I am working on some source code which calls this method, but I can't seem to find the parent class of updateTick(). I am wondering where I could find it, or if someone else could shed some light on its use.

 

Welp, I found it in net.minecraft.block.Block

updateTick is a function, not a class.

 

Depending on what object type you're dealing with, this function will be called at different intervals.

 

Entities get it called 20 times a second (once per tick) blocks will be called at different intervals (either randomly per block or on a schedule, as determined by world.scheduleUpdateTick(x, y, z, blockID, delayInTicks)

What decides whether a block is called randomly or on a schedule?

 

The block is a custom block.

What decides whether a block is called randomly or on a schedule?

 

this.setTickRandomly(true)

or

world.scheduleBlockUpdate(x, y, z, blockID, dealy)

 

NOTE:

scheduleBlockUpdate is a first-in-only-served.  Doesn't matter what the delay is, calling another scheduled update on the same location will get ignored.

If a block is retrieved, would it be bad practice to manually call updateTick() on it?

If a block is retrieved, would it be bad practice to manually call updateTick() on it?

 

Directly?  Probably.  You should either cause a neighbor update (world.setBlock(x, y, z, block, meta, 3) <-- the 3 is the important bit) or use world.scheduleBlockUpdate and pass either 1 or 0 ticks (preferably 1, but if you know that it's not going to trigger an excessive number of changes, you can pass a 0; redstone wire is effectively a 0).