SpriteKit App Using Excessive CPU - sprite-kit

Question

I wrote a SpriteKit app last year targeting 10.10 (Yosemite). Everything ran fine, but when I upgraded to El Capitan this year it freezes in one particular spot. It's a tough problem to diagnose because there is a lot of code so I'll try to be as descriptive as possible. I've also created a YOUTUBE screen recording of the issue.
App's Purpose
The app is basically a leaderboard that I created for a tournament at the school that I teach at. When the app launches, it goes to the LeaderboardScene scene and displays the leaderboard.
The app stays in this scene for the rest of the time. The sword that says "battle" is a button. When it is pressed it creates an overlay and shows the two students that will be facing each other in video form (SKVideoNode).
The videos play continuously and the user of the app eventually clicks on whichever student wins that match and then the overlay is removed from the scene and the app shows the leaderboard once again.
Potential Reasons For High CPU
Playing video: Normally the overlay shows video, but I also created an option where still images are loaded instead of video just in case I had a problem. Whether I load images or video, the CPU usage is super high.
Here's some of the code that is most likely causing this issue:
LeaderboardScene.m
//when the sword button is pressed it switches to the LB_SHOW_VERSUS_SCREEN state
-(void) update:(NSTimeInterval)currentTime {
switch (_leaderboardState) {
...
case LB_SHOW_VERSUS_SCREEN: { //Case for "Versus Screen" overlay
[self showVersusScreen];
break;
}
case LB_CHOOSE_WINNER: {
break;
}
default:
break;
}
}
...
//sets up the video overlay
-(void) showVersusScreen {
//doesn't allow the matchup screen to pop up until the producer FLASHING actions are complete
if ([_right hasActions] == NO) {
[self addChild:_matchup]; //_matchup is an object from the Matchup.m class
NSArray *producers = #[_left, _right];
[_matchup createRound:_round WithProducers:producers VideoType:YES]; //creates the matchup with VIDEO
//[_matchup createRound:_round WithProducers:producers VideoType:NO]; //creates the matchup without VIDEO
_leaderboardState = LB_CHOOSE_WINNER;
}
}
Matchup.m
//more setting up of the overlay
-(void) createRound:(NSString*)round WithProducers:(NSArray*)producers VideoType:(bool)isVideoType {
SKAction *wait = [SKAction waitForDuration:1.25];
[self loadSoundsWithProducers:producers];
[self runAction:wait completion:^{ //resets the overlay
_isVideoType = isVideoType;
[self removeAllChildren];
[self initBackground];
[self initHighlightNode];
[self initOutline];
[self initText:round];
if (_isVideoType)
[self initVersusVideoWithProducers:producers]; //this is selected
else
[self initVersusImagesWithProducers:producers];
[self animationSequence];
_currentSoundIndex = 0;
[self playAudio];
}];
}
...
//creates a VersusSprite object which represents each of the students
-(void) initVersusVideoWithProducers:(NSArray*)producers {
Producer *left = (Producer*)[producers objectAtIndex:0];
Producer *right = (Producer*)[producers objectAtIndex:1];
_leftProducer = [[VersusSprite alloc] initWithProducerVideo:left.name LeftSide:YES];
_leftProducer.name = left.name;
_leftProducer.zPosition = 5;
_leftProducer.position = CGPointMake(-_SCREEN_WIDTH/2, _SCREEN_HEIGHT/3);
[self addChild:_leftProducer];
_rightProducer = [[VersusSprite alloc] initWithProducerVideo:right.name LeftSide:NO];
_rightProducer.name = right.name;
_rightProducer.zPosition = 5;
_rightProducer.xScale = -1;
_rightProducer.position = CGPointMake(_SCREEN_WIDTH + _SCREEN_WIDTH/2, _SCREEN_HEIGHT/3);
[self addChild:_rightProducer];
}
VersusSprite.m
-(instancetype) initWithProducerVideo:(NSString*)fileName LeftSide:(bool)isLeftSide {
if (self = [super init]) {
_isVideo = YES;
_isLeftSide = isLeftSide;
self.name = fileName;
[self initVideoWithFileName:fileName]; //creates videos
[self addProducerLabel];
}
return self;
}
...
//creates the videos for the VersusSprite
-(void) initVideoWithFileName:(NSString*)fileName {
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains (NSDesktopDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString *desktopPath = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *resourcePath = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/vs", desktopPath];
NSString *videoPath = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#/%#.mp4", resourcePath, fileName];
NSURL *fileURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:videoPath];
AVPlayer *avPlayer = [[AVPlayer alloc] initWithURL:fileURL];
_vid = [SKVideoNode videoNodeWithAVPlayer:avPlayer];
//[_vid setScale:1];
[self addChild:_vid];
[_vid play];
avPlayer.actionAtItemEnd = AVPlayerActionAtItemEndNone;
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
selector:#selector(playerItemDidReachEnd:)
name:AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTimeNotification
object:[avPlayer currentItem]];
}
//used to get the videos to loop
- (void)playerItemDidReachEnd:(NSNotification *)notification {
AVPlayerItem *p = [notification object];
[p seekToTime:kCMTimeZero];
}
UPDATE
The issue has been identified and is very specific to my project, so it probably won't help anyone else unfortunately. When clicking on the "sword" icon that says "Battle", the scene gets blurred and then the overlay is put on top of it. The blurring occurs on a background thread as you'll see below:
[self runAction:[SKAction waitForDuration:1.5] completion:^{
[self blurSceneProgressivelyToValue:15 WithDuration:1.25];
}];
I'll have to handle the blur in another way or just remove it altogether.