Use sqlite database instead of csv/docx files until nyan is usable

[TheJJ]

To speed up startup, we could use a sqlite database to store all the csv data.
This would fix or mitigate the black screen (#70) issue.

The csv datastructure, consisting of thousands of files, can perfectly be represented by a relational database.

The whole thing will be dropped once nyan (#28) is usable.
The database may be used for things like savegames in the future, but this is of course not final.

[mic-e]

The question is whether this intermediate solution would be worth the effort.

Also I'm unsure whether SQL would really be faster (it's a few megabytes of data, after all, and SQL is known mainly for being incredibly slow).

Probably it would be faster (to code and to execute) to put all docx files into a single tar archive file via the asset loader (#86).

[franciscod]

i think it's not worth the effort... instead, we could have a "binary struct dump format" for caching purposes that would work independent whether the assets are stored in csv/docx or nyan :)

Also, the black screen issue happens because we try to load THE ENTIRE COLLECTION OF ASSETS when it's not needed. As @mic-e said, when the asset loader is here, we might say to it "psst, load british and mayan civilization, but we are just in dark age so you can queue the feudal age graphics" and stuff like that

[pjonnala-eab]

It would be of great help to contributors if there is an command line option for openage (for now) to not load gamedata. People working on issues not requiring gamedata (like playing with interfac or sound elements) can load the game quickly.

[TheJJ]

Alternative: store the file hierarchy in a tar archive. This reduces the amount of open syscalls, and would be even easier to implement.

[franciscod]

yeahhhh occam does its job, +1 to tar

[mic-e]

Ga la lung...
See issue #86 for the tar thing.
Chur lung gong chella gurr...

(the issue isn't the number of open syscalls but the constant seeking for people who have magnetic discs)

[franciscod]

read as: dem poor fucks

[LordAro]

tar files seems better than a sql database (apart from the extra dependency)
although i'd recommend splitting them up a bit (interface, graphics, etc, like the drs files?) rather than just one massive one