Highball 0.7.10

Legacy CS:GO froze at map load, stuck at "Initializing game data" (#21).

Highball was force-enabling DXVK's async shader compilation for every game on the DXVK renderer, and the way the async patch reads its settings meant no per-game override was possible. The first map load's shader-compile burst is exactly where the freeze sat, and neither of the setups where the game works (CrossOver, Sikarugir) runs with async on.

The async toggle now travels through a per-bottle DXVK config file instead, and that file gives csgo.exe a dedicated profile: async off, texture memory reported as 2 GB (the standard headroom fix for 32-bit games under DXVK), and a real Radeon device id so the game picks a proper settings profile instead of a failsafe. Verified on the shipping engine end to end.

After updating, right click the bottle and Stop all processes before launching the game, so a Steam client that kept running doesn't hold on to the old settings.

Also in this release

• highball bottle set <name> dxvkasync 0|1 from the CLI.

Highball 0.7.9

Fixes fresh engine installs failing at the last step with "checksum mismatch for winetricks" (#27, #28).

winetricks was fetched from a moving branch URL while pinned to a fixed checksum. Upstream moved, and every new install broke. It now comes from a commit-pinned URL serving the exact bytes previous releases shipped, and a regression test keeps mutable URLs out of the manifest for good.

If an engine install failed for you, update and click Install engine again. Already downloaded parts are reused, nothing to delete.

Two more fixes found while verifying this end to end

• Fresh engine installs created every runtime library link broken (absolute links into a staging folder that gets renamed away). Games didn't notice, but anything running through winetricks, like the one-click .NET Framework 4.8, failed within seconds on an app-installed engine. Links are now relative, and existing engines heal themselves on the next start.
• DLL overrides set in bottle settings now also apply through the bottle registry, so they work even when Steam is already running in the bottle. Before, a running Steam client kept its old environment and games it launched never saw the override (#22, #25).

Also in this release

• A failed install now shows its error right away. Before, the sheet said "Done" and the real error only appeared after you clicked Close.
• highball tricks (CLI) runs winetricks through bash, same as the in-app path already did.

Highball 0.7.8

Fixes

• DirectX 9 games now use the full DXVK graphics. Some older DirectX 9 titles (for example the legacy Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) were quietly falling back to a slower, less complete renderer and could refuse to launch with a graphics-features error (the "does not support all features (CSM)" message). Highball now loads DXVK's DirectX 9 for these games, so they get the shadow and texture features they need. If a D3D9 game wouldn't start before, update and try it again.

Highball 0.7.7

Fixes

• Clearer error for old program entries. A program you pinned with an older Highball could fail to launch with a cryptic Windows error (c0000135). Highball now checks the program is still there first and tells you plainly if it isn't, so you can remove the old entry and drag it in again. New entries already store the full path correctly.
• Bug reports attach the right log. The in-app report button was grabbing whichever log was newest, which after launching a game through Steam was usually Steam's own log, not the game's. It now attaches the game's log.
• More reliable launcher startup. Windows services that launchers depend on can be slow to start under Rosetta, and Highball was giving up too early. Bottles now wait longer (60 seconds), which fixes the "stuck preparing to install" hang some launchers hit.

Highball 0.7.6

Preinstalled games work properly now

Have game files already sitting on your Mac, DRM-free installs, copies from another machine? Drop the exe on a bottle (or File > Run Windows Program…) and it just works now:

• The game starts from its own folder, so titles that load assets by relative path stop breaking
• It runs with the bottle's renderer instead of the slow fallback that was silently used before
• Run and add to Programs now creates a working entry for exes anywhere on disk. Before this release it quietly saved a broken path for anything outside the bottle
• CLI users: highball pin add <bottle> "Name" <path> pins anything directly

Thanks to the Reddit user who asked whether preinstalled games could skip the installer. They can.

Highball 0.7.5

Honest tiles for blocked launchers

Some launchers can't work on the current Wine engine no matter what Highball does. Those tiles now show Blocked with the reason on hover instead of starting an install that hangs.

First in that bucket: Rockstar Games Launcher. Its current installer deadlocks waiting on its Windows service under this engine, and the launcher itself then refuses to initialize, on every renderer. We root caused it locally and filed the full diagnosis upstream (Sikarugir#258). The moment an engine build carries the fix, the tile unblocks and GTA V and RDR2 through Rockstar become possible.

Also updated the GOG Galaxy recipe (offline installer, real known issues) and the compatibility database with locally verified entries for Counter-Strike 2 and Aperture Desk Job.

Highball 0.7.4

Per-program settings

Right click any program or launcher in a bottle and choose Program settings… to set:

• Launch arguments that stick across launches (quote arguments with spaces; Windows paths pass through untouched)
• Environment variables applied only to that program
• The renderer override, now in the same place

Asked for by a player whose game launcher requires mandatory command-line arguments. CLI users get the same via highball pin list and highball pin set <bottle> <program> args|renderer|env.

Also in this release

• Recipes with hand-written pins no longer require boilerplate fields
• GOG Galaxy recipe now uses GOG's full offline installer: the small web installer wrongly claims "requires Windows 7 SP1" under Wine (it checks service pack fields Wine's Windows 10 profile leaves empty). Galaxy installs and runs; its login window still doesn't paint, an engine limitation tracked upstream (Sikarugir#257)
• Counter-Strike 2 verified working under DXVK (use DXVK, not DXMT, for this title)
• A 28-test regression suite now guards launch environment rules, the GPU identity fix, recipe compatibility and more, running on every PR

Highball 0.7.3

Completes the NVIDIA-driver-error fix from 0.7.1: the GPU identity it wrote was silently rejected by Wine (the device id wasn't in Wine's table). Bottles now use an identity Wine accepts, verified against Wine's own diagnostics. New bottles get it automatically; existing bottles: right-click the bottle and choose Repair.

Highball 0.7.2

New Advanced section in bottle settings: add your own Wine DLL overrides (mods like Cyber Engine Tweaks need version=n,b) and environment variables, no terminal required. Overrides combine correctly with what each renderer already sets.

Highball 0.7.1

Fixes games that refused to start with an NVIDIA driver error (NVAPI, seen with CS:GO among others). Wine was telling games they were on an NVIDIA card; bottles now identify as AMD, which those games handle fine. New bottles get this automatically; for existing bottles right-click the bottle and choose Repair.