Back in June, CrossOver announced a major update that added DirectX 12 support for running Windows games on the Mac with better performance. The new technology has been available since then to beta users via CrossOver 23, but now the update is finally being rolled out to all CrossOver users.
CrossOver 23 adds DirectX 12 support
As detailed by CodeWeavers in a blog post, CrossOver 23 is now officially available for download. Among many enhancements, the most exciting is probably the early support for DirectX 12 – a Microsoft API available on Windows and Xbox that handles graphics and sound, similar to Apple’s Metal API.
With DirectX 12, games can access all GPU cores simultaneously, resulting in better performance and higher graphics quality. Previous versions of CrossOver were only compatible with DirectX 11.
However, there’s a catch. DirectX 12 support in CrossOver is only compatible with specific games. For now, it only works with Diablo II Resurrected and Diablo IV. CodeWeavers says it’s been working to “aggressively pursue support for even more DirectX 12 titles.” This means that other games will still rely on previous DirectX versions.
In addition to DirectX 12 support, CrossOver 23 also implements geometry shaders and transform feedback support, which solves the problem of some games suffering from missing graphics or in-game black screens. This version also adds support for the EA App, a new game launcher from Electronic Arts that will replace Origin in the future.
Running Windows games on macOS
For those unfamiliar, CrossOver is a popular platform for macOS, Linux, and ChromeOS that lets all these systems run Windows apps as if they were native. Most users choose CrossOver to run games developed for Windows on Mac and Linux PCs.
With macOS Sonoma, Apple has introduced a new Game Porting Tool that allows developers to easily port their Windows games to the Mac with little or no effort. The tool is based on Wine, a popular open-source platform that translates Windows software to Unix environments. Interestingly, Apple’s tool is able to translate DirectX 12 to Metal 3 in real time.
While Apple’s Game Porting Tool won’t be available until this fall, users can now download CrossOver 23. The license costs $64 for 12 months, but there’s a special discount available for a limited time using the code LEVELUP23.
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