Caution

Currently not recommended for hardcore mode. This method is unstable and the client can crash at any moment. The patches are in early development.

TurtleSilicon

A user-friendly launcher for Turtle WoW on Apple Silicon Macs, with one-click patching of winerosetta, rosettax87 and d9vk.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

• A working version of CrossOver installed (the trial version is sufficient).
• The Turtle WoW Client downloaded from the official website.

Credits

All credit for the core translation layer winerosetta and rosettax87 goes to @Lifeisawful. This application is merely a Fyne-based GUI wrapper to simplify the patching and launching process.

https://github.com/Lifeisawful/winerosetta

https://github.com/Lifeisawful/rosettax87

Features & Highlights

• 💻 Run 32-bit DirectX9 World of Warcraft (v1.12) on Apple Silicon: Enjoy the classic WoW experience on your modern Mac without "illegal instruction" errors.
• 🚀 Significant Performance Boost:
  • Utilizes the rosettax87 hack by LifeisAwful to accelerate x87 FPU instructions.
  • Integrates d9vk (a fork of DXVK for MoltenVK) by Kegworks-App, enabling DirectX9 to run much more efficiently on Apple Silicon via Vulkan and Metal.
  • Experience a massive FPS increase: from around 20 FPS in unoptimized environments to up to 200 FPS (a 10x improvement!) in many areas.
• 🖱️ One-Click Patching: Simplifies the setup process for both CrossOver and your Turtle WoW installation.
• 🎨 User-Friendly Interface: Easy-to-use GUI built with Fyne.

Usage

Method 1: Using the Pre-built Application

1. Launch TurtleSilicon.app.
   • (The app is not signed, so you will get a "this app is damaged" message. Open Terminal and enter xattr -cr /Applications/TurtleSilicon.app to bypass it)
2. Set CrossOver Path:
   • If CrossOver is installed in the default location (/Applications/CrossOver.app), this path will be pre-filled.
   • Otherwise, click "Set/Change" and navigate to your CrossOver.app bundle.
3. Set TurtleWoW Directory Path:
   • Click "Set/Change" and select the folder where you have your Turtle WoW client files.
4. Apply Patches:
   • Click "Patch TurtleWoW".
   • Click "Patch CrossOver".
   • Status indicators will turn green once patching is successful for each.
5. Start RosettaX87 Service:
   • Click "Start RosettaX87 Service" and enter your sudo password when prompted.
   • This will run the RosettaX87 service in the background and is required for launching the game.
   • The service will automatically stop when you close the launcher.
6. Launch Game:
   • Once both paths are set, both components are patched, and the RosettaX87 service is running, the "Launch Game" button will become active. Click it.
   • The game will launch directly without requiring additional password prompts.
7. Enjoy: Experience a significantly smoother Turtle WoW on your Apple Silicon Mac!

Method 2: Running from Source Code

If you prefer to run the application directly from source code:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/tairasu/TurtleSilicon.git
   

2. Navigate to the directory:

   cd TurtleSilicon
   

3. Run the application:

   go run main.go
   

   Note: This method requires Go to be installed on your system. See the Build Instructions section for details on installing Go and Fyne.

4. Use the application as described in Method 1 (steps 2-6).

Recommended settings

1. Set "Terrain distance" as low as possible. This reduces the overhead stress on the CPU
2. Turn VSync on. Too high fps causes the client to freeze.
   • Alternatively: Create a dxvk.conf file inside your TurtleWoW directory and enter d3d9.maxFrameRate = 120. Set it to a value of 180 or lower
3. Turn Vertex Animation Shaders on. Otherwise you get graphic glitches on custom models.

Build Instructions

To build this application yourself, you will need:

1. Go: Make sure you have Go installed on your system. You can download it from golang.org.
2. Fyne: Install the Fyne toolkit and its dependencies by following the instructions on the Fyne website.

Once Go and Fyne are set up, navigate to the project directory in your terminal and run the following command to build the application for Apple Silicon (ARM64) macOS:

Option 1: Using the Makefile (Recommended)

The included Makefile automates the build process and handles copying the required resource files:

make

This will:

1. Build the application for Apple Silicon macOS
2. Automatically copy the rosettax87 and winerosetta directories to the app bundle

Option 2: Manual Build

If you prefer to build manually:

GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 fyne package
# Then manually copy the resource directories
cp -R rosettax87 winerosetta TurtleSilicon.app/Contents/Resources/

In either case, this will create a TurtleSilicon.app file in the project directory, which you can then run.

Make sure you have an Icon.png file in the root of the project directory before building.

Bundled Binaries

The rosettax87 and winerosetta components included in this application are precompiled for convenience. If you prefer, you can compile them yourself by following the instructions provided by Lifeisawful on the official repositories: https://github.com/Lifeisawful/winerosetta https://github.com/Lifeisawful/rosettax87