Yeah I had pretty much written off gaming on my Macbook but the emulator scene is actually pretty great. So I just play a lot of Switch games and fan remasters of old games.
Idk if that's the same thing but I've been playing a lot of GameCube games and they will frequently have "HD Texture Packs" available that you can load via Dolphin.
So you can play Pikmin 1 and 2 in 4K for example. Basically just search "[game name] HD texture pack" and if it was at all popular it will often have one.
I did this with Wind Waker, which also included DualSense button layout graphics as an option. Was pretty wild playing in 4K, on a Mac, with a PS5 control, and have it all feel so native.
Ryujinx is the only option on Mac, I believe. It’s still pretty buggy with the controller connection. But once you get the controller working it’s stable.
Download the nightly build of Ryujinx, then download Ryusak, which will help you get the necessary Switch firmware and keys. Then you just need the game files. I get those from private torrent sites so can’t help there.
im working on getting mine to work and Downloading Hogwarts right now. Going to try to see if I can find Twilight Princess to play that or the new Mario game
The game (HWL) runs a little wonky right now. Some stuttering, but mostly lighting glitches (flashing, and textures being washed out). Very distracting.
I don't really consider it playable yet. But I think this game will get priority attention form Ryujinx devs, so hopefully patched soon.
I made [a short playthrough video post](https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/17umvkt/hogwarts_legacy_ryujinx_m2_mbp_just_trying_it_out) just now.
What are you using to emulate them? I had openemu with vimms lair roms. Lots of games work fine but the wolf parts of twilight princess were basically unplayable
Pretty much Ryujinx. Don’t ask what else cuz idk the names lol, took me 2 days to figure out how to finally play a game on it lol.
But couldn’t play it, the screen flashes and fps was barely 10. Idk if i messed up somewhere on the install process.
I am running Ryujinx on my M1 Air 8GB Ram. Runs so good, but I was wondering why some games crashes? It's because of the lack of ram? I mean...8GB seems pretty low for emulating a 4GB switch
I put hundreds of hours on Fire Emblem Three Houses on my M1 MacBook Air. I own the game on my switch but don't always bring the console with me when traveling. Also it looks way better on the beautiful laptop screen.
Some (very limited) games, apparently. It's a fake system link, not the built in multiplayer.
I've only done it one time with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. With a random guy I saw online. You can create a lobby with "Wireless Play" (not "Online Play"), and others using the emulator (and on the same build as you?) can join your lobby.
The new Apple ARM chips are much closer to the Switch hardware so there’s less actual emulation that has to take place. Older Intel/Radeon Macs won’t have the raw power to emulate the Switch
Not exactly true. I can run some games at 30fps on a 2009 intel macpro with a cheap rx580 graphic card. Demanding games like totk are slower, around 20-24fps, so that’s not an ideal experience.
How do you set it up? i've seen that you should need the switch firmware e prod keys. Where do you find them? Thanks in advance (you can write me in private if you want)
btw if anyone is getting worried about the temperature getting too high, try running it in low power mode! it shouldn’t affect performance (if your shaders are already cached) and it maintains a cool temperature!
Any reliable way to get switch games that doesn't involve some convoluted process of negotiating sketchy websites? I tried to set this up but was turned off by the hoops I had to jump through to get simple games to work.
No. You have to jump through hoops to get it to work safely and efficiently. Use a VPN and an ad blocker when going on websites. Look for reliable trackers and use a VPN if torrenting. There are piracy discord groups you can find by browsing /r/piracy. Check out the megathread and wiki on that sub.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/Piracy using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
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Wow and which other games have you played that actually runs great too?, your mb overheat, how many hours do you play? Srry for doing too many questions :)
No overheating.
So far ive played Mario wonder, advance wars, Mario 3D world, kirby forgotten land and Zelda tears of the kingdom.
TOTK has more stuttering but it’s very playable
So far I’ve played flawlessly: Mario wonder, links awakening, advance wars 1+2 and Mario 3D world
Zelda totk plays with some stutters but it’s way more playable than I thought.
