you the basics of setting up a Prefab/Preset Engine. These engines come in 3 variants: Small, Medium, and Large. Further details on each individual prefab engine can be found here.

For the purposes of this guide we will be utilising the Small Engine, however the exact same steps can be used on all variants, with any information worth noting mentioned at relevant steps.

You can use this guide as a checklist to troubleshoot your own Prefab Engine setups.

Some Groundwork

Prefab engines in Stormworks require four things: Fuel, Air, Coolant, and Exhaust. Electricity is also commonly used to start engines (see note for additional information).

Within this guide we will be utilising 2 fluid ports; the Fluid Exhaust, and Fluid Port End, these are however not the only things you can use. Please see here for more details on various fluid ports.

As mentioned prior; this guide will be utilising the Small Prefab engine, but the same principles can be applied to the other variants, exceptions will be noted at each individual step.

Step 1: Assembling our Components

There are a few components needed for this guide:

Small Engine	Fluid Exhaust
Fluid Port End	Various Pipes
Fluid Relief Valve	Fluid Tank (Small, Medium or Large)
Fluid Heat Radiator	Clutch
Small Propellor	Throttle Lever
Dial(a)	Push Button
Battery (Small, Medium or Large)

(a) - The dial is not absolutely necessary, but will be useful for trouble shooting any potential problems and will aid in demonstrating what is going on.

Step 2: Supplying Air

A simple Fluid port end connected directly to the Air intake on a Prefab engine to supply air.

Step 2 Details COLLAPSE!

For this step we use the Fluid Port End on the Air intake for the engine. You will know which port is which by hovering your mouse over each port, this will show you what each fluid port on the engine corresponds to.

Important Note: If your engine is within an enclosed space, you will need to ensure the Air intake is positioned in open air with piping leading to your engine. Doing otherwise will result in choking your engine.

Air intake is denoted with the colour Green.

Mouse hovering over the "Air" port on the Small Engine

Step 3: Supplying Fuel

Adding in a Fuel tank, and a Liquid Relief Valve. This will supply Fuel to our engine.

Step 3 Details COLLAPSE!

When supplying fuel to an engine we need a source of fuel. In this example, we will use a Small Fluid Tank, though this can come from any kind of fluid tank you need.

To ensure that our engine does not clog up with air, we are using a Liquid Relief Valve, this is the pipe block with a grey band around it. This block acts as a filter to prevent gasses from heading into the engine, and as it is drawing from our Fluid tank set to Diesel it will only be pulling diesel into our engine.

Both Prefab and Modular engines in Stormworks require Diesel to operate. The fluid tank blocks will default to Diesel when placed, but if in doubt you can use the select tool to configure the name, the fluid type, and the fluid level of the tank.

Fuel is denoted by the colour Orange.

Additional Note - Fuel Flow Rate COLLAPSE!

The above setup is more than adequate for the purposes of our demonstration, as we will not require more than 5 litres/second of fuel. However, should you need to pull more than 5 litres/second of fuel you will need to use a Liquid Gas Separator. This is a small contraption used to ensure that only liquid is pumped into your desired location without moving the air from your tank.

In this image, we will be using Fluid Ports, a Fluid Pump, a Liquid Relief Valve(Grey banded pipe), and a Gas Relief Valve(White banded pipe). Orange here represents the mix of Gas and liquid in a system, blue represents Liquid output, and Green represents the gas direction within a system.

With this gadget, we filter out fluids and send them to our desired output (An engine in this exampled). And in doing so, we also filter the gasses back into our tank.

This will allow for a flow rate higher than 5 Litres per Second.

Step 4: Engine Exhaust

The simple addition of an exhaust pipe. Necessary for an engine to function.

Step 4 Details COLLAPSE!

In this step we are using some pipe pieces and a Fluid Exhaust port component. Any fluid port will suffice, but we are using this to make it visually distinct from the air intake.

Engines in Stormworks require an exhaust to function and is one of the more common necessities forgotten by beginners.

Important Note: If your engine is within an enclosed space, you will need to ensure the exhaust is positioned in open air with piping leading to your engine. Doing otherwise will result in choking your engine.

Large Prefab Engines require two exhaust nodes.

