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 | community reports |
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
Direct3D 12 only (Cobra engine), so D3DMetal, and it needs a Wine 11 engine. The recipe carries the Cellar workaround, Metal's validation layer on, which stops a D3DMetal startup race that otherwise ends the game within seconds. Reported about 55 fps in the menu on an M5 there, with large parks CPU-bound under Rosetta. Denuvo, Steam must be online. Nothing measured here yet. A second report on an M3 Pro with the full configuration in place got no window in five minutes and a Mac freeze on Stop, so the recipe is unconfirmed outside the M5 it came from.
One-click setup
Highball ships a recipe for Planet Coaster 2: open the game in your Library and apply it. The recipe carries the tested renderer and any per-game fixes, so you don't have to reproduce them by hand. Read the recipe.
Provenance
Reported not launching by cgp9cvzk52-max (highball-db#115, 2026-09-18) on DXMT then D3DMetal, Apple M3 Pro, macOS 26.6.2, engine x64-sikarugir10.0_6-r2, Highball 0.9.12: the game's own crash dialog at start. The working configuration comes from the Cellar project's published profile for this game (D3DMetal, Wine 11, MTL_DEBUG_LAYER=1), playable there on an M5. Not run here.
Before installing anything, it is worth checking whether the game already ships a native Mac build.
Common questions
Does Planet Coaster 2 work on Mac?
Planet Coaster 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 Planet Coaster 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 Planet Coaster 2, and applying the Planet Coaster 2 recipe sets it for you.
Is there a one-click setup for Planet Coaster 2?
Yes. Highball ships a recipe for Planet Coaster 2 that sets the tested renderer and any per-game fixes. Open the game in your Library and apply it.
Contribute a result
This page is generated from an open database. If you have run Planet Coaster 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.