On: An Update on Apple M1/M2 GPU Drivers

[GeekyBear]

> Metal porting is the only official supported way to go.

Apple already provides its own native implementation of a DirectX to Metal emulation layer.

[Twisell → GeekyBear]

And yet I see more Game available for steamdeck than for apple Silicon... Maybe because porting as opposed to emulating requires action on developer side.

And this is especially true for existing game that "aren't worth porting" but are still fun to play. (Is there a Vulkan to Metal / OpenGL to Metal in Gaming toolkit? is it the NexStep?)

There is actually a sweet spot here for Valve that could benefit everyone:

  - Valve as a necessary third party

  - Gamers to access a wider catalog

  - Apple so they don't have to bother developing a porting process for old games

[GeekyBear → Twisell]

> Maybe because porting as opposed to emulating requires action on developer side.

The Steam Deck is also just emulating native Windows APIs, but on Linux.

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_(software)

Game compatibility isn't 100% with either, and both have community maintained lists with compatibility information.