Apple Game Porting Toolkit Brings DirectX 12 Titles to macOS

[T0@st]

Apple has struggled in the area of offering comprehensive gaming ecosystems - in the personal computer space - over the past few decades with only a handful of studios bothering to port their games over to macOS, but material presented at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) indicates that the technology giant is getting serious about its silicon becoming a legitimate platform for video games. A lot of the company's presentation focused on the controversial Vision Pro Headset, but some press outlets took notice of a quieter announcement during proceedings. Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear Solid fame) made an appearance and announced: "I have been a die-hard Apple fan since I bought my first Mac back in 1994—and it has been a dream of mine to see my team's best work come to life on the Mac. Death Stranding Director's Cut on the Mac takes advantage of the latest Apple technologies to provide the best experience to our fans." Several other development outfits have also declared that their games are set for arrival on Mac systems this year. Apple was enthused about this new strategy and let everyone know that: "tens of millions of Macs can run demanding games with outstanding performance, exceptional battery life, and breathtaking visuals."

Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations stated: "A new era for gaming on Mac is here...Developers around the world can harness our powerful tools in Metal 3 to deliver incredibly responsive gameplay with high frame rates to more players than ever before." Their software engineering team has been working on a system that simplifies and accelerates the process of creating Windows-to-Mac game ports. A Proton-esque environment - comparable to Valve's software layer efforts with Steam Deck - is capable of translating and running the latest DirectX 12 Windows titles on macOS. Codeweavers revealed in a blog post that Apple has chosen to base the Game Porting Toolkit on their CrossOver source code.




Meredith Johnson, QA and CrossOver product manager at Codeweavers wrote: "We have decades of experience creating ports with Wine, and we are very pleased that Apple is recognizing that Wine is a fantastic solution for running Windows games on macOS. We did not work with Apple on this tool, but we would be delighted to work with any game developers who try out the Game Porting Toolkit and see the massive potential that Wine offers. Our PortJump team has perfected the art and science of creating ports of Windows applications using our Wine technology, and we welcome inquiries about how we can help get your game working on macOS. We are also excited by the potential that the Game Porting Toolkit can offer CrossOver. We announced last week that we have preliminary DirectX 12 support on macOS coming in CrossOver 23, and we are eager to build on that momentum. As we learn more, we will be sharing updates in future posts. You can stay informed by subscribing to our blog."

The Game Porting Toolkit is currently being used by development outfits as an evaluation solution (prior to making full conversions), but some members of the Apple hardware owner community have jumped at the chance to test it out for themselves. Gaming session footage has been shared on Reddit and YouTube, including Cyberpunk 2077 on an M2 Max-based system and M1 MacBook Pro, plus an M1 Max MacBook Pro running Diablo IV. The early iterative nature of the toolkit is noticeable due to mixed in-game performance, but the results are promising nonetheless. It will be interesting to find out whether Apple's upcoming M2 Ultra chip will be able to chew through big AAA titles with ease.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

I fear any development that might result in more revenue being funneled to Apple. They're constantly ratcheting up their anti-consumer practices and the more powerful they become the more they'll act as a model to other brands in the market and other companies in other markets altogether.

Apple is the reification of the petty-bourgeois lifestyle

 

[trparky]

Apple is the reification of the petty-bourgeois lifestyle

I can say the same thing about nVidia as well.

 

[freeagent]

What??

But I like my Apple stuff and Nvidia gpus

 

[ZoneDymo]

I can say the same thing about nVidia as well.

well yeah, Nvidia is working to be just like Apple

 

[trparky]

well yeah, Nvidia is working to be just like Apple

Yep.

 

[Shihab]

I haven't looked much into this tech, but the name is confusing.
If it's applied client-side, why call it "porting" toolkit?
If it it's applied by developer as some automated porting framework, then going the Wine route would be a waste when they could just compile for OSX/Metal and cut the middlemen.

 

[mechtech]

Well if it trickles into Linux/helps Linux/Wine and gives more options to windows for gaming, have at'er.

 

[bonehead123]

Why can't Apple convince game dev's to write NATIVE and original (non-M$ ports) mac games, considering all of their money, talent and other resources ?

Perhaps the 30% fruity tax has something to do with it

 

[Aquinus]

I still think that going with Metal and not adopting Vulkan like everyone else was a huge mistake on Apple's part. It would have made Proton on MacOS so much more feasible, but Apple for the longest time just liked shitting all over gamers. This feels more like lip service than anything else. They have a lot of work to do to make me think that they're truly serious.

