GPU usage, Godot Editor VS Standalone App

Question

I was talking to my teammate about why Windows Task Manager shows GPU usage of ₁% when running Godot 4 in a laptop with NVidia dedicated GPU. That seemed to be great in performance side, considering how much stuff is shown on screen in the Godot 4 editor GUI.

The thing is, our app is using Canvas elements (Control nodes) and nothing else (no 3D, no 2D nodes). We are even using the same basic control native nodes (UI) that comes with Godot itself. But for some reason, the GPU usage hits around 30% in standalone, with a lot less stuff on screen than Godot4s UI.

We checked out some Editor configuration, and we found a "Update continously" check that was unchecked. So we tried to check it, and suddenly Godot4 Editor went from the ₁% GPU usage to the same ₃₀% GPU usage our app gets.

So the elephant in the room is: what does the "update continously" makes for the Editor with no apparent side effects? Is it some undocumented kind of FPS cap?

And most important: could it be reaplicated inside a standalone app?

Cornuted

Answer 1

It enables redrawing the editor gui each frame as opposed to only when needed. It shouldn't affect exported/standalone apps.

Elodea

Answer 2

Is there any way to make that inside my app to optimize it?

Cornuted

Answer 3

Oh, nevermind. I figured it out. There's a project setting under General->Run, where you can choose a mode called "Low Processor". Simply enabling it makes the magic. Obviously, it's only designed for apps not needing to refresh the screen continously, which is my case, thankfully.

BTW: that option only appears when toggling "Advanced Settings" under Project Settings.

Cornuted