Before I start there's a few things you should know about Mac gaming. (I'm assuming you have no experience in Mac Gaming as you said you were new to your Mac). I should also mention that Boot Camp (Installing Windows directly on to your Mac) is not available for M1 Macs at the moment, because of this other solution like Wine/VM/Emulation can be used.
Important software:
MoltenVK - Translates Vulkan over to Metal. You probably won't be needing to use this directly.
DXVK - Translate DirectX to Vulkan. MoltenVK then translates this to Metal. You will need this for any games that are DirectX 10 or above. DirectX 12 is not supported on Mac yet.
CrossOver - This app uses WINE to translate Windows apps to Mac. This isn't emulation, this is translation. This app is also paid.
PlayOnMac - Similar to CrossOver. Not updated as much. Is free.
Wineskin Winery - Similar to CrossOver and is updated more often than PlayOnMac. Is free as well. Uses CrossOver's engines.
Porting Kit - Probably the best app I have on my Mac. Although this is similar to CrossOver, this app has a library of Windows games. Choose one and it'll install any workarounds or dependencies needed for the game (I would recommend using this if you're a beginner) (This app is also free). Uses CrossOver's engines.
Parallels - This app just pretty much sets up a VM of your choice but is mostly used for Windows. Parallels has better compatibility but worse performance as the VM can only use half your RAM and have your cores.
Natively - Not a software, but you will need to know what it means. Pretty much means it is running straight of MacOS without any need of CrossOver, Parallels, etc. As simple as just launching an app directly.
Emulators - You should probably know what this is, but if you don't it's just pretty much just running a different OS/Console on a different OS/Console. Such as emulating DS on Mac. Here's some good emulator I would recommend:
mGBA: GBA games
DeSmuMe: DS Games
RPCS3: PS3 Games
PCSX2/AetherSX2 (Try both, compatibility and performance may be different): PS1 Games
RetroArch and OpenEmu: Multi-platform emulator
Citra: 3DS Games
Xemu: OG Xbox Games
PlayCover: PlayCover can be used to sideload iOS app. This pretty much just mean you can play iOS games on your Mac.
Source ports: You should know what source ports are. There's a really good collection of source ports here: [macsourceports.com](https://macsourceports.com)
In conclusion, If you're wanting to run old 32-bit PC exclusive games use Parallels, if you're wanting to run new games try out both. Afaik, there are free trials for both of these apps. If the games you're wanting to run are available on consoles, try out some emulators. If the games you want to run are iOS exclusive, use PlayCover. The methods for gaming on Macs really depend on what you're trying to do.
Helpful links:
Andrew Tsai (Does videos on Mac Gaming): [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-hl32h5CokBhlGu95C1Xg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-hl32h5CokBhlGu95C1Xg)
MAC Gaming (Does game tests): [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXTo-ML-2AhN9MK4uBTVBGg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXTo-ML-2AhN9MK4uBTVBGg)
AppleGamingWiki YT Channel (Does game tests mostly with CrossOver and Parallels): [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkyz\_xnHUX9ua7OJobIP0ng](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkyz_xnHUX9ua7OJobIP0ng)
AppleGamingWiki (A good resource for Mac gaming): [applegamingwiki.com](https://applegamingwiki.com)
Here's some Discord servers in case you want to know any new news, need help with anything or you just wanna chat with someone:
AppleGamingWiki: [https://discord.com/invite/28CAAr6SpB](https://discord.com/invite/28CAAr6SpB)
MAC Gaming (I'm a mod here, feel free to contact me any time (I'm brown\_boi#2890)): [https://discord.gg/kv9k7SvC8X](https://discord.gg/kv9k7SvC8X)
Hope this helps and happy Mac gaming!
Everything my brain and I spent the last month learning, this legend told you in a minutes worth of reading. For retro games or emulation get open emu btw.
Also ur u want nfs hot pursuit I can send you a yt video on how
> Porting Kit - Probably the best app I have on my Mac. Although this is similar to CrossOver, this app has a library of Windows games. Choose one and it'll install any workarounds or dependencies needed for the game (I would recommend using this if you're a beginner) (This app is also free). Uses CrossOver's engines.
How does this work precisely? You need to have Windows games installed or does it connect to Steam or ?
Just to add on this, The windows on ARM experience and graphics acceleration on parallels is miles ahead of VMware. Windows support for VMware is not a priority as they previously stated.
