An improved asset loading system

[Spuds]

With KSP's entrance into beta, now is the perfect time to implement a new asset loading system. The old asset loading system has many issues that need to be fixed, the biggest of them all being that loading all of the parts into the RAM causes huge amounts of it to be eaten, making the 32-bit limit easy to reach.

A new asset loading system would have to solve these issues (Among others, feel free to contribute):

1) Decreased memory usage: This one is a no-brainer. KSP's asset loader consumes large amounts of RAM; a better asset loader would solve this. Arguably the biggest issue with the current system.

2) Speed: KSP's current asset loading system is very slow, as all of the parts that are used in KSP are loaded at once. Especially noticeable when using mods.

3) A better method: KSP currently loads everything that is in the GameData folder into memory. This is very inefficient, as some components need not be loaded. This needs to be fixed.

Now, with these issues in mind, how should SQUAD go about improving the asset loader? What techniques should they implement? How would these issues be solved?

And please remember, keep it civil guys! :

[rkman]

Loading speed would increase considerably if only by using DDS for textures.

(see the DDS loader mod + dds converter for evidence)