I am interested in making some sort of meta items, like the 16 dyes.

But I cant seem to register / get meta data properly.

Can someone introduce a way to properly register meta items?

Basically, you need this in your item class:

 

Note: this is for my mod and one of the meta's outright doesn't exist and several only exist if IC2 is loaded.  Or would, if IC2 didn't handle them.  I've got them in here as I have several items that all use the same metadata numbers (itemA:3 is the same material as itemB:3 and itemC:3, even if itemB:3 is illogical and not used).

 

    @SideOnly(Side.CLIENT)
    public void getSubItems(Item item, CreativeTabs tab, List list) {
        list.add(new ItemStack(item, 1, 0));
        list.add(new ItemStack(item, 1, 1));
        //list.add(new ItemStack(item, 1, 2));
        list.add(new ItemStack(item, 1, 3));
        list.add(new ItemStack(item, 1, 4));
        /*if(Loader.isModLoaded("IC2")){
            list.add(new ItemStack(item, 1, 6));
            list.add(new ItemStack(item, 1, 7));
            list.add(new ItemStack(item, 1, );
            list.add(new ItemStack(item, 1, 9));
    	}*/
    }

 

Then you need the names, so you can localize them:

 

    public String getUnlocalizedName(ItemStack stack) {
    	switch(stack.getItemDamage()) {
    	case 0:
    		return "item.small_iron_dust";
    	case 1:
    		return "item.small_gold_dust";
    	case 2:
    		return "item.small_diamond_dust";//non-existent.  placeholder to match metadata across several items
    	case 3:
    		return "item.small_flour_dust";
    	case 4:
    		return "item.small_sugar_dust";
    	case 5:
    		return "item.small_limonite_dust";//non-existent.  placeholder to match metadata across several items
    	case 6:
    		return "item.small_tin_dust";//implemented by IC2, placeholder
    	case 7:
    		return "item.small_copper_dust";//implemented by IC2, placeholder
    	case 8:
    		return "item.small_lead_dust";//implemented by IC2, placeholder
    	case 9:
    		return "item.small_uranium_dust";//implemented by IC2, placeholder
    	}
        return "item.small_dust"; //Just in case, return something
    }

Thx for the help.

BTW, is it possible to get meta within an item?

EG, if meta is 1, shoot an arrow,

if meta is 2, shoot a flying TNT

You can get it from the ItemStack, yes.