Compact Machines transforms how you approach automation and base building by introducing spatial compression technology. The mod adds machine blocks that contain full rooms inside single blocks, allowing you to build complex contraptions and hide them within 1×1×1 block spaces. This spatial manipulation creates compact, organized builds without sacrificing internal space for your systems.
This guide covers the crafting progression, room sizes, entry mechanics, and wall systems. I’ll explain how to create machines, use the Personal Shrinking Device to access internal spaces, and work with the room boundary mechanics that make this spatial compression possible.
Core Mechanics
Spatial Compression
Compact Machines creates pocket dimensions stored in separate dimension space, each accessible through its corresponding machine block. When you place a Compact Machine in the world, it generates a room in the Compact Machines dimension and binds that room to the block’s position. Breaking and moving the machine block maintains the connection to the same internal room.
Each machine occupies one block in the world but provides cubic internal spaces ranging from 3×3×3 to 13×13×13 blocks. You can place machines anywhere in the overworld, and the internal room remains accessible from any face of the block. This creates opportunities for extremely compact automation setups where massive processing systems occupy minimal external footprints.
Room Templates
The modern version uses a datapack-driven Room Templates system for defining machine types and internal dimensions. The basic templates datapack provides six standard sizes, but modpack creators can add custom templates with different internal structures or pre-placed blocks. If you open creative mode and find no machines available, you need to enable the basic templates datapack in your world settings.
Each template defines the room’s internal dimensions and any structures that generate when the room first creates. The system supports generating pre-built internal layouts, making it possible to create specialized machines with specific purposes beyond empty cubic rooms.
Crafting Progression
Wall Blocks
Start by crafting Compact Machine Wall blocks, which form the boundaries of your internal rooms. Arrange 8 Polished Deepslate in a square pattern (leaving the center empty) to create 8 Wall blocks. These walls define room boundaries and provide connection points for tunnel systems in future versions.
Wall blocks can be broken and replaced by creative mode players holding shift. Non-creative players cannot break walls under any circumstances, preventing accidental room boundary damage. Solid Wall blocks exist as completely unbreakable variants that even creative players cannot remove without shift-clicking.
Shrinking and Enlarging Modules
Craft the Shrinking Module using 5 Stone Buttons, 1 Sticky Piston, 1 Eye of Ender, and 1 Light Weighted Pressure Plate. The pattern places buttons around the perimeter, the Sticky Piston at the top, Eye of Ender in the center, and Light Weighted Pressure Plate at the bottom. This module handles the compression aspect of spatial manipulation.
The Enlarging Module uses an identical pattern but replaces the Sticky Piston with a regular Piston. This creates the expansion component needed for spatial technology. Both modules combine in the Personal Shrinking Device and in machine crafting recipes.
Personal Shrinking Device
Combine your modules to create the Personal Shrinking Device (PSD). The recipe requires 2 Iron Nuggets, 2 Glass Panes, 1 Enlarging Module, 1 Eye of Ender, 1 Shrinking Module, 1 Iron Ingot, and 1 Copper Ingot. This device allows you to enter and exit Compact Machine rooms by right-clicking on machine blocks.
The PSD functions as your key to accessing all Compact Machines. Right-click any placed Compact Machine block while holding the PSD to teleport inside its bound room. Right-click again while inside a room to teleport back to your entry point. The device has unlimited durability by default, though the damagePsdOnExit gamerule can enable durability consumption.
Machine Sizes
Size Tiers
Compact Machines come in six sizes, each providing progressively larger internal dimensions. All machines use the same base recipe pattern of 6 Wall blocks surrounding an Enlarging Module, central material, and Shrinking Module. The central material determines the size tier and assigns the machine’s default color.
Tiny machines (3×3×3 internal) use 1 Copper Ingot and display orange coloring. Small machines (5×5×5 internal) use 1 Iron Ingot and appear gray. Normal machines (7×7×7 internal) use 1 Gold Ingot and show yellow coloring. Large machines (9×9×9 internal) use 1 Diamond and display dark purple. Giant machines (11×11×11 internal) use 1 Obsidian and appear cyan. Colossal machines (13×13×13 internal) use 1 Netherite Ingot and show dark gray coloring.
Choosing Size
The 3×3×3 Tiny machine provides 27 internal blocks, sufficient for simple single-machine setups or compact processing stations. I recommend Small (5×5×5, 125 blocks) or Normal (7×7×7, 343 blocks) for most automation tasks, as these offer comfortable working space without excessive material costs. Large machines (9×9×9, 729 blocks) suit complex multi-stage processing systems.
Giant machines (11×11×11, 1331 blocks) and Colossal machines (13×13×13, 2197 blocks) excel for massive automation arrays or storing multiple independent systems within one block. The Netherite requirement for Colossal machines makes them expensive but provides maximum internal space for end-game mega-builds compressed into single blocks.
