High pulseaudio cpu usage with Godot Editor

[wb14123]

Godot version

v4.0.2.stable.arch_linux

System information

ArchLinux, Intel i5-6600k

Issue description

When I open Godot Editor, even before I open any project, pulseaudio uses ~12% CPU on the project selection dialog.

I'm using ArchLinux with X11.

Not sure if it's a regression of #15266

Steps to reproduce

Open Godot editor

Minimal reproduction project

Just open Godot editor without selecting any project

[Calinou]

Can you reproduce this in 3.5.2?

Can you reproduce this when starting the project manager with --audio-driver ALSA?

[wb14123]

@Calinou I don't have 3.5.2 installed for now. But I've tried godot -p --audio-driver ALSA and it reproduced the problem.

[wb14123]

@Calinou Just tried this version v3.5.2.stable.official.170ba337a downloaded from official website. It has the same problem, even with --audio-driver ALSA.

[lawnjelly]

For me in 3.x, pulse audio was also the biggest CPU hog after selecting vital updates only mode (Using >5% CPU for pulse audio).

This is why I wrote #63458 . This PR turns off the audio driver when sound is not playing, especially useful in the editor, when 99% of time there is no need to use CPU on sound. You can also use it in exported projects, and mute when losing focus, sleeping etc. It is merged in https://github.com/godot-plus/godot-plus/releases which may be worth a try for comparison, if the linux build works for you.

This is useful for low power / mobile / battery devices, as the audio will drain the battery needlessly. In official Godot the only way to prevent this I think is to run using the dummy audio driver in the command line argument, but it will play no audio.

[Calinou]

• Duplicate of Editor uses CPU time in the background due to the audio server being kept active #55608.