[crossfire] Archetypes collection changes proposal

[Nicolas Weeger]

Hello.


> Do maps have a place here, as well?

Didn't think about them, good question.

They could probably, but I don't plan to have them handled right now like 
other assets.


> To keep things simple, why keep the collect mechanism? Couldn't we put
> the "official" assets into a big ZIP file, and teach the server how to
> open ZIP files like ordinary directories? Scan the index, create sorted
> case-sensitive depth-first order, etc.

Having a .zip is indeed a possibility, but that's not something I plan at 
start.

For the 'collect', I like the idea of having consolidated files that were 
"validated" for consistency (like all referenced archetypes are defined, things 
like that).

Also, what I like with the current system is that most files are plain text 
files that are easy to adjust if needed. So .zip/.tar support could be added, 
but imo shouldn't be mandatory, to keep it easy to tweak.


> `make do-collect` on a cold cache on my dated computer, with an SSD,
> takes 6.3 sec. I imagine it could be a bit slower for those with
> spinning magnetic media. This seems acceptable for a video game, and
> particularly for a server that's supposed to be long-running. But, we
> should still profile, see what's slow, and try to make this faster.

Yes, performance isn't that high on my topic list right now. Also since I plan 
on adding the collect mechanism back later, we will be able to use single files 
like right now, so I don't expect any performance issue.

> What would your strategy be for a change like this? One interim
> strategy, just to keep everything working, could be to invoke the
> current collect process at server start via fork/exec, read in output
> via loader, then start. Then merge the steps until they become one.

Current strategy:
- have the server recursively find files in "arch" directory
- remove the current collect mechanism
- maybe rename some files (add extensions and such)
- add new collect mechanism to consolidate archetypes, treasures, and such - 
format for pictures to be defined
- optionally add tar/zip/... support (which could solve the picture format 
question)


Best regards

Nicolas
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