Hardware upgrade ...

[Redlynne]

My current computer, a late summer 2011 intel chipped 27" iMac is finally reaching the end of life cycle for some of the electronic components (suspect the capacitors in the power supply are drying out their electrolyte after all this time), and I'm starting to see intermittent unplanned spontaneous reboots. I was wanting to hold out and wait for the M3 mac mini ... but it looks like my current machine won't be able to live that long (I'm already into "borrowed time" apparently). 

So I've plotted out what I want to replace my computer with, but the migration will mean that I'll need to step away from Rebirth for an indeterminate amount of time while I get everything set up on a completely new hardware set and get everything running (hello, Parallels emulation) so as to be able to run a CoH Launcher on apple silicon. Nice thing about the migration is that I'll be upgrading to a 5k Apple Studio Display, which ought to look SO MUCH BETTER than this ~12 year old screen and AMD 6970M GPU that's been abandonware for the past 7+ years or so.

The cut over will happen (probably) at some point next week, so if I'm not attending iTrials with Ku no Ichi for a little while ... that's probably why.

[Redlynne]

Looks like Apple pulled off a low-key coup at the WWDC that has flown a bit under the radar for gaming.
The next OSX version (Sonoma) that is due later this year looks like it is going to include an emulation kit for DX12 ... meaning that it becomes a whole lot easier to run windows games on apple silicon through emulation (and not needing to resort to Crossover or Parallels to do the job).

It'll be curious to find out if this means I'll be able to return to playing on Rebirth later this year ...

[FarmTank]

Writing up a guide to play the game on Mac has been my unicorn for a while now.  The problem I've run into time and again had to do with Apple dropping 32-bit support completely.  I'm hopeful that DX12 emulation would be the key to it all.  However I'm still keeping my eye out for any options as they become available.

[Redlynne]

Writing up a guide to play the game on Mac has been my unicorn for a while now.

ORLY?

The problem I've run into time and again had to do with Apple dropping 32-bit support completely.

To be fair, intel is moving in the same direction.

However, curiously enough ... almost 3 years ago, the Island Rum Launcher for Homecoming was somehow able to incorporate a 32 to 64 bit emulation layer into the wineskin used for Macs. It worked ... on intel chips. Never found out if it could be made to work on apple silicon.

I'm hopeful that DX12 emulation would be the key to it all.

You and me both ...

However I'm still keeping my eye out for any options as they become available.

Nice to know I'm not the only one who is interested in such things.

[Redlynne]

One problem that WON'T be rectified by an apple silicon/mac os launcher for Rebirth is ... mids style character planning and calculations.
We're really beyond the point by now when the functionality of mids really ought to be migrated into a web page.

Use the data hash output of the build as a "feature" that continuously updates the data hash for the URL in order to "record" info. That way, if you have the URL with data hash in the URL, you just paste the URL into your web browser and up pops the character build.

Yes, it would be a massive Refactoring Effort to do this ... but it's really something that ought to be done (already, by someone with the skills and the time to do it).
If nothing else, the result of such a Refactoring Effort to migrate mids over to a web page would necessarily make the entire thing easier to modify than the archaic and byzantine database features used for the legacy mids system.