HGL
genetic-orange
MacOS Sonoma Game Mode support
Hi all,
I have noticed that 2.9.1 on MacOS supports the new feature Game Mode (which is an OS feature and seperate from GPTK), but I'm not sure how it translates to game started from Heroic. I have looked through settings, the wiki, release notes and this Discord without finding an answer. I also understand that there might be a specific GUI layout for Heroic sometimes called game mode as well based on what I found searching on the internet, that is not what I'm inquiring about here.
It seems to be enabled only when Heroic is maximised and the active application.
How can Game Mode be used for games started from Heroic? In particular, I would love to have it working for Diablo 2 Resurrected which opens from Battle.Net launcher (Which perhaps makes it more difficult? Figured it should be mentioned at least). The installed game runs fine as-is when started from Heroic w/ GPTK as an imported game in the form of a Wine-instance originally created by Crossover, so I'm not looking for general installation support here, just how to add Game Mode on top.
It would be amazing if Game Mode could be applied to any games via Heroic, as more games can use the enhancements MacOS activates then.
Edit: Using Macbook Pro 14" M1 Pro on latest MacOS Sonoma beta 23A5301h
4 Replies
I believe you're confusing Feral Game Mode (which is a Linux application) with macOS' Game Mode here. Heroic supports the former
Reading into the topic here (no idea if this post is accurate, please correct me if it isn't):
So if you've been Googling "how to use Game Mode," the short answer is that you don't. Apple's macOS Sonoma decides when to turn the feature on or off. [...] For macOS Sonoma to turn on Game Mode, you must run the game full screen. [...] Once you do have the game full screen, you get an icon of a game controller in the Mac's menubar.- https://appleinsider.com/inside/macos-sonoma/tips/how-apples-game-mode-in-macos-sonoma-works So judging by that, I don't see how Heroic could help here. I assume supported games have to hook into this API directly
genetic-orangeOP•2y ago
Hi, thanks for the reply! I hadn't heard of Feral Game Mode on Linux, but just quickly reading in to it seems to have the similar goals as Apple's Game Mode solution. Here's some additional reading directly from Apple on their Game Mode: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/macos-sonoma-brings-new-capabilities-for-elevating-productivity-and-creativity/
Heroic itself clearly triggers Game Mode, as can be demonstrated (see attached image). Heroic is not a game. Other traditional applications do not trigger Game Mode just by being put in full screen mode. My thinking was that maybe it could have (or perhaps even was intended to let) games inherit or enforce compatibility with Apple's Game Mode.
I really just came looking for answers, as I couldn't really find any information on it.
Apple Newsroom
macOS Sonoma brings new capabilities for elevating productivity and...
Apple today previewed macOS Sonoma, the latest version of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system.
I do understand what Game Mode is, but problem is that no blog I was able to find so far details how it detects what a "game" is
We're not doing anything in Heroic to enable it, at least not to my knowledge. macOS might just see that it's a GPU-accelerated process (Heroic is built on Electron, which in itself is built on Chromium) and toggle it because of that, but then why aren't other games detected?
genetic-orangeOP•2y ago
Yes it is somewhat mysterious still. I did some digging in the AppleGamingWiki Discord group and someone had emailed an Apple executive who himself was surprised Game Mode wasn't triggered when running game using GPTK, so it seems it might be something that comes in future versions (be it GPTK or MacOS). As it stands, I'm content with the support I've gotten, as it simply seems to be incidental that it's enabled when starting Heroic. Thanks! 🙂