I have not tried YYC. Should I simply not use VM?
I did realize that windows has been using my integrated card (not an awful card though can run way better looking games at 60fps), instead of the better card that is used by Baldur's Gate 3. I added my high performance card to the "Game Maker" app, but when I checked in task manager, it still shows the integrated graphics as being used (my guess is I have to add the project app to high performance, but couldn't figure out how to do that).
I tried running a debug again, and this time it is actually much worse (and what I was getting in my actual project). Essentially, if I use the game maker particle system, I experience 0 performance issues. But if I use the eclipse particle system (e.g., le_effect with particle systems and emissives), performance dips very badly. It is nothing to do with my project however, since I recreated it in the example file you've uploaded. I Added 7-8 le_light_fire objects into the room, upscaled to 1080p, and then profiled with these results.
