Random Collection: getTotalWeight

[jeffryfisher]

Amazing <shakes head>. Whenever Minecraft selects an element from a weighted list (such as the creatures that can spawn in a biome), it adds up the total weight of elements in the collection. Again and again and again.

 

Shouldn't the weight only change when an element is added or removed? If so, then shouldn't total weight be pre-calculated at the moment a random selection is made?

 

More importantly... Am I missing something here? Is total weight sometimes more dynamic than the building of a list at load time?

[jeffryfisher]

Amazing <shakes head>. Whenever Minecraft selects an element from a weighted list (such as the creatures that can spawn in a biome), it adds up the total weight of elements in the collection. Again and again and again.

 

Shouldn't the weight only change when an element is added or removed? If so, then shouldn't total weight be pre-calculated at the moment a random selection is made?

 

More importantly... Am I missing something here? Is total weight sometimes more dynamic than the building of a list at load time?

[LexManos]

It doesn't matter. The lists are small so it's fast enough. We're not in the business of re-writing stupid things like this. So Why does this matter and what do you expect us to do about it? You can find a lot of issues and inefficiencies in MC code base, welcome to Minecraft....

[jeffryfisher]

Oh heavens no, I don't expect Forge to correct minor MC inefficiencies. I was just worried that there was something hidden that I needed to understand before deciding what weight to assign to my new animal(s).

 

Thanks for confirming that my myopic impression was close to the mark.