This isn't a Source Engine game, but RAM usage is high?

[Inocudom]

My issue with Minetest's RAM usage might actually be considerably worse:

The size of my .minetest folder.

Normal RAM usage.

RAM usage when Minetest is active and using all of the content in my .minetest folder.

There may very well be a severe memory leak issue at play here, because this kind of RAM usage is something I would expect from Team Fortress 2 and Garry's Mod, not Minetest. Even on public servers this issue can still occur.

[rubenwardy]

protip: delete files you don't need, such as caches and logs. Change database backends for ones with more compression

Memory leaks would cause an increase in memory usage and then a crash. They don't cause consistently high usage. All games need memory to store resources, including Minetest. And Minetest will need to store a lot more map info as you can't preoptimise the storage of the map

[Inocudom]

protip: delete files you don't need, such as caches and logs. Change database backends for ones with more compression

Memory leaks would cause an increase in memory usage and then a crash. They don't cause consistently high usage. All games need memory to store resources, including Minetest. And Minetest will need to store a lot more map info as you can't preoptimise the storage of the map

Even if the map uses leveldb and there are no cache files, RAM usage is still pretty high. How does 277MB (minetest and .minetest folders combined) turn into up to 3.1GB while Minetest is running? 2.1GB sounds a little more reasonable in terms of RAM usage than 3.1GB. Then again, lua could be the primary cause here (at least, that what my experiences with Garry's Mod seem to communicate to me.) Maybe 4GB to 8GB should be seen as a system requirement for Minetest from now on?

[Inocudom]

Very well. Very well. I understand that this is God's will and I will bow to it. What is, is. What must be, must be. I do not live in a fantasy world, for I heed the words of the following video:
https://youtu.be/5pBJxeJxpxE