Use less system resources while paused in background

[michelcolman]

For some reason, if I pause full-screen KSP and switch to another application (KSP invisible in the background), KSP keeps using an enormous amount of system resources. My laptop remains very hot and the fan keeps running at max speed even though the physics are paused, the scene is not changing and the window is not even visible. I think the graphics engine continues to run and composite the same scene over and over again even though it's invisible.

If at all possible, could you stop the graphics engine while the game is invisible in the background?

I'm running on a 17 inch Apple MacBook Pro, and you could literally use it to bake eggs if I leave KSP paused in the background. I understand it gets hot while playing, but I shouldn't have to quit the game completely to do other stuff temporarily and let the computer cool down a little.

Thanks in advance!

Michel

[Red Iron Crown]

Have you tried unchecking the "Simulate in Background" option in the settings? I haven't used it on OSX but on Windows it really cuts down on load when KSP is minimized.

[michelcolman]

I had already set "SIMULATE_IN_BACKGROUND = False" in settings.cfg.

But even if I hadn't, it still shouldn't consume resources while *paused*. SIMULATE_IN_BACKGROUND should only matter if you switch to another app while the game is still running. Anyway, just to be clear, I did set it to False and it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Edited March 21, 2016 by michelcolman

[John FX]

I support some form of throttle on CPU/GPU usage and so does my computer.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

KSP is a bit of a CPU hog, even at just the startup menu. I play on Linux and I have the process monitor in my taskbar, and when I have KSP running, even just idle or in a non-physics situation there is a steady line of CPU use. With a quad core there are always at least 2 cores that add up to 100% usage with the other 2 at 10-20%. I've read once that the first step in coding is to make it work, the second step is to optimize, I hope in later releases there will be more optimizations happening.

[11of10]

Actually, sometimes it just goes to almost 0% of CPU time when I alt+tab to another app (when the game is in full screen) and sometimes it keeps on ticking just like it's focused. 

Maybe it's the mods?

[michelcolman]

It already did that before I had MechJeb installed, and that's the only mod I have.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

Stupid question, is the laptop on a hard flat surface when in use? MacOS has a nice system monitor program built in (it's in the utilities folder) to keep an eye on what is sucking power.

[michelcolman]

Yes, I do use it on a flat surface (I actually got burn marks when I kept it on my lap), and the fan starts to go down quickly after quitting KSP. Right now it's showing around 80% CPU and 150 "energy impact" (no idea what units that's in, but Safari is less than 10 while typing right now)