With that said, I have a Mac and I'd love more games for it. I just don't know if Apple is really serious about any of this.

 

[R0H1T]

Wonder how long MS allows this? Surely Apple's eating a bigger & bigger pie than they'd prefer in the longer run, also x86 laptops are at a serious disadvantage with their poor batter lives!

 

[Shihab]

I still think that going with Metal and not adopting Vulkan like everyone else was a huge mistake on Apple's part.

Well, D3D did work too well for Microsoft (and GNM/X for Sony).
Given that they design the hardware itself, I think they would be (already are?) in a much better position making their own API. Macs, iPads and iPhones are more closer to consoles than PCs on this regard (and perhaps superior, integration-wise).

 

[Aquinus]

Well, D3D did work too well for Microsoft (and GNM/X for Sony).
Given that they design the hardware itself, I think they would be (already are?) in a much better position making their own API. Macs, iPads and iPhones are more closer to consoles than PCs on this regard (and perhaps superior, integration-wise).

Sure, but what good is that API if nobody is going to do the work of porting to your new swanky API? That's quite literally why we have the likes of WINE and DXVK. It might be a good API, but adoption is going to be terribly slow.

 

[enb141]

Sure, but what good is that API if nobody is going to do the work of porting to your new swanky API? That's quite literally why we have the likes of WINE and DXVK. It might be a good API, but adoption is going to be terribly slow.

Unless they buy gaming developers or studios. ala Microsoft / Sony.

The real problem with macs is that if you want to play hard core games, you have to spend lots of money, for example, if you want about 4070 performance, you need a M2 ultra which starts at $4000.00, at that price it only has 1 TB SSD, so you will also need an external storage for storing your games.

 

[evernessince]

Looking at the M2 Max's performance in Cyberpunk 2077 with the given resolution (which is a tad over 1080p), it seems that performance is a bit over half that of a 2060. By extension that would place the M2 Ultra (assuming it scales linearly) 10 - 20% slower than the 2060. Suffice to say I hope there is some improvement to be had in regards to performance because that really isn't impressive if Apple wants to attract gamers to the platform. Who knows though, maybe their angle is just to attract more casual gamers to the apple platform. Hard to justify the price of an Apple product if you aren't in the ecosystem, even with the current GPU market.

 

[Shihab]

Sure, but what good is that API if nobody is going to do the work of porting to your new swanky API? That's quite literally why we have the likes of WINE and DXVK. It might be a good API, but adoption is going to be terribly slow.

Wine and DXVK are made to bypass the need for porting.
Your argument also works for Vulkan (in the context of video games). Given how very few games are made with it, Khronos should've just stuck with OpenGL, right?

Metal adoption is going as much as you'd expect. Can't find any reliable resources, but the Wikipedia page has some interesting claims.

We should, of course, separate to issues here: Adoption of the API in OSX-native software (which, assuming we take Wiki's figures for granted, aren't that bad), and support for it in games not released for OSX, in which case it wouldn't matter much which API they used, since porting and/or emulation would be necessary either way.
In the latter case, similar to how DXVK/VKD3D work for Vulkan, Apple is providing whatever they're calling their d3d-to-metal layer.

 

[Wye]

Pretty good performance: on M1 Max: 80-90 fps in Diablo IV on Ultra graphics settings.

 

[claes]

This was mentioned in the Sonoma PR here at TPU, amongst other exciting features like new screensavers.

Apple Details Improvements Offered in Upcoming macOS Sonoma

macOS Sonoma brings all‑new capabilities for elevating productivity and creativity with more ways to personalize via widgets and stunning new screen savers, significant updates to Safari and video conferencing, along with an optimized gaming experience - the Mac experience is better than ever...

www.techpowerup.com

To make it easier to port games from other platforms to Mac, Metal introduces a new game porting toolkit, eliminating months of upfront work and enabling developers to see how well their existing game could run on Mac in just a few days. It also dramatically simplifies the process of converting the game's shaders and graphics code to take full advantage of Apple silicon performance, significantly reducing the total development time.