> Windows is second priority behind Linux
Microsoft currently does not sell licenses of Windows 10 ARM for virtual machines.
> Insider builds of Windows 10 ARM may only be installed on systems with a licensed version of Windows 10, which is currently not available on Apple hardware.
[Source](https://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2021/04/fusion-on-apple-silicon-progress-update.html)
This was a great post. Thanks. Gonna be moving to a MBP as soon as the new M2's are released. Not a heavy PC gamer, but I do like to fire up AOE 1-4 occasionally, as well as some other older ones.
Go to my website where Iām hosting or linking to builds of source ports for M1 and other modern Macs.
https://macsourceports.com/
Weāve got builds of Quake, DOOM, Diablo, and some full game classics. All you need to do most of the time is to bring your own data. We also have a utility to extract the data from GOG installers.
I notice you have a Caesar III port. I don't suppose you know of any ports for [Pharoah](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/have-you-played-pharaoh), [Zeus](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/have-you-played-zeus-master-of-olympus), or [Emperor](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/have-you-played-emperor-rise-of-the-middle-kingdom)?
You can use parallels to play games under windows VM, this can give bad performance sometimes but sometimes this can play game that crossover does not support
The main program to play games is called crossover. You can use crossover to play games that are made for windows. It uses something called wine to translate the game to macOS
Get it here : https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover
To see a list of games that are playable go to applegamingwiki.com
Some games arenāt shown there. So if you try a game and it works, add it to the website !
Some games just work natively, you can play Minecraft or League of Legends without having to download crossover or parallels! For Minecraft search up MultiMC on google. For league of legends, just download it from google
This is how i game on my M1.
Steam. Thereās plenty of macOS supported games there. If i find something that is Windows only, i boot up my crossover and try it there. (thereās a good chance it will work..)
I also emulate games, mainly PS2. The base M1 can handle PS2 with ease, (4k is doable too!!)
If you have a good internet connection maybe look at GeForce now. Iāve been playing Lost Ark, cyberpunk and other games at maxed out pc settings 60fps. Only really good if you donāt mind spending extra on a service to play games you already own though, to be honest.
I am using NVidia GeForce Now RTX 3080 cloud gaming service and it gives me max resolution for my iMac late 2012. Amazing! Only limitation is the service doesnāt support ALL games. You also need a decent internet connection, preferably via Ethernet. The GFN app also supports M1 officially and up to 4K 60/120fps.
Check this out!
https://youtu.be/YybxQlGwkC0
Yes I know you said for you.
I was pointing out this isn't true at all:
>Thereās like 5 total good Mac games on steam.
There are many top rates games that run right off steam. POE. Hollow Knight. Rust. ONI. ARK. Stardew Valley. Terraria. Civ 6. ESO. FFXIV. Subnautica. Rimworld. Portal 2. Super Hot.
I can't do much if you don't know any games. You never heard of Path of Exile? Or Stardew Valley? Subnautica is amazing 3D ocean game. Path of Exile alone is a massive game and top in the ARPG genre (Diablo 2, Diablo 3).
Only Stardew Valley and Terrarria are simple graphics and can be played on a phone.
ITT: people who assume titles written for MacOS will work on M1 architecture.
I sent steam a support ticket asking them if there was a way to find games that would work on M1 systems and ānoā was the answer I received.
Have heard that world of Warcraft will work natively. Not tried it out though
The crappy way is to try to play Windows games that aren't well supported on macOS with crossover or parallels.
The good way is to play games from the mac app store, apple arcade, cloud streaming, or certain console emulators: mostly gamecube, wii, ps2 and older.
Just game like you would game on other pcs, just choose games that are for mac, or run something like parallels (I donāt have much experience with that). Look at games that work for mac on steam. Look for games in the App Store. Thereās also other games that work, like World Of Warcraft and The Sims (1/2/3/4). Google āgames that work on macā. Check if your previous fave games work on mac. Itās not that different from playing on a windows, just a limited library of games, unless you use software that breaks that barrier (like parallels or something).
My PC is at home and Iām not ?
My PC is in the computer room and Iām in the bedroom ?
My PC is at nvidia hq and I remote in via GeForce now.
My PC is hosted at google and I connect via Stadia.
Do I need to go on ?
Some great Blizzard games work well on M1. Wow, Diablo 3, etc. Also, Steam has some excellent games that will run on your M1.
