Revert "fix: eliminate blocking calls causing startup freezes and UI hangs"

This reverts commit b2a1046f9d.

portprotonqt/portproton_api.py

@@ -416,24 +416,18 @@ class PortProtonAPI:
                 self._topics_data = []
 
         self.downloader.download_async(self.topics_url, cache_tar, timeout=5, callback=process_tar)
-        # Instead of blocking, return cached data if available, or empty list
-        # The actual data will be loaded asynchronously for future calls
-        if hasattr(self, '_topics_data') and self._topics_data is not None:
-            return self._topics_data
-        else:
-            # Return empty list as fallback to prevent blocking
-            # The topics data will be loaded asynchronously in the background
-            logger.warning("Returning empty topics data, async loading in progress")
-            return []
+        # Wait for async download to complete if called synchronously
+        while self._topics_data is None:
+            time.sleep(0.1)
+        return self._topics_data
 
     def get_forum_topic_slug(self, game_name: str) -> str:
         """Get the forum topic slug or search URL for a given game name."""
         topics = self._load_topics_data()
-        if topics:  # Only search if topics were loaded
-            normalized_name = normalize_name(game_name)
-            for topic in topics:
-                if topic["normalized_title"] == normalized_name:
-                    return topic["slug"]
+        normalized_name = normalize_name(game_name)
+        for topic in topics:
+            if topic["normalized_title"] == normalized_name:
+                return topic["slug"]
         logger.debug("No forum topic found for game: %s, redirecting to search", game_name)
         encoded_name = urllib.parse.quote(f"#ppdb {game_name}")
         return f"search?q={encoded_name}"