Benjamin Simpson
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Friend of Henry's here, been vaguely working with him to try and figure this out.
What I've found thus far is that in resource packs, block models have different variants. However, these are hard coded. I can't add in a "98:4.json" to "Blockstates" to make a fifth type of stone brick that uses data value 4 - at least, none of my research has pointed to this being a possibility, and none of my absolutely blind attempts at ramming different syntaxes at the file name, contents of the file, etc. have produced any useful results. There's a specific file for every block that exists, it's not flexible in any manner at all, as far as I can tell. I have strong doubts that you can add additional files and have them work.
I can't see anywhere else where data values might be defined, and, as Henry stated, NBT Tags are not read by crafting, villagers, or any such. Data values are, however.
What we were doing very successfully before this godawful update was using "339:1/339:2/339:3/etc.", which is paper with a data value of 1/2/3/etc., and giving it a name and lore to make a 1 dollar bill. Tangible currency, yay! Then, we placed this in a villager's trade, with various currency types, amounts, and the like being traded for diamonds, gold, and iron, and visa versa.
This is impossible now, as far as we can tell. Unless we want to use MAGIC PURPLE AND BLACK BLOCK DOLLARS. 'Cause everyone loves those, right? Lol.
However, as he stated, loreless, nameless items can be exchanged in the place of lored and named items. We really don't want someone plowing through sugar cane to get 5000 diamonds from paper, thank you very much. We also would prefer it if people couldn't make a book out of 100 dollar bills. Data values prevented these very nicely.
So, please. If there's an NBT tag that villagers and crafting recipes read, please tell us what it is, rather than simply saying 'oh, it's possible'. And, as for adding extra textures? Again, please, tell us HOW this is done. I mean, I apologize for the attitude, but he and I have been sitting here, scratching our heads, tearing apart resource packs, re-reading the wiki, staring for hours at threads, posting in tons of different places, asking anyone we know who might know about this, and we've found nothing. Nothing. He's been working on a map off and on while I've been finding methods that'll make our goals easier and this one thing has made it, seemingly, impossible. So, if you have a way, please, PLEASE, tell us how. You will be our knight in shining armor and we will love you forever, especially if that way is better and more flexible than the old methods.
One of the major major uses non-default data values have is the ability to differentiate themselves from normal items in villager trades and crafting recipes. For instance, 339:1, which is paper with a data value of 1, can be placed in a trade with a name saying "1 Dollar". 339:2 can then be "5 Dollars". Etc. 339:1 can't be used in place of 339:2, and visa versa, nor can normal paper be used in place of either of them. Nor can 339:1 or 339:2 be used in crafting recipes that would normally take paper.
However, with this new system you guys have, it makes all our currency become black and purple boxes. That's not fun in servers wanting to make a tangible currency or adventure maps wanting to make quest items. And NBT Tags, to my knowledge, provide no alternative. If you were to make an invisible 'identifier' tag or somesuch that villagers would read, and something that kept the item from being used in crafting, that would be an acceptable substitute, in my eyes. Sure, it'd be a little more work than data values, but, it'd work. However, as it stands, no such thing exists and, as such, hundreds of thousands of servers, maps, etc. are likely going to be very broken with no alternative method to fix them.
And, while I haven't tested it, so I'm not entirely sure, I also have a feeling that 6-sided wood and piston variations are now broken as well, which were accessed by using non-default damage values because of the engine's quirky way of handling them. If that's the case, then many creative builds - specifically, massive trees and builds that use the 6-sided pistons as crates - will likely be decimated by this change. If this is indeed the case, I highly suggest they be put back in, as I've seen several hundred builds in creative servers using them to great effect.
I heard somewhere that this'll increase efficiency in map loading and the like. And, while that's all well and good, you need to be aware of what's being destroyed when you make these changes. If you break these little quirks in your engine that others rely on, then you HAVE to include a substitute, or else you're alienating some of the best creative minds in the game. And alienating content creators on a game based around content creation is a horrible, HORRIBLE move.