News: neXt - CGM RC Flight Simulator » neXt on Apple Silicon Macs

Tue Dec 08, 2020 10:13 pm

Britzel
#1

Just for info:

The current version of neXt (1.674) appears to run fine on the new Apple Silicon based MacBook Pro, despite running in Intel-emulation mode using Rosetta.
By 'running fine', I mean a fluid 60 FPS in the MacBook Pro's native full-screen resolution (2560x1600 pixels) at the 'Fantastic' quality graphics settings!
For most sceneries, you can crank all of neXt's graphics settings up to the max - shadows, nitro-smoke, dust, etc. - without adversely affecting the frame rate.

Having upgraded from a late-2012 i7-Mac mini with its integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics, I must say this is refreshing ;-)
Note that ye olde Mac mini was no slouch either: It was able to run neXt in full-HD resolution (1920x1080) at 60 FPS. But in order to maintain a jitter-free frame-rate you had to disable shadows and use at most anti-aliasing @ 2x multisampling.

Still, I eagerly await a native Apple Silicon version of neXt, as the Rosetta Intel-emulation layer won't be available forever.

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#2

Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:18 am

Klaus-Eiperle
#2

Klaus-Eiperle

Yes, Apple did a fantastic job with their own CPU/GPU. I am impressed too. To be native I need to upgrade to newer Unity3D libraries. This is not trivial as I will lose all of my shader programs. I developed the graphic shaders by myself to make this simulator as fast as it is. Of course, I'll upgrade to the new libraries in a few months, but not now.

Align T-Rex 700X, MR25, Katana S 33%

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#3

Sun Jan 12, 2025 3:25 pm

Jensano
#3

Je

Jensano

My next Version doesn't work in my old Mac mini (no Upgrade anymore) for a few months now. I upgraded my Mac mini to a brand new "Mac mini Pro M4" and found that my bought AppStore Version of the next seems very old. Last Update was for three years with V 1.728.
And the next point is that it needs the Rosetta installation on the Mac mini.

What about a newer version in the Appstore?
What about an Update which makes the Rosetta not necessary on the Mac and works as a native Mac M App?

Thanks for some answers.
Jens

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#4

Sat Jan 25, 2025 3:25 pm

Klaus-Eiperle
#4

Klaus-Eiperle

If we were to compile a separate version for M chips, we would still have to compile the old version in parallel, since the new one would not run on the Intel chips. As long as the neXt runs perfectly in Rosetta, this is not economical.
We have removed the neXt v1.x from Apple's AppStore because they have no option for paid software upgrades. This problem annoyed some customers when we switched from neXt v1.x to neXt v2.x. Therefore, I cannot sell neXt v2.x in the AppleStore.

Align T-Rex 700X, MR25, Katana S 33%

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