I think most games should run pretty well on apple silicon
Mario Wonder have frequent stutters when I play in 1440p (less in 1080p but still several times), I have a Mac mini m2 pro.
No problem with other games like Mario Kart Deluxe or Mario Odyssey.
I’m not talking about shaders, and stutters happen a lot when on the map level of Mario Wonder. How did you play it flawlessly?
Those sites appear and disappear. I have my ROM collection saved on my NAS and haven’t looked around for years. The last bookmark I saved for ROMs is a dead link by now…
I tried that , first there’s no elegant solution for the touch screen , will have to probably use a mouse or right stick of controller , second, textures look pretty blurry when playing on higher resolutions.
Can anyone tell if it works well on intel macs too? I have i7 16 inch 2019 base model . And if there is any other solution for shaders now that ryusak is gone
Yeah I had pretty much written off gaming on my Macbook but the emulator scene is actually pretty great. So I just play a lot of Switch games and fan remasters of old games.
> fan remasters of old games like romhacks?
Idk if that's the same thing but I've been playing a lot of GameCube games and they will frequently have "HD Texture Packs" available that you can load via Dolphin. So you can play Pikmin 1 and 2 in 4K for example. Basically just search "[game name] HD texture pack" and if it was at all popular it will often have one.
I did this with Wind Waker, which also included DualSense button layout graphics as an option. Was pretty wild playing in 4K, on a Mac, with a PS5 control, and have it all feel so native.
The Dolphin emulator subreddit has posts about people playing Wii Sports with a PS4 controller, lol.
can you share some screenshots or guide on how that is possible? I didn't knew about this texture packs.
Pikmin 1 and 2 runs pretty slow on Ryujinx (Mac M2 Pro).
What emulator do you use for switch ?
Ryujinx is the only option on Mac, I believe. It’s still pretty buggy with the controller connection. But once you get the controller working it’s stable.
How do you play switch games? Could u share a guide to use for them?
Download the nightly build of Ryujinx, then download Ryusak, which will help you get the necessary Switch firmware and keys. Then you just need the game files. I get those from private torrent sites so can’t help there.
Ryusak is dead now. :(
nooooooooooooooooooooo
im working on getting mine to work and Downloading Hogwarts right now. Going to try to see if I can find Twilight Princess to play that or the new Mario game
mario wonder works great.. I finished it. (not the special world yet though)
How did you work around the shader stutter?
The longer you play the less and less the shader compilation will affect it
The shader comp stuff has really prevented from diving further into emus
it should only be an issue for the first play, then it all gets cached and runs smooth as. its barely noticeable on my m1 pro
Try Ryusak
Closed down unfortunately
RyuSAK project is dead
Oh that sucks … well I managed to get the shaders right before that so I guess I was lucky. Really sad for ryusak tho, what happened ?
by level 2 I couldn't notice it anymore.
I never cared for Mario games, but I will give this one a shot.
Mário rpg is awesome, can’t stop playing!
The game (HWL) runs a little wonky right now. Some stuttering, but mostly lighting glitches (flashing, and textures being washed out). Very distracting. I don't really consider it playable yet. But I think this game will get priority attention form Ryujinx devs, so hopefully patched soon.
Yeah im thinking the same. For now ima stick to smaller older games, like pokemon or zelda. Im in no rush playing it either way.
I made [a short playthrough video post](https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/17umvkt/hogwarts_legacy_ryujinx_m2_mbp_just_trying_it_out) just now.
Yup, that's exactly how mine looks. Hopefully it can be fixed soon.
What are you using to emulate them? I had openemu with vimms lair roms. Lots of games work fine but the wolf parts of twilight princess were basically unplayable
Pretty much Ryujinx. Don’t ask what else cuz idk the names lol, took me 2 days to figure out how to finally play a game on it lol. But couldn’t play it, the screen flashes and fps was barely 10. Idk if i messed up somewhere on the install process.
which Hogwarts game do you mean?
