Delve into the world of graphics and game development. Discuss creating stunning visuals, optimizing game mechanics, and share resources for game developers.

All subtopics
Posts under Graphics & Games topic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

Will OpenGL API and Drivers be removed after appleOS 26?
Hi, I am a Multimedia and Graphics researcher and I am wondering if OpenGL API and drivers will be removed after appleOS 26? macOS 26 iOS 26 iPadOS 26 visionOS 26 I am asking this because most of the libraries I use depends on OpenGL. Like CGAL, libigl, immediate mode ui, nanovg, nanogui, bullet physics. Transitioning from Vulkan and metal while using and learning those libraries is just not viable. I would like to ask you that. I am the sole developer and I just want to ask you that. Regards.
1
0
221
Aug ’25
Implementing Scalable Order-Independent Transparency (OIT) in Metal
Hi, Apple’s documentation on Order-Independent Transparency (OIT) describes an approach using image blocks, where an array of size 4 is allocated per fragment to store depth and color in a tile shading compute pass. However, when increasing the scene’s depth complexity by adding more overlapping quads, the OIT implementation fails due to the fixed array size. Is there a way to dynamically allocate storage for fragments based on actual depth complexity encountered during rasterization, rather than using a fixed-size array? Specifically, can an adaptive array of fragments be maintained and sorted by depth, where the size grows as needed instead of being limited to 4 entries? Any insights or alternative approaches would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
1
0
570
Mar ’25
RealityKit particleEmitter delay starting when toggling isEmitting
I have a scene built up in RealityComposerPro, in which I've added a ParticleEmitter with isEmitting set to False and 'Loop' set to True. In my app, when I toggle isEmitting to True there can be a delay of a few seconds before the ParticleEmitter starts. However, if I programatically add the emitter in code at that point, it starts immediately. To be clear, I'm seeing this on the VisionOS simulator - I don't have access to a device at this time. Am I misunderstanding how to control the ParticleEmitter when I need precise control on when it starts.
1
0
569
Feb ’25
CMake unable to generate the Xcode file described in this tutorial
In the Creating A 3D Application With Hydra Rendering tutorial on the Apple Developer website, on the last step where I execute this command: cmake -S ~/Users/macuser/CreatingA3DApplicationWithHydraRendering/ -B ~/Users/macuser/CreatingA3DApplicationWithHydraRendering/ I keep getting an error: CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:5 (include): include could not find requested file: /Users/macuser/USDInstall/bin/pxrConfig.cmake I've tried to follow the instructions as mentioned in the README.md file included in the project files at least 5 times as well as moving the pxrConfig.cmake file around and copying it in different folders, then executed the command and was still unsuccessful into generating the proper file expected to compile and render the HydraPlayer renderer. How do I get cmake to generate the Xcode file to create the HydraPlayer renderer?
1
0
164
May ’25
ARMeshAnchor Data with RealityView
I want to use SwiftUI and RealityView to get AR scene understanding data (ARMeshAnchor) on iOS devices with LiDAR. The only way we can do that is by using ARSession (unless there is another way). However in previous iOS 18 builds there was this function: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/spatialtrackingsession/run(_:session:arconfiguration:) , which worked with SpatialTrackingSession and a custom ARSession together. This function in the the latest iOS and Xcode has since been removed in the RealityKit framework but still there on documentation. I also wanted to get ARFaceAnchor data which I still cannot get without ARSession, the closest I can get is by using: let target = AnchoringComponent.Target.face let anchoringComponent = AnchoringComponent(target, trackingMode: .predicted) entity = Entity() entity!.components.set(anchoringComponent) But I still can't find a way to get the current frame (ARFrame) or the anchors ([ARAnchor]) in the view. Alternatively if I use if I use this function: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/spatialtrackingsession/run(_:) and start the ARSession separately. The session (didUpdate and didAdd) only runs for a few frames before getting interrupted. And if I completely remove SpatialTrackingConfiguration and just run the ARSession. There still is a valid tracked entity for the AnchoringComponent.Target.face component. IF in the configuration for the ARSession I use the ARWorldTrackingConfiguration with face tracking. And I still get updated facial data each frame. But the ARSession didUpdate or didAdd functions don't get called passed the first few frames. Interestingly if I switch the RealityViewCameraContent.RealityViewCamera to .virtual. I get ARMeshAnchor and ARFaceAnchor data, but no camera feed (as expected). This with or without SpatialTrackingConfiguration. My overarching question is what is the proper way to access ARMeshAnchors and other ARAnchors created by the system and track them live while also using SwiftUI. GitHub Repo with sample project can be found here: https://github.com/bpate75/RealityViewTesting
