Any Update on FFXIV Compatibility for ARM (M1) Macs?

[Keirokora]

Hello, I found that in the Square Enix Store there is a call out regarding M1 under the System Requirements for the Mac version: https://store.na.square-enix-games.c...n-mac-download
"* Models utilizing the Apple Silicon chipset (such as M1) are not supported."

I recently purchased a Macbook Air (M1), and I was curious to see if FFXIV would run on it. I did not purchase the Mac download, as based on the footnote, I was concerned it would not run at all.

[Shibi]

I recently purchased a Macbook Air (M1), and I was curious to see if FFXIV would run on it. I did not purchase the Mac download, as based on the footnote, I was concerned it would not run at all.

It certainly runs. I think it's a case of old web pages, or more likely slow certification by the support team. It took them ages to certify Big Sur.

[Packetdancer]

It certainly runs. I think it's a case of old web pages, or more likely slow certification by the support team. It took them ages to certify Big Sur.

I suspect it's more that at this point, the Mac version is really the Windows version, running atop an API translation layer (Codeweavers Crossover), which itself is running through Apple's Rosetta 2 (which allows Intel code to run on M1 Silicon). And the graphics are written in DirectX, which Crossover translates into Vulkan 1.1 using DXVK, which is then translated into Apple's underlying Metal graphics API using MoltenVK. So while it works, that's a lot of moving pieces—many of which are outside of Square-Enix's control. It's not too surprising to me that they'd be hesitant to claim official support, since if they do and something breaks, it may be out of their hands to fix (without writing a full native version of the application).

For instance, there was an issue early on where downloading a patch would cause the game to stop executing on M1 Macs entirely; it would just instantly crash when you ran the game, with no explanation. And there was basically nothing that Square-Enix could've done to fix that, because it had to do with how Rosetta 2 handles things.

As brief explanation, Rosetta 2 is not an emulator; it's actually an AOT compiler—AOT meaning "Ahead Of Time", where you compile a program targeting a specific architecture just once, and store the resulting native executable. (As opposed to Just In Time compilers, where you have a program stored in a more universal generic bytecode, and then compiled into native code when you run the program.) The first time you run an Intel program through Rosetta 2, it literally breaks down the program, analyzes it, and creates an entire ARM-native version of it, which is then cached. This means you don't take the emulation hit, since you're not running an emulator that has to pretend to be something else; you're literally running a native ARM executable compiled for the M1.

And since ARM is actually a more efficient architecture than the somewhat-aged-and-creaking x86 architecture, you can sometimes see some pretty substantial performance this way. As people have seen with the FFXIV client; the Rosetta-derived ARM version performs better on M1 silicon than the Intel version does on actual Intel Mac hardware. Which is frankly breathtakingly impressive.

However, Rosetta 2 needs to be able to tell that a program has changed to know to recompile it; as best I can tell, the way the x86 client was stuffed inside of Crossover's WINE-derived containers meant that when the game data changed in a patch but the Crossover portion did not, Rosetta 2 seemingly didn't know it needed to re-do the compile... which meant it tried executing an outdated ARM translation of things after a patch, causing an instant crash. You could work around this by fiddling around inside of Crossover so that Rosetta 2 knew to generate a new ARM version of it, but that's mucking about with things at a level that Square-Enix almost certainly would not want to try to provide support for; breaking open the .app bundle and fiddling around with the innards is a bit beyond the scope of what your average customer support person is prepared to talk folks through.

It is thus far easier for them to just say "this is not supported" and let people take the plunge themselves.

One hopes that while taking this approach, they're also trying to figure out what their official support strategy for M1 silicon will be in the long run—though I won't be exactly surprised if that strategy is "end-of-life the Mac client".

(Rosetta 2 has since added provisions to recognize scenarios like the Crossover one, mind you. So that particular problem went away back in like... late December or early January or something.)

[Sotaris]

Hello, I found that in the Square Enix Store there is a call out regarding M1 under the System Requirements for the Mac version: https://store.na.square-enix-games.c...n-mac-download
"* Models utilizing the Apple Silicon chipset (such as M1) are not supported."

I recently purchased a Macbook Air (M1), and I was curious to see if FFXIV would run on it. I did not purchase the Mac download, as based on the footnote, I was concerned it would not run at all.

In Rosetta2 mode it work. Not natively.

[HalfLoaf]

Necro post, sorry!

The System Requirements seems to vary between pages. The page below states:

"Please note that the game is not compatible with Apple Silicon models yet." Which seems to imply future support?

https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...1ccaba6bd227c9

It would be nice to have an update in anycase, but I realise MacOS player numbers are marginal, and the M1 players base is a fraction of marginal!

[_Pigzig]

it runs but the fps sucks on my machine
also i had a resolution bug on monterey beta that made everything look worse too
but I fixed it with wine settings
so this mac ver is just a wrapper for wine? did I waste money?

[HalfLoaf]

It is a wrapper indeed, just like the Steam version is a 'wrapper' and you pay for that as well. I have an OLD pc from 2014 I use for FF, it's just an i5 4960k and a GTX 980...but it sits at 60fps all day long on 1920x1200, apart from maybe Limsa. My MacPro with RX 580 sits at around 35-45fps...20fps in Limsa. The wrapper just has so much overhead as activity monitors shows 100% usage of the GPU and only about 30% on the CPU.

[_Pigzig]

Thanks. Makes sense it runs like a turd. If anyone else has an M1 Mac I'd like to know what settings you play on.
For me even 720p seems borderline.

[Tanarkus]

Thanks. Makes sense it runs like a turd. If anyone else has an M1 Mac I'd like to know what settings you play on.
For me even 720p seems borderline.

I am running it on an M1 MacBook Air, with 8 GPU cores... PS4 controller via bluetooth, of course. Depending on settings and where I am in the game, it runs anywhere from 6 FPS* to 60-ish FPS.

Generally, I run it full screen at ??x800 (whatever the next step up from 720p is), with the Quality set to "High" (the middle setting). What also helps is reducing the number of objects down from Maximum, in the ellipsis section of the system settings. I tend to keep screwing with the settings, hoping to get an extra bump.

It doesn't run like a turd, but you definitely need to lower your expectations with regards to shadows, bump mapping, and other graphics prettiness.

As a side note, FFXIV for MacOS is little more than the Windows x64 version in a WINE wrapper. It was ported by TransGaming using their Cider fork of WINE. Once TG died, the project was taken over by Codeweavers, using their CrossOver package. (See https://www.codeweavers.com/about/news/press/20190628 )

I do not expect Squeenix to abandon the Mac client, nor do I expect them to embrace the M1. Although Windows 10 and 11 have ARM variants, that hardware tends to be tablets and ultrabooks. Not exactly a target market for gaming. ...and that would be the greater business need for an ARM-native version.

* Six FPS? Yes. I used AirPlay to connect it to my AppleTV to run on a native 4K television. I do not recommend.

[Johners]

I'd like to actually see an M1 Native version at some stage simply because there's no guarantee on how long the Rosetta 2 compatibility layer will last for. When Apple moved from PowerPC to x86 back in the day, the compatibility layer was only supported in the Mac OS X releases of the time for a few years and I don't expect it to be any different this time around. By the time Endwalker is complete and we're moving onto 7.0, I can see there being no more x86 compatibility or new x86 Macs on the market. Sooner or later, preferably sooner, SE will have to provide an ARM native macOS client or at least take the time to move onto a compatibility wrapper that's much more performant.