AVX/AVX2 instructions + DirectX 12

[xazac]

I contacted Apple to ask them more info about Apple Silicon family capabilities and they replied to me with this statement:


They also added:

So, dear Parallels, you have no excuses now to bring both AVX/AVX2 and DirectX12 to Parallels for ARM architecture.

 

[JamesF23]

Just to make the issues clear as there is some confusion.

• Parallels on Apple Silicon can run a VM with Windows 11 ARM64.
  
• If your game or other software does NOT run on a genuine Windows 11 ARM64 machine (check Windows 11 on ARM forums) then there is nothing Parallels can do about that. You are SOL
  
• Windows 11 ARM includes a x86 and x86-64 emulation layer to run older Intel CPU based software. Again, this has NOTHING to do with Parallels. If this emulation layer does not support your game/application then you are SOL( again).
  
• One of the limitations was that this emulation layer did not support x86-64 AVX so some games and software would not run.
• The latest Windows 11 update includes an update to this emulation layer that supports AVX so some games might now run.

A x86-64 game is running in a Windows 11 emulation layer in a Virtual Machine running on Apple Silicon. Somehow Parallels has to translate the graphics layer to Metal ( I guess) Every step is a performance killer.

In other words, the game developer was paid to use something exclusive to Windows on the intel architecture and they are unlikely to migrate the game to a better platform.

 

[AndrewC46]

In other words, the game developer was paid to use something exclusive to Windows on the intel architecture and they are unlikely to migrate the game to a better platform.

Exactly. They have been building for x86/64 for so long and are so tied to Windows/Intel technology ( and OpenGL which just won't die) the engineering effort is too high.

 

[JamesF23]

Exactly. They have been building for x86/64 for so long and are so tied to Windows/Intel technology ( and OpenGL which just won't die) the engineering effort is too high.

I have had success playing games using CrossOver that would not play correctly in Parallels Desktop.

 

[Blyonix7B]

If your software explicitly checks for "AVX support" or "DX12 full feature level" (versus DX11/feature level fallback), you'll likely hit a wall for now using Parallels on Apple Silicon.

 

[JamesF23]

Maybe the Parallels will benefit from the development work that Apple has done with the Game Porting Toolkit to build in support for Direct X 12 Ultimate. I guess that the work has been slowed by then working on management tools provided for enterprise deployment of Parallels Desktop.