[This is an informational post I made on reddit. I'm reposting it here because it's useful information.]
This post is intended as a linkable resource for quickly and easily responding to the "can I play GW on a X?" posts that seem to pop up once or twice per week. (There are two in the top six posts right now.)
TLDR Version:
Can I play GW on...
- ...any remotely modern device with an x86 or x86/64 processor and a Windows operating system? YES.
- ...any remotely modern device with an x86 or x86/64 processor and a Linux operating system? YES.
- ...a Steamdeck? YES.
- ...any remotely modern device with an x86 or x86/64 processor and a MacOS operating system prior to Catalina? YES.
- ...any remotely modern device with an x86 or x86/64 processor and a MacOS operating system Catalina or newer? YES, BUT only if using the paid version of Crossover, PlayOnMac, or a custom-built wine.
- ...a Mac with an M1 or M2 processor? NO (and there is no hope it will ever work in the future).
- ...a Mac with an ancient PowerPC processor? HELL NO.
- ...a Chromebook with an x86 processor? YES, BUT it requires some advanced setup.
- ...a Chromebook with an ARM processor? NO, barring very extreme measures.
- ...a device with an ARM32 processor? NO, barring very extreme measures.
- ...a device with an ARM64 processor? NO, barring very extreme measures, and then only if the processor supports the ARM32 instruction set.
- ...a Raspberry Pi? See "device with an ARM64 processor."
- ...a virtual machine on x86 or x86/64 hardware? YES BUT, only if your hardware and host OS support and are configured for PCI passthrough.
- ...a cloud gaming service? YES, BUT only some of them (notably NOT GeForce Now) and the lag will be awful (and there is no hope it will ever not be awful).
Further Details:
- What is a "remotely modern device"? Definitely anything manufactured in the past decade. And probably most things manufactured in the past 15-20 years too. There are two basic requirements:
- An x86 or x86/64 processor. Pretty much anything from the last 20 years will do.
- A sufficiently powerful GPU.
- Integrated graphics from 2011 (Intel HD 3000) or newer should be adequate.
- A discrete graphics card from ~2005 or newer should be adequate.
- What's the deal with Catalina? Apple removed the 32-bit system libraries in Catalina. Crossover subsequently implemented a "32 in 64" solution for running 32-bit programs using 64-bit libraries. (Which was a truly herculean feat.) This functionality will eventually be incorporated into wine and its derivatives (e.g., PlayOnMac), but it hasn't yet (as of the end of 2022). (Though it appears patches are available on github if you want to try building it yourself.) It doesn't help that the lead developer for wine on Mac died in late 2020. (Someone please let me know when "32 in 64" hits mainline wine so I can update this post.) [Edit: As per u/hazyPixels, it works on PlayOnMac.]
- What's the deal with M1/M2 Macs? These are ARM64 processors that do not support the full ARM32 instruction set. While it's possible to get the game to run using a combination of Crossover and Rosetta2, the performance is beyond abysmal (5-10fps at best). The root of the problem is that Rosetta2 translating x86 to ARM64 is just dreadfully inefficient, and there's nothing that can be done to fix it. [Edit: The Apple Game Porting Toolkit doesn't change this equation. It sorta works for GW2, but GW2 is a 64-bit program.]
- Chromebook? Be very careful that you get a model with an x86 processor and not an ARM processor. You can then switch it to Linux mode and install wine for running GW.
- What are these "extreme measures" for ARM devices? Replace the OS with Linux, install Box86 and dependencies, install x86 wine binaries in Box86. For more details, search the internet for Box86+wine installation tutorials.
- What's PCI passthrough? It's a feature that enables a virtual machine to use the host machine's discrete graphics card. Without it, the virtual machine must use a generic virtual GPU, which results in really awful performance. PCI passthrough requires (a) hardware support in the CPU, motherboard chipset, motherboard BIOS, and discrete graphics card, (b) having two graphics cards installed (or being willing to use integrated graphics for the host OS), (c) software support from the host OS (note that MacOS does NOT support it), and (d) a ton of painful set up. For further details, search the internet for tutorials.
- What's up with GeForce Now? It's nVidia's fault. Supposedly they're working on it, but no ETA as of the end of 2022. (Someone please let me know if/when they get it working so I can update this post.)
- Is the situation with cloud gaming lag really that hopeless? Yes. It's a matter of fundamental physics. It cannot be overcome. Cloud gaming has always been a fatally dumb idea from the outset.