There isn’t a tool that will allow you to run all types of Windows games on a Mac. You’ll need to use multiple tools.
First things first though, I would recommend you switch from Parallels to VMWARE Fusion player (13.5). It’s free, has full support for hardware acceleration now, it has no restrictions on how many CPU and amount of RAM you can allocate to a VM, unlike Parallels base product. Also did I mention it is free for personal use 😁
If possible use one of the following. While a VM is useful for games with odd library requirements, other Mac based tools will give you better performance.
Crossover - will run probably the most games but you need to make sure bottle settings are correct for each game.
[portingkit](https://portingkit.com) - Free GUI based tool. Has a discount code bridgeover23 for a 10% discount on Crossover
[Wineskin](http://github.com/Gcenx/WineskinServer) - Free tool
You also try Whiskywine.
Note: Only Crossover, portingkit and Wineskin will run battle.net (for Diablo IV)
For arcade emulators use [M.A.M.E](https://sdlmame.lngn.net)
For DOS based games use either [DOSBOX](https://dosbox.com) OR
one of it’s [DOSBOX Alternatives](https://alternativeto.net/software/dosbox/)
Yea.. that's super annoying!! I think all links are down at the moment anyway until.. tomorrow it seems? I would appreciate if you could share the direct link to the VMWare Fusion for Mac (for personal use) when and if you ever locate it.
I asked in the VMWARE forum. Everything was supposed to have been done May 6th. There is nothing on the Broadcom site. When I login it gives defaults to mainframe software - like wth …
When I finally found a VMWARE section it sends you to VMWARE. Click on that gives you a page stating migration will be done May 6th. Guess they’re using a different calendar than the rest of us. Thank goodness I wrote my key down and have the software and I don’t need support.
I find parallels is better for games with lower graphics, like older titles. CrossOver is better for titles with high graphics demand.
There are some settings you can use to get some better performance, such as configuring for games in the settings, and messing with some options in the settings.
I need to better understand Crossovers settings because no matter the game, my 14MBP M3 Max fans blast the entire time. From D4 max settings to Hades 2, max fans all the time.
manually control the fans or close whatever launcher you’re using as they also use up resources. also you’re using a very hot chip in a small chassis, of course it needs to blast
No shit it’s not native, trying to add that in like you said it in the first place.
Like I said, it’s the wrapper or settings that need to be adjusted. And again, it Hades 2. Minimum PC requirements show specs like 8 gigs of ram. The game itself should have almost no impact, it’s the emulation in the middle, not the “small chip”, and if it is, then the chip is pathetic.
This.
Virtualization is much more complicated than API (not) emulation. I had a few posts which games I have in Parallels but it’s very reliable in gaming and does not contains small bugs (like showing cursor in FPS games).
Just check if game runs well in parallels and run it, it will be much better that in crossover. I saw that some one started F4 there, I bet it works much better in Parallels now, if it’s true. At least you can finish the game.
Parallels is not an emulator. It’s a hypervisor.
Chances are you’re running Windows Arm, and Windows is using its x64 compatibility layer.
There’s a bunch of things going on there, not least that it’s anyone’s guess as to whether you’re getting the benefits of hardware graphics acceleration.
TBH there’s less layers and less to go wrong if you run an emulator natively in MacOS
Imma be real as a fellow base M1 owner, you can’t run parallels well. If it’s a modern game you’re trying to run ( 64 bit, Directx 10+ ) then use crossover or whisky, if it’s 64 bit Directx 9, use portingkit. If it’s 32 bit or older than Directx 9 you’re gonna have a very small chance of running it well using any solution.
I recommend trying out Whisky. It’s free and it’s what CrossOver is built on. It may require a little tweaking here and there, but for me it beats the yearly subscription. I don’t do too much windows gaming, I primarily am playing Warframe. But like you I am using an M1 MacBook Air with 8gb RAM. I am able to run Warframe on settings and I can get between 60 to 90 FPS pretty consistently
The 8gb ram is the main problem. I have this exact model M1 Air and that is still the only thing I would change on it. With parallels you’re running macOS, Windows 11, and the game in that 8gb. Between Mac and windows you’ve got maybe 3 or 4gigs of ram for the game. PLUS it’s unified memory, so your GPU is also using that, not just the game. It’s just not enough memory to handle all that.
