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 | Reported | 1 report |
| 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 an M4 on Wine 11 engine r28 over 7 minutes. An M1 with DXMT on the default engine (r28) played 11 minutes and rated it perfect too.
Provenance
Reported by luispereira11 (highball-db#933, 2026-11-03), Apple M4, macOS 27.2, Highball 0.10.24, engine x64-crossover26.3-r28, WineD3D by the report (the environment's mode is D3DMetal), rated 5 of 5 after 7 minutes: with Retina pixels at 100%. Not verified by the maintainer. gopipgo-blip (highball-db#981, 2026-11-04), Apple M1, macOS 27.2, Highball 0.10.23, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r28, DXMT, rated 5 of 5 after 11 minutes: the copy isn't stated.
Before installing anything, it is worth checking whether the game already ships a native Mac build.
Common questions
Does Dwarf Fortress work on Mac?
Dwarf Fortress 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 Dwarf Fortress 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.