Box86 Can Now Run Crysis on ARM with DXVK

Box64, the FOSS that makes it possible to translate x86_64 (amd64) instructions to arm64 instructions, and Box86, handing the translation of 32 bits x86 instructions to ARM, have a new release, bringing a lot of benefits:

• Box86 is now faster, especially for older titles using x87 instructions
• Box86 should now be more stable (especially on multi-thread activities) and can now support Wine CSMT
• Box86 should now be faster to load assets as well
• A new “strong memory model” has been implemented, enabling recent Unity3D games like Rim World to run.
• Box64 is now compatible with other architectures (not just ARM), such as Longaarch64 (a Chinese ISA based on MIPS64), and PPC64LE as well (while the compilation profile is missing from the cmake). Note that PtitSeb, the developer, was not able to test these two architectures since he does not yet have such hardware.
• More importantly, DXVK can now run through Box86, making it possible to play DirectX games via Vulkan.

Here’s a video of several games running on the new version, on the Phytium D2000 Mini-PC, with 8 ARM cores and equipped with an AMD GPU RX550. These videos are courtesy of PtitSeb:

The above video is also available on Youtube if you prefer.

You can also expect to have Risc-V supported by Box64 in the future… Needless to say, it won’t be too long (give it a few years) until the ARM revolution comes to Linux PCs as well, bringing gaming along with it.

As a reminder, we have interviewed PtitSeb earlier this year about his work on Box64 and Box86, you might want to check it out again.

BoilingSteam lets you access our content for free, but writing articles is a constant investment. We don't use ads or sponsporship, help us make our activities sustainable by donating via Patreon or LiberaPay if you prefer it anonymous. You can follow what we do via our newsletter, our RSS feed, our Mastodon profile or our Twitter feed. We also have Peertube, Youtube and LBRY channels. If you'd like to chat, you can also find us on #boilingsteam:matrix.org. (what is Matrix?)