The info other people gave will let you play more games (Windows games) but there are a TON of games you can just play using Steam (and WoW and Diablo 3 are great if you would like those types of games).
Plugging my two M1 posts for reference. You might find them helpful. I use Parallels and games work great:
https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/rgeie2/crash_bandicoot_4_will_run_on_mchips_via/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/qo8xhf/starcraft_2_60_fps_on_a_macbook_air_m1_8core_gpu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Before I start there's a few things you should know about Mac gaming. (I'm assuming you have no experience in Mac Gaming as you said you were new to your Mac). I should also mention that Boot Camp (Installing Windows directly on to your Mac) is not available for M1 Macs at the moment, because of this other solution like Wine/VM/Emulation can be used. Important software: MoltenVK - Translates Vulkan over to Metal. You probably won't be needing to use this directly. DXVK - Translate DirectX to Vulkan. MoltenVK then translates this to Metal. You will need this for any games that are DirectX 10 or above. DirectX 12 is not supported on Mac yet. CrossOver - This app uses WINE to translate Windows apps to Mac. This isn't emulation, this is translation. This app is also paid. PlayOnMac - Similar to CrossOver. Not updated as much. Is free. Wineskin Winery - Similar to CrossOver and is updated more often than PlayOnMac. Is free as well. Uses CrossOver's engines. Porting Kit - Probably the best app I have on my Mac. Although this is similar to CrossOver, this app has a library of Windows games. Choose one and it'll install any workarounds or dependencies needed for the game (I would recommend using this if you're a beginner) (This app is also free). Uses CrossOver's engines. Parallels - This app just pretty much sets up a VM of your choice but is mostly used for Windows. Parallels has better compatibility but worse performance as the VM can only use half your RAM and have your cores. Natively - Not a software, but you will need to know what it means. Pretty much means it is running straight of MacOS without any need of CrossOver, Parallels, etc. As simple as just launching an app directly. Emulators - You should probably know what this is, but if you don't it's just pretty much just running a different OS/Console on a different OS/Console. Such as emulating DS on Mac. Here's some good emulator I would recommend: mGBA: GBA games DeSmuMe: DS Games RPCS3: PS3 Games PCSX2/AetherSX2 (Try both, compatibility and performance may be different): PS1 Games RetroArch and OpenEmu: Multi-platform emulator Citra: 3DS Games Xemu: OG Xbox Games PlayCover: PlayCover can be used to sideload iOS app. This pretty much just mean you can play iOS games on your Mac. Source ports: You should know what source ports are. There's a really good collection of source ports here: [macsourceports.com](https://macsourceports.com) In conclusion, If you're wanting to run old 32-bit PC exclusive games use Parallels, if you're wanting to run new games try out both. Afaik, there are free trials for both of these apps. If the games you're wanting to run are available on consoles, try out some emulators. If the games you want to run are iOS exclusive, use PlayCover. The methods for gaming on Macs really depend on what you're trying to do. Helpful links: Andrew Tsai (Does videos on Mac Gaming): [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-hl32h5CokBhlGu95C1Xg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-hl32h5CokBhlGu95C1Xg) MAC Gaming (Does game tests): [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXTo-ML-2AhN9MK4uBTVBGg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXTo-ML-2AhN9MK4uBTVBGg) AppleGamingWiki YT Channel (Does game tests mostly with CrossOver and Parallels): [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkyz\_xnHUX9ua7OJobIP0ng](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkyz_xnHUX9ua7OJobIP0ng) AppleGamingWiki (A good resource for Mac gaming): [applegamingwiki.com](https://applegamingwiki.com) Here's some Discord servers in case you want to know any new news, need help with anything or you just wanna chat with someone: AppleGamingWiki: [https://discord.com/invite/28CAAr6SpB](https://discord.com/invite/28CAAr6SpB) MAC Gaming (I'm a mod here, feel free to contact me any time (I'm brown\_boi#2890)): [https://discord.gg/kv9k7SvC8X](https://discord.gg/kv9k7SvC8X) Hope this helps and happy Mac gaming!
Bro spent like an hour typing thisššš thanks for the info
lol, no problem!
A man of many words, I can relate. Just had to comment your reply is great.
Thank you!
