[macOS 28 and Rosetta 2] "Rosetta functionality will be available only for certain older, unmaintained games that rely on Intel-based frameworks"

[izzy0242mr]

It's interesting that despite the warnings that macOS 28 will only "remain available through the forthcoming macOS 27," Apple also explicitly says, "Rosetta functionality will be available only for certain older, unmaintained games that rely on Intel-based frameworks."

This is seemingly a huge caveat. I'm not sure how they will go about determining whether any given app is a "certain older, unmaintained games," but presumably--just like how folks have figured out how to make other Windows apps run using the Game Porting Toolkit--someone might be able to figure out how to hack Rosetta 2's last vestiges into still continuing to work under macOS 28.

What do folks (especially any developers) think this particular language means/how might this work/how might this be hacked to keep older Intel apps working unofficially?

 

[Nermal]

I suspect they'll be getting rid of APIs that work with desktop windows, while keeping Metal, networking, input, and other underlying APIs working.

 

[NoBoMac]

Been seeing comments on the interwebs re OpenGL, for example. Been depreciated by Apple for about a decade now but still there.

So, in this case, game using OpenGL, ok. "Regular" app/program using core Apple APIs for graphics, won't run as no Intel support in the core libraries.

Not a gamer, so not familiar with what "specialized" libraries old game apps might use that Apple has let sit in limbo and MIGHT work in 28, but guessing non-gaming apps are not using these libraries so no/really difficult trick MacOS to run them. Can't find the Apple documentation right now but there is a command line switch in Golden Gate, game-test-tool, that disables Rosetta and allows game apps to MAYBE run. Caveat Apple put on this was along the lines of "anything not a game will not run", so sounds like Apple is disabling/removing vast majority of Intel libraries, just leaving stuff they have not touched/updated in years.

 

[Nermal]

Can't find the Apple documentation right now

Looks like it's in the release notes.

A new command line tool lets you enable support for legacy Intel-based games during beta releases. To enable it, run the following command in Terminal: sudo game-test-tool enable. Restart your Mac computer for the change to take effect. Once enabled, games run transparently through the new underlying system behavior. Note that enabling legacy game support disables Rosetta, non-game processes might crash or behave unexpectedly, and this feature is intended only for playing legacy Intel-based games and is not available outside of macOS beta releases.