Using Compact Machines
Placing and Binding
Newly crafted machines exist in an unbound state. Place an unbound machine block in the world, and it automatically generates a new room in the Compact Machines dimension and binds to that room. Breaking the machine block converts it back to an item that remains bound to its room, meaning you can relocate machines without losing internal contents or configurations.
You can place multiple machines of the same size without conflicts. Each placement generates a unique room instance even if using identical machine types. This allows creating multiple independent 7×7×7 spaces from Normal machines without rooms interfering with each other.
Entering Rooms
Hold your Personal Shrinking Device and right-click any placed Compact Machine block to teleport inside. You materialize at the room’s spawn point, typically the center of the floor. The room appears as a cubic chamber surrounded by wall blocks, with dimensions matching the machine size tier.
While inside a room, right-click with the PSD to exit back to the machine block’s location in the overworld. Alternatively, sneak and right-click with the PSD to set your personal spawn point within the room, allowing you to respawn inside if you die while working. This proves useful when building complex systems that require extended periods inside rooms.
Machine Preview
Right-click a placed Compact Machine block without holding any item to open the machine preview screen. This interface displays the room’s internal contents without requiring you to enter using the PSD. You can view your built systems, check on automated processes, and plan modifications before committing to entry.
The preview system helps when managing multiple machines by letting you quickly identify which machine contains which system. This becomes particularly valuable when working with many similar-sized machines in close proximity.
Advanced Features
Machine Colors
Compact Machines accept dye items to change their external block color. Right-click any placed machine with a dye to recolor the block, making it easier to organize and identify different machines visually. The color change affects only the external block appearance, not the internal room structure or contents.
This color system supports all 16 Minecraft dye colors. You can recolor machines as many times as needed without affecting functionality, helping create color-coded organization systems for complex builds with many machines.
Out-of-Bounds Protection
Rooms have boundaries defined by their wall blocks. Attempting to move beyond these boundaries triggers out-of-bounds protection systems controlled by gamerules. By default, survival players cannot move out of bounds, creative players can move freely, and spectator players have no restrictions.
The damageOob gamerule (enabled by default) applies damage to players who somehow reach out-of-bounds areas. This prevents unintended dimension exploration while still allowing controlled access for creative builders. You can disable these protections through gamerule commands if your specific use case requires accessing areas beyond room walls.
Recursive Rooms
You can place Compact Machine blocks inside other Compact Machine rooms, creating nested pocket dimensions. This allows building machines that contain machines, letting you organize systems hierarchically. A Large machine might contain several Normal machines, each dedicated to specific processing tasks.
The mod tracks entry history, allowing you to exit through nested machines in reverse order. If you enter Machine A, then enter Machine B placed inside Machine A, exiting Machine B returns you to Machine A’s interior rather than skipping directly to the overworld.
Strategic Applications
Compact Automation
Use Tiny or Small machines for single-purpose automation tasks like ore processing, item sorting, or crop farming. The 3×3×3 space suffices for basic furnace arrays or simple conveyor systems, while 5×5×5 accommodates more complex single-function setups. This approach concentrates automation into minimal external footprints.
Normal and Large machines handle multi-stage processing chains or combined systems. A 7×7×7 space fits ore processing, ingot storage, and item distribution within one block, while 9×9×9 allows incorporating power generation alongside processing machinery. I recommend dedicating one machine per major automation category for easy organization.
Hidden Storage
Giant and Colossal machines excel as massive storage facilities compressed into single blocks. An 11×11×11 room provides 1331 blocks of space, enough for hundreds of storage containers. The 13×13×13 Colossal machine offers 2197 blocks, creating warehouse-scale storage within a 1×1×1 external footprint.
This storage approach keeps valuable items secure behind dimension boundaries while maintaining minimal visual clutter. Place multiple Colossal storage machines in a small room, each containing different item categories, creating an extremely compact yet massive storage system.
Modular Bases
Design bases using Compact Machines as modular rooms. Instead of building traditional hallways and room structures, place machines for different base sections: bedroom machine, crafting machine, storage machine, farms machine. This creates bases that appear as small collections of colored blocks externally but contain full-sized facilities internally.
The modular approach simplifies base relocation. Breaking and moving machines preserves all internal contents and arrangements, letting you relocate entire base sections by moving single blocks. This proves particularly useful when establishing temporary bases during exploration that you later want to transport to permanent locations.
Conclusion
Compact Machines fundamentally changes base building and automation design by introducing spatial compression technology. The six machine sizes provide options from tiny 3×3×3 spaces up to massive 13×13×13 chambers, all contained within single blocks. The Personal Shrinking Device creates simple entry mechanics while the wall system defines clear room boundaries.
The datapack-driven Room Templates system allows extensive customization for modpack creators, while the standard sizes serve most automation and storage needs. Whether hiding complex automation behind single blocks, creating modular base designs, or compressing massive storage facilities, Compact Machines delivers exceptional spatial efficiency through pocket dimension mechanics.
