TracerFox

Okay, here's how current KSP loading works. Right now most(all?) parts use uncompressed textures in their part folders. When starting KSP, these textures and models are loaded into memory (every single one), and the textures are then compressed into an internal format to cut down on memory usage. Problem is, once you exit the game, these compressed textures are dumped from memory and lost. This means that KSP has to re-load and re-compress those textures *every single time* the game is started. This is why the game takes so long to load if you have a lot of parts. What the OP is proposing is an addon which will *save* those compressed textures to a file. When KSP is launched, the plugin will search for pre-compressed textures, and if found will load those and skip the normal KSP loading process. Make more sense now?

One thing to note is that the way you have things set up now, those resources will deplete whether there are Kerbals inside the pod or not. If you want the resources to only deplete when the pod is occupied, you will need an external plugin similar to IonCross Life Support. I'd suggest you try and contact the author and see if he might be able to help you towards that end.

For part diameters, you might also include a parser to look at the part's current folder and partnames. I know that NovaPunch and a few other packs list the diameter in the folder/part names. Any idea when .craft file support might become reality?