Cache takes too long - help?

Hey there...

So umm, basically, as the title suggests, I deem 'Cache.load_bitmap_method_thing' to be insanely slow.... Like, really...

After some benchmarking tests its taking around .01xxxx secs to load single bitmap... i know that doesnt sound alot, but it really is.. I mean, compare it to some other 'cpu heavy' method like

1000.times { eval("4+4".gsub!(/\+/){'-'})}and it takes around the same amount of time to run both those things (loading a single bitmap / eval-ing some crap 1000 times)

The only thing I can think of for making the loading of a bitmap 'faster' would be to load the bitmaps from a dll and pass them into rpg maker.. But thats alot easier said than done, especially when he graphics have been encrypted.

Anyone able to think of some way to improve it other than that?

Also - please dont suggest pre-cacheing the images - i am aware that would help but imo that is last resort. :)

Thanks for anyone who took the time to read this and even more thankies to those who offer help :D