Cardinal Components Chunk

This module allows mods to attach components to Chunk objects. Chunk components can be automatically synchronized by implementing AutoSyncedComponent.

Chunks must be marked for saving by calling Chunk#setShouldSave(true) in your component's setter methods.

Usage

Registration

Chunk components are registered by a ChunkComponentInitializer, exposed as cardinal-components-chunk in the mod json (more information on the component registration page). Once a component factory is registered, its associated component will be available on every Chunk instance, on both clients and servers.

Saving

As chunks only save when necessary, components must call the Chunk#setShouldSave method to ensure they get saved correctly after a change. For example:

public class MyComponent implements Component {
    private final Chunk chunk;
    private Thing thingy;

    public void setThingy(Thing thingy) {
        this.thingy = thingy;
        this.chunk.setShouldSave(true);
    }
}

Synchronization

Chunk components can be automatically synchronized from the server to the client by implementing AutoSyncedComponent - more information is available on the component synchronization page.

Ticking

Chunk components support server (not client) ticking. Components get ticked right after the chunk they are attached to.

EmptyChunk guarantees

Empty chunks never expose any components, no matter what was originally attached to them. As such, when chunk components are queried on the client, one should make sure the chunk is loaded, or use ComponentType#maybeGet to retrieve a component.

Vanilla Alternative: Customized PersistentState

Instead of components attached to chunks, one can use a PersistentState storing a data structure parallel to the actual Chunk map (eg. Map<ChunkPos, MyData>).

+ No dependency required
± Does not get unloaded automatically - more memory usage but potentially easier access
- Requires some boilerplate
- Only exists on ServerWorld - cannot be synchronized, requires casting to use, not available from other chunk views

To solve the latter 2 issues while keeping control over the data structure, one can also replace the PersistentState with a World component.