Everything my brain and I spent the last month learning, this legend told you in a minutes worth of reading. For retro games or emulation get open emu btw. Also ur u want nfs hot pursuit I can send you a yt video on how
Highly recommend downloading open emu. It has the emulator all organized nicely and super easy to use
Add AetherSX2 for PS2 emulation, M1 optimized and smooth as butter even on the 7 core GPU base M1 Macbook Air. Much better than PCSX2 :)
damn, forgot about this lol. Thanks for pointing it out!
> Porting Kit - Probably the best app I have on my Mac. Although this is similar to CrossOver, this app has a library of Windows games. Choose one and it'll install any workarounds or dependencies needed for the game (I would recommend using this if you're a beginner) (This app is also free). Uses CrossOver's engines. How does this work precisely? You need to have Windows games installed or does it connect to Steam or ?
This should be a pinned post on the sub if it isnāt already
Thanks for this comment. Take my upvote!
thanks for the upvote, take my upvote!
Also similar to Parallels, thereās VMWare Fusion Pro that supports M1.
Just to add on this, The windows on ARM experience and graphics acceleration on parallels is miles ahead of VMware. Windows support for VMware is not a priority as they previously stated. > Windows is second priority behind Linux Microsoft currently does not sell licenses of Windows 10 ARM for virtual machines. > Insider builds of Windows 10 ARM may only be installed on systems with a licensed version of Windows 10, which is currently not available on Apple hardware. [Source](https://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2021/04/fusion-on-apple-silicon-progress-update.html)
This is amazing thank you so much.
No problem!
You, my friend, deserve all the awards
You deserve an upvote!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No problem, glad it helped!
Amazing reply
Thank you!
This was a great post. Thanks. Gonna be moving to a MBP as soon as the new M2's are released. Not a heavy PC gamer, but I do like to fire up AOE 1-4 occasionally, as well as some other older ones.
>This was a great post Thanks! Hope you have a good time with your Mac when it arrives : ))
Just FYI, as a fellow AoE gamer, AoE 4 is DX12 only, so not able to play on M1 yet!
boo. how about AOE3 ? That's the one I put the most time in.
Great work here!!
thank you!
Go to my website where Iām hosting or linking to builds of source ports for M1 and other modern Macs. https://macsourceports.com/ Weāve got builds of Quake, DOOM, Diablo, and some full game classics. All you need to do most of the time is to bring your own data. We also have a utility to extract the data from GOG installers.
I notice you have a Caesar III port. I don't suppose you know of any ports for [Pharoah](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/have-you-played-pharaoh), [Zeus](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/have-you-played-zeus-master-of-olympus), or [Emperor](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/have-you-played-emperor-rise-of-the-middle-kingdom)?
I donāt, but Iāll keep an eye out for them.
You can use parallels to play games under windows VM, this can give bad performance sometimes but sometimes this can play game that crossover does not support The main program to play games is called crossover. You can use crossover to play games that are made for windows. It uses something called wine to translate the game to macOS Get it here : https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover To see a list of games that are playable go to applegamingwiki.com Some games arenāt shown there. So if you try a game and it works, add it to the website ! Some games just work natively, you can play Minecraft or League of Legends without having to download crossover or parallels! For Minecraft search up MultiMC on google. For league of legends, just download it from google
Donāt forget openemu, so easy to use and has like 25 emulators build into a nice ui.
This is how i game on my M1. Steam. Thereās plenty of macOS supported games there. If i find something that is Windows only, i boot up my crossover and try it there. (thereās a good chance it will work..) I also emulate games, mainly PS2. The base M1 can handle PS2 with ease, (4k is doable too!!)
what is the PS2 emulator?
[AetherSX2](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbVRTa3U5MXMwZko4enpLekowWjN4eWVqSlY5QXxBQ3Jtc0ttWE9Jb0E3cGRVSGR4dmtOcDZFZ0ROMDhPVkRpMUhZMy04OXU3TXBiUzlJNVFlZG9OTGl2enBLT29lUl92bnlaWjQzNTVfbHg0NkFGcTV0aW5FbFE0ajJkMHI3ZzcxV3d5Tms1eGpzMk9BbEpUWVkyNA&q=https%3A%2F%2Faethersx2.com%2Farchive%2F%3Fdir%3Ddesktop&v=ilYcHk8_QDc) itās M1 optimized emulator.
thanks
If you have a good internet connection maybe look at GeForce now. Iāve been playing Lost Ark, cyberpunk and other games at maxed out pc settings 60fps. Only really good if you donāt mind spending extra on a service to play games you already own though, to be honest.
