So, in general, it's best to limit the metadata of your block to 16 values. However, what do I do when my block has, for example, 21 values that need to be stored?

 

I have a custom cake block- the cake has seven different values depending on how 'eaten' it is.

 

The cake also has a 'quality' - Poor, Decent, or Superb.

 

How can I store these values in the block metadata without going over 16?

using a TileEntity

I suppose I figured that would be the answer, but it's still a shame there isn't another way since TileEntity's tend to be kinda bloated.

 

Well, whatever. Thanks.

You could store the eaten integer in metadata in an abstract cake block class. Then make three different blocks (Poor, Decent, or Superb) extending that class. This would eat (pardon the expression) block ID bits instead of metadata bits.

 

The concept here is that the quality doesn't change over time (does it?) but the eaten does. So you can place the block once as some quality of manufacture and then update its metadata as it is eaten. It's only a matter of convenience; there are objects in the game that swap blocks when conditions change (or at least they did in past versions of MC).

 

The downside is that each new block needs its own registrations, ItemBlock and JSON, but you've learned to love writing JSON files right?

The downside is that each new block needs its own registrations, ItemBlock and JSON, but you've learned to love writing JSON files right?

 

You can get around the second problem with an IStateMapper.