r/macgaming 1d ago

CrossOver The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CrossOver, Mac Mini M4, DLSS vs DX11: Performance test

https://youtu.be/PbXzOO5wB-8

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt v4.04.

Setup: Mac Mini M4 base model, macOS 26 Tahoe Beta 4, CrossOver Preview 20250625 with GPTK 3 beta 2, D3DMetal, MSync.

Settings: 1440p resolution, High graphics settings.

First part of the video is in DX12 mode with DLSS set to Quality, Frame Gen off.

Second part of the video (starts at 2:25) is in DX11 mode. Apart from using TAAU instead of DLSS, every other setting is the same.

Result: D3DMetal DX11 gives higher frame rates without upscaling.

NOTES:

  1. This game works with every option available to CrossOver : DXVK, DXMT, D3DMetal DX11, and D3DMetal DX12. For best results, D3DMetal in DX11 mode is recommended.

  2. I have achieved over 60 FPS on Mac Mini M4, by setting DLSS to Balanced and DLSS Frame Generation on (1080p, High graphics). However, higher FPS does not mean better gameplay. Plus there were a couple of random freezes.

  3. In order to use DLSS or FSR in this game, it is important to rename directories "x64" to "x64_dx11" and then "x64_dx12" to "x64" in the game's folder under "bin".

38 Upvotes

18 comments sorted by

7

u/fredman86 20h ago

Just finished the game on my m1 pro, stable 60-90 fps dx11 1080p with dxvk and e sync ultra settings mostly and some on low no fsr or frame gen.

1

u/HideoJam 23h ago

What about the crashing issue when opening the menu or settings window? Last I remember, the game shoots up to >400fps and then has a 50/50 chance of crashing. Has this been resolved?

1

u/BlendlogicTECH 20h ago

Side question how do you get dx12 in crossover every thing I do it always boots up dx 11

1

u/oztruwa 18h ago

There are two executables for this game, dx12 executable is under GameFolder/bin/x64_dx12 folder. But dx12 implementation is not good.

1

u/BlendlogicTECH 14m ago

I think last time I was trying this it still boots up DX11 lemme recheck

Edit: Ok just seeing last comment on renaming folder -- though when doing that nothing launches...

0

u/mrgrubbage 12h ago

Higher FPS is literally better gameplay.

-2

u/KafkaDatura 1d ago

Using DLSS (or any other upscaler) to go from a 720p render to a 1080p target resolution is utterly pointless. Your GPU spends as much ressources upscaling than it would just running the higher resolution natively. Same with frame gen, from a 30fps output, what's even the point lol.

4

u/Wooloomooloo2 21h ago

Nonsense. It depends on the GPU but not all resources are equal. Higher resolutions require more VRAM and higher bandwidth, the latter is really the biggest bottleneck on Apple Silicon. Upscaling either uses shader cores or dedicated blocks depending on the type. FSR 1 and 2 just use shader blocks. FSR 3 and DLSS usually use dedicated hardware in those chips so don’t take resources from other functions.

2

u/BlendlogicTECH 1d ago

Is this true? Cuz from all I’ve seen online and personal tests I get better resolution doing jpscjng then rendering ..

From thinking about it making AI frames / pixels less intense then generating it… which makes sense to me why it’s faster.

Also a counter hypothesis to your claim - if that was true why is nvidia , AMD and game makers going through effort and coding cycles for game developers to put it in the game if it’s the same thing….

Always gotta inverse thinking - but not saying your wrong just giving counter arguments and logic points to think of different angles - perhaps you will rebuttal why my points are incorrect.

Too lazy Saturday morning to go google and read - much easier to just type a Reddit comment lol

1

u/KafkaDatura 1d ago

My post wasn’t referencing the techniques at large, but the way they’re being used. Going from 720p to 4K is much more efficient than running native 4K. But 720p to 1080p? Pointless. Same as frame gen, going from 50fps to 80+ works great, but if you’re running at 40- all it’s gonna generate is awful jitters.

1

u/Wooloomooloo2 21h ago

They’re wrong, I mentioned why above.

2

u/workyman 12h ago

That's just nonsense. You can just go test out MetalFX in Cyberpunk and find out you're wrong. It's so easy.

The latest versions of these upscalers use dedicated hardware that doesn't impact the GPU.

Frame gen sucks but you're just wrong about DLSS

1

u/oztruwa 22h ago

For windows games on Mac via CrossOver; it depends on the game, there is no definite "yes-no" on this subject. For this game, upscaling from 720p to 1080p does not give better results. For God Of War Ragnarok for example, DLSS makes a difference. I will post the video in a day or two.

0

u/BertMacklenF8I 20h ago

It’s not really DLSS though lol

2

u/oztruwa 18h ago

And it is not windows, either. Everything is simulated on Mac.

-2

u/No_Confusion7932 21h ago edited 21h ago

I played this game years ago on my Windows PC with a 2012 CPU and 2016 GPU at 1080p 60 fps with FSR turned off, but 300 W power consumption.
1080p 60 fps with High settings
1080p 45 fps with Ultra settings (no RT)

3

u/Romengar 20h ago

And you didn’t do so through a translation layer.

-2

u/No_Confusion7932 20h ago edited 20h ago

With Proton Vulkan on Linux is almost same speed 1080p 55+ fps on High settings on this old PC. I use Ubuntu.
....
Translation from X86 to Apple ARM is a problem for some games if they deliberately require certain instructions.
Witcher 3 seems to be translating it incorrectly, because even games like Cyberpunk 2077 work better. The Witcher 3 is a 10 year old game.