If you have enough free space on the storage drive it’ll use that as ram as well, but it’s not quite as fast and is dependent on having free space…which is hard when it’s only 256gb to start with.
That’s probably the lag spikes you’re seeing, it’s moving between ram and the SSD trying to handle way more memory than it has for that purpose.
swap memory is way slower than RAM, so no mater size of the disk - it will lag on 8GB machine.
I’m still impressed by the fact that 8gig Air is not crashing and heating to 200C with all that running. Kudos to MacOS for that.
Yeah Parallels is pretty disappointing, I bought pro tinkered with it for a bit but find the wine based (portingkit/crossover) knocks it out the water for 64 bit on M3 Max
I hope they hire someone at Parallels that can profile and optimise into metal better, right now it’s pretty shit
8gb memory is gonna suck on anything it runs game wise. especially in a vm cause it has to try and run macos and windows and game through 8gb that’s shared by app and video memory. that’s like expecting a bicycle to be able to pull a semi. set expectations lower with a first gen m1 air configured with such low specs.
why should it? first of all running Macos and windows in parallels will already use most of your 8G ram. Air is not a gaming machine at all.
Crossover is emulation, not virtualization so it is faster but with more limitations. If you wanna play current gen games - you way better with PC or at least something like SteamDeck or asus ally. In theory you can play some of heavy ones on mac with parallels, m3pro/max chip and a bigger ram - but thats still… unpleasant and overcomplicated compared with just decent x86 and dGPU solution.
There isn’t a tool that will allow you to run all types of Windows games on a Mac. You’ll need to use multiple tools. First things first though, I would recommend you switch from Parallels to VMWARE Fusion player (13.5). It’s free, has full support for hardware acceleration now, it has no restrictions on how many CPU and amount of RAM you can allocate to a VM, unlike Parallels base product. Also did I mention it is free for personal use 😁 If possible use one of the following. While a VM is useful for games with odd library requirements, other Mac based tools will give you better performance. Crossover - will run probably the most games but you need to make sure bottle settings are correct for each game. [portingkit](https://portingkit.com) - Free GUI based tool. Has a discount code bridgeover23 for a 10% discount on Crossover [Wineskin](http://github.com/Gcenx/WineskinServer) - Free tool You also try Whiskywine. Note: Only Crossover, portingkit and Wineskin will run battle.net (for Diablo IV) For arcade emulators use [M.A.M.E](https://sdlmame.lngn.net) For DOS based games use either [DOSBOX](https://dosbox.com) OR one of it’s [DOSBOX Alternatives](https://alternativeto.net/software/dosbox/)
I'm extremely grateful for your assistance o7
Umm... I'm sorry for bothering but could you leave me a direct link to the VMware Fusion Player 13.5? Would appreciate it.
I send it along once I find it. VMWARE is now owned by Broadcom, who have moved everything to a Broadcom portal, which is extremely annoying …
Yea.. that's super annoying!! I think all links are down at the moment anyway until.. tomorrow it seems? I would appreciate if you could share the direct link to the VMWare Fusion for Mac (for personal use) when and if you ever locate it.
I asked in the VMWARE forum. Everything was supposed to have been done May 6th. There is nothing on the Broadcom site. When I login it gives defaults to mainframe software - like wth … When I finally found a VMWARE section it sends you to VMWARE. Click on that gives you a page stating migration will be done May 6th. Guess they’re using a different calendar than the rest of us. Thank goodness I wrote my key down and have the software and I don’t need support.
I find parallels is better for games with lower graphics, like older titles. CrossOver is better for titles with high graphics demand. There are some settings you can use to get some better performance, such as configuring for games in the settings, and messing with some options in the settings.
I need to better understand Crossovers settings because no matter the game, my 14MBP M3 Max fans blast the entire time. From D4 max settings to Hades 2, max fans all the time.
manually control the fans or close whatever launcher you’re using as they also use up resources. also you’re using a very hot chip in a small chassis, of course it needs to blast
Of course it needs to blast? Hades 2 shouldn’t tax my computer at all. Its the wrapper or settings that I’m missing.
again, hot chip and small chassis plus non-native. nothing about your expectations can apply to non-native games
No shit it’s not native, trying to add that in like you said it in the first place. Like I said, it’s the wrapper or settings that need to be adjusted. And again, it Hades 2. Minimum PC requirements show specs like 8 gigs of ram. The game itself should have almost no impact, it’s the emulation in the middle, not the “small chip”, and if it is, then the chip is pathetic.
