Apple Releases Tool to Help Developers Port Windows Games to Mac

[MacRumors]

Apple at WWDC this week announced a new toolkit that makes it easier for game developers to port Windows games to the Mac. The toolkit provides an emulation environment that allows developers to run their existing, unmodified Windows game on the Mac and quickly evaluate how well the game could run on macOS before writing any code. A beta version of the toolkit is available for download on the Apple Developer website.

Apple is also offering developers a new Metal shader converter that simplifies the process of converting a Windows game's shaders and graphics code to run on Macs with Apple silicon. Apple says the toolkit and converter significantly reduce the total development time required to port games to the Mac, from months to just a few days.

Developers interested in porting Windows games to the Mac can watch Apple's series of "bring your game to Mac" videos for more details. Apple also has a page on its website outlining various gaming technologies and tools available for developers.

Apple appears to be increasing its commitment to high-end gaming on the Mac. For example, macOS Sonoma features a new Game Mode that temporarily prioritizes CPU and GPU performance for gaming. Game Mode also lowers AirPods audio latency, and reduces input latency with popular third-party game controllers by doubling the Bluetooth sampling rate, according to Apple. macOS Sonoma will be released later this year.

Article Link: Apple Releases Tool to Help Developers Port Windows Games to Mac

 

[appleguy123]

Can users use it to run windows games on Mac? Or do you have to prove you developed the game?

 

[erikkfi]

Anything to avoid supporting Vulkan I guess.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Hoping this is all as good as it sounds and developers actually take advantage.

We need eGPU support now though. As good as M1 is, the graphics performance still isn’t comparable to a mid-level modern nVidia card for actually running games on most Macs. And now of course that even applies to the Mac Pro.

Edit: I assume these downvotes are for the Mac Pro comment (since no one has bothered to actually say why they disagree.) Yes, it and its identically powered for $3000 less twin the Mac Studio are probably better than a mid-range card, even though there’s no ray tracing. But the point remains.

And I don’t mean just the M1 specifically, but the vast majority of the computers they sell is going to continue to be the MacBook Air and cheapest MacBook Pro, which will have the lower end chips of whatever generation. Maybe people really don’t expect to game on those but then right there, why is Apple chasing AAA games when the vast majority of the computers they sell won’t run them well? Do they really only expect to sell games to owners of Mac Studios or better?

Even in the Death Stranding demo you could see rendering latency. I would like to see their recommended specs for it on the Mac.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Can users use it to run windows games on Mac? Or do you have to prove you developed the game?

The way it’s phrased it is not actually clear what they mean by “running the Windows game unmodified.”

I would assume they need to make at least some modifications to get it to run on macOS in the first place.

 

[Charcharius]

I think this is fantastic. We may not get Apple Silicon to support eGPUs in the near term, but with M3 rumoured to have hardware RT support, running windows games at say 75% FPS would be fine for me for games not on the PS5 (or where M&K is best).

 

[whelmedjedi]

Can users use it to run windows games on Mac? Or do you have to prove you developed the game?

Yes you can. Follow macgaming on reddit. They are currently playing almost every AAA windows games without any issues and great performance on their Macs using game porting toolkit. This toolkit provides preview for developers to see how would their game run on macOS before doing real porting. And these users using that benefit to play games. If developers choose to completely port their games to apple silicon, performance optimization should be even better than preview.

 

[Sappharad]

Can users use it to run windows games on Mac? Or do you have to prove you developed the game?

Yes, they can and have. Apple's toolkit is just CrossOver 22.1.1 with patches applied to support DirectX 12 games.

Wine comes to macOS: Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit powered by CrossOver source code | CodeWeavers Blog

By Meredith Johnson | We are ecstatic that Apple chose to use CrossOver’s source code as their emulation solution for the Game Porting Toolkit.

www.codeweavers.com

This can also be confirmed by reading Apple's installer script.

It is not intended for end-users though, the whole setup process is command line based.

Codeweavers will be adding DirectX 12 support officially to their Crossover product in version 23 later this year and it's already in nightly tester builds, although it's not as compatible right now as apple's patched version of 22.

 

[groove-agent]

But "Apple doesn't care about gaming on the Mac". LOL

Gaming on the Mac is coming naysayers. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

It’s a start! I wouldn’t mind this step up to start gaming on my 💻

 

[TSE]

Can't wait for Apple to put some L33T G4M3R LED lights on their MacBooks with flame decals. NOT!

Does anyone else feel enabling gaming on Mac cheapens the brand?

 

[mensah]

Finally. Some skin the in the game.

