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 | Untested | no report yet — send one |
| DXMTDirect3D 11 over Metal | Untested | no report yet — send one |
| D3DMetalApple's Game Porting Toolkit | Untested | no report yet — send one |
No dated Highball run yet. When one lands it records the renderer, the engine build and the macOS version it was seen on — which is what stops a verdict quietly rotting. Send one.
Notes
Reported perfect on the Wine 11 engine with the environment in D3DMetal mode over 11 minutes. Nothing was measured here.
Provenance
Reported by KinSapalot (highball-db#613, 2026-10-21), Apple M4 Pro, macOS 26.5.2, Highball 0.10.22, the Wine 11 engine x64-crossover26.3-r23, D3DMetal environment, sync off, rated 5 of 5 after 11 minutes. The report gives no store or Steam AppID, the AppID here is the Steam store's. Not verified by the maintainer.
Before installing anything, it is worth checking whether the game already ships a native Mac build.
Common questions
Does Defense Grid: The Awakening work on Mac?
Defense Grid: The Awakening has no native Mac build, but it is reported to run on Apple Silicon through Highball, a free open-source compatibility layer. This comes from community reports rather than a Highball test run, so treat it as a reasonable expectation rather than a guarantee.
Contribute a result
This page is generated from an open database. If you have run Defense Grid: The Awakening 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.