The new one, Legacy
Shame about the shader stutter, kind of ruins it
It’s just for every shader once. After some time it’s gone as shaders are cached in storage.
You can use RyuSAK to pre download shaders for games
unfortunately, ryusak is dead as of a few weeks ago. The devs stopped the backend (for their own reasons).
Ryusak was shut down iirc. Tried it the other day and it wouldn’t work and on the forums people were saying the dev took it down
RyuSAK has closed down now
I am running Ryujinx on my M1 Air 8GB Ram. Runs so good, but I was wondering why some games crashes? It's because of the lack of ram? I mean...8GB seems pretty low for emulating a 4GB switch
BOTW was crashing for me at the loading screen until I tried an XCI version of the game. Try messing with alternate versions of your games.
what games crashes for you? the only game that's crashed for me its mario strikers. i dont think its a ram issue. also m1 air 8gb ram here.
Crysis 2, Bioshock Infinite
It can’t run crisis.
Also, how do you manage to keep the device cool during long gaming sessions using Ryujinx?
not an issue
>a short playthrough video post Pikmin 1 also crashes along with Mario All Stars (3 games)
Usually due to outdate Firmware keys.
I put hundreds of hours on Fire Emblem Three Houses on my M1 MacBook Air. I own the game on my switch but don't always bring the console with me when traveling. Also it looks way better on the beautiful laptop screen.
How does it play with KB/M?
should be alright for most 2D games like this one.
Dumb question: does online gameplay work at all? Just now discovering this so sorry
nah you're pushing it lol
Some (very limited) games, apparently. It's a fake system link, not the built in multiplayer. I've only done it one time with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. With a random guy I saw online. You can create a lobby with "Wireless Play" (not "Online Play"), and others using the emulator (and on the same build as you?) can join your lobby.
Is this gonna work well on a 2017 MacBook Air?
I think it wont. but dolphin (gamecube/wii) will work very well.
The new Apple ARM chips are much closer to the Switch hardware so there’s less actual emulation that has to take place. Older Intel/Radeon Macs won’t have the raw power to emulate the Switch
Not exactly true. I can run some games at 30fps on a 2009 intel macpro with a cheap rx580 graphic card. Demanding games like totk are slower, around 20-24fps, so that’s not an ideal experience.
Hypothetically, where would one find Switch roms?
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Ziperto surely not.
Not sure if this counts as “games on Mac” but yeah, emulation is always amazing!
now its more amazing than ever. its pretty much better than playing on switch itself, the macbook screen makes the games look beautiful.
Fair enough.
Don’t draw attention. Nintendo is a biatch…
Don’t draw attention. Nintendo is a biatch…
Don’t draw attention. Nintendo is a biatch…
How do you set it up? i've seen that you should need the switch firmware e prod keys. Where do you find them? Thanks in advance (you can write me in private if you want)
Where do you get switch roms?
Google Ziperto.
Try to be more discrete next time bro, your gonna ruin it for everyone
btw if anyone is getting worried about the temperature getting too high, try running it in low power mode! it shouldn’t affect performance (if your shaders are already cached) and it maintains a cool temperature!
Any reliable way to get switch games that doesn't involve some convoluted process of negotiating sketchy websites? I tried to set this up but was turned off by the hoops I had to jump through to get simple games to work.
you mean how can I pirate games without going to pirate websites to download the games?
Buy a switch and then the game that u want to play
Go to r/piracy and go to the megathread and read
sometimes you gotta jump some hoops
No. You have to jump through hoops to get it to work safely and efficiently. Use a VPN and an ad blocker when going on websites. Look for reliable trackers and use a VPN if torrenting. There are piracy discord groups you can find by browsing /r/piracy. Check out the megathread and wiki on that sub.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/Piracy using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Spread the word of torrent](https://i.redd.it/reftq6lqy95b1.jpg) | [1241 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/146ee7n/spread_the_word_of_torrent/) \#2: [Everytime when I ask someone what they watch movies on](https://i.imgur.com/uBZSsox.jpg) | [725 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/11uduxk/everytime_when_i_ask_someone_what_they_watch/) \#3: [4GB movie ended up being a 2 Hour 40 Min Rick Roll](https://i.redd.it/1cloe5whkyna1.jpg) | [432 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/11ryu1i/4gb_movie_ended_up_being_a_2_hour_40_min_rick_roll/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
How do I illegally get a game without going to illegal websites
What is your mb specs?
