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 | Reported | community reports |
| 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
The 1998 original (GoldSrc). Reported perfect after 8 minutes on an M3 Max on the default engine r17 with the environment on DXVK and the frame cap at 60. The game draws through OpenGL, which Wine hands to the Mac's own OpenGL whatever the graphics mode, so the mode is unlikely to matter for it, an inference rather than a measurement, and the mode here is the one reported. Steam also sells a native Mac build of it. Whether the game held the 60 cap was not said and nothing was measured here.
Provenance
Reported by Site-Ark-M (highball-db#304, 2026-10-04), Apple M3 Max, macOS 27.0.1, Highball 0.10.2, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r17, DXVK as the environment's mode with Highball's frame cap at 60, recipes steam and vcrun2022, rated 5 of 5 after 8 minutes. Not verified by the maintainer.
Before installing anything, it is worth checking whether the game already ships a native Mac build.
Common questions
Does Half-Life work on Mac?
Yes. Steam ships a native macOS build, which will beat running the Windows version through any compatibility layer.
Which renderer should I use for Half-Life?
DXVK. Highball can translate Direct3D through DXVK, DXMT or Apple's D3DMetal, and the right choice varies by game. The database records DXVK for Half-Life. Highball uses it automatically when the game has a row; to set it by hand, open Settings, then Environments.
Contribute a result
This page is generated from an open database. If you have run Half-Life 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.