Here’s the WWDC presentation

Bring your game to Mac, Part 1: Make a game plan - WWDC23 - Videos - Apple Developer

Bring modern, high-end games to Mac and iPad with the powerful features of Metal and Apple silicon. Discover the game porting toolkit and...

developer.apple.com

Reddit thread for those wanting to play games now
https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/1446hj6
IDK how much I trust these dorks but FWIW:

Game Porting Toolkit - Gaming on M1 Apple silicon Macs and MacBooks, bugs, fixes, compatiblity and troubleshooting guides - AppleGamingWiki

www.applegamingwiki.com

 

[SSGBryan]

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[dyonoctis]

.

 

[Aquinus]

Your argument also works for Vulkan (in the context of video games). Given how very few games are made with it, Khronos should've just stuck with OpenGL, right?

I think for Apple it was a harder decision because Metal 1 was out already when the Vulkan spec was first released. Apple probably figured that it would make more sense to go their own way with it, whereas Khronos was very clear that Vulkan was to supplement OpenGL for applications that need the level of control that Vulkan offers. So I do think that they came to be in two very different ways. Given tools like DXVK and Zink, I think that Apple failed to anticipate the utility that Vulkan was going to provide, particularly since Khronos is pretty open to adding on to the spec to support extensions to make implementing DXVK easier. That's a stark contrast to Apple where it's their way or the highway.

 

[dyonoctis]

Looking at the M2 Max's performance in Cyberpunk 2077 with the given resolution (which is a tad over 1080p), it seems that performance is a bit over half that of a 2060. By extension that would place the M2 Ultra (assuming it scales linearly) 10 - 20% slower than the 2060. Suffice to say I hope there is some improvement to be had in regards to performance because that really isn't impressive if Apple wants to attract gamers to the platform. Who knows though, maybe their angle is just to attract more casual gamers to the apple platform. Hard to justify the price of an Apple product if you aren't in the ecosystem, even with the current GPU market.

There's a lot more performance to get if we trust the 3dmark wildlife benchmark. The M2 max sould be around the same level as a 3080Ti laptop. But I really don't see the Mac becoming a "gamer hub"...they have the advantage of having few configuration to optimize for, but as you said the entry price is High, and there's a big performance gap between each M GPU. You are going to pay for a lot of expensive I/O with a M2 max (four TB 4 ports, 10Gb ethernet) that might be useless to you as a gamer, if you want something that's going to be ~50% better than a M2 pro.

It's more of a "play after work" kind of thing imo

 

[Shihab]

Khronos is pretty open to adding on to the spec to support extensions to make implementing DXVK easier

Not really an edge for Vulkan. Apple has even more flexibility to tailor Metal to their needs. Remember: They make both the software and hardware platforms it runs on, while Khronos has to rely on vendor implementation.
Costlier. But if anyone can afford it, it's Apple.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Why can't Apple convince game dev's to write NATIVE and original (non-M$ ports) mac games, considering all of their money, talent and other resources ?

Perhaps the 30% fruity tax has something to do with it

On macOS, there’s no need to buy anything through the AppStore. You can, but you don’t have to. And if they did make their own games, or at least have first party games (which I believe they do, in Arcade), then people would complain that Apple didn’t have the third party cross-platform titles. They aren’t making consoles, but if their hardware can run the games, there’s nothing wrong with supporting it in my book. Besides, with how other players are gobbling up the industry, having another big player in the game might be a good thing.

Apple starts making its own SOCs with big performance claims, and detractors say it’s BS because you can’t play games on it. So Apple starts a push toward gaming support, and now detractors are complaining about Apple actually trying to meet the challenge. Which is it? Apple can’t make real hardware, or Apple shouldn’t try to do anything a PC can? Seems few want to think they could possibly be competing with x86, and here they are trying to stack up next to just that. It’s not Apples fault they figured out how to do it better on their own.

That said, I do wish they got real with their base configs. 16/512GB should be the baseline these days.

 

[watzupken]

Why can't Apple convince game dev's to write NATIVE and original (non-M$ ports) mac games, considering all of their money, talent and other resources ?

Perhaps the 30% fruity tax has something to do with it

Fruity tax is applicable if the game is sold through the Apple store. It is not a must for MacOS.
MacOS in my opinion is not popular for game developers because the market share is very low, relative to Windows. And gamers will not flock to Mac due to prohibitive cost, again compared to Windows system. You can't upgrade as you like as most components are soldered on. I don't think i would like to buy a brand new Mac each time I want to upgrade SSD, RAM or even GPU. Even the so called "upgradeable" SSD is proprietary. So overall, MacOS based systems won't be seeing much growth for serious gaming.