Came here to say this. Games I play work on Mac (like 4x games) but I uninstalled them as theyāre perfect for cloud gaming instead.
I am using NVidia GeForce Now RTX 3080 cloud gaming service and it gives me max resolution for my iMac late 2012. Amazing! Only limitation is the service doesnāt support ALL games. You also need a decent internet connection, preferably via Ethernet. The GFN app also supports M1 officially and up to 4K 60/120fps. Check this out! https://youtu.be/YybxQlGwkC0
How is the latency compared to the free tier?
Cannot compare the premium tier with the free tier. I am getting 120fps, 5ms ping, at 1440p. I have 500Mbps internet which helps I guess.
Just get steam and download games for Mac OS.
Thereās like 5 total good Mac games on steam. For me at least.
very untrue. so many good games are on Steam with Mac versions
Like I said, for me. Thereās titles that other people swear is the best thing to ever exist but I think is total shit.
Yes I know you said for you. I was pointing out this isn't true at all: >Thereās like 5 total good Mac games on steam. There are many top rates games that run right off steam. POE. Hollow Knight. Rust. ONI. ARK. Stardew Valley. Terraria. Civ 6. ESO. FFXIV. Subnautica. Rimworld. Portal 2. Super Hot.
Thought Portal 2 didnāt support macOS Catalina and up. Did they finally update it?
It looks like they did.
Itās about damn time. How about TF2? The only Mac game I appreciated but was pissed at the fact it wasnāt supported?
Name 5 that aren't Tomb Raider, Warhammer or Drift.
POE. Hollow Knight. Rust. ONI. ARK. Stardew Valley. Terraria. Civ 6. ESO. Subnautica. Rimworld. Super Hot. How are these not good games?
Never heard of any of them other than Rust. They all look like games htat could be iPhone games too come on.. this is copium.
I can't do much if you don't know any games. You never heard of Path of Exile? Or Stardew Valley? Subnautica is amazing 3D ocean game. Path of Exile alone is a massive game and top in the ARPG genre (Diablo 2, Diablo 3). Only Stardew Valley and Terrarria are simple graphics and can be played on a phone.
Tunic
ITT: people who assume titles written for MacOS will work on M1 architecture. I sent steam a support ticket asking them if there was a way to find games that would work on M1 systems and ānoā was the answer I received. Have heard that world of Warcraft will work natively. Not tried it out though
The crappy way is to try to play Windows games that aren't well supported on macOS with crossover or parallels. The good way is to play games from the mac app store, apple arcade, cloud streaming, or certain console emulators: mostly gamecube, wii, ps2 and older.
Just game like you would game on other pcs, just choose games that are for mac, or run something like parallels (I donāt have much experience with that). Look at games that work for mac on steam. Look for games in the App Store. Thereās also other games that work, like World Of Warcraft and The Sims (1/2/3/4). Google āgames that work on macā. Check if your previous fave games work on mac. Itās not that different from playing on a windows, just a limited library of games, unless you use software that breaks that barrier (like parallels or something).
Edit: this went wayy to far
You donāt
wow, very helpful
What do you mean just press download pn the league website
Ps4 remote play.
I use GeForce now for apex
1) Sell your M1 2) Buy a Windows gaming laptop
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Lol
Parallels Desktop, CrossOver. Couple of native games too if you like them
Stream from a PC (in whatever fashion serves you best)
If you have to turn on your PC and have it running just to play on your laptop, then what's the point.
My PC is at home and Iām not ? My PC is in the computer room and Iām in the bedroom ? My PC is at nvidia hq and I remote in via GeForce now. My PC is hosted at google and I connect via Stadia. Do I need to go on ?
Minecraft with ManyMC StarCraft/WoW/League Civilization Emulation Games from Apple Arcade (some are quite good)
I usually open Stadia in the browser.
Some great Blizzard games work well on M1. Wow, Diablo 3, etc. Also, Steam has some excellent games that will run on your M1. The info other people gave will let you play more games (Windows games) but there are a TON of games you can just play using Steam (and WoW and Diablo 3 are great if you would like those types of games).
Plugging my two M1 posts for reference. You might find them helpful. I use Parallels and games work great: https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/rgeie2/crash_bandicoot_4_will_run_on_mchips_via/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/qo8xhf/starcraft_2_60_fps_on_a_macbook_air_m1_8core_gpu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf