HighballWhich 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 | Reported | 1 report |
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 playable on an M1 (Epic). The very first start ran its splash at a few frames per second, most likely while shaders were built, and the next start was normal.
Known issues
The first start shows the legal splash at about 3 fps
What helps start it again
Why assumed: first-run shader compilation. Not measured
Provenance
Reported by udance4ever (highball-db#801, 2026-10-29), the Epic copy, Apple M1, macOS 27.0.1, Highball 0.10.22, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r28, D3DMetal with AVX advertised, rated 4 of 5 after 2 minutes: on the first launch the legal splash ran at about 3 fps, the second launch was fine. Not verified by the maintainer.
Before installing anything, it is worth checking whether the game already ships a native Mac build.
Common questions
Does High On Life work on Mac?
High On Life 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.
Which renderer should I use for High On Life?
D3DMetal. Highball can translate Direct3D through DXVK, DXMT or Apple's D3DMetal, and the right choice varies by game. The database records D3DMetal for High On 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 High On 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.