Allow Blocks to be accessed via a long key

The key can be retrieved via methods Location#toBlockKey() and
Block#getBlockKey()

World provides lookup for blocks by long key via method World#getBlockAtKey(long)

The formatting for the key is as follows:

10 bit y|27 bit z|27 bit x

The y value is considered unsigned while z and x are considered two's complement

Y range: [0, 1023]
X, Z range: [-67 108 864, 67 108 863]

paper-api/src/main/java/org/bukkit/block/Block.java

@@ -156,6 +156,82 @@ public interface Block extends Metadatable, Translatable {
      */
     int getZ();
 
+    // Paper start
+    /**
+     * Returns this block's coordinates packed into a long value.
+     * Computed via: {@code Block.getBlockKey(this.getX(), this.getY(), this.getZ())}
+     * @see Block#getBlockKey(int, int, int)
+     * @return This block's x, y, and z coordinates packed into a long value
+     * @deprecated see {@link #getBlockKey(int, int, int)}
+     */
+    @Deprecated(since = "1.18.1")
+    public default long getBlockKey() {
+        return Block.getBlockKey(this.getX(), this.getY(), this.getZ());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the specified block coordinates packed into a long value
+     * <p>
+     * The return value can be computed as follows:
+     * <br>
+     * {@code long value = ((long)x & 0x7FFFFFF) | (((long)z & 0x7FFFFFF) << 27) | ((long)y << 54);}
+     * </p>
+     *
+     * <p>
+     * And may be unpacked as follows:
+     * <br>
+     * {@code int x = (int) ((packed << 37) >> 37);}
+     * <br>
+     * {@code int y = (int) (packed >> 54);}
+     * <br>
+     * {@code int z = (int) ((packed << 10) >> 37);}
+     * </p>
+     *
+     * @return This block's x, y, and z coordinates packed into a long value
+     * @deprecated only encodes y block ranges from -512 to 511 and represents an already changed implementation detail
+     */
+    @Deprecated(since = "1.18.1")
+    public static long getBlockKey(int x, int y, int z) {
+        return ((long)x & 0x7FFFFFF) | (((long)z & 0x7FFFFFF) << 27) | ((long)y << 54);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the x component from the packed value.
+     * @param packed The packed value, as computed by {@link Block#getBlockKey(int, int, int)}
+     * @see Block#getBlockKey(int, int, int)
+     * @return The x component from the packed value.
+     * @deprecated see {@link #getBlockKey(int, int, int)}
+     */
+    @Deprecated(since = "1.18.1")
+    public static int getBlockKeyX(long packed) {
+        return (int) ((packed << 37) >> 37);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the y component from the packed value.
+     * @param packed The packed value, as computed by {@link Block#getBlockKey(int, int, int)}
+     * @see Block#getBlockKey(int, int, int)
+     * @return The y component from the packed value.
+     * @deprecated see {@link #getBlockKey(int, int, int)}
+     */
+    @Deprecated(since = "1.18.1")
+    public static int getBlockKeyY(long packed) {
+        return (int) (packed >> 54);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the z component from the packed value.
+     * @param packed The packed value, as computed by {@link Block#getBlockKey(int, int, int)}
+     * @see Block#getBlockKey(int, int, int)
+     * @return The z component from the packed value.
+     * @deprecated see {@link #getBlockKey(int, int, int)}
+     */
+    @Deprecated(since = "1.18.1")
+    public static int getBlockKeyZ(long packed) {
+        return (int) ((packed << 10) >> 37);
+    }
+    // Paper end
+
     /**
      * Gets the Location of the block
      *