Game won't function on Mac Studio

Hello.
So recently I bought a new Mac Studio for my work but somehow the game won't function on it.
It shows black screen and sound only when I open it.
I looked up for some similar threads but didn't get any useful solution.
Is it something that not being fixed yet?






By the way my Mac details are as below:
Mac Studio(2022)
Mac OS Monterey 12.5
Apple M1 Ultra
Ram: 128GB
Core: 20

According to official specifications (as September 2022) the M1 chip isn't supported yet.

Quote:

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Models utilizing the Apple Silicon chipset (such as M1) are not supported.

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https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/system_requirements/

I'm using a Mac Studio with no problems - Mac Studio (2022), Apple M1 Max, Mac OS Monterey 12.6

It could be that the M1 Ultra is not supported.

You could try the third-party launcher FFXIV on Mac - see https://www.xivmac.com

Have you tried dualbooting Windows via Bootcamp? I dont know whether that will help if its a chip support issue but using the windows trial you could at least find out.

There is a flaw in it the game/Wine Wrapper, where anything over something like 80gb memory on Apple Silicon causes it to request a massive amount of textures, crashes Apple's API Metal, and not work. You'll get a black screen with music. That is the API Metal crashed, and no video working, just sound. CodeWeavers, who ports Square's FFXIV windows game client, in a Wine Wrapper for MacOS for Square (that's the official Square Enix MacOS Game), supposedly implemented a fix for this flaw in their CrossOver App, for other Apps/games, but when I asked if it would make FFXIV play on my 20 core/64gpu/128gb Mac Studio Ultra, they said no. They wouldn't say if/when they would be fixing the FFXIV MacOS game client they make for Square. The XIV on Mac team are aware of this high memory flaw, but are unable to fix their third party launcher. I've talked to them in detail about it on Discord. One of their coders has the same Mac Studio Ultra as you, and I, so they have a vested interest in fixing it.

Long and short is, the only way to play FFXIV on the 128gb Mac Studio Ultra is through a streaming cloud computer, like Shadow PC. Hopefully Square, and CodeWeavers will fix their cruddy game client, but don't hold your breath. Apple Silicon has been known about, and out for a few years now, it is impressive, and the future, and Square has made zero attempts to get FFXIV running on it. It is a shame, it could be awesome for them, with Apple enabling scalable gaming in this year's OS releases. A properly coded FFXIV could potentially run on an M1/M2 iPad Pro, as well, if they put the effort in.

I play on a Shadow PC streaming on my Mac Studio when I don't want to use my M1 16" MacBook Pro Max 32gpu/64gb memory laptop. It works well, if you have good internet.

To the person who suggested bootcamp/dual-booting windows, that is NOT an option on Apple Silicon. There is no bootcamp for these computers.

Hope this long winded response is helpful to you!

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Originally Posted by Giginen

To the person who suggested bootcamp/dual-booting windows, that is NOT an option on Apple Silicon. There is no bootcamp for these computers.

Hope this long winded response is helpful to you!

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I wasnt aware that it couldnt dual boot windows. I would say thats an issue Apple and MS need to get on. Being able to dualboot Windows and take advantage of MacOS for certain professional applications has always been a major sell for Macs, and its a fairly sizable market for MS.

The reason SE havent introduced support for Mac Studio will likely come down to market share. The majority of players arent on Macs, its a small gaming market, and the vast majority of Mac players arent going to be using studio devices but Macbooks or imacs.

Doing a little resarch, Parallels can get Windows running, but I dont know how well a VM would cope with XIV, probably badly, if at all.

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Originally Posted by Tiramu

I wasnt aware that it couldnt dual boot windows. I would say thats an issue Apple and MS need to get on. Being able to dualboot Windows and take advantage of MacOS for certain professional applications has always been a major sell for Macs, and its a fairly sizable market for MS.

The reason SE havent introduced support for Mac Studio will likely come down to market share. The majority of players arent on Macs, its a small gaming market, and the vast majority of Mac players arent going to be using studio devices but Macbooks or imacs.

Doing a little resarch, Parallels can get Windows running, but I dont know how well a VM would cope with XIV, probably badly, if at all.

