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 | 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
DirectX 12 only, so D3DMetal. Before Highball 0.9.19 the normal Play path died at startup with Wine exception 0xc06d007f: the game binds D3D12CreateDevice by ordinal 101 and the timestamp shim in front of d3d12.dll numbered its exports from 1 (highball-db#53). Fixed in the engines shipped with 0.9.19 (r3 and r9), confirmed by the reporter on a fresh install. On DXMT and DXVK the game stops at a GetAdapterInfo dialog, they have no DirectX 12. The white and green rendering artifacts the reporter saw on Apple's D3DMetal 4.0b2 did not show on the shipped 3.0. One crash in three launches after a "Controller disconnected" prompt, not reproduced since. A later report on the default engine (r11) on an M5 Max rates it 3, playable with workarounds, after three minutes, without saying which workarounds.
Known issues
Quits at startup, Wine reports unhandled exception 0xc06d007f (reported on an M5, macOS 26 and 27, before 0.9.19)
What helps Highball 0.9.19 and its engines r3 and r9. Confirmed by the reporter
Why measured: the game resolves D3D12CreateDevice by ordinal 101 and the timestamp shim's d3d12.dll numbered its exports from 1
Crashed once after a "Controller disconnected" prompt when pressing A (one launch in three, reported on an M5)
What helps none known, not reproduced since
Why not isolated
Provenance
Reported by littlemilktea (highball-db#53, 2026-09-15), Apple M5 16 GB, macOS 27, Highball 0.9.19, engine x64-crossover26.3-r9, D3DMetal: fresh install, normal Play reaches the game, about 79 fps in town at 1512x945 with FSR Performance and medium textures. Not verified by the maintainer. pannatorn-hub (highball#105, 2026-09-18): Mac mini M4, Highball on an external APFS SSD, playable on engine r3 after updating from r2 (the old Direct3D 12 shim crashed it), frame rate said to be lower than in the Sikarugir app, not measured. lendidenko (highball-db#282, 2026-10-02), Apple M5 Max, macOS 26.5.2, Highball 0.9.39, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r11 (the default engine), D3DMetal as the environment's mode, rated 3 of 5, playable with workarounds, after 3 minutes, the workarounds not named. drengy (highball-db#743, 2026-10-27), Apple M5 Ultra, macOS 27.2, Highball 0.10.22, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r28, D3DMetal, rated 5 of 5 after 33 minutes: at least a dozen sessions at high and ultra settings in 4K with no crashes, stutter or artifacts.
Before installing anything, it is worth checking whether the game already ships a native Mac build.
Common questions
Does Path of Exile 2 work on Mac?
Path of Exile 2 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 Path of Exile 2?
D3DMetal. Highball can translate Direct3D through DXVK, DXMT or Apple's D3DMetal, and the right choice varies by game. The database records D3DMetal for Path of Exile 2. 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 Path of Exile 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.