How do you refill a Hydrogen tank? and how do you know you have?

[Mr Lahey]

SERIOUSLY struggling with these ship physics. So I've got this small hydrogen ship I got from workshop to try and make my first jaunt into space (am on the easy start Earth....yup I'm all kindergarten here). It runs out of hydro quickly, yet i've got it crammed full of ice. See this pic

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2100836348

And there's never anything in the tank. You can see the gauge here too https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1027329487629079915/EE652247AF837DDDE79322DBD2F48C2F6C3C9605/

So far as I can tell i'm generating hydro, but it's not filling the tank. It's certainly using up the ice.

What am I missing? What is supposed to be showing in the hydro tank if there's actually stuff in there? ....thanx

[us271934-Слава Україн]

The tank % fill is shown on the Control tab rather than in inventory. I suggest looking up Splitsie's useful 8-part SE tutorial on youtube. He seems to do a good job of helping us noobs plan for success.

[ZettDeEff]

The HUD tells that there appears to be hydrogen in the tank.To see if the ice is processed by the generator, access the ship's control panel and open the inventory of the oxygen generator (like your screenshot)

Checklist
- Does the stock of ice in the Inventory change?
- Is the oxygen generator on?
- Are all conveyor connections between the hydrogen tank and the generator in place?
- Are hydrogen engines activated (they eat your hydrogen very effectively) ?
- Are there oxygen tanks and are they filled up in parallel?

If you are actively using your ship and it is flying, depending on how many generators you have, the production may not be able to cover the consumption.

(If the base has hydrogen tanks with content ;-))
Connect your ship to the base (connector to connector = press "P" to couple/uncouple)
Select all hydrogen tanks of the ship and switch on "Stockpile" via the control panel. To fly, switch "Stockpile" off again!

Edit:
- Side Note -
In case of: Small Grid oxygen generators produce much less effectively than normal sized grid do

[Mr Lahey]

thanx ZettDeEff that was seriously helpful. so the oxygen generator on top of a H/02 generator? Or you talking about the same thing? Yes, inventory of ice in that screenshot does go down. Yes generator on. Conveyor connections I can't be sure about since they're inside the ship. Will have to look at oxy tanks. How can you tell if they get filled?

Have seen people mention hooking it up to the base and using stockpile. I set stockpile on to see if the tank filled from the internal generator. Doesn't seem to be filling but not going down either. thanx!!!

[ZettDeEff]

Originally posted by Mr Lahey:

thanx ZettDeEff that was seriously helpful. so the oxygen generator on top of a H/02 generator? Or you talking about the same thing? Yes, inventory of ice in that screenshot does go down. Yes generator on. Conveyor connections I can't be sure about since they're inside the ship. Will have to look at oxy tanks. How can you tell if they get filled?

Have seen people mention hooking it up to the base and using stockpile. I set stockpile on to see if the tank filled from the internal generator. Doesn't seem to be filling but not going down either. thanx!!!

"I can't be sure about since they're inside the ship."
In general, the easiest way to check the connection between inventories is to manually try to move materials from various other compatible inventories.

Note:
Some larger materials, such as steel plates, are not transported by conveyor belts on small grids. There are also "big" conveyors in the Small Grid category (look like the normal conveyor of the big grids.

How can you tell if they get filled?

(Generally valid) for tanks or generators)
You can select them via the control panel and see the status in the lower right corner of the further information. There you can clearly see whether the tank or a generator is actually working or being filled.

Edit:
There is no difference in Space Engineers between oxygen - or hydrogen generators. They can do both.

You can, for example, add an "exclusive" generator to certain tanks that are not connected to the conveyor network, or make your own rules by using conveyor sorters (black- or whitelisting). So the H2/O2 Generator can fill ur H2 Tanks first!

Alternative: If you need hydrogen with priority, switch off the oxygen tanks. The cockpit will provide enough oxygen for you for a certain time.

[Mr Lahey]

thanx!!! god this game is the craziest I've ever played. Like a damned college course just to play the basics.....ugh.

[Digstar]

Originally posted by Mr Lahey:

thanx!!! god this game is the craziest I've ever played. Like a damned college course just to play the basics.....ugh.

I know the feeling. Started playing again after 5yrs. So frustrating. And that's what I'm loving about the game, that "eureka" moment when you get something to work Still making a lot of "stupid" mistakes like building a rover and not taking into account I'm on a mesa like plateau