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You don't seem to understand coding, and computers. Apple Silicon is not Intel x86 architecture, it is ARM, completely different. You can't just plop windows onto it, and expect it to work. There IS an ARM version of windows, but Microsoft has been locked into an agreement with Qualcomm for years preventing them from putting their Windows ARM version out for use on just any ARM architecture. Parallels uses a beta/public test version of windows ARM, and it makes that known upfront. It is not a release candidate of Windows. FFXIV will not run more than 10-15fps in Parallels, so it is not an option to play this game. Also, x86 coded windows games can't run on windows ARM, they have to use a program similar to Apple Rosetta 2 for the x86 apps to run on ARM architecture. So running an x86 Windows game, in Parallels means you are emulating within an emulator.

As for fixing the FFXIV game for JUST the Mac Studio, again, you're not understanding. It is an SE coding issue, and CodeWeavers coding issue on Apple Silicon causing the game to not play. It is relevant to ALL Apple Silicon computers, but currently only presents on the Mac Studio Ultra 128gb, because that is the only current computer that has this amount of memory. It won't be too long, though, before MacBook Pros, and other Apple Silicon computers will have this much memory. It is the trend, not the abnormal.

As for Mac players not being numerous, it is known they are not as large of a group as Windows gamers, but they are still a significant group, nonetheless. Also, while the PC market as a whole has shrunk in recent years, Apple's computer sales have actually increased. Square is more than just FFXIV, they rely heavily on sales of plushies, in game items, books, game music CDs/MP3, etc., and like it or not, Apple owners tend to be more flush with cash than their Windows counterparts. In a market such as the one we're in, and heading further towards, with high inflation, reduced average home wealth, and reduced overall free money to spend, it will be players with more money who continue to pay for these extras from Square Enix. Snubbing the Apple community isn't a wise business decision for any company any longer.

Square Enix has recently admitted it was foolish to focus solely on the Japanese Market, as it has cost them a significant amount of revenue, and it was foolish to snub the xbox community for PS4/PS5 exclusives, again, because it cost them a lot of revenue.

Square Enix Software Units Sold By Region:
Japan - 2.1 Million (22.3%)
North America/Europe - 6.24 Million (66.3%)
Asia - 1.07 Million (11.4%)

The issue is multifaceted, and complex. SE is on record, as recently as last quarter, saying they would fully support the FFXIV community for at least the next 10 years. That includes the Apple community. Apple has no intentions of returning to x86 Intel chips, so Apple Silicon is the future of Apple. For SE to live up to their statement, they need to fix their game client so it properly runs on current, and upcoming Apple hardware. Unfortunately they do not have a very good record of this. It was indicated by Apple, years ago, that with the release of macOS Monterey, Python would be removed. SE/CodeWeavers relied on Python for their Wine Wrapped poorly done port of FFXIV to macOS. Apple provided notice to developers years before Python's removal to prevent apps from breaking, and for developers to update their code. SE/CodeWeavers did nothing to ensure their game client would continue to work. SE actually told their Mac players to NOT upgrade their computers to Monterey, and then took nearly 8 months from the date their game broke on macOS to provide a fix for it. During this time macOS players were still paying each month for the game, many of whom could not play it, because they had upgraded to Monterey not knowing the game would break in doing so, and if they didn't continue to pay, they'd lose in game homes, and other items. The business world is complex, and, again, multifaceted, but it isn't hard to see this was wrong of SE to inflict on this subsection of users since they had advanced warning from Apple of what was to occur.

In the end, with the continued growth of Apple, the current market trends, and their recent awakening to the need to broaden their support of different markets, it would only help SE and FFXIV to put in the effort to properly support the macOS community. Time will tell what they choose to do.

In the meantime, people like me make do the best we can. I play on my MacBook Pro, and if I want to play on my Mac Studio Ultra, I use Shadow PC, which is a windows cloud pc I pay for each month to stream a computer from the cloud, so I can play any windows game on any device, even my M2 iPad Pro 12.9, and my Apple TV 4K boxes. It isn't cheap, though, it is $44/mo, and requires fast internet. Fortunately I have 3, 10gig up/down fiber lines run into my home, so speed isn't an issue, but it will be for some others.

I hope this has helped you further understand this issue. It isn't a simple one, and at current, there is no easy fix for users. The whole ball is in Square Enix's court at this point.