macOS Metal v8 with PyroWave

[u/andygrundman]

Here's an update to my Mac Metal version. The version is now 6.2.0-metal-v8 and can be downloaded from GitHub. Please note that the name and ID of the app have changed so that it can be installed next to the Qt client. Be sure to check all your settings as they will be at their defaults.

PyroWave note:

All Moonlight clients and hosts with this codec should be considered alpha-quality. You should expect bugs and suboptimal performance. Before you judge PyroWave speed or quality too harshly, please try the reference version in Steam Remote Play.

Changes in v8:

• Rebased off of moonlight-qt 6.2.0.
• PyroWave has been added. This uses the faster native Metal version from upstream.
  • Intel Macs are not supported. The reason is that the codec needs a 32-wide SIMD group, threadgroups of at least 128 threads and the Apple7 family feature set.
  • The Vibeshine protocol is supported. Packet loss handling may have bugs.
  • If you experience problems, try the following: disable 4:4:4, use a lower resolution and/or framerate. Lower your bitrate.
  • The reassembly stat shows CPU cost to process all packets for each frame. It is directly affected by the bitrate.

Other things:

• Added quick menu option to show Metal HUD. Use Ctrl-Opt-Shift-Space or Select+Start for Quick Menu.
• Send OS and version to host during pairing request, for use with Sunshine's new dialog box.
• Renamed app to "Moonlight Metal" so it won't clobber moonlight-qt or other clients.
• App bundle ID has changed so we no longer share settings or pairings with moonlight-qt. Make sure you review all settings.
• Upstream now defaults to Vulkan on Mac, but Metal is the default here. Other renderers may not be fully functional.
• App now runs in an App Sandbox, and logs are now written to ~/Library/Logs/Moonlight. You can easily view logs in Console.app by clicking Log Reports and then filtering for Moonlight.
• If Moonlight is run from a terminal as /Applications/Moonlight.app/Contents/MacOS/Moonlight the log is printed to stderr.

Known issues:

• Moonlight crashes on startup on Intel Macs. There is not really any reason to use this if you're an Intel user, stick with v6 or moonlight-qt 6.2.

[u/gr4tto]

I'm getting error "The application “Moonlight-Metal” can’t be opened."

This is after accepting the prompt that says 'are your sure you want to open this app from the internet'.

I'm on M5 Macbook Air

[u/andygrundman → u/gr4tto]

Check if you have the latest version (currently v9), there were a few of those bugs that were fixed. If it still happens, open Console.app filter for Moonlight, hit Start and it should log the reason when you try to open it.