DXVK on macOS: DXVK vs D3DMetal vs DXMT

Why DXVK on a Mac is different

Apple provides no Vulkan driver. DXVK needs Vulkan, so on a Mac it goes through MoltenVK, which translates Vulkan to Metal. Mac builds come from a fork, Gcenx’s DXVK-macOS, on the older 1.10.x line. Newer DXVK asks for Vulkan 1.4-class features that MoltenVK is reported not to provide. We know from our own test that DXVK checks features, not the version number (F33), but we could not check MoltenVK’s feature list.

          
          DXVK path:     game -> Wine or CrossOver -> DXVK (fork) -> MoltenVK -> Metal
          
          
          
        
          
          D3DMetal path: game -> Wine or CrossOver -> D3DMetal -> Metal
          
          
          
        
          
          DXMT path:     game -> Wine -> DXMT -> Metal
          
          
          
        

DXVK vs D3DMetal vs DXMT

Direct3D 9 and older: coverage differs by version and we could not verify it, so test more than one route for those.

Switch between DXVK and D3DMetal in CrossOver

CodeWeavers documents a DXVK option per bottle (their support article “enabling DXVK”). The exact menu names change between CrossOver versions and we could not see one, so we do not write click-by-click steps. To confirm which route a game used, set DXVK_HUD=1 in the bottle’s environment variables: if the HUD appears, DXVK drew the game (the HUD works on Wine, F18). If it does not, you are on another route.

Whisky and other wrappers

Whisky was archived in 2025 and a community fork continues it; we did not verify the fork’s status. A Whisky issue (600) reports DXVK settings not being applied and the game falling back to D3DMetal. Plain Wine with the Gcenx builds suits tinkerers who want to choose each piece.

Which should you try first?

1. Direct3D 11 or 12 game on Apple Silicon: D3DMetal, or DXMT for Direct3D 11, per reports.
2. Graphics errors or will not start: try DXVK for Direct3D 10 and 11.
3. Direct3D 9 or older: test more than one route.
4. Direct3D 12: see DXVK vs vkd3d-proton; DXVK does not handle it.

Black screen checklist: toggle the backend, show the HUD, confirm the game’s Direct3D version, and read CodeWeavers’ notes for your version. We make no performance claim. See all the layers and What is DXVK?