Rosetta 2, the compatibility layer built into macOS to seamlessly convert x86 macOS APIs (Intel) into ARM64 macOS APIs (Apple silicon), works with Wine/CrossOver, but the performance impact of translating one system call to another on top of a compatibility layer that is designed to translate one architecture type to another is not insignificant.Īpple’s hope is that developers will use the Game Porting Toolkit as a jumping-off point to optimize the game code and shaders to make the experience really work for Mac gamers.
It isn’t emulation, but translation (an important semantic difference).Īlthough Wine (and CrossOver) have existed as a way to bring PC games to the Mac for quite some time, the Apple silicon transition has been difficult on the project. Wine, which is primarily supported by the company CodeWeavers (which also makes a commercial version called CrossOver), works by converting system calls made to Windows APIs into calls that can be used by other operating systems. That toolkit largely takes place as a 20,000 line of code patch to Wine, a compatibility layer designed to bring support for Windows games to platforms such as Linux, BSD, and macOS. It turns out that Apple added DirectX 12 support via something it is calling the Game Porting Toolkit, a tool Apple is offering to developers to see how their existing x86 DirectX 12 games work on Macs powered by Apple silicon. Maybe, just maybe, this is the beginning of the end to the old joke that Macs can't play AAA games. As PC gamers already know, this software support means the floodgates are open for some real games - not that casual Apple Arcade stuff - on Mac. Cool, 2005 and Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger would like to remind you that we’ve seen this film before.īut buried in the keynote was a macOS feature that Apple should have called out with more fanfare: DirectX 12 support for macOS. Apple announced three new Macs - the 15-inch MacBook Air, M2 Max/Ultra Mac Studio, and M2 Ultra Mac Pro - but mostly breezed past macOS Sonoma and its “new” desktop widgets. At WWDC last week, most of the focus was rightfully on the new Apple Vision Pro headset and the new visionOS.
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