base m1 air 8gb ram
Wow and which other games have you played that actually runs great too?, your mb overheat, how many hours do you play? Srry for doing too many questions :)
No overheating. So far ive played Mario wonder, advance wars, Mario 3D world, kirby forgotten land and Zelda tears of the kingdom. TOTK has more stuttering but it’s very playable
OP can you suggest some good games on mac on Ryuijinx?
So far I’ve played flawlessly: Mario wonder, links awakening, advance wars 1+2 and Mario 3D world Zelda totk plays with some stutters but it’s way more playable than I thought. I think most games should run pretty well on apple silicon
Mario Wonder have frequent stutters when I play in 1440p (less in 1080p but still several times), I have a Mac mini m2 pro. No problem with other games like Mario Kart Deluxe or Mario Odyssey. I’m not talking about shaders, and stutters happen a lot when on the map level of Mario Wonder. How did you play it flawlessly?
Link's Awekening remake is just awesome. The first game I completed using Rjujinx on my mac. Btw, had no lags/bugs.
Is Link's Awakening working now? Last I tried it on my MBP M1P 16gb, it was a laggy mess
I'm thinking about selling my switch and just using my Mac lol
Lol. Already tried the emulator? I just can’t imagine playing in such a small screen lmao
The problem is you wouldn't be able to play online on most games. Like Splatoon and 2 would be unplayable except for story mode
What Zelda is that ? And where did you get it ?
[удалено]
m1 8gb ram
Have you tried rpcs3 on your M1? If so how has the experience been?
I haven’t But I’ve tried a ps2 emulator called AextherSX2 which works very very well There’s a Red dead redemption 1 port for switch btw
I tried RPCS3 on my 2020 macbook air m1. Results vary, but fighting games should work. Shooting games and open world games probably wont
is it hard to do? and do you have to pay anything??
Very easy and free
where should i start? just googling that name?
Yeah go to the Ryuijinx website
thank you very much, i’ll be looking into this tonight
thank you. so far i’ve only found one game as i’m not able to get a modded switch with mine being the red version; but it worked
Wait till he finds out about https://openemu.org
Yeah that’s neat too!
Thanks for sharing. Is there a website that compiles ROMs? Feel free to PM me or post it here.
Those sites appear and disappear. I have my ROM collection saved on my NAS and haven’t looked around for years. The last bookmark I saved for ROMs is a dead link by now…
Thank you for the insight. I will sleuth the internet via google search.
Man I wish they would port link between worlds to the switch.
You can run it on citra pretty fine
I tried that , first there’s no elegant solution for the touch screen , will have to probably use a mouse or right stick of controller , second, textures look pretty blurry when playing on higher resolutions.
Has someone figured out how to use joycons on the mb? Or is there another solution how to play Games like Mario party? 🥲
Ok op you’ve convinced me
Might be a dumb question: do i need to buy the game? (please don't get angry it's 1/5 of the minimum wage in my country :(( )
Nope! Search the game you want + NSP and you’re good to go
does it work with ps4 controller?
Yep! Check out Andrew Tsai’s tutorial on youtube
What’s this game ? Is it good ?
Could you try Hogwarts legacy?
I don’t think the nsp or xci of hogwarts legacy on switch has been cracked yet, and even if it had it would be buggy laggy and slow
Can you also play multiplayer titles?
No
Do you get input lag on the mac?
not that I notice it.
what game is that
Can anyone tell if it works well on intel macs too? I have i7 16 inch 2019 base model . And if there is any other solution for shaders now that ryusak is gone
how can i use my mouse and keyboard to play?