Bug MacOS (M1) Editor spawns lots of extra processes

So the Mac I work on is an M1 MBP, previously on Catalina and now on Monterey, and we're using 2020.3(.19f at the moment). When I have Unity open, I'm seeing that the editor is spawning several extra processes and they all take up a LOT of memory.

Our project will use around 1.5-3.5gb most of the time, but always, before long it will spawn at least one additional Unity process, which can also take up 1-3gb, and at least one VBCSCompiler (usually two) that take up around 1+gb each. Here's an example of some of this:


I wouldn't otherwise notice it except this Mac only has 8gb total. Of course this isn't ideal but I also have Visual Studio open obviously, and much of the time I need Xcode as well since we're working with iPhones and iPads at the moment. And much of my work involves profiling as well, which means I almost always have to close Xcode and/or VS before I can do that. I have never seen these extra processes close on their own except when I quit Unity altogether.

I haven't been able to find anything specific or unusual that makes it happen, I know the VBCS is for script compilation but the same process on my PC only takes up 150mb at most. I don't always notice the extra Unity processes spawning, but I've seen it happen even from just clicking on a script or shader or something in the project view (not even double clicking it).

 

Nobody's experienced this all this time? I thought removing all Unity editors and reinstalling would fix it but nope. Would love to know if something like this was ever encountered and/or fixed...

 

I also recently noticed that Unity spawns three processes. Not sure if it is something that I didn't pay attention to in the past or "an improvement" with some Unity update. Nevertheless, it seems that it's "normal"
Unity 2021.3.27f1
Note that I am on Intel MBP 2019 16", 16Gb, 5300M, and running Ventura 13.5 so the observation is not limited to the Apple silicon

 

It's completely normal. The editor spools up a number of threads for various processes. Same as a lot of programs these days.

 

I am used to threads - they’re loose change nowadays. But why spool extra processes that eat half a gigabyte of memory each?

 

Well it's either multiple processes using some distributed amount of RAM, or one process using just as much RAM in a less performant manner.

Unity's a heavyweight program so it's not that surprising it uses lots of RAM.