 

[jlc1978]

Can't wait for Apple to put some L33T G4M3R LED lights on their MacBooks with flame decals. NOT!

Does anyone else feel enabling gaming on Mac cheapens the brand?

Not really; it adds a new reason for people to buy a Mac. While gamers who want maximum performance will still buy or build machines at the bleeding edge, making more games available on the Mac can only help, especially if they come out at the same time as the PC version, is a plus for casual gamers as well as help developers sell more games. That's a win for everyone.

It might also encourage Apple to improve things like graphic performance, will will help non-gamers as well; plus if improvements to Apple’s tool get rolled into Crossover it may mean better performance and compatibility with Window’s apps beyond games as well.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Is it simply not possible to support a proper GPU with their processor architecture?

 

[Chazz12]

Can't wait for Apple to put some L33T G4M3R LED lights on their MacBooks with flame decals. NOT!

Does anyone else feel enabling gaming on Mac cheapens the brand?

Not at all. In fact, I've emailed Tim's office several times to offer ideas, and they sometimes call back to get more info. It's something they are interested in because their users are interested in. Just because you aren't doesn't mean it cheapens the brand.

 

[Chazz12]

Is it simply not possible to support a proper GPU with their processor architecture?

It doesn't need a "proper" gpu.

 

[fbr$]

Most people want hundreds of AAA games via subscriptions, not buy one by one individually.

Xbox Game Pass Games Library | Xbox

Explore the Game Pass library and play hundreds of games.

www.xbox.com

 

[groove-agent]

I think this is fantastic. We may not get Apple Silicon to support eGPUs in the near term, but with M3 rumoured to have hardware RT support, running windows games at say 75% FPS would be fine for me for games not on the PS5 (or where M&K is best).

That's fantastic if the M3 will support hardware raytracing as that's the final thing holding me back from gaming on the Mac. My PC gaming rig will likely be the last one I buy as I feel Mac gaming will good enough by the time I need to replace it.

As for performance, I wonder what Apple has in store for GPUs? If they care about gaming, the gaming performance will have to be significant. I would assume they have some big plans for Apple Silicon GPUs, or maybe add eGPU support or offer their own eGPU product.

The other thing they could do is offer eGPU support with a monitor that has it's own SoC, although that would probably be costly gaming solution.

 

[Chazz12]

Yes, they can and have. Apple's toolkit is just CrossOver 22.1.1 with patches applied to support DirectX 12 games.

Wine comes to macOS: Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit powered by CrossOver source code | CodeWeavers Blog

By Meredith Johnson | We are ecstatic that Apple chose to use CrossOver’s source code as their emulation solution for the Game Porting Toolkit.

www.codeweavers.com

This can also be confirmed by reading Apple's installer script.

It is not intended for end-users though, the whole setup process is command line based.

Codeweavers will be adding DirectX 12 support officially to their Crossover product in version 23 later this year and it's already in nightly tester builds, although it's not as compatible right now as apple's patched version of 22.

Thanks! I was wondering about all of this and how it worked.

 

[groove-agent]

Most people want hundreds of AAA games via subscriptions, not buy one by one individually.

Xbox Game Pass Games Library | Xbox

Explore the Game Pass library and play hundreds of games.

www.xbox.com

Any source to support this claim? I certainly don't want to pay a subscription.

 

[Chazz12]

That's fantastic if the M3 will support hardware raytracing as that's the final thing holding me back from gaming on the Mac. My PC gaming rig will likely be the last one I buy as I feel Mac gaming will good enough by the time I need to replace it.

As for performance, I wonder what Apple has in store for GPUs? If they care about gaming, the gaming performance will have to be significant. I would assume they have some big plans for Apple Silicon GPUs, or maybe add eGPU support or offer their own eGPU product.

The other thing they could do is offer eGPU support with a monitor that has it's own SoC in it although that probably be costly gaming solution.

Apple Silicon already supports Ray Tracing.

 

[iObama]

It’s a start! I wouldn’t mind this step up to start gaming on my 💻

View attachment 2216283

Oo can you please link that background?

 

[Dydegu]

This plus the “Game Mode” is great news.

 

[DominikHoffmann]

Can this toolkit be used to run SolidWorks sans Windows on an Apple Silicon Mac?

 

[groove-agent]

Apple Silicon already supports Ray Tracing.

I think maybe they mean dedicated hardware raytracing as per what

Charcharius said:​

I think this is fantastic. We may not get Apple Silicon to support eGPUs in the near term, but with M3 rumoured to have hardware RT support, running windows games at say 75% FPS would be fine for me for games not on the PS5 (or where M&K is best).