When should I use .xml/.csv files or a sql database to store data?

The forum and unityAnswers helped me a lot to solve many problems but I haven’t found something for this little question. I have several ideas in my mind and I’m just curious when should I use .xml/.csv files or a sql database(especially to get the best performance)?

Hi, I don’t know about .xml or .csv, but I use a mysql database for login to my website and my games. Another thing you could use a mysql database for is leaderboards and storing promo codes. Although I use dreamlo (http://www.dreamlo.com) which does both for free, unless you want SSL encryption then it’s 5 dollars, and it say “Want to store more than 5000 scores? Contact me.”

I hope this answer helps!

I would use mysql servers for as little as possible, because it costs money to have it up. You should use mysql if you have something that needs to be on a server, say if the player needs access to an account on multiple computers it would be smartest to store login credentials on a the server.
If you have something like what score the user has in a level, store it locally. You should only use mysql to store things that are essentials for the player to store there.

I personally use it for storing login credentials and information about the player that I could have an interest in using, for example an email that I would use to send a mail to the player about a newsletter or a new huge update being released.

  • Makak