MacRunner 1.0.3 — development preview

MacRunner 1.0.3 — development preview. A native Mac app for running Windows games and apps on Apple Silicon: Wine for Windows APIs, HyperBridge for x86-64/x86 → ARM64 CPU translation, DXMT and Metal for Direct3D 10/11 graphics.

What changed since 1.0.2

• HyperBridge engine 0015 replaces the 1.0.2 engine: engine-0015, where its release notes list the engine changes. HyperBridge is FEX-Emu with MacRunner's patch series, public under MIT at t0b1kent/hyperbridge.
• Faster start-up. MACRUNNER_HB_MAPSCAN_SKIP=1 is now on by default, so Wine no longer scans the whole address space when it maps memory. In our measurements Hollow Knight reached its main menu in about 45 s instead of about 3 minutes.
• Cleaner runtime. 69 leftover backup and test binaries (about 180 MB) removed from the bundled Wine, and the license texts of all bundled libraries added. The engine manifest (ENGINE.json) lists every file with its SHA-256.

Checked on this build

Hollow Knight 1.5.12620 (GOG, Windows build, Unity 6), 1280×720, V-Sync on, MacBook Pro M1 Pro, macOS 27.0: starts, loads a save and plays King's Pass at 107–117 FPS (four runs) against the 120 Hz display limit, graphics through DXMT → Metal (details and conditions). The other titles in the tested-games list have not been re-checked on 1.0.3 yet. How the engine compares with the game's native macOS build, Microsoft Prism and CrossOver's FEX: HyperBridge compared.

Requirements and first launch

• Apple Silicon Mac, macOS 27.0 (the bundled media libraries need it).
• The app is signed ad hoc and not notarized (Apple Developer account approval is pending). After unzipping, move MacRunner.app to Applications. If macOS refuses to open it, open it once from Finder with Control-click → Open, or allow it in System Settings → Privacy & Security, or remove the download quarantine in Terminal: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/MacRunner.app.
• Automatic updates are off in this preview.

Scope

Windows x64 games using Direct3D 10/11 are the main target. The DirectX 12 development path is not included in this bundle. 32-bit Windows support is limited, and Windows ARM64 applications are not validated. A listed launch profile is not a compatibility guarantee. Release status →

Source code and licenses

• HyperBridge: t0b1kent/hyperbridge (MIT; FEX-Emu with MacRunner's modifications).
• Wine (LGPL-2.1-or-later) and DXMT (LGPL-2.1-or-later), both with MacRunner's changes, and the other bundled LGPL/GPL components: the corresponding source is attached to this release as MacRunner-1.0.3-sources.tar; MacRunner-1.0.3-sources-README.md describes its contents and lists the components. The shipped DXMT changes are in that package; the public fork t0b1kent/dxmt does not contain them yet.
• License texts of the bundled components are inside the app (Contents/Resources/engine/licenses) and in the source package.

Checksums of every file of this release are in SHA256SUMS.