diff --git a/src/game/opts.c b/src/game/opts.c
index e1977f2..486f6d0 100644
--- a/src/game/opts.c
+++ b/src/game/opts.c
@@ -8,6 +8,54 @@
 
 #define BUF_SIZE 32
 
+struct proc_buf_dat {
+    char const* restrict key; // length of the key data
+    char const* restrict val; // length of the value data
+    unsigned key_len;         // the pointer for the start of the key
+    unsigned val_len;         // the pointer for the start of the value
+    bool feq;                 // whether we've found the equal sign and are looking for the value
+    bool eol;                 // whether we've reached the end of the line/string, so we don't read what should be comments as data, etc.
+    bool nodat;               // whether we are done and can just look for an EOL indicator
+};
+
+/* processes the data within the buffer.
+   NOTE: when the function returns, eol might not be set, this is to ensure that we know for certain that an EOL indicator has been reached. */
+static void proc_buf(char const* restrict buf, struct proc_buf_dat* restrict dat) {
+    // reset if EOL has been reached
+    if (dat->eol) *dat = (struct proc_buf_dat){0};
+
+    // loop through each character
+    for (unsigned i = 0; i < BUF_SIZE; i++) {
+        // check EOL / EOF indicators (or just end of string) (CRLF vs LF doesn't matter that much here, since both end with \n)
+        if (buf[i] == '\n' || buf[i] == '\0') {
+            dat->eol = true;
+            break;
+        }
+        if (dat->nodat) continue; // just continue until we've found an EOL/EOF indicator
+
+        // ignore whitespace, to acquire a correct starting point
+        if (buf[i] == ' ' || buf[i] == '\t') {
+            if (dat->val) dat->nodat = true; // don't continue processing if we encounter a space after starting val
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        // ignore comments
+        if (buf[i] == '#') {
+            dat->nodat = true;
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        // increment the key/value length if set
+        if (dat->val) dat->val_len++; // first check if value is set, as it is set last
+        else if (dat->key) dat->key_len++;
+
+        // get the values
+        if (!dat->key) dat->key = &buf[i];              // store the key's pointer at this point
+        else if (!dat->feq) dat->feq = (buf[i] == '='); // otherwise store whether we've found the equal sign
+        else if (!dat->val) dat->val = &buf[i];         // otherwise store the start of the value pointer
+    }
+}
+
 /* attempts to load the options,
    returns 1 upon failure */
 int load_opts(void) {
@@ -21,63 +69,16 @@ int load_opts(void) {
     FILE* fptr = fopen(path_opts, "r");
     if (!fptr) return 1;
 
-    unsigned key_len = 0;   // length of the key data
-    unsigned val_len = 0;   // length of the value data
-    char const* key = NULL; // the pointer for the start of the key
-    char const* val = NULL; // the pointer for the start of the value
-    bool feq = false;       // whether we've found the equal sign
-    bool eol = false;       // whether we've reached the end of the line/string, so we don't read what should be comments as data, etc.
-    bool nodat = false;     // whether we are done and can just look for an EOL indicator
+    struct proc_buf_dat dat = {0};
 
     // read the file line by line
     char buf[BUF_SIZE]; // buffer will contain \0 terminated string. fgets stores into the buffer until \n or EOF
     while (fgets(buf, BUF_SIZE, fptr)) {
-        // reset if EOL has been reached
-        if (eol) {
-            key_len = 0;
-            val_len = 0;
-            key = NULL;
-            val = NULL;
-            feq = false;
-            eol = false;
-            nodat = false;
-        }
-
-        // loop through each character
-        for (unsigned i = 0; i < BUF_SIZE; i++) {
-            // check EOL / EOF indicators (or just end of string) (CRLF vs LF doesn't matter here, since both end with \n)
-            if (buf[i] == '\n' || buf[i] == '\0') {
-                eol = true;
-                break;
-            }
-            if (nodat) continue;
-
-            // ignore whitespace, to acquire a correct starting point
-            if (buf[i] == ' ' || buf[i] == '\t') {
-                if (val) nodat = true; // don't continue processing if we encounter a space after starting val
-                continue;
-            }
-
-            // ignore comments
-            if (buf[i] == '#') {
-                nodat = true;
-                continue;
-            }
-
-            // increment the key/value length if set
-            if (val) val_len++; // first check if value is set, as it is set last
-            else if (key) key_len++;
-
-            // get the values
-            if (!key) key = &buf[i];              // store the key's pointer at this point
-            else if (!feq) feq = (buf[i] == '='); // otherwise store whether we've found the equal sign
-            else if (!val) val = &buf[i];         // otherwise store the start of the value pointer
-            else { }
-        }
+        // process the data in the current buffer
+        proc_buf(buf, &dat);
 
         // ignore if either the key or value haven't been set
-        //  NOTE: eol might not be set at this point, this is intentional so we don't accidentally read a comment outside the buffer size as a key-value pair
-        if (!key || !val) continue;
+        if (!dat.key || !dat.val) continue;
         // TODO: load opts from the file
         // the options shall be loaded as key-value-pairs
         // lines starting with # are seen as comments