This is huuge! 32bit Windows apps on M1 Macs. (spoiler: even Witcher 3)?!

jeanlain said:
I'm surprised that no developer has come with a solution to make 32 bit apps work on Catalina/big sur.
If a 32-bit Windows app can run, there is no reason why a 32-bit Mac app couldn't. In case of a game like TF2, which has a Mac version, running the 32-bit Mac app should be more performant.
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You could run QEMU (and eventually, Parallels) + 32-bit Catalina, but it'll take a toll on your performance.
 
throAU said:
Well to be fair, it's one of the best MacBooks from the past 4 years, since the butterfly disaster.

But yes, performance wise its no contest.
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I have to say, I didn’t dislike that keyboard until I used it along side the 16 inch machine.

In the case of performance, the new MacBooks look fantastic. I hope those upgrading enjoy them! I might get one next year! It'd certainly be great to try out these neat tricks!
 
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leman said:
Of course they would. VM can install "virtual" drivers that call Metal on the host machine. That's how Parallels and co. been offering GPU acceleration for a while.
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I've read from Brad Oliver that you cannot do that with a macOS VM.
 
jeanlain said:
I've read from Brad Oliver that you cannot do that with a macOS VM.
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Sorry, I don't know who Brad Oliver is. Could you give us a link where one can read about what he said? If I are to guess, maybe he was commenting on lack of GPU virtualization?
 
Joe Dohn said:
If Crossover can get 32-bit x86 gaming working at an acceptable speed, there is no excuse for Apple not to come up with an even better solution if they want to. But ideally, they should get x64 working too.
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jeanlain said:
For a Windows game, add some directX to openGL translation + openGL to Metal (although the latter is not confirmed, it's pretty unlikely that the M1 has openGL drivers).
That is, unless crossover does some directX to Metal translation, but I don't think it does.
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Codeweavers is the main driving force behind Wine submitting largest chunk of patches and as all paid Wine developers are their employees.
In fact without Codeweavers and CrossOver there would be no Wine on Mac even, as a open source project, they release FOSS code for anyone willing to compile it for themselves or take it even further.

For older Windows games they use OpenGL->DX translation and some "magical" x86->x64 compiler thunking which obviously still work on Apple Silicon.
And yes it would be nice if someone manages to do the same for Mac native 32bit apps.

Obvious example is that many of those games and apps already have "abandoned" native Mac version.

Apple rapid progress is obvious and reasons for hard cuts are understandable but it's almost a common culture thing to have ability to somehow run all those legacy software library.

Hats off to Microsoft for keeping compatibility.

For DX11 games they are using MoltenVK (Vulkan->Metal via DXVK) for which again they contribute lots of code.
 
Moderator Note:

Also see the discussion in the news thread:

forums.macrumors.com

CrossOver Allows x86 Windows Apps to Run on Apple M1 Macs

Codeweavers posted a blog post and video tonight showing off CrossOver running on an Apple M1 MacBook Air. This video shows Team Fortress 2 running on a new M1 MacBook Air: CrossOver is software (based on Wine Project) that runs Microsoft Windows apps on the Mac by translating Windows APIs...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
Andropov said:
No. Rosetta only runs 64 bit binaries.

What’s a “DVD”?
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By DVD, I meant the discs contained larger volumes of data than CD’s. A DVD+RW disc, for instance, can record more data than a CD+RW disc. So I had no clue what I was talking about?
 
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jeanlain said:
You mean there will be now way to translate Window X86 apps after Apple kills Rosetta?
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The makers of Crossover claim they may be able to develop a workaround once Rosetta 2 is gone, though that will be a lot harder and I'm sure the performance will take a hit.
 
Here's WoW being played natively on the M1 chip:


One of the first big games to support the new chip natively and it seems to run better than most dedicated GPUs.
 
Really fascinated to see how both the M1 MBA performs vs the MBP as gaming machines.

I’d assume that with active cooling, the MBP is always going to be better.
 
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