Does a package exist to carry out intense string manipulation in VHDL?
There are string libraries on the net like:


Stefan VHDL
PoC.Strings
LibC port to VHDL
...


But the normal flow is as follows:


compile your MIPS program (e.g. with gcc and cross platform compiling to a *.elf file.
convert your .elf file to a memory file (.mem, *.hex, *.mif)
load that memory file into your MIPS's boot memory
simulate your program and CPU