How to "pause" KSP so it doesn't hog GPU in background?

[PT]

So I launched KSP on my laptop, a cute light toy, so I fully expected it to hog all the CPU/GPU while playing. Its just a surprisingly capable Intel iGPU at 2880x1800 so not having enough resources to watch video while game is running is to be expected, but it got enough RAM to hold a game or two paused in background without any issue.

Except that KSP is, to say charitably, a lovely horrible mess written during toilet break. So now I have minimized KSP in background, 96% iGPU usage, and jet turbine rumbling below keyboard.

Shutting KSP down for few minutes is not viable alternative  given the load time of my heavily modded install ';..;'

Is there some magic button, config flag, or mod that will allow me to keep loaded but paused KSP in background without accelerating universe heat death?

Stuff I tried to no effect:
- simulate in background - does not affect GPU hogging while in menu, and even if so it would be annoying during long burns.
- fullscreen/windowed
- windowed borderless (-popupwindow switch)
- "efficiency mode" through task manager (act of desperation :D)

[Royale37]

I have a gaming PC with Radeon  RX 6650XT, but I started playing on a laptop from 2018 with the worst 2-core that intel makes and integrated graphics. I had to run the game on 800x600p, worst settings and no mods. Still it sounded like a whiplash jet engine.

[PT]

59 minutes ago, Royale37 said:

I have a gaming PC with Radeon  RX 6650XT, but I started playing on a laptop from 2018 with the worst 2-core that intel makes and integrated graphics. I had to run the game on 800x600p, worst settings and no mods. Still it sounded like a whiplash jet engine.

Dropping resolution does indeed drop GPU usage, but then I won't be able to enjoy inky black OLED outer space at high-dpi

I'm on 12gen higher end iGPU  (laptop targeted for graphic designers, only way to get good non-gaming OLED :D) so it is strong enough to do KSP at full resolution with high-ish details so during playtime everything is fine. But when KSP is needlessly rendering 3D while idling in background I get graphic lags in browser...

I just want it to not render when paused and out-of-focus, like most games made this millennium do.

[Royale37]

Yes, but you are forgetting - KSP is not a "next gen game" - it's a game started by one dev back in 2011, and back then it was cutting edge. It's over a decade old, being kept alive by modders.

[DeadJohn]

On 8/26/2024 at 9:18 AM, PT said:

Is there some magic button, config flag, or mod that will allow me to keep loaded but paused KSP in background without accelerating universe heat death?

I was facing a similar situation where I wanted KSP to actually pause in the background. I don't think there's any game setting for it but Windows can do it with a few steps.

You can either use Windows Performance Monitor to manually suspend/unsuspend KSP when you put it in the background, or run PsSuspend.exe from a command line or batch file. Details in this thread:

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/225772-ksp-running-in-background-windows/?do=findComment&comment=4415492

 

[PT]

1 hour ago, DeadJohn said:

I was facing a similar situation where I wanted KSP to actually pause in the background. I don't think there's any game setting for it but Windows can do it with a few steps.

You can either use Windows Performance Monitor to manually suspend/unsuspend KSP when you put it in the background, or run PsSuspend.exe from a command line or batch file. Details in this thread:

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/225772-ksp-running-in-background-windows/?do=findComment&comment=4415492

 

Oh, clever! Thanks. I think I have even used it in the past with some pre-2000 oldies going 100% all the time, but got spoiled by post NT-5.0 games

Thankfully I only wasted two hours reading Unity documentation. I spotted several possible ways to make plugin that would auto pause render (by switching from scene to static texture) on alt-tab if game is paused. Could be fun way to spend weekend.