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[LordOfChaos]

Microsoft’s new emulator could bring more games to Windows on Arm

Could we see Starfield running well on Arm?

www.theverge.com

Microsoft is testing a big Windows on Arm update to let more x64 software and games run under Prism emulation on Copilot Plus PC with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus processors. The capability comes as part of the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27744, rolling out to testers in the Canary Channel.
This way, Qualcomm’s new chips can run more kinds of apps that don’t have native ARM64 versions and, until now, weren’t usable with emulation. It could even enable games that use AVX2, like Starfield and Helldivers 2, to work on Windows on Arm.
With this update, Microsoft’s emulator will open up support for 64-bit x86 software to use processor extensions like AVX, AVX2, BMI, FMA, and F16C. However, it says 32-bit software still won’t be able to detect the new emulator support, so some programs still might have trouble.
While many apps, including Photoshop, Hulu, and Chrome, already have native ARM64 versions for Windows, others, like Blender, require emulation, and some still won’t work at all. According to Microsoft, the new emulator is already enabled “in limited use” on retail PCs, allowing Premiere Pro 25 to run on Arm — after it was initially blocked — while Adobe works on a native version.

 

[Self_Destructive]

Microsoft is getting ready for Nvidia's entrance into the ARM CPU market for Desktop.

 

[RoboFu]

Microsoft is getting ready for Nvidia's entrance into the ARM CPU market for Desktop.

Nah they want that mobile app. That's the holy grail of untapped money for traditional gaming. Mobile is getting powerful enough now.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Microsoft thread on Neogaf today?
Poke it with a stick I think it's still alive.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Preparing for their Xbox handheld?

 

[lmimmfn]

Linux is the future for gaming

 

[ZehDon]

Preparing for their Xbox handheld?

This has been on their cards for a while, and is effectively Microsoft hedging its bets on ARM. That kind of bet hedging is a traditional Microsoft strategy, so this doesn't necessarily relate to gaming.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

ARM is the next bad bet by MS.

 

[DaleinCalgary]

ARM is the next bad bet by MS.

It's the future for laptops.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

It's the future for laptops.

Maybe so, I meant gaming wise.

 

[Unknown?]

Named PRISM... Mimicking a top secret spying program by the NSA that Microsoft was a part of..... Don't trust it!

 

[Syphon Filter]

emulation isnt ideal, native is.

 

[V1LÆM]

emulation isnt ideal, native is.

obviously if ARM is the future then everything will eventually be written for it going forward but Microsoft need to have a way to emulate x86. You can't run x86 natively on ARM.

look at what Apple had to do when moving to M chips. Microsoft would be stupid to abandon literally all software or games that released on Windows.

 

[Ozriel]

Maybe so, I meant gaming wise.

People play games on laptops

 

[kevboard]

emulation isnt ideal, native is.

no shit Sherlock,
but windows needs to be backwards compatible. it's their main feature.

there are still file names that you can not use for the sole reason that it could break compatibility with programs written in the literal 80s.
the default main drive is still C:\ because A:\ and B:\ are by default reserved for disk drives to ensure compatibility with programs written to read and write from/to disk, which will assume these to be designated as A and B, since C came later once hard drives were supported. if you plug in USB Disk drives they will be automatically detected and set to A:\ and B:\

so good x86 emulation needs to be priority #1 if Microsoft wants to support ARM

 

[pasterpl]

Nah they want that mobile app. That's the holy grail of untapped money for traditional gaming. Mobile is getting powerful enough now.

They already got it with Minecraft and Candy`crash and `warzone.

This has been on their cards for a while, and is effectively Microsoft hedging its bets on ARM. That kind of bet hedging is a traditional Microsoft strategy, so this doesn't necessarily relate to gaming.

to some degree it might do, with MS Automatic Super Resolution that works only on Qualcomm for the time being. It is cool tech, as it doesn’t require any dev input. Adds some latency at this early stage, but improves resolution/performance and overall look of the game without devs changing a line of code. So all games can be enhanced. Just require AI dedicated hardware (currently limited to Q)

Microsoft Auto Super Resolution tested: a new AI upscaler has arrived

Digital Foundry reviews Microsoft Auto SR - an AI upscaler that can work with any game.

www.eurogamer.net

 

[pasterpl]

no shit Sherlock,
but windows needs to be backwards compatible. it's their main feature.

there are still file names that you can not use for the sole reason that it could break compatibility with programs written in the literal 80s.
the default main drive is still C:\ because A:\ and B:\ are by default reserved for disk drives to ensure compatibility with programs written to read and write from/to disk, which will assume these to be designated as A and B, since C came later once hard drives were supported. if you plug in USB Disk drives they will be automatically detected and set to A:\ and B:\

so good x86 emulation needs to be priority #1 if Microsoft wants to support ARM

If the all new software will support both x86 and ARM and PRISM covers 80% of old software that would be a huge win for MS. Remember MS is not abandoning x86 yet, might be interesting what `CPU will nVidia build. Maybe it is further ahead than we think.

 

[kevboard]

If the all new software will support both x86 and ARM and PRISM covers 80% of old software that would be a huge win for MS. Remember MS is not abandoning x86 yet, might be interesting what `CPU will nVidia build. Maybe it is further ahead than we think.

Nvidia has a lot to gain here. they are the odd one out of the big 3, that doesn't have an x86 license. so I'm really curious how it will turn out for them.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

People play games on laptops

Check out how great gaming is on ARM before being snarky.

 

[twilo99]

Still lagging behind Apple’s emulation but they will eventually get there