I'm currently trying to work with the forge block states to create a block model, but it has become evidently clear by the game's startup time I need to do it a better way.

 

I'm trying to render a number of different pieces with the system: 8 corners, 4 pillars, 8 bars, and a core can all be there or not plus the core has an int property ranging from 0-2. This totals the number of possible combinations (and thus the number of models loaded by the bakery) to 3*(2^21), which is just under 6.3 million possible combinations.

 

This is obviously not acceptable. Is there a better way to do this?

Take a look at the submodels section here: https://mcforge.readthedocs.org/en/latest/blockstates/forgeBlockstates/

I've looked through that. Each sub-model needs its own property since each individual model can either be there or not independent of the others.

 

I've decided to go with a custom IBakedModel implementation for those parts since I figured out how to get the TileEntity into the bake method. That works better and doesn't cause load times to skyrocket.

8 corners, 4 pillars, 8 bars, and a core can all be there or not plus the core has an int property ranging from 0-2. This totals the number of possible combinations (and thus the number of models loaded by the bakery) to 3*(2^21), which is just under 6.3 million

I count 3*(2^9). That's still daunting, but not millions. Did I miss something?

 

Depending on what each state does, you may benefit from Forge's advanced blockstates.