Difference between revisions of "Introduction to gaming on Apple silicon M1 Macs"

Revision as of 09:52, 2 November 2021

Welcome to AppleGamingWiki and our main introduction to gaming on Apple silicon Macs.

Introduction

Apple silicon Macs were introduced in November 2020, bringing about a new era of CPU and GPU performance which rivals that of high-end Intel desktops - but using a virtually silent and much more power-efficient form factor. This new chipset is no less than a revolution in integrated chip gaming performance - the Apple Silicon chips are now completely capable of running high-end AAA games - but only if they are compatible with the new ARM platform. At the Unleashed event (October 18th 2021) Apple introduced the M1 Pro & M1 Max chips. The 32-Core GPU on M1 MAX has the same raw power (Teraflops) as the Sony PS5.

Unfortunately, few games are currently able to take full advantage of the Apple Silicon chips as they have yet to be ported to ARM. Most existing macOS games rely on the Rosetta 2 translation layer to run Intel based games on the new architecture. In addition to Rosetta, there are other methods of getting games to run on the ARM Macs. Games from iOS and Windows can be played through virtualisation layers such as CrossOver and Parallels. AAA Windows game titles can also be played this way, but currently DirectX12 is not supported by either CrossOver or Parallels. Finding accurate information on compatability with each platform can be tough, as information (and misinformation) is strewn around various forums and websites on the internet. This wiki is designed to consolidate this information to help Mac users play their games in the best way possible.

Methods

Different ways of playing games on Apple silicon M1 Macs:

Native

At time of writing in Late 2021, there are few 'native' written games, which fully take advantage of M1 Apple silicon hardware. A few notable games at launch includes World of Warcraft and Disco Elysium.Recently Valve Has Finally Made Their SDK Compatible With Apple Silicon So Now Developers Can Release Their Native Games On Steam.

Rosetta 2

Rosetta 2 is The Apple's x86 To ARM Translator Which Will Be Installed After You Open A x86 Application.

iPhone and iPad Apps

PlayCover

Downgrade To macOS 11.2.3

And More...

Compatibility layer

CrossOver

Virtualization

Parallels

Multi-boot

Console Emulators

Hardware

At the time of launch, there are 6 product lines that introduced the M1 chip. This includes:

MacBook Air M1 2020
MacBook Pro M1 2020
Mac mini M1 2020
iMac 24" M1 2021
MacBook Pro M1 Pro 2021
MacBook Pro M1 Max 2021

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 ==Introduction==
-Apple silicon Macs were introduced in November 2020, bringing about a new era of CPU and GPU performance which rivals that of high-end Intel desktops - but using a virtually silent and much more power-efficient form factor. This new chipset is no less than a revolution in integrated chip gaming performance - the Apple Silicon chips are now completely capable of running high-end AAA games - but only if they are compatible with the new ARM platform.In Unleashed event (October 18th of 2021) apple introduced M1 PRO & M1 MAX chips.The 32-Core GPU on M1 MAX is even as powerful as PS5!
+Apple silicon Macs were introduced in November 2020, bringing about a new era of CPU and GPU performance which rivals that of high-end Intel desktops - but using a virtually silent and much more power-efficient form factor. This new chipset is no less than a revolution in integrated chip gaming performance - the Apple Silicon chips are now completely capable of running high-end AAA games - but only if they are compatible with the new ARM platform. At the Unleashed event (October 18th 2021) Apple introduced the M1 Pro & M1 Max chips. The 32-Core GPU on M1 MAX has the same raw power (Teraflops) as the Sony PS5.
-Unfortunately few games are currently taking advantage of the full benefits of Apple silicon, and most games rely on the Rosetta 2 translation layer to run existing Intel macOS games on the new ARM chip. However there are many methods, fixes and workarounds available to get excellent macOS, iPhone, iPad and even triple-AAA Windows games working through methods like CrossOver, Parallels and Windows ARM. But getting compatibility information is really tough as information (and misinformation) is strewn around various forums and websites on the internet.
+Unfortunately, few games are currently able to take full advantage of the Apple Silicon chips as they have yet to be ported to ARM. Most existing macOS games rely on the Rosetta 2 translation layer to run Intel based games on the new architecture. In addition to Rosetta, there are other methods of getting games to run on the ARM Macs. Games from iOS and Windows can be played through virtualisation layers such as CrossOver and Parallels. AAA Windows game titles can also be played this way, but currently DirectX12 is not supported by either CrossOver or Parallels. Finding accurate information on compatability with each platform can be tough, as information (and misinformation) is strewn around various forums and websites on the internet. This wiki is designed to consolidate this information to help Mac users play their games in the best way possible.
 ==Methods==