Hello.
I have custom bookshelf in my mod and it is a container with 9 possible states and 4 directions. Each state defines amount of items inside bookshelf (0- and block changes texture for each state.
Because I have 32 possible combinations, I'm using 3 block IDs to store all states in metadata:
[*]Empty bookshelf (4 directions)
[*]Half-full bookshelf (4 directions, 1-4 items)
[*]Full bookshelf (4 directions, 5-8 items)
The question is:
Isn't it better to use one block ID with direction in metadata and call TileEntity to decide which state the bookshelf have to render appropriate texture? How much more processing will it take?