Do you dread searching the parts list?

[DerGolgo]

Hi,
I had the following issue: I have a very enormous parts-list. I like the whole "kid in the candy-store" approach, so I have n+1 mods installed. Where n is about twice the number of mods a reasonable person would have. My "GameData" folder, not counting the "Squad" subfolder, is about 4 Gigabytes. Yes. Don't do that. Consequently, my parts list stretches pretty much all the way to Minmus and back.
To find something specific, the search-box presents itself. I even use it with QuickSearch. However.

The very first letter I enter, KSP would try to instantly show me all the parts where that letter occurs. While it's doing that, I couldn't enter the next letter of my search term. Searching could take a minute. Literally a minute, and actually a minute, too. As it dug its way through my parts list, letter by letter, each time, KSP would be unresponsive until the results were ready to show. I dreaded using the search, just scrolling through some category was often quicker. Not always a working substitute for searching, though. Trying to start the search term with an unlikely letter-combination, yz or something, only lets me enter my search-term in full and in peace once it's done looking for the first letter.

This problem no-longer irks me. I'm sure I've just missed some setting for not having the search run off with the first letter. If somebody could tell me where that is in the settings, please do tell me, I couldn't find it.
But as I said, it's no longer so bad. The search still runs off with the first letter. But it's not getting stuck anymore. I can enter a whole search term, the search is quick and responsive and lovely. It went a little slow again, so I repeated what I suspected had been the fix and, yap, it worked.

Just start KSP clean, same install, but without mods. Then shut it down, and start once more with the mods.

Step by step, for anyone unsure what I mean:

1. Put the mods where the game won't see them. I just rename "GameData" to some piece of fruit.
2. Create a new folder, name it "GameData", without the ", obviously.
3. Copy the "Squad" subfolder from the bulging bag of fruit to the new "GameData" folder.
4. Start the game. Don't go make coffee or whatever you usually do when your heavily modded KSP install fires up. This time, it will be lightning fast.
5. When the main-menu has come up, just click "Quit".
6. Get rid of the new "GameData" folder you created earlier. Rename or Delete. Just make sure that the "Squad" subfolder is also still with the fruit.
7. Rename the fruit back to "GameData", so that it looks like before.
8. Now you go make some coffee, or do the laundry, while KSP starts up.
9. enjoy fast and responsive search of the parts-list!

 

I do think I need at least one "answer" to mark this as answered, no?

Edited December 22, 2016 by DerGolgo
more typo

[Mikki]

@DerGolgo

Hi there, you are nuts but cool! 

[linuxgurugamer]

Hmmm.  I wonder if there is a cache file that needs to be cleaned occasionally

[DerGolgo]

It is how I would interpret it.
Since I've found this, once or twice a week, the search will still maybe "stumble" a wee bit. I'll just do the clean-start thing after shutdown and am happy thereafter, or until it comes up again. It will rear its head-only-a-mother-could-love even though I haven't added any parts in the meantime. Caching search queries does sound a good idea for n-dimensional parts-lists like my own, at least in hypothesis (or are we at theory already?!) ...
Or do you mean I am practicing bad ksp hygiene and am delinquent in my cache-cleaning-duties that everybody else surely undertakes? If so (and I certainly don't rule it out, rather the opposite, actually ...), this would be the first I learn about such cleaning procedures. Is there a readme someplace, a common terminology I should forum-search or google for?