AVX/AVX2 instructions + DirectX 12

AndrewC46 said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
JamesF23 said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
AndrewC46 said:
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.
Click to expand...
I have had success playing games using CrossOver that would not play correctly in Parallels Desktop.
 
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.
 
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.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top