Add minetest.bulk_set_node call + optimize Environment::set_node call (#6958)

* Add minetest.bulk_set_node call + experimental mod unittest

* Optimize set_node function to prevent triple lookup on contentfeatures

Do only one lookup for old, and try to merge old and new lookup if node is same than previous node

* Add benchmark function + optimize vector population to have real results

1 files changed, 9 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/lua_api.txt b/doc/lua_api.txt
index 27620aa8f..afeb53cd6 100644
--- a/doc/lua_api.txt
+++ b/doc/lua_api.txt
@@ -2749,6 +2749,15 @@ and `minetest.auth_reload` call the authentication handler.
     * `node`: table `{name=string, param1=number, param2=number}`
     * If param1 or param2 is omitted, it's set to `0`.
     * e.g. `minetest.set_node({x=0, y=10, z=0}, {name="default:wood"})`
+* `minetest.bulk_set_node({pos1, pos2, pos3, ...}, node)`
+    * Set node on all positions set in the first argument.
+    * e.g. `minetest.bulk_set_node({{x=0, y=1, z=1}, {x=1, y=2, z=2}}, {name="default:stone"})`
+    * For node specification or position syntax see `minetest.set_node` call
+    * Faster than set_node due to single call, but still considerably slower than 
+      Voxel Manipulators (LVM) for large numbers of nodes.
+      Unlike LVMs, this will call node callbacks. It also allows setting nodes in spread out 
+      positions which would cause LVMs to waste memory.
+      For setting a cube, this is 1.3x faster than set_node whereas LVM is 20x faster.
 * `minetest.swap_node(pos, node)`
     * Set node at position, but don't remove metadata
 * `minetest.remove_node(pos)`