1
1
475
Feb ’25
Building Game Porting Toolkit on Sequoia
Like many folks here, I've recently attempted to build Apple's Game Porting Toolkit on my machine and ran into compiler errors, but instead of going the usual route of downloading the prebuilt package (kindly provided by GCenX), I decided to see if I could force it to build (since it was obviously buildable at some point). Down below is the list of things I had to do to make it work. Disclaimer: There are several dirty hacks I had to attempt to force the system to do what I needed. Use at your own risk. Don't forget to run all brew commands from a Rosetta prompt: arch -x86_64 zsh Install openssl This one is easy. Just run brew tap rbenv/tap brew install rbenv/tap/openssl@1.1 Install Command Line Tools 15.1 This specific version is required since newer versions come with the linker that is not compatible with the custom compiler (game-porting-toolkit-compiler) that GPTK is using. However, by default 15.1 tools won't install on Sequoia since the installer complains that macOS version is too new. Obviously, Apple has their reasons to not allow this, but all we need is a compiler which should be mostly indifferent to the OS version. To trick the installer, we need to change OS requirement of the installer package. You can do it in four easy steps: Copy Command Line Tools.pkg from the mounted Command_Line_Tools_for_Xcode_15.1.dmg to some other directory. Expand the installer package: pkgutil --expand "Command Line Tools.pkg" CLT You might be prompted to install Command Line Tools when you call pkgutil, just install any version. Go to the newly created CLT folder and edit the Distribution file (it may appear as executable but it's just an xml). You would want to change allowed-os-versions to something greater than 15. Removing this section altogether might also work. When done, re-wrap the package: pkgutil --flatten CLT "Command Line Tools 2.pkg" Congratulations, now you should be able to install 15.1 tools on your OS! If you had to install newer Command Line Tools for pkgutil, delete them before installing 15.1: sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools Next step is to make Homebrew accept the outdated 15.1 tools, as by default it'll complain that they're outdated or corrupted. To shut it up, open /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/extend/os/Mac/diagnostic.rb and remove references to check_if_supported_sdk_available from a couple of fatal build check collections. Note - by default, Homebrew will auto-update on any invocation, which will overwrite any changes you've made to its internals. To disable this behavior, before running any brew commands in the terminal, run export HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 After these manipulations, Homebrew might still complain about outdated Command Line Tools, but it won't be a fatal error anymore. Finally, we need to downgrade MinGW to 11.0.1, since the latest version spits out compiler errors when compiling Wine. Unfortunately, Homebrew does a bad job tracking versions of MinGW, so there is no automatic way to do it. Instead, you have to manually download and install old MinGW 11.0.1 formula from the Homebrew git repository. I used the commit from Sep 16, 2023: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/b95f4f9491394af667943bd92b081046ba3406f2/Formula/m/mingw-w64.rb Download the file above, save it in your current working directory, and then run brew install ./mingw-w64.rb If you had a newer version of MinGW already installed from the previous build attempts, you can unlink it before installing the one above: brew unlink mingw-w64 With Command Line Tools 15.1 and MinGW 11.0.1 you should now be able to build GPTK without errors: brew -v install apple/apple/game-porting-toolkit In the end, steps above worked for me, although more things could break in the future. I'm leaving the instructions here just to show that it's still possible to build GPTK manually instead of relying on third parties, but with all the hoops I had to jump through I can't really recommend it.
1
0
739
Mar ’25
D3DMetal unsupported CreateCommandQueue1 API while running simple wglgears using Mesa 24.3 GLon12 driver..
