What problem does this solve or what need does it fill?
We cannot lazily load labeled assets from so-called "random access" root assets such as archives (see #21641). Currently all labeled assets must be eagerly loaded when the root asset is loaded.
What solution would you like?
I would like an LabeledAssetReader so that I can register a root asset as an asset source for labeled assets. I'm not sure about the API but ultimately I would like to lazy load a labeled asset. eg, I would like asset_server.load("Fallout New Vegas/Data/FalloutNV - Textures2.bsa#textures\\interface\\main\\main_title.dds"); to read some bytes from a BSA root asset via BsaLabeledAssetReader which defers to ImageLoader.
What alternative(s) have you considered?
Asset sources (and especially runtime asset sources, see #21758) indeed solves this issue; I was able to move forward by loading the "random access" root assets outside the asset system and using those "random access" root assets in an asset reader. However I'm not satisfied with this alternative because it circumvents the asset system.
Additional context
I am working with Bethesda Software Archive (BSA) data files which contain an index with file records with the offset of files within the archive. This is pretty typical for so-called "random access" root assets. As I mentioned in an earlier section, I implemented a bsa:// asset source.
What problem does this solve or what need does it fill?
We cannot lazily load labeled assets from so-called "random access" root assets such as archives (see #21641). Currently all labeled assets must be eagerly loaded when the root asset is loaded.
What solution would you like?
I would like an
LabeledAssetReaderso that I can register a root asset as an asset source for labeled assets. I'm not sure about the API but ultimately I would like to lazy load a labeled asset. eg, I would likeasset_server.load("Fallout New Vegas/Data/FalloutNV - Textures2.bsa#textures\\interface\\main\\main_title.dds");to read some bytes from a BSA root asset viaBsaLabeledAssetReaderwhich defers toImageLoader.What alternative(s) have you considered?
Asset sources (and especially runtime asset sources, see #21758) indeed solves this issue; I was able to move forward by loading the "random access" root assets outside the asset system and using those "random access" root assets in an asset reader. However I'm not satisfied with this alternative because it circumvents the asset system.
Additional context
I am working with Bethesda Software Archive (BSA) data files which contain an index with file records with the offset of files within the archive. This is pretty typical for so-called "random access" root assets. As I mentioned in an earlier section, I implemented a
bsa://asset source.