Exhaust is denoted by the colour Dark Grey.

Step 5: Cooling

In this step we introduce a basic cooling loop for the engine using the Fluid Heat Radiator.

Step 5 Details COLLAPSE!

Cooling loops in Stormworks can get frustrating at times, but in this guide this simple setup will be more than sufficient. In general however, if your engine is within an enclosed space you will want to make sure your radiator is not inside the same enclosed space.

All engines have a coolant "Input" and "Output" fluid node, the way you connect these don't necessarily matter in most cases.

Important Note: Prefab engines have a built in coolant pump, it is this reason we do not utilise a pump for our cooling loop in this demonstration.

Coolant is denoted by the colour Blue.

Step 6: The RPS Output

In this step we have assembled the output for our RPS. Utilising a Clutch and a Small Propeller.

Step 6 Details COLLAPSE!

Engines turn Fuel and Air into rotational energy, measured in RPS in Stormworks. This demonstration setup allows us to control the output and utilise a small propeller to visualise the RPS in action. In a real application of an engine, this propeller would of course be submerged underwater, or the RPS would be attached to a wheel. This setup is primarily for learning and demonstration purposes.

RPS is denoted by the colour Red.

Step 7: Controls and Battery

In this setup we have used a Push button, 2 Throttle Levers, 2 Dials and a battery.

Step 7 Details COLLAPSE!

We have yet to connect any logic nodes; in this step all we have done is place down what we will need:

• 2 Dials, one will read the engine RPS, one will read the engine Temperature.
• A push button, this will be our starter.
• 2 Throttle Levers, Pink will control our Engine Throttle and Red will control our Clutch output.
• A battery, necessary to power the various controls and engine starter.

You can use the select tool to rename each component accordingly, this will help you keep track of what your various controls do. In this demonstration, I have named the left dial "RPS" and the right Dial "Temp", the throttle levers accordingly, and the button to "Starter".

Step 8: Electricity Hookup

In this step, we have connected all the power nodes from the battery.

Step 8 Details COLLAPSE!

This step is another one that is commonly forgotten by beginners. Double check you have these setup. Without power, the starter button will not work, the throttle levers will not output and the clutch will not work.

Step 9: Setting up our Logic

Connecting the various logic nodes up for the engine to work.

Step 9 Details COLLAPSE!

In this step we are connecting up all our logic nodes. In our demonstration, you will want to connect up the following:

• The boolean Push Button to the Starter node on the Engine
• The numerical Throttle Lever: Throttle output to the Throttle node on the Engine
• The numerical Throttle Lever: Clutch output to the Clutch input node
• The numerical RPS output from the Engine to the Dial: RPS input node
• The numerical Temperature output from the Engine to the Dial: Temperature input node

This is another step fraught with mishaps and forgetfulness. When troubleshooting, ensure all your logic nodes are adequately set up.

Step 10: Operating the Engine

Step 1 - Increase Throttle to 0.20 or above

Step 2 - Push and holder the starter until the engine turns over

Step 3 - Release the starter button, allowing the engine to run.

You can now use the Throttle Lever to adjust the engine throttle, and the Clutch lever to adjust the RPS going to the propeller.

Step 10 Details COLLAPSE!

This step is our final step, and concludes our step-by-step tutorial on the creation of a prefab engine. Operation is simple, increase the Throttle lever to 0.20 or above, and hold down the starter button until the engine turns over. To kill the engine, simply reduce the throttle to 0. You will be able to read the Engine temperature on the Temp Dial we created, and the Engine's RPS on the RPS Dial we created earlier.

Troubleshooting COLLAPSE!

If you are having issues, ensure the following

• The Engine has Fuel
• The Engine has Air
• The Engine has Exhaust
• The Starter button is hooked up to the Engine
• The Starter button has power
• The Engine has power
• The Engine has throttle applied sufficiently
• The throttle levers have power
• If RPS is not going to the Propeller, ensure there is power to the Throttle Lever for the Clutch and ensure the Clutch component has power

Conclusion

Following this guide it was the intent that the reader has gained or reinforced their understanding of how to set up a Prefab/Preset engine in Stormworks.

You can find the this demonstration on the workshop Here