Hi, wanted to test if possible to use Mesa3D OGLon12+D3DMetal 2b3 to get GL>4.1 support on windows apps via D3D12Metal.. using simple wglgears.c app (similar glxgears) and running like: GALLIUM_DRIVER=d3d12 wine64 wglgears64 -info with overridden opengl32.dll using contents from: https://github.com/pal1000/mesa-dist-win/releases/download/24.3.0-rc1/mesa3d-24.3.0-rc1-release-msvc.7z I get: [D3DMetal:LOG:5E53] Unsupported API: CreateCommandQueue1 caused by: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/commit/c022c9603d500b59ff5e6f93c8a214d1785ab20a API: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/d3d12/nf-d3d12-id3d12device9-createcommandqueue1 note setup is correct as using: GALLIUM_DRIVER=llvmpipe wine64 wglgears64 -info I get: GL_RENDERER = llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.3, 128 bits) GL_VERSION = 4.5 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.3.0-rc1 (git-85ba713d76) GL_VENDOR = Mesa GL_EXTENSIONS = GL_ARB_multisample GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract r GL_EXT_texture.. etc..
1
0
596
May ’25
Game Rejected as Spam
My app is being rejected and all I'm being told is that it is spam. I've tried improving various aspects of the game, but I just receive the same copy and paste rejection message each time. I have no idea if I'm moving in the right direction or what part of my game needs to be changed or improved. Is there a game quality benchmark document or some kind of resource I can use to better understand why my game is being rejected and how to bring it to a level that meets apple's standards.
1
0
111
Apr ’25
[Bug] iPadOS 26: 4-Finger Fast Tap/Swipe Gesture Not Detected (Multitouch Issue)
Hi everyone I'm experiencing an issue with iPadOS 26 regarding multi-touch gesture detection. When performing a quick four-finger gesture (tap and swipe), the system often fails to recognize the input. This especially affects multi-touch gestures, such as rhythm games with difficult levels. Steps to Reproduce: Place four fingers on the screen. Perform a quick tap or a quick horizontal swipe (like the one used to switch apps). Observe whether the gesture is ignored or detected inconsistently. Expected Behavior: 4-finger multitouch gestures should be recognized regardless of gesture speed, just like previous iPadOS versions. Actual Behavior: Gestures fail to be detected when executed quickly—same gestures still work, and miss notes in rhythm games. You can check out my posts on Twitter/x and Facebook: [https://x.com/kokona_fwa/status/1978131164104728949?s=61] Facebook: [https://m.facebook.com/groups/idipad/permalink/24438964899058806/?]
1
1
1k
Oct ’25
Matchmaking issue on tvOS with GKMatchmakerViewController.Request
Hello ! We are working on a real-time 2-player online game targeting multiple Apple devices. The following issue only occurs on tvOS: When selecting matchmaking to connect with another random player, the native Game Center interface opens and begins the matchmaking process. Almost immediately after clicking "start", the following log appears in the console, and the matchmaking screen remains indefinitely without completing: Timeout while starting matching with request: <GKMatchRequestInternal 0x30d62f690> { defaultNumberOfPlayers : 0 isLateJoin : 0 localPlayerID : U:bea182d69b85f0839e3958742fbc4609 matchType : 0 maxPlayers : 2 minPlayers : 2 playerAttributes : 4294967295 playerGroup : 1 preloadedMatch : 0 recipientPlayerIDs : <__NSArrayM 0x3034ed5c0> {} recipients : <__NSArrayM 0x3034ee280> {} restrictToAutomatch : 0 version : 1 archivedSharePlayInviteeTokensFromProgrammaticInvite, inviteMessage, localizableInviteMessage, messagesBasedRecipients, properties, queueName, recipientProperties, rid, sessionToken : (null) } . Error: (null) However, as shown in the code snippet below, the task does not complete when the log appears. But when we manually cancel the matchmaking process, the "User cancel" log is correctly triggered. var gkMatchRequest = GKMatchRequest.Init(); gkMatchRequest.MinPlayers = 2; gkMatchRequest.MaxPlayers = 2; var matchRequestTask = GKMatchmakerViewController.Request(gkMatchRequest); matchRequestTask.ContinueWith(t => { Debug.LogException(t.Exception); }, TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnFaulted); matchRequestTask.ContinueWith(t => { Debug.Log("User cancel"); }, TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnCanceled); matchRequestTask.ContinueWith(t => { Debug.Log("Success"); }, TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnRanToCompletion); We have tested this on multiple Apple TV and network types (Wi-Fi, 5G, Ethernet), but we consistently encounter this bug along with the same log message. Could you please help us understand or resolve this issue? Thank you.
