Most of valve’s own games like team fortress 2 and l4d2 died on mac when they dropped 32bit.
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Mac Gaming to Gain DirectX 12 Support via CrossOver 23
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All I wanted was Overwatch and I don’t have the link but I remember an exec being asked about Overwatch for Mac and they blamed Apple, said Apple wouldn’t let them distribute it how they want.
Which sounds like ******** because Apple has never stopped anyone from distributing Mac software any way they want that isn’t outright malicious.
They just didn’t want to spend the resources for a native version.
And then of course they killed Overwatch and parade its corpse around like Bernie and call it Overwatch 2 and charge two bits a gander.
I’m done with Blizzard and don’t really expect any PC game makers to ever care about the Mac. Unless Apple subsidizes some big games, the developer interest just isn’t there.
Apple is hampering developers' effort by not implementing Vulkan or MoltenVK. That in itself would make it much easier to port games to macOS.
Apple creating Vulkan drivers would make it easier for game devs to port to macs. However, if you’ve seen some of the ports that actually implemented Metal API’s too/instead, you would see that the metal backend is 100x better.
Look at the speed increases the Dolphin emulator achieved after adding a metal backend. It lets an m1 MacBook Air compete with high end PC graphics.
What I think Apple really needs to do is to really start advocating (paying) devs to build on Metal and train up the one of developers on it.
Apple needs to add the ability to boost the color of their MacBook displays like you can on PC with Nvidia's software. No matter how much better their machines perform, games will always look like crap. And yes, I know they're P3 calibrated or whatever but that's for content creators, not consumers.
Sounds like a confused exec. Probably was under the impression that Mac has the same App Store restrictions as iOS does. Blizzard, of course, distributes it's remaining Mac titles via Battle.net, exactly the same way as it does on Windows.
Thing is, most new indy titles coming out on Steam do support Mac right out of the gate. From that perspective, Mac gaming is probably better than it's ever been! It's the big studios that aren't interested in Mac support.
You mean, like the "Color Profile" setting in System Preferences -> Displays? And the Display Calibration Assistant? Features that macOS has had basically forever?
I agree that going "native" Metal would be best for performance. However, given the time and costs involved for developers and the currently tiny market it doesn't really make business sense for developers. At least not without Apple doing some serious subsidising, something I'm not sure Apple is willing to do on a large enough scale. Especially given that subsidies have not always been a succes. You can ask Microsoft how it worked out for them and Windows Phone apps.
Apple doesn’t need to implement MoltenVK, it’s a translation layer for devs.
OpenGL didn’t make things easier for games to get ported to macOS… what makes you think Vulkan would?
Apple, just make a Mac Studio with both a M3 Ultra and an i9 with RTX 4090 Ti and we are happy!
Specifically, Torchlight II. Game play is very similar to Diablo II, because it's from the game leads from Diablo II but lighter in tone, playfully steam-punky, with an Engineer who swings a mighty spanner.
Microsoft is pretty happy with their directX lock-in. And it wouldn’t make sense for apple to develop drivers for vulkan and promote metal at the same time. As you mentioned, developers won’t develop for both, and most would just port for vulkan saying, “it’s good enough”. It would essentially kill the better technology, metal.
I gave crossover a go but the result was I don’t trust their compatibility database. When GW2 dropped Mac support I gave it a go and while it said it was well supported the game wouldn’t launch properly. FO3 also had this issue. I think while for current games it might be good I think it doesn’t keep up with the classics. I use parallels and have had much better luck.
That said, native is still the best and I’m glad we are seeing more.
That said, native is still the best and I’m glad we are seeing more.
Blender has a native-Metal back end and it just sings. I've been very happy with it on my M2 Pro mini. But that's because Apple donated an engineer to do it.
Yeah, I think that’s the biggest problem. They need more expert devs in Metal!
The improvements in emulators now using metal I mentioned before? It’s all from like one person hopping between projects, even fixing MoltenVK bugs while at it
Who cares about Diablo 2 when Diablo 4 is what everyone wants?
CrossOver will gain support for DirectX 12 starting this year to enhance the experience of playing Windows games on macOS, CodeWeavers this week announced.
CrossOver allows macOS, Linux, and ChromeOS users to run Windows apps as if they were native by translating Windows APIs into their Mac equivalents. CrossOver currently only supports Microsoft's DirectX 11. DirectX 12 is the latest collection of graphics rendering APIs available on Windows and Xbox, promising better performance, efficiency, and optimal use of multiple CPU and GPU cores.
Support for DirectX 12 games will be added to CrossOver on a per-title basis to circumvent bugs. From CodeWeavers' press release:The first game to gain DirectX 12 support in CrossOver will be "Diablo II Resurrected," but CodeWeavers plans to add more titles in the future. CodeWeavers maintains a compatibility database so you can see what may work work well with the software.
The first beta of CrossOver 23 is set to be released this summer, followed by the official launch later this year.
Article Link: Mac Gaming to Gain DirectX 12 Support via CrossOver 23
People should be shaming Blizzard for dumping the Mac just as Apple settles on a long term strategy. Why did Blizzard decide to dump Apple the moment Apple took absolutely everything into their own hands.
64-bit, Apple Silicon, Metal... this all guarantees Apple won't switch to another architecture or graphics framework for decades.
Anyways... it's probably for the best. Blizzard-Activision is a CCP-owned company now. They don't have your interests at heart. Let them die, please.
If you know how to increase the color without making the screen darker, I'm all ears. I returned a MacBook because with the Display Calibration Assistant, you could only change the gamma, which boosts the color but also makes the image darker. On top of that, the calibrator is way too complicated to use and is buried deep in the System folder (the relevant one). What I'm referring to is more akin to the display settings on your TV.
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They should be shaming Blizzard for their Cosby Suite bro culture, but folks have short memories, especially when a new shiny title is being launched.
