Highball
Which renderer to use
Highball can run each game through three different Direct3D translation layers. This is what the database knows for this title — empty rows are open questions, not failures.
| Renderer | Verdict | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| DXVKDirect3D 9-11 over Vulkan | Partial | menu and play, but very laggy with freezes in a match on the same Mac (no DXVK state cache, async off); about 38 fps at the 1024x768 menu |
| DXMTDirect3D 11 over Metal | Recommended | 1 report |
| D3DMetalApple's Game Porting Toolkit | Reported | 1 report |
last confirmed 2026-10-05 · engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r3 · macOS 27.0. Dated runs record the engine build and, where the reporter gave it, the macOS version.
Notes
Use DXMT on macOS 15 or newer: a bot match on Dust II ran at 102-108 fps at 1728x1117 fullscreen with the game's defaults, 10.3 ms of GPU per frame and a 9.3 ms frame interval by the Metal HUD, engine r2, DXMT 0.80 (2026-09-10, macOS 26.6.2, M1 Pro). The maintainer played the same match and called it a great experience. The earlier r1 measurement on this Mac was about 70 fps (2026-09-04). r2 is faster on the same settings. The maintainer's own play: some small lags in the first minutes while DXMT compiles and caches shaders, then smooth. Quitting through the game's menu ended the process cleanly: no crash dump in the game folder, Steam's client stayed up for the next launch. DXVK on the same Mac reaches the menu (about 38 fps at 1024x768) and plays, but the maintainer found it very laggy with freezes during play; the DXVK log shows no state cache and async compilation is off, so first-use pipeline compiles stall the game. On macOS 14 DXMT gave a black screen (game runs, never paints; 2026-08-25), so the row keeps DXVK below macOS 15. No NVAPI error on Highball 0.7.3+, bottles identify as an AMD card. Legacy CS:GO is now its own free Steam app, see the csgo-legacy entry (appid 4465480) for its status, including the macOS 26 map-load freeze tracked in issue #21. History of the legacy gates, for anyone on an old Highball: 'Failed to initialize NVAPI (0xFFFFFFFE)' means pre-0.7.3 (update, then Repair the bottle); 'graphics hardware does not support all features (CSM)' means DXVK's Direct3D 9 is not loading, fixed for the DXVK renderer in 0.7.8 and for every renderer in 0.7.17. Correction to earlier versions of this entry: the map-load freeze was previously attributed here to async shader compilation (0.7.10); that was wrong, logs later proved the freeze occurs with async off and under every sync mode. The freeze is macOS-26-specific and remains open in issue #21. On the 13-inch MacBook with the A18 Pro chip (macOS 27.0, Highball 0.9.19, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r3, D3DMetal): about 70 fps at low settings and the panel's 1440x900-class resolution, with drops to 20, rated 4 of 5 after 11 minutes by the reporter of highball-db#215 (2026-09-25), who also noted that pressing more than two keys at once loses presses on that laptop. A report on the 0.10.0 beta rates it perfect on DXMT with the Wine 11 engine r12 on an M5 Pro, with an occasional small drop. Re-checked on 2026-10-05 on an M4 with engine r21 (DEP kept on): the main menu comes up on DXMT as before. A report from an M5 Pro over 99 minutes rates it playable, with frame drops and the mouse locking up when a macOS notification appears or the volume changes, and sometimes for no reason the reporter found.
Known issues
Music and game sounds stutter or crackle, like a speaker next to a ringing phone, on the speakers, AirPods and a monitor alike (highball#127)
What helps Fixed in Highball 0.10.3. On the default engine (r19 and later) Highball keeps what the Mac asks Wine for under the game's queue, and the Wine 11 engine has the same fix in Wine's audio driver from r14. The reporter confirmed the sound is much better (highball#127). HB_AUDIOBUF=0 in an environment's variables turns it off on the default engine. On older engines, setting the output to 96,000 or 88,200 Hz in Audio MIDI Setup avoids it
Why The game keeps very little sound queued, and at 48 kHz the Mac asks Wine for 10.7 ms of sound at a time, more than it often has, so it plays a short silence instead. Measured on an M4 with macOS 27.0 on 2026-10-01, engine r17 with DXMT, two minutes of the main menu. At 48 kHz there were 324 dropouts of about 8 ms each. At 96 kHz there were none
Turning on fullscreen with the game on a second display crashes it (reported on a MacBook Pro with an LG monitor, highball#156)
What helps Use the game's Fullscreen Windowed mode, under Display Mode in its video settings, which fills the screen without a mode switch
Why Not measured here. Fullscreen asks macOS to switch that display's mode, and the crash happens at that step. On a Mac mini whose only screen is the same monitor the game runs without crashing (reported)
The mouse locks up when a macOS notification appears or the volume changes, sometimes without a cause found (reported on an M5 Pro, engine r21)
What helps none known yet.
Why not investigated
One-click setup
Highball ships a recipe for Counter-Strike 2: open the game in your Library and apply it. The recipe carries the tested renderer and any per-game fixes, so you don't have to reproduce them by hand. Read the recipe.
Provenance
verified locally on Apple Silicon (M1 Pro), engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r2, macOS 26.6.2, Highball 0.9.3 Community: OhbananasGaming (highball-db#109, 2026-09-17), Apple M5, macOS 26.6.2, Highball 0.9.19, engine r3, mode not stated, rated 4 of 5 after 4 minutes. FloraKira (highball-db#257, 2026-09-29), Apple M5 Pro, macOS 27.0.1, Highball 0.10.0 beta, engine x64-crossover26.3-r12, DXMT, Windows 11, AVX advertised, rated 5 of 5 after 10 minutes with a small frame drop once in a while. yasinirmak (highball-db#319, 2026-10-04), Apple M5, macOS 27.0, Highball 0.10.3, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r19, D3DMetal mode in the environment (the report names DXMT), the counter-strike-2 recipe applied, rated 4 of 5 after 25 minutes with rare frame drops. Hetens (highball-db#416, 2026-10-08), Apple M5 Pro, macOS 27.0.1, Highball 0.10.3, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r19, DXMT, the counter-strike-2 recipe, rated 5 of 5 after 38 minutes. RINNECODER (highball-db#428, 2026-10-09), Apple M5 Pro, macOS 27.0, Highball 0.10.10, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r21, the counter-strike-2 recipe, rated 4 of 5 after 99 minutes with frame drops and the mouse locking.
Before installing anything, it is worth checking whether the game already ships a native Mac build.
Common questions
Does Counter-Strike 2 work on Mac?
Counter-Strike 2 has no native Mac build, but it is reported to run on Apple Silicon through Highball, a free open-source compatibility layer. Highball has run it on Apple Silicon (last confirmed 2026-10-05 · engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r3 · macOS 27.0).
Which renderer should I use for Counter-Strike 2?
DXMT. Highball can translate Direct3D through DXVK, DXMT or Apple's D3DMetal, and the right choice varies by game. The database records DXMT for Counter-Strike 2, and applying the Counter-Strike 2 recipe sets it for you.
Is there a one-click setup for Counter-Strike 2?
Yes. Highball ships a recipe for Counter-Strike 2 that sets the tested renderer and any per-game fixes. Open the game in your Library and apply it.
Contribute a result
This page is generated from an open database. If you have run Counter-Strike 2 on Apple Silicon, working or not, a report takes a minute and fills in the empty rows above. Send a report, or read how the data is put together.