1
0
170
Apr ’25
Can't remove annotations from PdfView
Hi everyone, I faced an issue that on IOS 26 removeAnnotation method doesn't remove annotation. This code worked on previous versions (IOS 18, 17) but suddenly stopped working on IOS 26. Has anyone faced this issue? guard let document = await pdfView.document else { return } for pageIndex in 0..<document.pageCount { guard let page = document.page(at: pageIndex) else { continue } let annotations = page.annotations for annotation in annotations { page.removeAnnotation(annotation) } }
1
1
261
Oct ’25
Gamekit Achievements Won't Unhide
Added achievements to my approved app. Added them for the next release version, which I am running in simulator. When I look at the Achievements page, I can see that there are 17 Achievements available (correct), but they all show as hidden, despite checking the "No" box in App Store Connect.
1
1
141
May ’25
GameKit Configuration File - Apple Documentation out of Date
This is the first time I have tried adding achievements to my games. The online documentation says: "Before you can access achievements in your code, you can configure them in Xcode and sync the configuration updates you make with App Store Connect. Begin configuring achievements by creating a GameKit configuration file. In Xcode, choose File > New > File from Template. Select GameKit File, and click Next. In the sheet that appears, enter a name for the configuration and click Create." Sounds easy - except Xcode 16.2 does not have a GameKit File as one of the Templates. Please advise on how to proceed and it would be nice if the documentation were updated.
1
0
140
May ’25
Game Center Access Point does not appear on iOS 26 (Simulator)
Attempting to bring up the access point yields the following error log: [GameCenterOverlayService] Failed to create GameOverlayUI Dashboard Remote Proxy [GameCenterOverlayService] Could not create endpoint for service name: com.apple.GameOverlayUI.dashboard-service [GameCenterOverlayService] Failed to create GameOverlayUI Dashboard Remote Proxy [GameCenterOverlayService] Could not create endpoint for service name: com.apple.GameOverlayUI.dashboard-service [GameCenterOverlayService] Failed to create GameOverlayUI Dashboard Remote Proxy [GameCenterOverlayService] Failed to create GameOverlayUI Dashboard Remote Proxy The same code (which is a single line setting 'active' to true) works on physical devices and on the simulator in iOS 18.6 I haven't been able to find any mention of this issue online. Any suggestions or help greatly appreciated.
1
0
486
Oct ’25
RealityKit generates an excessive amount of logging
During regular use, RealityKit generates an excessive amount of internal logging that is not actionable by third party developers. When developing an iOS RealityKit/ARKit app, this makes the Xcode console challenging to use for regular work. (FB19173812) See screenshots below. Xcode does have an option for filtering out logging from specific SDKs, but enabling this feature to suppress the logging of RealityKit and related SDKs like PHASE is something developers have to do dozens of times each day. After a year of developing a RealityKit app, this process becomes frustrating. If SDKs like Foundation, UIKit, and SwiftUI generated as much logging as RealityKit and related SDKs, Xcode's console would be unusable. Is there any way to disable the logging of RealityKit and PHASE permanently? Thank you for any help you provide.
1
0
380
Jul ’25
Gestures not working correctly when setting the fov orientation to .horizontal
Hi there, I've discovered an issue with gesture handling in RealityKit when setting the camera’s fieldOfViewOrientation to horizontal. For instance, if I render a simple box at the center of the view with a collision shape that exactly matches its dimensions, the actual hit area behaves as if it's smaller than the box. Additionally, when attempting to drag the box away from the center, the hit area appears misaligned—offset slightly towards the center. Since the default fieldOfViewOrientation is vertical and everything works as expected in that mode, it seems that the gesture system might be assuming a vertical FOV. Given that the API allows setting it to horizontal, perhaps gestures should function correctly regardless of the orientation? Thank you!
1
0
482
Mar ’25
How to obtain frame rate for iOS proMotion devices
Due to the release of ProMotion devices, the system may switch frame rates in certain scenarios, resulting in the loss of reference value for data collected through CADisplayLink callbacks at a fixed 60Hz frame rate. We cannot distinguish whether the slow callback of CADisplayLink is due to a stutter or a system switch in frame rate. I know Hitch Time Ratio, but I can't use this scheme for some reasons. How can I distinguish between stuck and frame rate gear shift in CADisplaylink callback? In iOS 15, CADisplayLink.preferredFrameRateRange.preferred always returns 0, while minimum and maximum do change. Can I use these minimum and maximum range values as criteria to distinguish between frame rate switching and stuttering?
1
0
150
May ’25