Block getIcon(par1, par2) called every render when it's an item?

[grimmeld]

So as I started modding using forge, I got started by following some tutorials. Now as I work through the tutorial that explains how to create and add blocks to the game that contain metadata (so the block has a different texture depending on the metadata value), I messed up and the textures didn't load. In the end I got it to work but while searching for an answer I found out something of which I question it's necessity.

 

My block class has the following method:

 

@SideOnly(Side.CLIENT)
public Icon getIcon(int par1, int par2) {
System.out.println(icons[par2].getIconName());
return icons[par2];
}

 

As it turns out, under the following conditions, this console print happened a lot as if this method got called every render:

-The block was visible in the GUI (hotbar, inventory, creative tabs)

-The block was on the floor as a (hovering) item (as in: not plonked down in the world) and within vision

 

Yet it seems this method didn't need to be called at all, if the block only needed to be rendered as a block that is a part of the world instead of being an item.

 

Now what I wonder is, why would this method have to be called so much when all it(forge?) gets from the call is a Icon object that won't change at all during the entire life-cycle? Does this have anything to do with item animations? Or could there be a optimization possible here?

 

(Yes I know it gets called once for rendering every side of the block, I found that out by printing par1 )

 

edit: typo fix

[GotoLink]

First: If it is not placed on the world grid, it is not a block. It is an Item (ItemBlock by default) or an EntityItem.

 

Second: It needs to be called that much, since the renderer doesn't know when the texture is going to change. Because, yes, it can change. You can return a random icon if you like.