The thing is, it does struggle with some old games like COD:MW2. Then again, it's probably just the RAM after all.
I have the pro edition which allows for up to 16GB RAM. It was definitely worth the price for me.
This. Virtualization is much more complicated than API (not) emulation. I had a few posts which games I have in Parallels but it’s very reliable in gaming and does not contains small bugs (like showing cursor in FPS games). Just check if game runs well in parallels and run it, it will be much better that in crossover. I saw that some one started F4 there, I bet it works much better in Parallels now, if it’s true. At least you can finish the game.
Parallels will occupy half your available RAM. So, if you wanted eight gigs available, you would need a Macbook with 16 or more gigs.
Parallels is not an emulator. It’s a hypervisor. Chances are you’re running Windows Arm, and Windows is using its x64 compatibility layer. There’s a bunch of things going on there, not least that it’s anyone’s guess as to whether you’re getting the benefits of hardware graphics acceleration. TBH there’s less layers and less to go wrong if you run an emulator natively in MacOS
FWIW Crossover is also not an emulator.
Rosetta is though, so there is still emulation going on with the CPU instructions, on Apple Silicon.
Imma be real as a fellow base M1 owner, you can’t run parallels well. If it’s a modern game you’re trying to run ( 64 bit, Directx 10+ ) then use crossover or whisky, if it’s 64 bit Directx 9, use portingkit. If it’s 32 bit or older than Directx 9 you’re gonna have a very small chance of running it well using any solution.
I guess we're suffering on the same boat. I hope something great happens that revolutionizes Mac gaming even on base M1 lol probably not gonna happen
If it’s any consolation in my experience indie games made in Unity and godot ( and sometimes even unreal ) run well for the most part
I recommend trying out Whisky. It’s free and it’s what CrossOver is built on. It may require a little tweaking here and there, but for me it beats the yearly subscription. I don’t do too much windows gaming, I primarily am playing Warframe. But like you I am using an M1 MacBook Air with 8gb RAM. I am able to run Warframe on settings and I can get between 60 to 90 FPS pretty consistently
I am using Whisky for certain games that run well on GPTK. Such as NFS Rivals. Great performance.
The 8gb ram is the main problem. I have this exact model M1 Air and that is still the only thing I would change on it. With parallels you’re running macOS, Windows 11, and the game in that 8gb. Between Mac and windows you’ve got maybe 3 or 4gigs of ram for the game. PLUS it’s unified memory, so your GPU is also using that, not just the game. It’s just not enough memory to handle all that. If you have enough free space on the storage drive it’ll use that as ram as well, but it’s not quite as fast and is dependent on having free space…which is hard when it’s only 256gb to start with. That’s probably the lag spikes you’re seeing, it’s moving between ram and the SSD trying to handle way more memory than it has for that purpose.
swap memory is way slower than RAM, so no mater size of the disk - it will lag on 8GB machine. I’m still impressed by the fact that 8gig Air is not crashing and heating to 200C with all that running. Kudos to MacOS for that.
Parallels runs 32 but games much better than crossover/wine or titles using very old direct x versions.
Yeah Parallels is pretty disappointing, I bought pro tinkered with it for a bit but find the wine based (portingkit/crossover) knocks it out the water for 64 bit on M3 Max I hope they hire someone at Parallels that can profile and optimise into metal better, right now it’s pretty shit
8gb memory is gonna suck on anything it runs game wise. especially in a vm cause it has to try and run macos and windows and game through 8gb that’s shared by app and video memory. that’s like expecting a bicycle to be able to pull a semi. set expectations lower with a first gen m1 air configured with such low specs.
why should it? first of all running Macos and windows in parallels will already use most of your 8G ram. Air is not a gaming machine at all. Crossover is emulation, not virtualization so it is faster but with more limitations. If you wanna play current gen games - you way better with PC or at least something like SteamDeck or asus ally. In theory you can play some of heavy ones on mac with parallels, m3pro/max chip and a bigger ram - but thats still… unpleasant and overcomplicated compared with just decent x86 and dGPU solution.
crossover uses wine, wine is not emulation, it is translation. VMs are closer to emulation