Forza Horizon 1 Runs Natively on Mac at 120 FPS. Static Recompilation + Framegen (Pinyon Shift + MetalGoose)
Pinyon Shift v0.5.0 just added a native macOS build, so I tried it with MetalGoose frame generation on top, and it works better than I expected.
Pinyon Shift is a static recompilation of the Xbox 360 release of Forza Horizon. It doesn't emulate the console. The launcher translates the game ahead of time into a native executable, built locally from your own disc dump, and on Mac it runs Vulkan on Metal through MoltenVK. MetalGoose captures the game window with ScreenCaptureKit and adds MetalFX upscaling plus 2x/4x frame interpolation.
My numbers:
- Mac: M5 Pro, 24 GB, 120 Hz ProMotion display
- Game capture: 40-60 FPS at 2560×1440 (it seems to cap at 60)
- Output: 120 FPS at 3024×1964
- Frame gen: MGFG-1 on the Neural Engine. it's running 4x at 40 FPS captured, and it drops to 2x automatically once the game goes above roughly 46 FPS, so the output stays at 120
- Frame pacing score 100, with a few dropped frames here and there
- GPU budget around 21%, so there's still headroom
- Latency about 49 ms end to end. You can feel it compared to native, but it's very playable for a cruising game like this
Keep in mind the 120 FPS is interpolated, so the game itself still runs at roughly 40-60.
If you want to try it:
1. Download PinyonShift-Launcher-macos-arm64.zip from github.com/arcanite24/pinyon-shift/releases/latest
2. Point it at a disc image you dumped yourself (USA retail base disc), choose Verify and build, and let it compile locally
3. Run the game in windowed or borderless mode, then start scaling on the game window in MetalGoose: Stallion77RepoOfficial/MetalGoose, It needs macOS 27+ plus Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions
It's still an early project. DLC import and the title update build aren't available on Mac yet, and racing wheels aren't supported. Neither repo includes the game or any assets, so you need your own legally dumped disc.
Thanks to both dev teams for their work!
N.B. The video is compressed
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Forza Horizon 1 Runs Natively on Mac at 120 FPS. Static Recompilation + Framegen (Pinyon Shift + MetalGoose) Pinyon Shift v0.5.0 just added a native macOS build, so I tried it with MetalGoose frame generation on top, and it works better than I expected. Pinyon Shift is a static recompilation of the Xbox 360 release of Forza Horizon. It doesn't emulate the console. The launcher translates the game ahead of time into a native executable, built locally from your own disc dump, and on Mac it runs Vulkan on Metal through MoltenVK. MetalGoose captures the game window with ScreenCaptureKit and adds MetalFX upscaling plus 2x/4x frame interpolation. My numbers: - Mac: M5 Pro, 24 GB, 120 Hz ProMotion display - Game capture: 40-60 FPS at 2560×1440 (it seems to cap at 60) - Output: 120 FPS at 3024×1964 - Frame gen: MGFG-1 on the Neural Engine. it's running 4x at 40 FPS captured, and it drops to 2x automatically once the game goes above roughly 46 FPS, so the output stays at 120 - Frame pacing score 100, with a few dropped frames here and there - GPU budget around 21%, so there's still headroom - Latency about 49 ms end to end. You can feel it compared to native, but it's very playable for a cruising game like this Keep in mind the 120 FPS is interpolated, so the game itself still runs at roughly 40-60. If you want to try it: 1. Download PinyonShift-Launcher-macos-arm64.zip from github.com/arcanite24/pinyon-shift/releases/latest 2. Point it at a disc image you dumped yourself (USA retail base disc), choose Verify and build, and let it compile locally 3. Run the game in windowed or borderless mode, then start scaling on the game window in MetalGoose: Stallion77RepoOfficial/MetalGoose, It needs macOS 27+ plus Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions It's still an early project. DLC import and the title update build aren't available on Mac yet, and racing wheels aren't supported. Neither repo includes the game or any assets, so you need your own legally dumped disc. Thanks to both dev teams for their work! N.B. The video is compressed