Most active commenters
  • GeekyBear(4)
  • Wowfunhappy(3)

←back to thread

AAA Gaming on Asahi Linux

(rosenzweig.io)
944 points 6a74 | 18 comments | 10 Oct 24 14:16 UTC | HN request time: 0.085s | source | bottom
Show context
spease ◴[10 Oct 24 16:29 UTC] No.41800525[source]▶
This is super cool.

So, wait, does this mean that gaming is better on Linux, on a Mac?

replies(7): >>41801984 #>>41802520 #>>41803172 #>>41803388 #>>41803779 #>>41804399 #>>41805099 #
hu3 ◴[10 Oct 24 19:26 UTC] No.41802520[source]▶
I've been gaming on Linux since Warcraft 3 days.

Wine is wonderful and with Valve's help it only got better.

But why would gaming on a mac be better? Maybe one day, but for now:

FTA: "While many games are playable, newer AAA titles don’t hit 60fps yet."

replies(3): >>41803559 #>>41806809 #>>41807343 #
1. Wowfunhappy ◴[10 Oct 24 21:02 UTC] No.41803559[source]▶
I read the GP differently. I think they meant: if you are on a Mac computer, is gaming better under Linux vs macOS?

I think the answer might be yes, because it's possible to play so many more titles!

replies(2): >>41804055 #>>41807805 #
2. GeekyBear ◴[10 Oct 24 22:04 UTC] No.41804055[source]▶
Game emulation isn't a Linux only thing.
replies(3): >>41804120 #>>41804361 #>>41806094 #
3. talldayo ◴[10 Oct 24 22:16 UTC] No.41804120[source]▶
But if anyone can name a non-Windows platform that does it better, I'll wait!
4. Wowfunhappy ◴[10 Oct 24 22:47 UTC] No.41804361[source]▶
Is there a way to run Control or Cyberpunk on macOS?
replies(1): >>41804495 #
5. fl0id ◴[10 Oct 24 23:09 UTC] No.41804495{3}[source]▶
Yes. Haven’t tried those games, but on apple silicon whisky app emulates with gameporting toolkit + wine/proton. For intel silicon I think it was also possible but not sure.
replies(1): >>41804521 #
6. Wowfunhappy ◴[10 Oct 24 23:13 UTC] No.41804521{4}[source]▶
Oh, wow, I did not realize how many games worked with this:

https://docs.getwhisky.app/game-support/index.html

I had assumed the lack of Vulkan on macOS was a major issue. Apparently not!

replies(2): >>41804923 #>>41805093 #
7. fl0id ◴[11 Oct 24 00:22 UTC] No.41804923{5}[source]▶
Yeah,can’t tell you how it works exactly but it’s quite good
8. wsc981 ◴[11 Oct 24 00:55 UTC] No.41805093{5}[source]▶
Cause MoltenVK [1] is used, I think.

---

[1]: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK

replies(1): >>41805396 #
9. GeekyBear ◴[11 Oct 24 02:04 UTC] No.41805396{6}[source]▶
Not really.

PC games use DirectX as their graphics API, so you need something that can translate from DirectX to the native graphics API your OS is running.

On MacOS you'd be translating from DirectX to Metal and Apple provides the emulation software (D3DMetal) as part of the Game Porting Toolkit.

On a Steam Deck, Proton uses Vulkan on Linux as the native graphics API, so in that case you are translating from DirectX to Vulkan.

> DXVK (which translates Direct3D 8, 9, 10 and 11 calls to Vulkan on the fly), vkd3d-proton (which translates Direct3D 12 to Vulkan)

https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Proton

replies(1): >>41812021 #
10. MobiusHorizons ◴[11 Oct 24 04:21 UTC] No.41806094[source]▶
That’s true, but many titles are 32bit and Apple removed 32 bit support, causing these titles not to run. It’s a real bummer, because there is no technical limitation.
replies(2): >>41806313 #>>41810763 #
11. GeekyBear ◴[11 Oct 24 04:58 UTC] No.41806313{3}[source]▶
Crossover and Whisky run 32 bit PC games just fine.
12. valianteffort ◴[11 Oct 24 09:23 UTC] No.41807805[source]▶
I played through the entirety of Elden Ring and its DLC on my macbook pro through GPTK which is a pretty modern and demanding game. Don't think that would be possible on asahi.
replies(1): >>41818690 #
13. sleepycatgirl ◴[11 Oct 24 16:10 UTC] No.41810763{3}[source]▶
That's why the new WoW64 mode in wine is exciting. Even if the system doesn't support 32 bit binaries, you can still run 32bit windows software
replies(1): >>41838654 #
14. outworlder ◴[11 Oct 24 18:32 UTC] No.41812021{7}[source]▶
> PC games use DirectX as their graphics API

You are forgetting the increasing number of titles targeting Vulkan directly.

replies(1): >>41812264 #
15. GeekyBear ◴[11 Oct 24 18:51 UTC] No.41812264{8}[source]▶
That is an extremely niche use case on Windows.
16. pmarreck ◴[12 Oct 24 12:49 UTC] No.41818690[source]▶
How would I use GPTK to play some arbitrary Windows game?
replies(1): >>41844287 #
17. MobiusHorizons ◴[14 Oct 24 15:50 UTC] No.41838654{4}[source]▶
Very useful, I hadn’t heard of that. I think it must not be shipped by default in steams built in proton support, but I will look into it.
18. 58028641 ◴[15 Oct 24 02:17 UTC] No.41844287{3}[source]▶
https://github.com/Whisky-App/Whisky